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My three and a half year old (37k miles) Espace diesel has suffered a complete engine failure. An independant engineers report blames this on an inherant manufacturing defect. Renault claims this is unique and is offering to contribute a pittance towards the cost of repair. Anyone know diferent?
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Can confirm Espace diesel engine problems. Another reader had to fork out £8,500 for a new engine and turbo for a 45,000 miler. Got nothing from Renault. I didn't believe this at first, but he supplied documentary evidence (a copy of the bill).
HJ
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Ian,
I'd be very interested to hear as much of the engineers report (or at least the reason for failure) as you are willing to share.
David
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Remember British Leyland?Renault is almost the French equivilant today as regards build quality and parts availability/prices.They really are a 'whats the point'brand.
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Check my latest auction report. On Friday a reasonable enough looking dark metallic green 121,000 mile 96P Laguna 1.8RT sold for just £1,400. The trade has found these cars out.
HJ
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£8500 for a new engine and turbo?!, I'm glad I don't own one of these!
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why would it be economically viable to pay 8.5 k for a replacement engine ? he must be crazy !
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I suppose you mean the old 2088cc deisel?
This not entirely misconceived,and rather lightweight engine has appeared in Renaults for many years without particularly inherent problems.
It was always rated on the pedestrian side for power,and,given regular oil cnges,and,I repeat,GIVEN REGULAR OIL CHANGES,has not given any more trouble than say,the XUD,itself far from being a paragon.
And guarantees mean what they say and are contracts.
A one year guarantee means what it says,we need to get our heads round two things here:
Thing one: time wears cars out more than mileage these days,like aeroplanes.
Thing two; if your car is not doing regular long runs you are damaging it,especially if its a deisel,similarly,if its a turbo deisel you need to max it on a regular basis or it will clog up with combustion debris.
If you dont care to do this you will find that taxis will save you money.
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Robin wrote:
'Thing one: time wears cars out more than mileage these days,like aeroplanes.'
Interesting point - Do the people who repair cars when they wear out agree?
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Three and a half million Trobby owners had no option to be right,wrong,or indifferent.If they wanted a car they got a Trobby!
In the days when I had a lot of space I considered putting in a sort of perimeter road and buying a Trobby to go round inspecting my plantings in.
Because it had a roof.....
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As an owner of an identical vehicle I should be grateful for any info you have on the failure. Also I wonder what your servicing regime has been? I change engine oil every 3000 miles with a quality semi synthetic. Has yours been "dealer" serviced?
Concerned of Sussex!
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I had a Safrane 2.5 Turbo diesel automatic that at 75K developed a ticking noise - took it immediately to my local independent garage where I actually witnessed engine pack up. After stripping it down and having an RAC inspection, the diagnosis was that the timing gears had lost some teeth and thus wrecked the bottom half of engine, however the oppinion was that it could be rebuilt and parts were placed on order with Renault. I did at this point telephone Renault UK and explain that the professional oppinion was that this was an inherrent fault and not due to fair wear and tear as the vehicle had a full service history and had never missed an oil change. The lady at Renault basically said 'out of warranty period and tough s---t'. Then to add insult to injury after waiting over eight weeks for the ordered parts and regularly chasing them the garage was told that Renault would not give any indication as to when they would become available. I then telephoned Renault as I was desperate to have my vehicle back on the road and asked how soon for a replacement engine - 'you can have a replacement engine in 24 hours !' I had to go for this as I am self employed and need my car and with some discount from an understanding and sympathetic Renault franchise paid £4105-92.
Personally I think a Trabant would be more welcome on my drive than another Renault.
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3and a half million Trabant buyers cannot be wrong .You will always hear the horror stories,Renault is the number one importer into Germany and its cars are nowhere near the bottom of the reliability charts,far more reliable tha Fiat or Opel.
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Maybe Renault Germany run a better operation than Renault UK with regard to parts back up and standards in the dealerships,but the Renaults in Germany are still just Renaults.If they are more reliable than Fiat or Opel/Vauxhall it does not amount to much.My experience of Renault parts availability is that they are often unavailable or there could be about 15 different choices or up grades.Renault...pointless.
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I got my petrol Espace at 12,000 miles (8 valve engine, 1995) and have clocked up 65,000 miles. No actual engine problems at all, it's crisp and lively to drive as it's loosened up over the miles. (Only problems have been cooling fans seizing and temperature sensor failure.)
I was thinking of getting a new Scenic or Espace soon, but I'm not so sure now having read Renault reports on this site. Maybe I've been lucky.
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James,
I never knock anything for the sake of it, just pure facts here.
I look after an Espace 2.0 Petrol (more than one actually) that is you vehicle but another few miles down the road. It came to me at about 90,000 miles and now has covered 132,000. It had a full history and was in good order.
Just looking at my database I see it has 19 invoices recorded in 19 months, including regular servicing. An invoice a month! The cost must be £1500 on service/repairs over that period. That may not seem a lot beside Ian's problems but it's the worse car I look after for costs. It too has one cooling fan seized and disconnected and the other just hanging on, that'll be another £300 before next summer if they keep it!
But it is one of the best people carriers in my opinion so there is a plus.
I hope yours is a bit better over the miles to come. Don't leave the timing belt much longer and do the tensioner as well because they often don't make more than 90,000mls. Treat the cooling system with respect, they are a pig to bleed if the level drops, air locks will also affect the fuelling.
David
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My French neighbour has a diesel Espace which has done 120,000 reliable miles. Before that he had a Renualt 19 that did 130,000 reliable miles. The only trouble his wife has hed with her new shape Scenic is that the plasticx front wings changed shape. There is no doubt that, like Range Rovers, Renaults can be reliable.
HJ
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HJ,where is this reliable Range Rover,surely a contradiction in terms?
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Methinks Mr Lucas has as strong a dislike for Renault as I do for shady grey imports and BM..............;-)
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Not wrong there,BMW can be a bit hit &miss.
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