Dangerous 2002 Renault Clio, Please Help!!

little_jem

Firstly I apologise for the length of this post but any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated:

I own a (2002) Renault Clio Expression1.2, 16v, Quickshift+. This is Automatic but also has a manual option by clicking a button on the gear stick to put it in manual mode and vice versa.

I have had numerous problems with the gearbox in this vehicle since I purchased it at 1 year old. Since I have had it I have took it to my Renault Dealer at least 4 times as the car seems to Over Rev and not be in the right gear.

e.g:

1) If pulling out of a junction it sometimes doesn’t know what gear to be in and loses all power because the gear it is in is too high.

2) On a motorway it has been doing 80mph in 3RD Gear!!!!

When pulling out of junctions I have had several very near misses but Renault does not seem interested! Each time I take it in they say they have either put it on the diagnostic machine and it showed no faults or it showed faults but they have cleared the cars memory, bring it back if it happens again!

The cars Warranty runs out on 22/04/05 so I decided to take it in on Thursday once again to get it looked at and again was told nothing showed up on the machine so bring it back if it happens again. On Friday I was on a dual carriage way in the right lane doing 70Mph+ and all the power went I managed to get to the side of the road luckily as it wasn’t very busy but I was in complete shock that the problem had got this serious. I could have been KILLED!!! And to add to this my HAZARD WARNING LIGHTS DIDNT WORK!!

The AA came out and said they weren’t even touching it after seeing the state I was in as the car was a Danger to Drive! And so towed it to Renault.

Renault now say that there were faults which have been wiped off the memory and there is nothing they can do as it is now working fine, but this is exactly what happens one minute its fine and the next its Dangerous! I have told them that I am not collecting it till it’s resolved (allthough I am left with no car, I rather do this than get killed driving it!) so they are now road testing it to try and replicate the fault and apparently have done 80miles in it today and no fault occured (is them thrashing it doing it any good!!)

My Concerns:

1) I am too scared to drive my car now, until they find the cause.

2) The car has several faults that to me seem to point to a serious problem as intermittently Indicators Don’t work, Hazard Warning light doesn’t work, extreme Loss of power, Puts itself into Manual mode and won’t go back into Auto etc........

I apologise for the length of this post but I really need advise as Renault are been no help and I don’t know what to do. Any advice greatly appreciated Please!

MarkyMarkD

It doesn't help matters that you're leaving it until a week away from your warranty's expiry before escalating this. I would have got Renault Customer Services involved a long time ago - the second time your dealer had identified faults, and basically done nothing to fix it.

Your car has a serious fault which renders it unroadworthy and not fit for its purpose. Given the length of time you've had it, you aren't going to get a full refund, but you should demand that Renault replace the car with an equivalent model (of the same age) or buy the car back from you at an agreed price in exchange for a newer car.

Renault Customer Services are not useless - I have had reasonable service from them in the past. Explain to them calmly what your problem is with the vehicle, and make sure that they talk to your dealer before coming back to you with their suggestions.

Phone them tomorrow!

Hope that helps.

MMD

Dave_G_5

I think the main problem is that you haven't taken it back sooner. You say that you have returned the car 4 times in 2 years, the second time the fault occured I would have left it with them until they found something wrong with it. It does sound like an intermitent electrical fault, which is one of the hardest faults to trace, if the fault doesn't occur when you test it, how are you supposed to find it!!

Other options are to ask them to put in writing that they will still look at this fault foc after the warranty expires as it has occured during the warranty period and hasn't been resolved yet. Also, if you bought the car on hp from the garage, you should be able to hand it back after paying half the payments, which should be soon going off how long you have owned the car.

little_jem

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Sorry but I dont think I have explained properly, my car has been back to them more than 4 times, just 4 for this particular problem but I thought that it was just the way that I was driving it that was causing the loss of power as I believe this particular model is rather tempromental! or so i have been led to believe because of the type of gear box!

The reason I took it to them the other day was because a number of other faults have since developed, I have been incrediably patient with them, allways kept my calm and completly trusted what they have told me thats why I have only took it 4 times with that particular fault, as I thought that as they couldnt find anything it must just be the way I drive it, however my Dad has drove it since which has confirmed it isnt my driving!

I have spoke to Renualt Uk yesterday who where sympathetic and concerned about the vehicle, but as I explained to them the fault that occured on Friday showed various warning lights etc so I couldnt understand why they couldnt work from the faults stored in the memory to rectify the problem.

Anyway my car is dangerous and I will not drive it again until it is fixed, therefore it is no use to me as it is, so Renualt can keep it as long as they want, I will stick to the Bus!!

Downsizing__for_sanity

Hi Little Jem,

I had a similar problem with my 1998 Renault Megane Cabriolet. It wasn't to do with the gearbox at all, it was the Engine Management Unit or "chip" under the bonnet which controls all the electrical functions on the Renault. My problem was that the EMU had corroded and was letting water into the unit, which was causing all the random electrical problems. Do you have an orange warning light which goes on? If you refer to the manual, it says something like, "Electrical malfunction, take straight to Renault dealer.

The dealer couldn't find anything wrong with my car, even though I'd nearly crashed 3 times. It used to just stop at 60mph - as if I'd just taken the keys out.

If you go onto the Which? advice website, there is (was) some information relating to the Renault fault there. It's apparently most common in the Laguna, but happened in the Megane too.

If you can't get further with Renault, call the Department of Motor Transport - I can't find the number, but I'm sure it will be on the web somewhere. They sent me out a "Vehicle Safety Report" or some such document, to fill in and return. This basically documents the problem, so if they have a trend, they can follow up and recall a vehicle if necessary. If you tell your dealer you have got the DoMoT involved, he might become more helpful.

In the end I got rid of my Megane. I traded it in to an auction house as I didn't want to sell a possibly dangerous car to a private buyer. I did lose some money on it, but it was better than constantly being worried when I was in the car.

Take care,

DFS

little_jem

Hi Downsizing _for_sanity,

Thank you so much for your reply it is reasuring to know that someone else has had similar problems as I was starting to feel rather stupid, recently whenever I take this car on a dual carige way or motorway I start to shake really badly I think its panic attacks as it dosent happen when I drive my mums car!

I spoke to The 'Vehicle and Operator Services Agency' (VOSA) yesterday, who have sent me a 'Vehicle safety Defect Report' to complete, which I will do, as I explained to them yesterday I am concerned that this problem could happen to other people with this car as well.

The fault you had sounds similar, as the light that came on the other day I think was the 'Engine Ommision' light or something similar.

When I get this car back I think I will want to sell it but like you have said I wouldnt dare sell it private to anyone therefore will probably have to put this through the auctions too!

Many thanks
Jemma

snowboardjon

Quote from honest john's car-by-car breakdown: -
"Some automatics have been prone to surging - cured by replacing faulty inlet manifold gaskets."
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/index.php?url=/carbycar/index.htm

This could explain some of your gearbox problems maybe, although not the cutting out.

There's looooads of faults on there for the newer clio's.