American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

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DangerCell
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American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by DangerCell »

Hello all!

Just bought a 10.4 with 1.9 diesel (no turbo).
Glad to find this ARO forum, and directly from the source! Hopefully the language will not be too much of a problem.

Mechanically, it is in great shape. Engine and transmission look and feel perfect. There are a few cosmetic problems that I think I can fix easily to make this little 4x4 a true beauty. But, there are some small yet important things I need to fix immediately that I could really use some advice with...

Here are a few questions that some of you long time ARO owners might be able to answer ^:)^ :
1. Is there anyone making an inexpensive roof rack for the aro 10.4?
2. Tachometer (rpm indicator) is not functioning. Any idea where it might have failed?
3. Temperature indicator is malfunctioning....again, any ideas on how to fix?
4. *** This is a big one (if wife is not warm I will not be able to keep it long)! The heater pushes air, but only cold. Where should i begin in order to fix this? I am hoping it is just disconnected linkage from the control lever???

Another possible project for the future is to fit with a turbo so it can pull a small trailer easier. Anyone ever do this? Easy? Difficult? Expensive or cheap?

Thank you!!!
Simon

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tudop
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by tudop »

Hello, your Aro has a Renault engine, so you should find a Renault mechanic near you ;D

To answer your questions:
4: most likely is it the control lever or the cable is disconected.. it is a common failure in romanian cars. Try to find the "faucet" that sends hot water to the heater, it is in the engine comp., near the firewall, it has a small lever with a cable on it, try to turn it and see if it works.
3: the wire from the temp. sensor may be disconected or damaged.
2: sorry, maybe someone else knows ( I only owned Aro 24 series :)) - and most of them also have non-functional tacho :-j
1: I recomend finding a small shop and fabricate a custom roof rack, or you can search for a universal roof rack, but these are usualy weak... I don' know a manufacturer that produces a roofrack for Aro 10.
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Ramiro
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by Ramiro »

Hi,

If you're in Portugal, you should try to contact our member Luis because he is a proud owner of an Aro 10.4, 1.9 Diesel, which is in a restoration process long time ago.

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=9726

He can help you with tips about the Renault engine and electric installation.

Here's a picture of his Aro with portuguese number plate.

We'd like if you send us a picture of yours! :)

Cheers!
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
A lenda vive...!!!
DangerCell
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by DangerCell »

Tudop:
Thanks. Was hoping it was something like that on the heater. If that is what it turns out to be the wife will be very happy ;D
Tach? Oh well. And temp guage is not completely dead, just horribly inaccurate...if it is like the tach then will just install a generic aftermarket gauge.

There are a few companies making racks specifically for the Aro 10 just very expensive:
http://www.cruzber.com/en/equipe-su-vehiculo.html

I asked here because when i was looking for crash bars for an old super tenere 750 (which are also very expensive through mainstream vendors like touratech), I found a GREAT shop based in, of all places, Romania, that is welding top quality stuff for 1/5 the price through the super ten forum...just was hoping the same would be true for Aro roof racks...but since there is not, I will just make one myself :)>-

Really? The Aro 10 has a 1.9 renault? Damn, judging by the astonishing acceleration of the Aro 10 I thought it was an Audi V10 TDI >:D

Seriously, that 1.9 being in about a half a billion other cars is a big reason why I bought the Aro...
That and the engine in this Aro is in absolutely perfect condition ;D

Ramiro:
Very proud indeed! I will contact Luis! Thank you!

Here is one of the pics of mine from the ad I bought it through....I actually do not pick it up until tomorrow, after that I will post more of it in action ;)
Image

Oh, and do you guys know where I could get a manual?

Cheers!

DangerCell
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by DangerCell »

Oh and what about parts? Is there a good place to buy some of the little plastic bits? Like the rubber/plastic "seals" in some of the seams??? Will post specific pics of exactly what I mean once i get it home...

Thanks!
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by DangerCell »

Ramiro, I would love to contact Luis as you suggested but I cannot see any contact info in his profile and it seems I am "not authorised" to send or receive PM's. Is there anything you as a moderator can do to solve this?

Thanks!!!
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Ramiro
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by Ramiro »

Damn, what a magnificent 10.4. :o
I'll try to check what's wrong with your profile, because you should be able to send pms, ok? :)

Cheers.
A lenda vive...!!!
madluis
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by madluis »

Welcome to our forum DangerCell :D

well about my restoration it is a bit slower then i thought, i just got some problems on my other cars and they were very expensive! About me and my ARO... i am not a professional on mechanic or eletrical, i am just a curious guy that loves cars! With some friends and my "mechanic" i am learning some things! :P
You can call me noob on cars lool

At the moment i can only help you with tachometer, in my ARO there was a small wire unplugged from alternator, it has a white plug and white wire too i think. If it is plugged maybe a problem on alternator or check in my post what SorynTVY said about gas tachometer :p

All other things are good in my ARO (by now.. lol) only rust to deal with...

Well about turbo, i can only give you my noob opinion...for me the 1.9 diesel engine is full of strength, and without turbo makes it more reliable and durable. But if you really want a turbo i think it is easier and cheaper to buy an engine with turbo already... like F9Q from renault...there are some ARO 10.4 with it.

By the way, i saw your ARO on sale :P i think it has "FEDIMA" (portuguese tyres :P ) i just love them to mud :P
1999 ARO 10.4 1.9D Powered by Renault
DangerCell
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by DangerCell »

So we got it home today.

But I wish I had checked it out more thoroughly before buying it...there are a good number of unexpected problems...some may be serious, I am not sure.

