Found an article about common problems with cold weather starting failure which got me thinking.
It mentions:
"If you jump start your car and the engine dies immediately, this points to a faulty alternator.
You may also notice your headlights and dashboard lights flickering, the car’s gauges moving in a jerky manner – and even a burning smell filtering into the cabin if the alternator has recently overheated."
I don't know who wrote those statements, but they are wrong, and far too simplistic!
Take the first - "if it dies immediately it, points to an alternator fault" A load of rubbish. There are loads of reasons why an engine might die immediately after starting, and these could be fuel, ignition, timing, etc. and it would also depend on what type ignition was fitted, so without stating what system it is talking about, the statement as I said is meaningless. The alternator only starts charging after the engine is running, and if the battery was too flat that it needed a jump start from a booster of one sort or another, then the first thing the alternator has to do is up its output to try to recharge the battery. But it is not the first thing you would be checking other than to see that the voltage has come up to charge the battery. But the battery must first have been checked thoroughly to make sure it has no faults, and the circuits to see if there are any problems, because the first thing to know is why has the battery gone flat? There are also different types of batteries and some need different charging rates, so if for instance someone fitted a calcium silver battery that is meant for a modern Ford, then it needs a higher charge voltage than the standard alternator on a Murena can provide.
Sorry Dan, but you understand so little about the intricacies of cars from what we have seen here that you cannot know all the things that technicians have been taught and learn over many years, and it would take many years to try to teach you. Even after over 35 years in the trade, I spent 9 weeks solid training at Renault U.K. to become one of their RTEs that can handle all the latest network computer cars and the latest electronics and all the special tools we need to help us diagnose problems.
The second statement talks about an alternator that has recently been overheated. Checking the alternator would not be the first thing to check if an engine stalled immediately after starting unless that coincided with removing the battery from which you jump started it. First why was the alternator suspected to have been overheated and how does anyone tell that? Did it look burnt? I wouldn't expect you to know or answer this, I'm just telling you something which you probably haven't even considered, to show there is far more to this than those statements.
You haven't stated why it was better after it was returned to you, if it was better. Did you even ask them what they found? If I had any idea what they had done, it might, (or might not) give me some idea why you were having problems starting it even when you tried jump starting it without success.
Since it's mostly raining and horrible out anyway I probably don't want to roll the windows down anyway and figured it might be a good time to clean the motors. I assume I can remove these without the windows rolling down by themselves right?.
What have I said before about assuming things? You NEVER assume anything.
You are totally wrong because you need to remove the windows before you can remove the motors and mechanisms which are one assembly. And there is a special way to remove these WITHOUT cutting any of the door internal panel.
You can still get these motors which were made by Rockwell and fitted to a number of different cars but each had their own design mechanism, and the motor you might get might not fit straight into the Murena mechanism without some changes.
The reason for the rattle is that the worm and wheel were disengaging one another and slipping, owing to the housing not being held tight to the mechanism. That can be fixed.
But the reason they may be slow or not working at all can be due to a variety of problems and you have to track down which is causing them, from poor wiring, contacts, switches, earths, worn brushes or corrosion in the motors, stiff mechanisms, etc. etc. You cannot just jump in and say I need to get the motors out and fix them when you don't even know the cause of the problem yet.
You are not a trained technician, and there are trained mechanics here (by here, I mean in Europe, not the forum) with years of experience that still don't understand enough to know how to tackle a Murena because it is rare and to some extent different. Only 2 weeks ago I had to sort out a problem on a Murena caused by a mechanic that no idea what was wrong, and he had cost the owner much money without fixing the problem, by doing some major expensive work that was totally unnecessary.
This forum is not here to train you to become a mechanic. A Murena today needs to be owned by someone who has a working knowledge and tools to do the jobs necessary, or is a trained professional such as myself.
Before you ask a question here, do you even bother to search my FAQ pages or all the forum for previous topics on the subject, and the answers they may provide? Do you understand the wiring of the electric window system? Have you checked any of it for poor contacts, wiring, fuses, relay etc. etc. Or the amount of current being drawn and under what circumstances? As with all problems, you collect the information in detail first, both from the car, and sources such as the other posters here, analyse it all to decide where the most likely causes are and then check them out. Only then if you are finding it difficult to work out what is wrong, should you start asking questions.
Finally, I should point out that one topic should be for one subject and the heading reflects that. You started this posting asking about the electronic dipstick, and for anything else a new posting should have been started IF there was no answer already here on that subject. You are asking about all different things under one topic and posting. That should not be the way, and it makes it more difficult to search for answers as yours are covering many subjects, that causes the posting to go to many pages, and the topics are all mixed up.
Roy
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