Long shot but can anyone help with an electrical fault?

[Tony Smith]

I bought a lovely low mileage Safrane last week just 53K from new and it's as good as a Safrane gets really (except for the biturbo) , everything works and it drives spot on. Has one really irritating fault and I know there are a couple of Renault technicians and generally clever people on here I'm hoping might be able to point me in the right direction. The radio, clock and trip computer do not retain memory. I've checked all fuses and they look ok, although I'm not really sure which if any would cause the problem. It's like someone has disconnected the permanent live to these items but all original wiring, no signs of tamper at all. Are these 3 items inter-connected? Have I missed something ?

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[Paul B]

Hello, Lovely motors these...
couple of things.... does the volume/station search/mute control work on the column switch OK??...., and does the cigarette lighter work ???
had a similar issue with a 21 that had been worked on and had an alarm removed to be upgraded to Thatcham...I found the connector loose on the column switch but also a blown fuse to the cigarette lighter....i guess they never read the book on removing a battery lead before working on a car....
also some radio units have a tiny fuse in the back of them, have to remove the radio to see/check it...this could have blown but work OK when ignition on..

 

[Tony Smith]

Hello, Lovely motors these...
couple of things.... does the volume/station search/mute control work on the column switch OK??...., and does the cigarette lighter work ???
had a similar issue with a 21 that had been worked on and had an alarm removed to be upgraded to Thatcham...I found the connector loose on the column switch but also a blown fuse to the cigarette lighter....i guess they never read the book on removing a battery lead before working on a car....
also some radio units have a tiny fuse in the back of them, have to remove the radio to see/check it...this could have blown but work OK when ignition on..

Cigarette lighter and Column controls work fine only with ignition on, had the head unit out and there is only a 10 amp fuse in it. Normally Alpine units usually have an inline 3 amp fuse in the loom straight out of the head unit but this hasn't. It's like the permanent live wire for the car is broken or disconnected.

 

[Red21]

Tony, pm the chassis number & I will have a look at the wiring diag etc.

 

[Tony Smith]

Tony, pm the chassis number & I will have a look at the wiring diag etc.

VF1B54F0218680291. Much appreciated :0).

 

[Red21]

I've had to dig out the hard copy of the wiring book just got to scan the appropriate pages.

 

[gtmatt]

that's a bloody stunning motor , the biturbo was not for uk market ???

 

[DaveL485]

that's a bloody stunning motor , the biturbo was not for uk market ???

Nah we never got it.

 

[Alpineandy]

Tony, if you don't have any luck on this, you could try safrane.info as the 2 main guys there are a mine of safrane info...

 

[Victor36]

@Tony Smith do you have xp with alpine stereos? Would you recommend them?
Sorry for being off topic.

I'm looking for a good stereo and my vote will be on the Alpine.

Now I was trying to gather as much info as possible but most review blogs are junk.
I mean they are hyping and when I've checked out some actual customer reviews the
difference is huge.

Along with my journey in review land I came across a different site. It seems to be the real deal. I mean it harshly criticizes the flaws that each brand has. This has put me on the fence.For example there's a review about Alpine w650 radio. I was eyeing this headunit.

How bad is that slow startup? Does it take 20s to boot up? What about the value for the money?

Any insights are highly appreciated