Here is what is wrong with it:

1. It smokes! A good amount of black smoke when the engine is being pushed at full power/throttle. You can see it most when in higher gears of course, when getting up to speed on the highway, for example.

2. It seems very weak (especially after reading your thoughts madluis about it having plenty of power). On higher speed roads, it struggles to keep 70 or 80 km/h with even the slightest incline/hill, does not have enough power to to use 5th gear at even the slightest hill...5th gear is only good on flat road or down hill. Is this normal? If it is not normal, what is a good course of action to determine what the problem is. Or is it just worn out???

But the engine looks and sounds perfect. All hoses are new and most of the external components look new. seemed it was owned by someone who cared for it. odometer, reads 15.000 km and works...I guessed it was 115.000 km judging by how good everything looks.

3. Air filter looks bad, pretty clogged up looking. Could a clogged/dirty air filter cause a significant drop in power and cause it to smoke a lot???

4. There seems to be a steady leak of gear oil from the differential (gear housing in middle of the rear axle...we call it the "pumpkin" in the u.s.), and it is very black.

5. Noticed a similar amount of leaking from the front "transfer case" (gear box that drives front wheels). But i could not confirm where it was coming from today. Only looked from the top of the engine when i noticed dripping/leaking oil. And again, it is very black...if i had not seen the rear leaking same color fluid I would have assumed it was engine oil...it looks thin like water rather than thick like honey...in my experience gear oil, even when old seems to remain much clearer than this oil looked :-??

6. Steering was very "sloppy" or "vague" when driving in a straight line. Took it to a place that aligns the wheels but once it was up on the lift it was clear to the mechanic (and to me) that this would be a waste of euros...all the steering joints were worn out and need replacing...the ball joints too (where the front wheel/axle assembly attach to the suspension "arms". Where do you guys get these parts??? Are they the same as any other more common cars/jeeps???

7.Universal joint boots are cracked/broken/split (I know them as "U Joints"...the rubber sleeve that protects the joints in the front axles going to the wheels)....and likely the joints need to be replaced too. Again, where do you guys get these parts???

8. 10 minutes into my first drive home in it, the Aro died on the highway, it just stopped running while I was at full speed. Seemed like a fuel issue. I could find no obvious problem, but after about 20 minutes I tried to start it again...and after a few tries it did start with some hesitation...then it ran as it did before so I went on. It ran fine for the 25 km home without further problems. What the hell was that? A total mystery.

What is NOT wrong with it:
I took it for a little TT walk near home and this thing is amazing! It will climb a tree!! If I can fix these problems I think it could climb mount Everest!!! It is a truly beautiful machine! While I was sitting beside the highway I thought I had made a big mistake...but if I can solve these problems it might be the coolest machine I have ever had, maybe even make my mountain goat (XR650R) jealous!!

Sorry for such a long post and thank you all in advance for any insight and advice in fixing these issues.
madluis
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by madluis »

well, starting on

1- i think this engine does not smoke that much! my ARO was stopped by 9 years and now he does not smoke. If yours smoke black it can be burning some engine oil...but i am not mechanic :P

2- i said power to pull something, because that car is not fast :P even the 0 to 60 or 80 km/h he is slow :) but i already seen mine at 110km/h and running well 9 years ago loool it has 65 horse power non turbo we should not expect much.

EDIT: the problem of black smoke could be harming the rendering engine. i have a mercedes turbo diesel and he was losing just a little bit of oil from a tube and it was lacking power, in ARO the diference is much bigger because of low horse power.

3- i dont think air filter does black smoke

4, 5, 6 and 7 - i have no idea, we only changed the rear axle oil and he was black too, maybe dirtiness...my rear axle was bought from a guy that lives in "Braga", and he was changing all his ARO transmission and axles from the cherokee's one..all this because it is very hard to find spare parts. About joints and steering i still didn't check on my ARO but if i buy it will be here:

http://www.aro-10.net/en/

if you talk french you can always try some used spare parts from http://www.leboncoin.fr/ (french selling website)

8- it can be a lot of things... air in the fuel sistem, tubing from fuel or electrical problem...dont know...

Finally, about what is not wrong, yes it is too much cool on TT duties! my aro will be only for hard roads or showing him in the city ;D
1999 ARO 10.4 1.9D Powered by Renault
DangerCell
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by DangerCell »

Ramiro wrote:Damn, what a magnificent 10.4. :o
I'll try to check what's wrong with your profile, because you should be able to send pms, ok? :)

Cheers.
Still says not authorized for PM's ???
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Ramiro
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by Ramiro »

Hi, DangerCell

I haven't forgotten you, and I'm trying to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
Please, be patient. :)

Thanks
A lenda vive...!!!
DangerCell
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by DangerCell »

Got your message Ramiro...terrible rule though. I too have been a moderator on a few forums and one of the main challenges was to keep the threads un-cluttered with useless information in order to keep it informative and useful. This rule does exactly the opposite: every time I need to say anything to anyone I will have to create a thread or clutter what might otherwise be a useful thread with messages like this :-??
UMMM461
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by UMMM461 »

Dear DCall,

Try this link:
manual reparatie aro 10 mk2 http://www.postaonline.ro/fvcvubfk2uq2/ ... r.rar.html
You can send your regards to Sorin.
Have a successful ARO repair time.
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Re: American in Portugal and just boaught ARO 10!

Post by Soryn »

& en. owner manual service interval . aro 10 1.9D http://www.postaonline.ro/t54chms6fw5a/ ... l.rar.html

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