Good morning and hello,
In 2013 I entered the dark world of Renault for the first time and my word have I been busy since then. On the road outside (road surface well preserved by engine oil) is a 2005 Renault grand scenic 1.9dci. Engine code F9Q 812 by the way.
As I found it difficult to find a thread on my own make and model of car I thought others may need some help with this particular motor, I know a lot of these engines are the same but all have little differences.
I have done a few things now on my car and as so many people have helped me on the forum, I thought I would try to help others too. We all have particular ways of doing things and my first post is also the first job I completed which was the turbo replacement. I have also done other jobs including electric handbrake, removal of sump, engine, gearbox, dual mass flywheel, oil pump - the list go on :(
First job then was turbo and here is a bit of background. One night went around a corner and flooring it - low oil pressure light came on and big STOP on dashboard. I did slow down straight away (naturally) and the light went out and everything seemed ok but the turbo was making a noise. When I did stop shortly afterwards I checked the oil level and it was dangerously low, now my dashboard tells me when I start the car that the oil level is ok, and if I press the menu button it even tells me how much oil is in there. PlEASE NOTE this is a LiE, what I suggest you do is calibrate your own dipstick / gauge level, for instance when mine is showing 4 'bubbles' on the dashboard it means I have about 25% on the dipstick and time to top up.
Now back to the turbo, after hearing this noise (it gradually got worse over the next few days and I was being very careful driving) and reading the forums etc I decided the best thing would be to get it replaced, being in possession of some tools and reading some very good forums / instructions I proceeded. I am not going through how to do it all however here are some pointers.
1 - allow a full day (if You do it quicker brill, but don't do it the day before something important just in case)
2 - use ramps or axle stands as you will need to work under the car safely
3 - buy some 'clic R pliers' from eBay (or others) for removing the special hose clamps, I struggled with everything else (needle pliers, screwdrivers etc) and spent precious time with the wrong tools.
4 - some say buy new turbo oil hoses, I did and they cost me £100.00 (your can only get them from Renault), and after removing them (be careful as they are easily bent out of shape) I reckon a good clean out with carb cleaner (get mine from toolstation as they are well cheap) or jizer would suffice instead of the expense.
5 - get a good turbo, I went for a reconditioned unit and it is superb (Midland Turbos)
6 - get some hose clamps (toolstation again) for clamping water hoses to egr valve, and you will need some torx bits (one turbo hose is held onto engine block by one TX45 or 50 I think).
7 - find some space. The front bumper, bits of plastic, underside of windscreen, windscreen wipers etc etc take up some room so either lower the back seats and clear the boot or find somewhere not too windy (scratched my bumper badly when wind blew it over)
8 - prepare to wish you had smaller hands and double jointed fingers and wrists. one of the nuts (13mm) holding the turbo on is around the back of the inlet manifold so it's a 13mm spanner and a lot of backhanded work (you'll see)
9 - clean out the egr valve at the same time (you have to remove it anyway) with the carb cleaner.
10 - take off the left hand engine lifting eye (bolted into the inlet / exhaust manifold) as it gets in the way and scrapes your wrists / arms.
11 - don't get too excited and remove things which are not necessary. Inlet / exhaust manifold, radiator hoses etc - I promise as you proceed you start undoing things you had best leave alone!
12 - if you choose to ignore 11 above either take photos of the 'before' or lay out the parts so you can remember how it goes back together.
I would also clean out the intercooler (easy to undo and take off) and also all the hoses. Check the hoses too by the way because the noise I heard (after that fateful night) was not the turbo itself it was the inlet hose as it had split on the join where the jubilee clip did up. I used some very good heat resistant insulation tape on the top (it was wide too) and it worked a treat, the turbo is sucking here so would have to drag the whole lot of tape in through a small split which is damn impossible.
Prime the oil hoses once finished, or run the engine on idle for a while, as the turbo needs this oil pumped around it as it goes fast and gets damn hot quick.
Good luck owning one of these, if I could afford it I would get another car but it's a shame because they are lovely to drive.
I am now going through hell with oil pouring out of the engine bay so now going outside (another Sunday ruined)