Renault Megane Scenic 1.6 Dephaser Puller Query

nicandx

Hi

We have an 04 plate Renault Megane Scenic 1.6 and had a timing belt and water pump fitted in July 2011 after the water pump collapsed (which is what the garage told us happened) causing damage to the valves.

The cost of this alone was 980 GBP along with other 'bits and bobs' such as anti-freeze etc.

We have now just had the steering column lock replaced at a cost of 405 GBP and were advised that there was an issue with the dephaser pulley. We were quoted approx 500 GBP to replace this but after having searched on various forums are now unsure as to whether this should have been done when the timing belt and water pump were fitted, or at least identified as an issue at the garage.

We have today been into a Renault Dealer to have an update carried out with something else and they have carried out a health check - then advising us that the dephaser puller was noisy and may have been caused due to incorrect fitting of timing belt.

I know these cars are money traps but we have only had the car since April. We paid 3000GBP for it at the time and to date have spent almost 2000GBP on various repairs.

Couple of points I need clarifying:

1) Does anyone believe the fault with the dephaser pulley should have either been replaced/repaired when belt fitted or at least been picked up on as I am contemplating contacting garage to have it rectified

2) Do I have any legal rights with the garage we bought it from as we have had nothing but problems since we bought it? I appreciate that cars do have problems and that some can be unforeseen but in the space of 7 months we have had:

*Issues with electric windows (which garage did repair but casued us issues when away from home as windows would not close)
*Radio/CD player not working (again garage fixed but incovenience of having to go back to them)
*Water pump (allegedly) collapsed causing timing belt to snap and valves to be damaged
*Outstanding recall from Renault prior to purchase of car which was picked up on when work carried out at Renault garage
*Steering column lock fault
*Heater now stays on constantly
*Mileage does not tally against previous MOT's (this was explained upon buying that a new dash had been fitted although Renault dealer could not find any record of this)
*Rear tyres on previous MOT classed as red as they were on the threshhold of being illegal - had to replace these ourselves after having them checked at tyre dealership

I know some of these issues may sound like they should have been picked up on but neither myself or my partner have much experience and we had a one week old baby at the time and our previous car had packed in - probabaly a rush buy in hindsight!!!

Any help would be much appreciated as I need to get the dephaser situation sorted ASAP!

Thanks in advance

atrixblue.-MFR-.

dephaser pully is a common problem in the VVT engine, it is common knowladge to advise a customer that changing the belt and water pump and dephaser is advised when carrying out timing belt change if wrattle on start up is present.

power is reduced through a faulty dephaser as the cam VVT is not fully operational and can cause premature failure or snapping of any new or old belt if not attended to.

unbloting the cams to replace the valves would have been carried out if you bent some if the belt ore pump failed prior,it is not advisable to refit a faulty dephaser, inspection of the dephaser needed is to asses condition prior to refitting. old worn belt would have masked some of the wrattle because the belt is stretched overtime and allows some play new belts and tensioners fitted to spec will be tight and no strech so allows the noise to be more prominant.

trouble you have the dephaser is NOT part of a timing kit, it a main dealer part only, and the cost varies between dealers some have deals on the dephaser plus a timing kit and some sell the solo at full dealer price it is not mandatory to renew the dephaser but advisable all the same, you get what you pay for allthough the garage should have suggested it, but as far as it goes you have no recourse with the garage who carried out the fitting of the belt, this time round all you will need is a timing belt on its own and a dephaser pully a timing kit is not needed as you not long renewed the idler, tensioner,water pump take to another indy dephaser cam pully is about £140 and the belt is £15-25 plus labour so about £280 is about what i'd expect to pay at my indy for this work carried out.

in the dephaser box there will be cam cap end seals also these should be replaced too as part of fitment of the dephaser.

sorry to hear you have this problem, you should have been advised as a matter of what can happen if you dont, but at the end of the day the work carried out was the work you paid for and none of the parts they fitted has failed.

renaults are hit and miss when it comes to electrical faults, some have really nioggly minor probs some have majour electrical problems

software updates missed is the responsability of the owner not a garage to ensure they are carried out, a letter to the first registered keeper would of been sent all those who are second owner only find out when going to renault, but these recalls for updates etc should be free of charge.

EDIT: do you have a spare keyless entry card? if not dont lose take care of it try not to drop it have it too close to any mobile phone (microwaves from mobiles can arease the data stored on the card if the battery is running low i just had to tow a friends to renault because he kkept his card in his pocket and his mobile went off next thing he knows he cant get into the car, i went down pulled the passenger side handle cap off and inserted the key to open the door (key islocated within the card its in the battery cover)

your 7 months down the line but if you started buying these things not long after the car was purchased why did you not return the car for repair? if you have reciepts with dates of purchase for items OF ESSENTIAL WORKS CARRIED OUT then all you can do is have a chat with the selling garage about some contribution towards the cost of these.

such as stearing lock fault.

the mileage discrepancy is a no recourse option to you he informed upon purchase to wich you agreed to accept. the dash may have been changed but not by renault, may have been a private repair, to be honest you only change a dash in a renault if the passenger airbag has deployed, or someone cracked it somehow the clocks would not need to be changed though unless the clocks were faulty themselvs to wich that is a separate unit to be replaced and not part of the dashboard assembly

davidjwest

My partner has an 05 Grand Scenic and it's been a money pit as well, spent around £3k on repairs in 3 years and it's only done 50k miles.

I think the name "Grand" refers to how much it costs to get it MOTd.

Anyway, our mileage is wrong as it's a common fault for the dashboards to go wrong on these and as it's cleverly computerised the new dash resets the mileage back to zero, handy that!

Other faults that I can remember:

1. Handbrake failed, it's an electronic handbrake, felt like one of the cables had snapped but you can't replace the cables on these so it was £550. We had the same story from three separate garages and all gave similar quotes, utter madness, you can't even do handbrake turns with them!

2. We've had two coil packs fail, I was quoted around £200 to replace them all, might have been a bit more so I did it myself in 20 minutes for a cost of under £100 including the tools and Haynes manual, it's a bit fiddly as the engine bay is so small but fairly simple.

3. Front suspension strut tops corroded, can't remember the exact cost but I think it was £200 or so.

4. There's something wrong with the steering, no garage can find the fault and we've been told it's nothing dangerous but it makes strange noises from time to time, feels like the steering rack to me but garages say that's fine.

5. Minor but common fault, heater doesn't work on fastest setting.

6. Dashboard stopped working, repaired as a recall that was missed free of charge, mileage was set back to zero.

7. Warning light came on recently, car drove OK but MPG dipped by about 5% and no garage could diagnose the fault with any conviction. We initially replaced the dephaser pulley (I think that's the part) at the garages suggestion for £130 but that didn't fix the issue, it turned out to be an ECU reprogram was required for another £80.

8. Suspected cylinder head gasket leak, we're getting rid of this money put soon so that's not been dealt with as yet!

9. The electronic key stopped working for no reason, cost £200 to get a replacement from the land of !!!!-taking auto-builders (aka France) and 2 weeks delay during which time my partner had to hire a car at her own expense.

Probably more but that's all I can remember.

By comparison I drive a Mondeo estate, a year older with treble the mileage (161k), the only issue I've had apart from brake pads has been a snapped front suspension spring, cost £150 to fix.

Hope that helps!