Help Wanted Please: All Gearbox Issues with Renault UK

[Troopy]

Hi to all, great to see the site back up and running!! Sorry you had so much hassle trying to solve the issue.

I would really appreciate anyone who has been in contact with Reanult UK about Gearbox issues to add to this thread the details (dates etc if possible) about what was wrong and what Contribution if any Renault paid. Or if you prefer please PM me.

To cut a long story short, I took my car on Holiday over to France (19/06/2011-25/06/2011) and broke down on the Journey to my friends place.


I was towed to the nearest dealer after R.A.C. had refused to come out because I was on a Toll Road (Private Contracts with dealers) the dealer turned out to be Peugeot!! The R.A.C. informed me that the Garage would use Genuine Renault parts and it would save a day on repairs rather than moving it to the nearest Renault Dealer so I agreed to leave it with them.

The garage after diagnostic work informed me that the Gearbox and Clutch had failed, with part of it sheering right through the gearbox casing. I decided to go ahead with repairs just so that I could get home for work. The total cost was £2968!



On the day I was meant to collect to drive back to England I was called and told that the Brand NEW gearbox had split completely in half and the bolts had sheered (Manufacturing Default?!) and caused further engine damage!!




I ended up flying home to get to work and flew back over to France last Sunday to pick the car up. Safe to say it's in England but now there is a Low Battery Warning on the Dash!!

I am in contact with Renault UK now trying to claim back the cost of all the work. My car is a 56 Plate with 58k on the Clock.

Thank You for your patience reading this and I hope to god this doesn't happen to anyone else! And if it has I really feel for you because it's been a nightmare.

James Troup

 

[adam1942]

Interesting thread mate let us know what happens. Sorry I cant add anything else to the thread.

 

[197.RM]

Hi mate.

Not good news this feel for you.

Any strange noises or different feeling to the car in x amount of miles before or just bang?

Best of luck Renault tho mate.

Ryan.

 

[daz]

£3000 to change a gear box? Ouch!!

Sorry to hear your news and best of luck with Renault - I fear you're going to need it

 

[BREENY BOY]

unlucky mate i had a shed load of problems with my gearbox had it back 5 times and everytime they just said the changed the gearbow oil and tightend up gear linkage things lol. now that the warranty has run out im on my own with the same problems now. bloody pissed off with it so i am

 

[Foxspeed]

looking at the first picture there and it looks like the clutch has gone and i piece of metal has damaged the bellhousing

would i say its worth fitting a new gearbox.....no i would have had the housing welded

if the gearbox "blew up" as such then its most likely cause is that it selected 2 gears or a bolt jammed in the gear cluster - not seen one that bad

did you get a new engine as the engine block looks damaged?

there is a similar thread in this section with quite a few gearbox episodes listed

 

[Troopy]

Thanks for all the concern. I only remember on a couple of occasions have a crunch from 2nd to 3rd in the past but in France there were no strange noises at all, I was doing 110kmph (the national speed limit) in 6th gear, came off at the junction let the engine braking take me down to 2k rpm and then nothing, the clutch went in and I had nothing, coasted the the roundabout and pushed it off the road.

That's terrible Breeny boy, did you ever follow it up with Renault UK? You can see from the first picture the damage caused with whatever it was spinning and grinding against the casing. (Nothing was ever audible in the car) Worth getting in contact now with my pictures and explaining that this is what can happen!

 

[Troopy]

looking at the first picture there and it looks like the clutch has gone and i piece of metal has damaged the bellhousing

would i say its worth fitting a new gearbox.....no i would have had the housing welded

if the gearbox "blew up" as such then its most likely cause is that it selected 2 gears or a bolt jammed in the gear cluster - not seen one that bad

did you get a new engine as the engine block looks damaged?

there is a similar thread in this section with quite a few gearbox episodes listed

Thanks foxy, you're always a world of knowledge. I think it was a bit of the clutch that went through, they replaced the clutch and gearbox and yes a new engine block too.

It was extremely difficult to discuss with them what went wrong and what to do about it (I'm not fluent in french) but the RAC organised all the work and discussed the best way to go about it. I had to really leave it in their hands to decide what to do. I just wanted to get repaired and home asap.

I've bookmarked as many pages as possible to build up a case. It was just a complete nightmare when in another country.

 

[Ed...]

hi mate I had a gearbox replaced under warranty back in 2010 it was clunking and the clutch was soft. they argued . . . . . alot but in the end gave up I dont think i have kept any of the information of the claim but you are more than welcome to qoute my number plate

 

[DanT]

That looks like a mess to say the least!

As many of you will know I have just had my engine replaced through contact with RUK for a very uncommon engine problem. They took on the majority of the cost and I ended up very happy with the result. My dealings with RUK have been very good with this sort of tricky example.

The biggest selling point you have is whether you have been to Renault for servicing all the cars life (as mine luckily had). Even on something like this where the gearbox isn't the main focus of a service most of the time they still were very keen to know the car had been with Renault all it's life. This was just as Smiths said it would be despite whether the part in question was to do with Renault regular maintenance or not. In your case the gearbox is not something that would be looked at on service schedule all that often unless requested by the customer (and if you have and do have proof of this then it will work well for you in my experience as my engine has ALWAYS been maintained by Renault etc and to be fair to them they sorted me right out).

