Starting problem

[MONDO9]

...and yours is 1.6vvt, which statistically makes the dephaser the main suspect.

DSM I have exactly the same problem with my megane dynamique vvt 04, this has been happening a few month now. had a dianogstics done and got the all clear but its still happenin !!!!!!

Lets not all jump on the expensive depahser band wagon! I have had mine changed along with several other items including oil changes, filters, plugs and it is still not starting properly from cold.

Im pretty sure we are all missing something with this model of megane as to many people have this problem, and there are loads of ideas as to what causes it, but none really fix it!


Simon

[DarkangelUK]

I'm having the same problem with my 53 plate 1.6 Privilege, morning start or at the end of the working day, start the engine and i get a really prominent ticking/rattling like a pencil hitting a fan and it conks out. If i press the accelerator after starting up, it starts and the rattle goes away within seconds. Stop the engine and it starts with no problems at all, only happens with a long period of inactivity. Was serviced about 6 months ago. My partner has been put down to a 3 day week at work cos of the crunch, and we have 2 kids in nursery so i'm kinda hanging off taking it to the garage at the moment.

[AlexB]

Rattling and stalling on startup is the dephaser problem. See my post in Links for the explanation what exactly fails inside the dephaser.

I'm having the same problem with my 53 plate 1.6 Privilege, morning start or at the end of the working day, start the engine and i get a really prominent ticking/rattling like a pencil hitting a fan and it conks out. If i press the accelerator after starting up, it starts and the rattle goes away within seconds. Stop the engine and it starts with no problems at all, only happens with a long period of inactivity. Was serviced about 6 months ago. My partner has been put down to a 3 day week at work cos of the crunch, and we have 2 kids in nursery so i'm kinda hanging off taking it to the garage at the moment.

[DSM]

Hi, well, this weekend the car has started first time in the morning, no problems at all, the only time this weekend it has played up has been third or fourth start today - first start fine, got to petrol station, started again, into car wash, started first time, into homebase, started hesitantly - it is firing, but not quite catching, hunting around at 500 revs.

Apart from that, no problems. Renault have it Wednesday to see what gremlins are lurking....

Dave

[DSM]

mine is nothing like that at all.

Does that rule out dephaser problems ?

mine fires, just doesn`t catch...

hopefully nothing to worry about

Dave

[AlexB]

Simon and Dave,

More information is needed for the analysis. It would help to record and plot the operating parameters of the engine when starting, warming up and driving. Some time ago I posted an example of that for my engine. I did it just for fun, but in your case it can be really useful. I used ELM327 interface and ScanMaster program.

[DarkangelUK]

start the engine and i get a really prominent ticking/rattling like a pencil hitting a fan and it conks out. If i press the accelerator after starting up, it starts and the rattle goes away within seconds.

Anything like these?
https://www.ctanm.pub.ro/~savu/cipman/zg ... JADDRO.mp3
https://www.ctanm.pub.ro/~savu/cipman/zg ... ihai_c.mp3

I'll have to check the mp3's at home and i'll let you know. My issue only happens on the 1st start after a long period of inactivity, any subsequent starts there after are ok. I'll also try and grab my own sound clip from it, it's a consistent rattle like something plastic against cog teeth that speeds up with engine revs, only lasts a few seconds. Ironically it started no problem this morning.

[AlexB]

Yes, it is supposed to be intermittent and will be happening more and more frequently. Start sourcing the dephaser+belts...

start the engine and i get a really prominent ticking/rattling like a pencil hitting a fan and it conks out. If i press the accelerator after starting up, it starts and the rattle goes away within seconds.

Anything like these?
https://www.ctanm.pub.ro/~savu/cipman/zg ... JADDRO.mp3
https://www.ctanm.pub.ro/~savu/cipman/zg ... ihai_c.mp3

I'll have to check the mp3's at home and i'll let you know. My issue only happens on the 1st start after a long period of inactivity, any subsequent starts there after are ok. I'll also try and grab my own sound clip from it, it's a consistent rattle like something plastic against cog teeth that speeds up with engine revs, only lasts a few seconds. Ironically it started no problem this morning.

[DSM]

Renault had the car today, left it overnight.

It started first time this morning.

Diagnostic says no problems.

Lady workshop supervisor rang me and said no issues found, could they keep until tomorrow to see if it did it again. I said yes, and, if the computer did not detect a problem, they`d have to resort to good old fashioned mechanic skill to sort it. She agreed. I asked what was "first in line" to try, her mechanic suggested cleaning the throttle body - so, they`ll do that, see if it makes any difference, if not, we`ll move on to the next thing !!

Cheers

Dave

[DarkangelUK]

I've been quoted £220 in total for replacing the dephaser and belt, is that about right? Seems to be a common issue, he rattled off the price without needing to look it up ¬_¬

[markren2004]

thats a very good price....infact unbelievable.
dephaser is a £130 part, plus new cambelt kit, parts alone will be £220 ?? plus a good couple of hours labour.
ask for a breakdown of the quote to see what your getting for the money.

also consider replacing the water pump at same time as a precaution as it requires all the same labour and belts if it goes.

[DSM]

Throttle body was cleaned out 10 days ago, i don`t like to tempt fate but i haven`t had to go back to them yet !!

Dave

[DarkangelUK]

OK got the proper price after they looked at it, £627! That's with a 10% discount because of the amount of work needed. Called Renault customer services to let them know what I thought of the issue, they gave me a goodwill gesture of another 10% discount, so total cost is £564. That's the dephaser and the water pump, they also had to do work on the alternator belt. I pick it up today so here's hoping it's running like brand new ¬_¬

[Sammie87]

I am having a similar problem with my Megane Dynamic 1.4, it has 45000 on the clock and is a 03 plate.
Can someone please explain what the dephaser is? I don't understand alot about cars but I have picked up alot since buying my car, which has had endless problems.

[russellhearn69]

Hi,
I am having the same problem with my 2004 Megane 1.6, it sounds like the second mp3 that was posted before, i have just had a full service done on the car about 2 weeks ago and it still makes the same noise, is this something i can fix myself with a hammer? cause believe me it's getting close.
Is this in any way damaging the engine or is it nothing too serious to be worrying about