Renault Megane (1996 - 1998) - 96 1.4 (8v) Failure to start after running fine -

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Mon 4 Aug 2008 16:17
96 1.4 (8v) Failure to start after running fine - - Mike H
My Megane, details as above, cut out or stalled (not sure which, difficult to say) after driving about a quarter of a mile three weeks ago, and wouldn't restart. The mechanic who attended said that it seemed to be an immobiliser problem. It was recovered to a garage, who spent two days looking at it intermettently. They reckon it was caused by a battery not at its peak (unlikely as it's only about a year old), and found some fault codes in the ECU which they cleared & it was then OK.

Similar thing happened on saturday - wouldn't restart after being parked for 5 minutes. Turned over fine but wouldn't fire - seemed pretty much like an immobiliser problem again. When the breakdown truck arrived 20 minutes later, it started first time! It didn't seem to pick up cleanly from idle, and the mechanic thought it sounded as though it was running rich. I have recently changed the oil and filter plus new spark plugs 6 weeks ago. It's done about 5000 since the air filter has been replaced. He suggested that perhaps one of the engine management sensors (e.g. CPS) might be faulty, so I've booked it in for a diagnostic plug-in at my local garage. He also commented that these cars suffered form immobiliser problems - and indeed, I've had the same problem, but only twice, in the last four years.

I should say that I then drove it 200 miles on the sunday, on the motorway and across country, and it was running perfectly sweetly, although perhaps a bit down on power - with a 1.4 8v Megane it's difficult to say!

Has anyone else had similar symptoms, and if it was a problem with the immobiliser, what was the fix?
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Mon 4 Aug 2008 16:23
96 1.4 (8v) Failure to start after running fine - - Screwloose

The immobilizer shouldn't be able to cut a running engine. I'd agree that the CPS is the most likely culprit - and may not leave any codes.
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Tue 5 Aug 2008 10:40
96 1.4 (8v) Failure to start after running fine - - Mike H
Agreed - my son was driving it at the time, and he was 200 miles away, which is why I can't be sure. Unfortunately it's unlikely that the garage would track down an intermittent CPS fault, so I think I might get it replaced anyway.
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Tue 5 Aug 2008 11:00
96 1.4 (8v) Failure to start after running fine - - nmidd
Dont know if this is of any help but my wifes car had similar problem. Sometimes it would be fine and others wouldnt start at all. Was fixed by removing and cleaning TDC sensor on top of gearbox housing. It was fine after that.
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