Engine Probs at speed

[mustdash]

Hi all, I'm hoping that someone, somewhere can help me out!! An I also apologise if it has been covered before - I've tried to look, but couldn't see anything similar.

I recently bought a second hand Megane 225 Sport, 55 plate with 17000 miles. About a week after getting it, it developed (I use that term loosely as it may have already been there!) a fault, where by at about 90mph, if I try and accelerate (to overtake for example, cos I never speed normally! ) the engine loses power and refuses to go any quicker. Even when the speed drops, and I try to accelerate again it won't have it. It has been into Reanult (Sutton Park Coventry), where they changed the Oxygen sensor. This stopped the problem for about 2 weeks, but it has cropped up again over the last coouple of days. Having to drop from 90mph to 35 on a M-Way at rush hour isn't safe, and is actually quite scary!! If anyone has had a similar problem or can offer me some pointers to pass on to Renault I'd be grateful! Other than that, I have to say, I LOVE THIS CAR!!! And to think I nearly bought a Focus ST instead!!

Cheers guys and gals!

Rich

[andywills]

coils? tdc sensor?

[keeforelli]

shouldnt it still be under Manufacturers warranty?

with the car being possibly dangerous to drive i would take it back to the dealership and demand action!!!...simply not acceptable on a 55plate low mileage performance model!!!!

at least with the focus ST it should have run right....demand action..Renault get off too lightly for poor quality....

would be interested to hear how you get on....

as for the issue it could be a myriad of things..so will need a diagnostic..but DO NOT PAY for this!!!!

this a high tech piece of kit still worth a fair wedge...get ya moneys worth and the service you deserve....


any other symptoms?

[mustdash]

Keeforelli - Thanks for the input!

The last time it was in, it was all done under warranty. They couldnt find anything wrong on the diagnostic, but apparently someone knew of the problem and its cause/fix. I'm going to make sure that I'm not paying for this issue to be fixed - although I'm concerned where I stand if the issue recurrs after October when the warranty runs out. The other thing is it wasn't bought from a Renault dealership - it was bought from a Kia one (have no idea how they got hold of it, but hey!). As for the comment about it being dangerous - I mentioned that when I booked it in the other day (going in on Tuesday) and the woman on the phone said "well, driving at those speeds is illegal!". I KNOW!!!!!

The only other symptoms that I can try to describe is that it feels like (in my very limited knowledge of cars and engines!) is that it is either not firing properly, there's no Oxygen (as per the previous fault) or there's no fuel (although it doesnt cut out, just loses power!).

[keeforelli]

hi there....

as for where you stand after the warranty you are covered for 12 months if the fault is connected to the initial warranty work carried out- ie it was a sensor replaced and that sensor is still to blame-

as for what the fault could be there are SO many different things that can cause air/fuel mixture/firing problems that it is impossible to tell...i havent seen any 225 owners reporting running issues- its normally the 1.4/1.6 owners who suffer that- if you look back at some of my posts i have had problems with how the car pulls which feels like just not firing properly.....tho not the hi speed one you do which makes me think it might be quite different- for a car with 225bhp to struggle at 90MPH seems unusual- on mine its at the top end of revs where it will normally begin to pull properly...

unless they can prove that a car failing to run properly like this is wear and tear- which i doubt, renault are still liable, as are the kia garage who sold it to you -as they will have supplied a 12 month standard warranty and fall under the 'sale of goods act'..(you ahould start quoting that!!!!..frighten them with trading standards!!!!)- any item sold has to be fit for purpose (for 6-12 months i think) and you are entitled to that- your car clearly is not- the supplying garage are legally obliged to deal with it or you can reject the car within a set time frame- the warranty renault provides also legally obliges them to carry out repairs as a result of mechanical failure

'As you may be aware, your vehicle was supplied with a comprehensive three year or sixty thousand mile manufacturers warranty. During the warrantable period, we have a legal obligation to repair faults on the vehicle, which have manifested due to a manufacturing defect. After the warranty period ends, the owner of the vehicle is responsible for all repair costs.'....this is renault uk customer services response to my problems- you are clearly covered unless the fault was caused by non renault repair work within the warranty period and also just maje sure you have a renault service history......


FIGHT THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DONT PAY A PENNY!!!!!!!!!

im quite passionate about this now.....megane owners have paid good money for poor quality- we deserve better!!!!!!!!!!

[mustdash]

Well, tomorrow is now the third time that my car will have been in to have this fault looked at. I've been keeping a written record of when the fault happens to try and get to the bottom of it. It only seems to happen when the road / air is damp or wet (or the day after a rain fall - water still in a componant perhaps?). The symptoms are as described before, but I have started to take my feet off all the pedals when the fault occurs. I've then started to depress the clutch (so that the engine speed drops to idle). Trying to rev the engine (with the clutch depressed) makes the following happen..... Nothing! There is no response from the engine at all. After a few seconds, the accelorator 'kicks in' again, and the engine revs. However, the only way to seem to cure this is to pull over and turn it off / on again (only for it to happen a few miles later!). When pulled over, the engine can be revved as normal. Does anyone know what sort of throttle assembly the Megane 225 uses? Is it something that may be affected by water / damp if it cracked or got a leak?
Thanks for all your help so far guys and gals!
Rich

[keeforelli]

Hi there..as far as im aware, the megane is drive by wire.....electronic throttle...hopefully someone on here might now if it could be at fault...but its prob something sensor related....?

[andywills]

i'm going to sit on the fence next to keeforelli and wave my fist towards the dealer, cosumer direct are great and they scare the sh1t out of dealerships. i got the handsfree system on my 04 megane repaired last month free of charge after the dealership "tried" to refuse to do it

[mustdash]

The saga continues....

The car was booked into Sutton Park Reanult Warwick for today. However, on the way into work yesterday, the car started to fault again, so I popped into the gargae and nabbed a tech to take him for a test drive. We hit the M40 for our little road trip, and would you believe (after several tries with different dealers and techs), I managed to get the car to fault with someone from Renault in the car (I think going from 90 to 30 and having to cut across 3 lanes of traffic scared the crap out of him). And, for the first time, error messages appeared. Check injection and ASR fault. The ESP light also light up and showed a fault (although the tech thought that was because I'd been flooring the accelarator while there was no reaction). Anyway, Renault decided that my car was dangerous and took it off me there and then. i will find out later today what the issue was (hopefully) and post back, as I'm sure you're all dying to know!!!

Rich

[Busy_Man]

Hopefully this will give you an answer and decent resolution. Glad the fault happened with a mech in the car, must be a new underware moment everytime you drop from "national limit ish" to 30 especially in lane 3 of a motorway.

Good luck

[mustdash]

Well.... fingers crossed the fault has been sorted!!

Apparently, two years ago the car had a new fuel tank (for whatever reason!). The cause of my problem (or so they think) was a bit of rubber glove left in the fuel tank. This was getting sucked up and blocking the fuel into the engine! Hopefully, that is it, fixed!

However...............

i've been told that to fix the annoying squuek that my steering wheel makes everytime I turn a corner, I also need a new steering colum! I've had the car 3 months and this will be its 5th trip to a garage!! Is this a record??!!!