completely shat on by Renault! (182 misfire)

[rwaterman]

My car has been in for a week and they have diagnosed the problem as spark plugs and leads.
The cause, they say is because I have cleaned my engine bay..... I went up to renault with a friend who is a mechanic to inspect the spark plugs which looking at 1 of them is very rusty and corroded which is the cause but because I have cleaned the engine they are saying its my fault and that it will cost me £258.17 inc vat!
The problem I have is I only cleaned my engine for the first time the thursday before it went in and only cleaned it with a little spray bottle which does not cause the amount of corrosion which is on the spark plug, so obviously in both my eyes and my buddys eyes this water contamination has been going on a lot longer but because I have a clean engine they are saying that I have probably done it before so will not endorse the warranty!!

Has anything like this happened to any before?

This is a terrible coinsidence that I clean it on the thursday and by saturday its broken down, if I hadnt of cleaned the engine and it had the two years worthe of dirt on it then all will probably be ok so choked by the whole thing to be honest...
I phoned customer services who didnt seem that interested, they need to speak to the dealer but whilst this is all going on I still dont have my car..
I dont think that this will be a successful claim for me so whats left to do but cough up the bill. All this just because I decided to clean my engine for the first time a few days before.

Rob.

 

[Lam7r]

Did they tell you about the problem and the work which needed to be done to fix it before they did the work? What i mean is did you authorise the work or did they just do it (i.e. under warrenty) and then after they did it hit you with the bill.

If you didnt authorise them to do the work then refuse to pay the bill, on the grounds you didnt authorise them to carry out the work as you were given no indication of the costs involved.

I would also kick off at Renault UK. Cleaning the engine bay shouldnt invalidate your warrenty as such, They do however have a point in saying you "could" have contaminated something with the water/spray you used. Saying that tho is also like refusing to carry out warrenty work because you jet washed the car once and got something wet whilst cleaning the wheel arch.

Best advice i can give is to keep on at them about it. They cant prove it was your fault.

Also if you werent told of the cost and wether or not you wanted the work to go ahead then i would go with this too.

 

[alexbleubolt]

that sucks, bad one,

 

[rwaterman]

They havent done the work yet so I havent payed anything! I just got the call this morning saying "the problem is that I have water contamination in my engine which has caused the spark plugs to corrode, you have obviously had the engine cleaned which has caused this so the bill is 258.17 vat included as this will not be covered under warranty!!"

Because of the amount of corrosion on the plug(s) its obvious that the contamination has been going on a long while, but its my word against theres! I honestly only lightly cleaned the engine and surrounding areas last thursday for the first time but they are saying I cant prove thats this has been the only time ive done it!!!

 

[MATT BLACK]

They've had you over there mate - proper taken the pi55

 

[MATT BLACK]

You sure you didnt have it power washed ??

 

[alexbleubolt]

have u got different air filter, and a pipe shoving air into the engine bay ? that way you'll get water going in their if its raining hard

 

[kully]

defo takin the p1ss ......................complain like hell buddy

 

[Bezza4]

They are saying that you can't prove that you haven't cleaned the engine bay before last Thursday. Well tell them that you want proof that you have cleaned it before if they are so convinced. And you want proof that the damage was caused by cleaning the engine bay.

At the end of the day it is your word against their's about how often you clean your engine bay. What happened to "the customer is always right"?

I hate Renault.

 

[rwaterman]

Matt black to clean my engine bay I used that auto gleam machine cleaner stuff, a paint brush and a hand held spray/mist bottle like what you get most cleaning products in..
I was so choked up when I was up there coz im so carefully with everything I like most on here love my car and take great pride in keeping it as mint as can be.
Ive been speaking to the manager at Dartford renault on and off all day and as it all stands now is that I have told them to go ahead with repairs because I need my car.
He has been speaking to customer services regarding this issue and if they decide to allow all or some of this to be done through warranty then It can be re-imbursed to me. Not hopeful though..
Another plan of mine was to take the car away and do the repairs myself but car isnt drivable so would need to get a tow which costs plus parts etc, and would still have to pay renault 1 hour labour £88.60 so wouldnt really be much better off, I just want my 182 back now.

 

[Kneel]

contact watchdog/trading standards. it rains and water gets into the engine bay through the floor etc, I doubt that having a quick clean around the engine bay should be able to corrode away the spark plugs, and if so surely renault should wanr about this somewhere in the ownership literature...

 

[rwaterman]

The spark plugs are tucked right away under the top of the engine block they say the only way to get water in there would be to pressure/steam wash the engine which I simply havent done

 

[stuart2088]

Have you owned the car since new?If not maybe a previous keeper has done a jet wash on it.
Having said that your efforts with autoglym and water wont have helped. Doesnt take long for corrosion to set in. Look at rust on brake discs left damp overnight.
I never understand why people jet wash or let any water clean under the bonnet. So many electrics under modern bonnets. Water and electrics just dont mix well. A wipe over is all thats needed.
I sympathise but i think your on a loser. Dont see how manufacturer can be responsible for rusty spark plugs.

 

[rwaterman]

stuart owned it from new I see what your saying was only a little water all electrical stuff was covered up should have been safe as I said spark plugs are out the way, im 99% certain its not my fault.......... Will just wait and see what they say, anyway pick my 182 up in the morning cant wait.