I'm interested in buying a Alliance 1.7 convertable but had a few questions. I idles sort of fast and the temp gauge runs at the top of the green, It goes down a bit once you start moving. Any ideas as to it being a problem? I read about head gaskets going bad and just wondered if these were tell tale signs?

What number Renault is this so as I'm reading I will knnow if it pertains to this model renault. Thanks again.

Hi Dave,
First sorry about my English, but be patient.
As you know from my previous articles, I know a lot of overheating, bad head gaskets, broken thermostat valves etc. cause I persuade to all this on my own R9.My car is 1.108 ccm but it’s not importance what kind of engine you drive, the coolant system is on the same principle.The difference between this two engines is of course
the volume and the distribute valve bar, which in my case is placed beneath head, in your on top of it. When I bought my car there is a lot of rust on it, cause the previous owner don’t drive it from two years, and the lot of rust in the engine too. So when I start to drive ten months ago I’ve got a very low temperature index/broken sensor/,so there is no way to know that my thermostat is blocked too. I overheat the engine a lot of times and though that the diesel tapping/knocking/when I switch off my engine is coming from bad sparkplugs. If I understood you quite well you manage to buy a car, so have in mind about the color of the coolant. If it’s rusty the car is staying on it’s place from a long time. But that’s enough it’s too many words from my side. The major symptom of a bad head gasket is air in the coolant system. In fact it’s not air. It,s a burnt gasses which go inside when you push a gas pedal. It is not obligate that your engine start to overheat, but the arrow of your gauge will go up and down, up and down. When the air bubbles circulate in the engine, reaching the temperature sensor and the index on your gauge falling down, after this going straight up very fast. When you collect a lot of air in the coolant all bubbles are staying in the topside of the water pump and the sensor of the thermostat valve can’t reach the hot antifreeze. I know that the bad head gasket is not sounds well, so I wish you luck. First you can check for antifreeze leaking, check temperature sensor, the sensor of the radiator fan and the thermostat valve, the valve placed on the top cap of expansion tank also, and try to disair your coolant system. About disairing you can see my explanations to Airfan on page No2 from forum in article ,,1984Renault11 spark plugs problem,,
I wish you luck again, keep my fingers crossed, and let me know what,s going on. I will be happy if can help you.
Best regards from Bulgaria.
Tisho.

For your advice. I guess I'll shy away from this after reading the posts here. The head gasket problem kind of scares me and the scarcity of parts.I had bought a new 1986 Encore and loved it. Dave