HELP! blown engine@250miles

[_oo_]

hello. im from Mexico City.
its been 4 days since i took my BRAND NEW CLIO SPORT form the dealreship
i WAS being careful with the engine, since it WAS new.
when i reached 100miles i started to rev it a little more... @ like 7krpm... but that WAS twice
one day i was drivin @ like 60mph when all of a sudden this A-hole stops in front of me. so i had to apply the brakes and change from 3rd, to 2nd, then 1st...
everything normal. revs didnt passed 4krpm. so then again. accelerate somewhat hard... not passin 5krpm. so there goes 1st... 5k, 2nd... 5k and when i passed 3rd i felt something like the engine pushed a sec and then the SERV light turns on along with the POWER or BATTERY, dunno how u call it; power is NULL. the gas pedal is not workin, steer gets very hard, barely made in the turn and slowly reachs 0mph
i switch off the car and try to start it again... NOTHIN. DEAD.
dunno what happened. but renault techs say I blew up the engine and the reason. accordin to them is that I switched from 1st to 3rd.
I say thats NONSENSE. I did NOT do that, of course. and i DID NOT do nething to blow the engine. its neeeeeeew! it reads 407kms... = 254miles
so now they want ME to pay for the repairs...
so what do i do? how can i defend myself. ive seen cases like these, somewhar alike but they have FAR MORE mileage.. HELP plz
_oo_

 

[_oo_]

oh yea... forgot its a CLIO SPORT 172... dunno if MK1 or MK2.. just know it 2003
_oo_

 

[DTWD]

What would changing from 1st to 3rd do? All it would mean is that your revs would drop quite a bit when you got into the third gear. I cant understand how that can be blaimed. But then I dont own a 172. If its under warrenty I cant see why there is a problem. You were driving your car. You didnt do anything to stupid. They may have some recourse if you werent driving it like it tells you to in the manual but I cant see that they have any proof.



Paul

 

[VX-Tony]

This is NOT your fault. I did run my 172 in carefully and it has borken down on my twice (not same symptoms as yours tho) and Renault have sorted it. Others on here have ragged it 7K revs from day one and still working. If you are having problems with your dealer you should call Renault Customer Services but I dont have the Mex number sorry. If you had any paperwork / manuals with the car Im sure the Cust Serv number will be in there somewhere.

Hope you get it sorted

 

[Will16V]

Try and contact Renault customer services, there is no way they can make u pay for this....just by changing from 1st to 3rd?

 

[steve_rt]

that is totally unreasonable mate, it really frustrates me that people can try to pull fast ones like this - like will says, get on to customer services, they really dont have a leg to stand on without proof!

 

[RB_172]

Now I dont know too much about the Clios (my 172 arrives 6th Jan!) but those sound like the same symptoms I had when the cambelt snapped on my Corsa.

I was just driving along on the M25 in the lovely morning rushhour traffic - doing about 40 in the fast lane when the damn thing went. I lost all power and had to coast the car over three lanes! When the AA guy turned up, he just removed the engine oil cap thingy and asked me to try and start it. The camshaft or whatever is it wasnt turning so he knew straight away that it was the cambelt.

I took it to my local dealer and they decided it was a manufacturing fault because some of the screws that hold the cog on had come out and punctured the belt. It was a manufacturing fault and so they replaced the engine free of charge even though I had no warranty left on it.

Im sure if you kick up enough of a fuss, youll get it sorted free too

 

[Pillesnoppen]

I blew the engine on a Corrado VR6 in 96 when the gear selector was dodgy and changed from third to second instead of fourth. VW gave me the same bullsh*t as you ve been given, but somehow changed their tune when a mate of mine from Peugeot threatened them...

 

[petes]

Symptons sound like a cambelt. Did you turn it over on the start afterwards, and did it spin v.quickly?

If it IS the cambelt theres no way you could snap it.

 

[_oo_]

hey... thnx all for ur comments.
Now... theres another "weird" thing goin on here...
since this happened. when car got to 0mph. y tried to start it but it wont. It was like electronically impossible to start it. coz it didnt sound like there was something wrong with the engine.
so when i got to the dealer with my car being towed. it was a little late. they were closin already. but this guy "received" my car. he just gave be a number, turned around and left. He EVEN didint ask me for my car keys! i had to call him to give em to him...
He never asked me what happenes with my car, y it was being towed. very rude.
the next monrning and it was the same, this guy was acting like he didnt care at all.
so i called a person in charge of suggestions and told her how they have been treating ME and my car...
so she told me to wait. she comes back with them, they looked soooooo pissed and angry, but holdin it since SHE was there.
I guess she threaten them SO.... i dunno, but it seems like they are takin revenge.
but.. newayz im leavin now to talk to the manager and see what happens
thnx a lot ill keeo u updated with this
_oo_

 

[_oo_]

so here it is. its all fixed.
first. them technitians were tryin to blame me for blowin up the engine.
Reason: me changin gears from 3rd to 1fst.

talked to manager. kept me waitin as he checked the car
answer: CAMBELT broke. got into engine and DOHC, kept valves aperture open as piston crashes it.
all bc of the cambelt broke. a bit more compllicated than that. but thats what i got.
these technitian idiots tried to pull it ON ME.
now theyll have to face the manager. LOL!
coz EVEN THERE! talkin to the manager they kept tellin the same reason! CHANGING FROM 3rd to 1st! the manager himslef told he thats ONLY POSSIBLE if i was goin @15krpm and THEN changing to first... haha!
so yea. theyre changin the engine. i guess ill have to wait til it arrives from France. ive seen the other discussion here... 5 weeks for it to arrive..
hmmmm.. 5 weeks drivin my dads HONDA ACCORD COUPE 97, which literally SWALLOS gas. I hope a get a clio sport as i wait for my car to be ready.
so there it is.
thnx

_oo_

 

[Will16V]

Hahaha nice one....cant believe they tried to screw u over....hope it goes ok tho from now on..

 

[Simon172]

Sorry about your luck. I doubt youll get a 172 as a courtesy car - a 1.2 more like....

 

[chris172]

Cam belt is notorious for braking. When Mad_marky had his new engine they had to change the cam belt before installing it as it it was fraying.

Good luck