Getting Intermittent Faults fixed

[Lee]

Afternoon,

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas or has had a similar problem.

Once again the engine temperature sensor on the Trophy is on the blink. Sometimes reading fine, others reading no engine temperature or just bouncing up and down.

Last time this happened I took it in to the dealers and it didnt do it so they wouldnt fix it. A few days later it did it again so I took it straight down and left them the car.

This week its started doing it again, except for the last two days. They have the car again tomorrow so hopefully it will screw up, but I doubt it.

My big worry is they wont do anything with it, then next Friday Im driving to the South of France, when of course its bound to go wrong.

Im not comfortable driving it all that way knowing its not 100% even though I have AA cover Id much rather not have to use it, especially on a car thats not even 3 months old.

Any ideas?

Ta.

Lee

 

[Turkish]

Set a digicam up in the car pointing at the dash and when it starts to f**k up record it, then take it in as evidence. Failing that if the sensor is cheap then just buy a couple replace the current one and keep the other as a spare.

 

[dk]

shouldnt this be in the exterior and mechanical section

 

[Lee]

Ill pick up a sensor Friday if they wont fix it.

I did wonder Dave, but figured it was more a General question, not necessarily just about my issue. Feel free to move it though.

 

[Munson]

Lee, you will find the fault occurs more reliably when you rag the sh*t out of it. Line it in every gear and itll soon start happening. Although once it starts happening STOP ragging it - I payed the price of accidentally continuing to cane it while the gauge was reading zero.

 

[Munson]

Quote: Originally posted by Lee on 15 September 2005
Ill pick up a sensor Friday if they wont fix it.


AFAIK it isnt the sensor dude, its the connections.

 

[Lee]

Quote: Originally posted by Roy Munson on 15 September 2005
Lee, you will find the fault occurs more reliably when you rag the sh*t out of it. Line it in every gear and itll soon start happening. Although once it starts happening STOP ragging it - I payed the price of accidentally continuing to cane it while the gauge was reading zero.


Cheers Roy, Ill try that theory out tonight on the way home.

 

[Munson]

Trust me brother, I spent so much time trying to get the problem fixed on my Cup, its now my specialist subject LOL

 

[jonritzmann]

My 182 started to do this after about 2k miles. Took it to dealers who loosened the grip/clip on the wires on the temp sensor as apparently they are put on too tight at factory.

While he was messing with wires he was able to get the gauge to drop even when at full temp. He was able to replicate problem on demand. So after playing with clip on wires, he moved it away from the sensor so there was more flex, any slight movement would not cause gauge to miss read. He also said the switch was bi-directional so in theory if this gauge miss reads then it should cause engine fueling to change and compensate.... not what you want when it is running at normal temperature....

I have never seen the problem since for a good few 5k miles more after the guy at the sunderland dealership fixed it.



Hope this helps,

 

[Lee]

David, you may want to move this to Power, mechanical etc.

Can anyone point me in the direction of where it is under the bonnet please? A picture would be handy.

Ill pull and prod it tonight see if I can sort it out.

Cheers for your help.

Lee

 

[jonritzmann]

its at the far right towards the back iirc. He had to reach really far down to get to it - he had lots of fun doing it while engine was red hot

 

[rwaterman]

Mate, if the problem occurs why not phone the AA get them to take a look?

At least they will see it, right a report out which you can then show Renault and they should be able to do something about it... I know I would rather do that then drive it to France and have it balls up......

Rob.

 

[Munson]

Quote: Originally posted by rwaterman on 15 September 2005
Mate, if the problem occurs why not phone the AA get them to take a look? At least they will see it, right a report out which you can then show Renault and they should be able to do something about it... I know I would rather do that then drive it to France and have it balls up......Rob.


Thats a good idea. Either way I wouldnt drive mine any distance with this fault, knowing what I know. Especially if its on a driving spree.

 

[upperbank172]

Ive got exactly the same fault on my 182. Done it every time Ive driven itthis week but Harratts whove got the car at the moment cannot get the fault to happen for them - despite taking it for a roadtest today. They are keeping it overnight so fingers crossed for tomoz..!!!

 

[jonritzmann]

tell them to loosen the cable/wire ties around the wires that go into the temp sensor. Thats all they did with mine and problem sorted.

 

[yee_har]

I had this on my 6 m.o. 182 this Tuesday. Half a mile from work and sudden power loss, temp. gauge on zero, feathered the accelerator and managed to limp in to work...where it dies and refused to restart. Tail pipes sooty as hell.

Tried it an hour later - nothing. Mulled it over for a few hours - including lining up Renault dealer to have a look at it - and then called AA. It started on a floored accelerator (the old flooded carb trick?!) and he checked the diags. Nothing wrong and nothing stored in memory. "Did I want it taken to the dealers for them to use until it went wrong or did I want to chance it?" Hmmm....lemme see.
Been fine ever since. But where will it happen next?

Oh yeah, just back from a 2 week 3,500 mile trip round including South of France!

Id get the AA involved - if only to get another instance of the fault/symptoms logged. Maybe we should try to force Renault (with the AA) to recognise the fault/do a recall.


[Edited by yee_har on 15 September 2005 at 9:07pm]

 

[@Spoonie]

Why do renault continue to ignore the fact this is happening? Within a company that big youd think they would have either issued a product recall or advised every dealership on how to address the issue. Whats even more shocking is it continues to occur on newer cars, understandable if it was on the first batch of 182s - but on the Trophy! Not good..


[Edited by Spoonie on 15 September 2005 at 10:25pm]

 

[chris'172]

Hiya guys, i posted this the other day, my tail pipe is very sooty too. I didnt notice the temperature sensor being on zero though, but very erractic revs and lots of smoke the next morning. So what is the worst that can happen if I dont get it fixed? Was the 1st time and not happened since, but still smoking exhaust!



Hi there, wondering if you could help me please! Friday night, warms car up, didnt start 1st time, drove it a couple of miles, stoped the car for 5 mins then(shopping, lol) then started her up, again she didnt start 1st time. Tried to pull away from garage, i didnt put any petrol in, it was low but according to the comp it still had about 60miles left. she had no power, just crawled along, this is a 04 172 by the way, so reversed her back, again, just crawling, i noticed the revs were really low, like she wanted to stall, pressed the accelerator in neutral and revs went really high, this was happening for a couple of mins,low and then high, very erratic then she seemed to be ok. Next morning, she was smoking loads from the zorst, janspeed decat sports i think, grey smoke but lots of it and for a good 10 mins, sorry this is soooo long, but anyone got any ideas please? it is still under warranty so if i took her along to reno, would they charge me to take a look at her? thanks very much in advance.

 

[Lee]

Bloody typical, I managed to get it to do it all the way home last night, then again this morning on my way in.

Then I took one of the service guys out for a bit of a joy ride and the sodding thing wouldnt do it once.

He gave me the usual "well put the clip on it", which means sod all as all stored faults are cleared when you restart the car.

To top it off the girl who had taken my booking had told me I could get a lift to work, she lied, they dont have drivers. Luckily one of the guys there did give me a lift to work.