Happy New Year everyone!
Last month I bought a 2001 Renault Scenic RX4 Privilege 1.9dci from an expat in Spain. The car had around 120K miles on the clock and was advertised as having a brand new clutch and gearbox. The seller said he was moving back to the UK and this was the only reason for the sale. It tuns out I was deceived big time... read on...
Within the first 800 miles and only 3 days after I bought the car, it broke down. The clutch was not functional. I was given some receipts for work done at a Renault shop in Spain - from there I found the contact details of the lady, who owned the car from 2005-2008. She was a UK musician, who had moved to live in Spain in 2005. In an e-mail she wrote:
"Feb 2008 the car lost power while we were driving it, when we stopped, we checked it and couldnt see anything wrong, so we started it again, the pedal sucked itself to the floor and hit full revs for at least 15 minutes, we tried to turn it off and even unplugged the battery but it continued, there was a lot of smoke and we thought it was going to blow up, the fire brigade were callled!
Thankfully it stopped on its own, probably because it burnt out of oil ect..
The garage it went to said the turbo had gone it would cost at least 3000euro to replace and then they could tell us what other damage had occured because of it doing what it did!
We cut our loses at that point because if we had been going along the road when it had happen'd it would have killed us as there was no way of stopping it! we did not want to have anything to do with it after that.
We advertised it in a local english mag and nick came with the paper work and a grua and paid 1000 euros for it, for a mechanic to fix it, it may have been worth it but if they have said nothing about the turbo to you then you need to get it checked!"
Does anyone know what may have caused the car to do what it did??
Edited by lonsdale on 02/01/2009 at 18:11
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Does anyone know what may have caused the car to do what it did??
Turbo failure is extremely common on the 1.9dCi engine up to around 2003. Most experts seem to agree it is caused by a combination of EGR valve failure and Renault's over-ambitious 18,000 mile service intervals.
Google 'Renault dci turbo failure'. The results speak for themselves.
That said, 120,000 miles is not an unreasonable life for a turbo IMHO. On the shorter side of reasonable maybe, but reasonable nonetheless.
The runaway of the revs you experienced can happen on any diesel engine if the turbocharger fails, and is caused by the failed turbo pouring its lubricating oil into the engine's intake. The only way to stop the engine is to block its air intake, or stall it against the brakes. Both of which take some doing in the heat of the moment.
Cheers
DP
Edited by DP on 02/01/2009 at 19:08
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Thanks DP!
What happens when the engine runs on max revs for 15-20 mins when the turbocharger fails? Could the engine be damaged and if so, how?
Edited by lonsdale on 02/01/2009 at 20:12
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If the turbo fails then the engine will almost certainly have major damage.
But you seem to have bought this after it was fixed. Or have I misread or misinterpretted your post? If it went wrong before and was fixed then it should now be okay. Or are there new problems with the engine?
I doubt the clutch problem is related to engine/turbo.
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The engine sucked up all its engine oil into the turbo, and was running on its own oil, The engine would have been a total loss, and must have been subsequently replaced as it would never have run again.
this has noting to do with the clutch issue.
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Thanks for your advice. I reckon someone has tinkered with the engine as it was running fine. I just got the estimate from the Renault garage, who insist that the following needs to be done on the car:
1. Install New Clutch, receiver and clutch hydraulic cylinder.
2. Change an engine mount
3. Install a New Catalytic Converter!!!
Could the cat converter be clogged up with oil as a result of the turbo failure?
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