The Mégane II Owners' Club

Hello there everyone!

Just purchased a 2003 Megane 1.6 Dynamique from the auctions, 60k on the clock and seems very good condition, picked it up for £1900 which i thought was very cheap so was expecting problems (especially after some of the things i've been reading! lol). Its spent its first week in the garage where it needed a new alternator and various other sensors, plus an MOT. All this amounted to £660! After all the work (most of the cost was labour for them trying to diagnose the problems) the man at the garage seemed to think it was quite a nice little car. I've just recieved it back and it seems like a lovely car...

however the Radio was asking for a code as the battery had been disconnected, i must have enterted the wrong code and now all thats being displayed is 'ERROR', does anyone know how to reset it so i can try and put the correct code in? i've left it turned off for about 8 hours but it still is displaying 'ERROR', do you have to leave the radio on for it to reset or have i tottally broken it?!

Also i notice that of the 4 electric windows the passengers front side is not working at all, is this a common fault? will it just be a new motor? Anyone else experienced this fault? Could i switch the motor with one of the back windows?

Any help would be much appreciated - sorry for the essay!

Any other advice for me?
Many thanks - Sam

Sam - appreciate that this forum is to help with queries - so you may get the impression that everyone in the world has problems with this car - the one's that do are on here. There is n't a Meganesaregreat forum etc etc.

Windows - standard problem - use the search facility on the forum - bottom line is that the most costly fix is £ 300 at the dealers - also note that Ren have been paying for some recent fixes to younger cars

Radio code - sometimes this is typed on the registration docs/service books from renault - again search the forum - it may even say what the cost from the dealer is.

Disconnect the battery and it should let you enter a code.

Thanks very much for you responses.

Chevin - I'm aware that the majority of things people write on the internet are going to be problems as that is usually the reason people comment in the first place, if all is running well then there is no need to comment! However a lot of the problems are on the older models and mine is a 2003 which scares me a bit, but having said that, since getting it back from the garage, the little driving i have done has been fine and i think the car looks stunning. Has your car been problem free?

Regarding the window i think i'll leave that for now as i've spent a lot on it lately, do you know (or anyone else) if i can get a part online and fit it relatively easily myself?


Immobilizer - i did have that idea, although i swear the bloke at the garage said that after the battery has been disconnected then the fuel line will need to be switched on or something as the car thinks its been involved in a crash and stops feeding the engine with petrol? Is this true? Has anyone else heard anything about this?

Any other tips for me regarding preventing any problems before they occur or am i just being too pessimistic!

Much appreciated

Sam

see common issue viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8855

for 1.6 the main problem is the dephaser. Worth checking if car has had a cambelt/dephaser change, otherwise this is major cost in the next year (72k for cambelt and worth getting new dephaser at same time)
other common 1.6 issues are coils / cam sensor / tdc sensor and your probably due a new battery.
check the covers for changing the headlight bulbs are in place in the front wheel arch, expecially passenger side as water in there causes expensive havoc with the electrics.

Cheers Markren, very helpful

I've got a brand new battery and think a cam and lambda sensor was fitted for the MOT, so thats a few things ticked off although it looks like it will be wise to prepare myself for the cambelt/dephaser change in the near future. Wish i could get the bloody radio working!

S'furby,

Have 11/03 dynamique which failed with the dephaser at 40 months and cost £ 600 !. Got to 50 k miles without further mishap this time last year. Had service (i'm trying to sell it next Spring with FSH) and local dealer suggested following jobs with costs:
Timing belt - £ 500 k - done with dephaser
Discs - f & r - 2 x £ 300
Exhaust - £ 100
Wiring loom - £ 300 - to fix airbag warning light on dash
.......and the service was around £ 200.
NONE of these jobs were done - have had local independant on discs at £ 400 total. Used £ 5 plastic padding on exhaust to pass 2 MoT's and their messing with wiring loom under the passenger seat fixed the problem.

Currently have no working f/passenger window - that can wait until the spring before it goes.......other problem.....local dealer n.w M/cr are hopeless - actually dropped car off one day for service and they forgot to do it.......