My Auris has repeaters within the wing mirrors. At the recent MOT test (same garage but a new tester) I was told both repeaters had failed. The parts had to come from Toyota for £80 each. I think there's a good chance that last year, when it passed, one of them had already failed. That was a different tester though....

UPDATE - but first the airlock suggestion...No chance. The cap is screwed tight, and the engine is literally disposing of water at a variable rate up to a litre a week. I stopped using coolant, it became too expensive.

The new information I have is two-fold, that I did not have back in February 2019:

ONE - Asked the best mechanic I know, what is the assessment. He replied perfectly reasonably after a short exchange, really he needs it in to look it over, etc. I view that as the beginning of costs. So, that’s a critical point. Back to this later...

TWO - Cylinder head tightening isn’t what it used to be! Look, please don’t laugh when I tell you what I have discovered, is the bolt tightening sequence for these engines...I checked the dates on the material I obtained because I thought it must be April fool’s day, here it is, I paraphrase:

1 - Tighten bolts in the sequence given, to X torque.

2 - Go have some Chocolat et croissant - ok it actually said wait a few minutes

3 - Massage the head bolts with an even blend of creme de menthe and Napoleon brandy, for approximately 30 seconds, while looking askance at a photograph of Monsieur Macron and saying a prayer for the Notre Dame - you must be facing Sud at the time. Ok this one is made up.

4 - Tighten to X torque now, plus half a turn, after waiting the requisite amount of time.

Look, I make a mockery of this, but I cannot see thi complicated procedure being followed to the letter, by every shop floor worker that assembles these engines, on every occasion. It’s far too finicky. I am used to tightening in a certain sequence, and maybe yes, having got the correct torque, applying a quarter turn more or something. But this, waiting and so on, no way that always happens.

It suggests to me, these cylinder heads have become very prone to warping or at least distorting, and hence the complicated procedures. Other engines are similarly particular in their tightening-up, that I have seen the handbooks for.

Everything, points to either a design flaw/weakness, and/or an assembly failure to obey this rather fanciful procedure. It’s such a s*d of a problem to have, the manufacturer, the dealer, everyone can argue until the cows come home, about how you basically have failed to prove conclusively this party or that party is to blame.

I know who is not to blame - the hapless owner that was meticulous about putting it in for service, and kept a close eye on the coolant, oil, air etc situations.

In a nutshell, this problem has crept over us. In the beginning it is too slight for the dealer to take seriously, and by the time it is swallowing a litre per week, it’s out of warranty.

I couldn’t have done any more than I did. I wouldn’t take it to the dealer, because I don’t live on Mars. In this world you need to have a strong case, to get something fixed. My first horror thought was I hope it’s not the cylinder head/gasket.

Bottom line - if it was an easy fix, it wouldn’t be in these pages. If it’s a hard one, and as common as I believe, the dealers have circulated the info, and know the avoidance and delay tactics.

They maybe make a grand on these cars. Slightly more if you buy servicing or whatever.

It does not say to me not to buy Renault - it says to me that electric cars are long overdue. We almost bought one in 2015. We almost bought the diesel version of this Clio mk 4. Woulda coulda shoulda.

My pressing question now is, how to extract from the vexed situation. All the options are unpalatable. You buy a new car to avoid problems. We were sold an inherently flawed vehicle, and proving it is in practical terms impossible without spending more money than the thing is worth. You can’t play one lot of mechanics against the other - they usually won’t play that game.

I could whip off the top of the engine, the covers, and just guess-tighten the head a bit more. I could advise the wife to flog the car to some unsuspecting buyer. We could take it to the dealer and start the whole business off in that direction - it will begin with them needing the car, and as I can’t trust them, I doubt that will make me comfortable.

Lastly, give it to my trusted competent mechanic. Great. If it is the cylinder head, it’s a grand before you have your first tea-break.

We don’t want to flog somebody else our problems. We don’t want to be minus our car for an indefinite period. We don’t want to sign up for a non-specific cost that begins with the engine being dismantled, even if we do trust the garage doing it.

It’s absolutely wretched, this situation. I haven’t even covered all the options, because the ones I left out are even more undignified, risky, and repulsively lacking in integrity, from those already detailed.

My solution to 80% of the problems of the bulk of present cars, is to buy an EV. I think any other solution, is a stop-gap until that one is implemented. I really won’t be unhappy if the problems are relegated to software glitches and chassis/suspension/running gear repairs. Even the battery issues, are largely negated, if you buy an EV with liquid-cooling of the pack.

All the radiators go, all the engine problems go, virtually no transmission to speak of, you’ve even got secondary brakes by engine braking, should you have brake failure. If lorries were electric, all those accidents where the brakes fail, would never have happened, because in an EV the physical friction brakes are hardly ever used, when engine braking is properly implemented.

No, these things are museum pieces as far as I am concerned. I just want to offload the lot, and go EV. I am too old to find the allure of vibration and a screaming engine take precedent over practicalities! I will write all these unpalatable options down I think, and assign them the numbers one to six, then throw a die for it...

That stuff must add a bit to the NO2 everyone is screaming about .... :-(

Just like all the air that gets sucked into the engine - 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% other gases. >>...

Towing a caravan will put the engine under a reasonable amount of load helping the rings bed in, a lot of people still think they live in the 1960s, treating new cars too gently causes bore glazing and subsequent high oil consumption. With any new car or bike I own, I'll find a nice stretch of clear road, rev it to just under the redline (but not full throttle) in 3rd, then lift off allowing engine braking to slow me to 30mph or so - repeat a couple more times. Never had oil consumption issues with an engine I've run from new.

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Dry clutch DSG judders are a sign of clutch plate wear and I got my DSG clutchpack replaced at 35k miles on a 1.4TSI petrol. This was within the 3+1 year extended warrantee....