Get in contact with them, get an RUK case started as I did and if they feel they have grounds to help you then they will. Alot depends on the Renault maintenance history the vehicle has I'm afraid. Mileage will play a part as well.

When they replaced my engine the car had 40k on it with full Renault servicing and all maintanence for things like brakes etc through Renault. Having said all that I did play heavily on the whole R27 392/500 card and got very passionate about what the car really is about....not just the fact it's a car but you know the whole special edition....Renault F1....let's not write one of these fantastic 500 off etc etc.

Having said all that at the end of the day they sorted almost 80% of the total cost, a bill which was more than double what your currently looking at (not to say 3k isn't enough already) including engine mounts, new clutch slave cylinder and clutch itself all as extras included which did add some money on

I hope your experience with them goes as well as mine has done. Although I can't help but feel Smiths head techinician played a huge part in it too, luckily for me he really knew how to get things done.

Keep us updated!

 

[Foxspeed]

looking at the pictures its sheared the flywheel bolts and looks like the flywheel has smashed through the gearbox and taken the engine block with it

in situations like that its usually the clutch that will shear (the centre plate will split in two).....seems a bit strange to me does all this - just imagine how much force is need to shear all the flywheel bolts.....

i remember a thread on cliosport were someone had a similar situation!

 

[Drumdom1]

Sorry to see that mate.

I have just had a manifold replaced by renault as it failed in 4 places and RUK agreed that it should not have happened. The car is not under warranty but RUK were great.

The process i went through was,
Took to supplying honda garage who flipped me off.
So i called RUK who told me that anywork needed to be checked by a renault technician. I took it to renault and it was agreed that it isnt wear and tear.
The job was done by renault and part paid for by RUK.

The reason i gave you the life story is your case may be similar.

However, Renault told me that any work that was to be done under their warranty MUST be looked at by renault. I fear that you may have zero come back with renault as it wasnt inspected and carried out by an "approved" person.

RUK told me that even though the fault had been found and documented by a trained honda technician they still NEEDED any fault to be varified by renault.

So like i said you may be stuck as youve all ready had the work done.

I do think you should keep trying with RUK tho as my dealings with them have been great. they were very polite and very very helpful.

IF you drop me a PM ill give you the contact of a bloke from renault who told me to refer people to him as he was the customer care guy for Renaultsport. He was a topping lad and may be able to help.

Please dont try and use any of this info against RUK as i suppose all cases are different, I am just trying to say that you may need to just speak to the right folk.

As all ready said by the other people, I wish you the best of luck and i feel you may be onto a winner with RUK as they have given me the best customer service of anyone i have ever dealt with (and i mean EVERYTHING)

I hope not having it checked by renault before work was dont does not hinder you.


Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Troopy]

They argued . . . . . alot but in the end gave up I dont think i have kept any of the information of the claim but you are more than welcome to qoute my number plate

I'd really appreciate that Woody I'll PM you for it, spoke to them today and building up a dossier to send them.

That looks like a mess to say the least!

As many of you will know I have just had my engine replaced through contact with RUK for a very uncommon engine problem. They took on the majority of the cost and I ended up very happy with the result. My dealings with RUK have been very good with this sort of tricky example.

I hope your experience with them goes as well as mine has done. Although I can't help but feel Smiths head techinician played a huge part in it too, luckily for me he really knew how to get things done.

Keep us updated!

Thanks Dan, That sounds awful! Glad you managed to get most of the costs covered! I've always had mine serviced at a Renault Dealership just in case anything did happen so hopefully like you they'll look favourably on my side.

looking at the pictures its sheared the flywheel bolts and looks like the flywheel has smashed through the gearbox and taken the engine block with it

in situations like that its usually the clutch that will shear (the centre plate will split in two).....seems a bit strange to me does all this - just imagine how much force is need to shear all the flywheel bolts.....

i remember a thread on cliosport were someone had a similar situation!

I'll have to try and track that thread down, thanks for the heads up. I have no idea what the Garage did, or how it went bang but blimey I wouldn't have liked to have been in it when it did.

Sorry to see that mate.

I have just had a manifold replaced by renault as it failed in 4 places and RUK agreed that it should not have happened. The car is not under warranty but RUK were great.

However, Renault told me that any work that was to be done under their warranty MUST be looked at by renault. I fear that you may have zero come back with renault as it wasnt inspected and carried out by an "approved" person.

RUK told me that even though the fault had been found and documented by a trained honda technician they still NEEDED any fault to be varified by renault.

So like i said you may be stuck as youve all ready had the work done.

IF you drop me a PM ill give you the contact of a bloke from renault who told me to refer people to him as he was the customer care guy for Renaultsport. He was a topping lad and may be able to help.

Please dont try and use any of this info against RUK as i suppose all cases are different, I am just trying to say that you may need to just speak to the right folk.

Good luck and keep us posted.

That's lovely thanks for your help, I'll send you a PM and try and get in contact an explain my situation to him. So far RUK have been fantastic. And whilst in France we did discuss that because I had to get home for work that was the reason why I went ahead with the repair, and as you said normally you claim and then they agree or not to the work being carried out.

Thank you all again, and if there's any more developments I'll keep you all posted and would still love to hear from anyone with a similar gearbox issue.

 

[Ed...]

PM replied to mate.

 

[Matt197]

Holly **** that looks bad anic:

I had my gearbox replaced around September last year for a problem with the gearbox crunching when changing from 2nd to 3rd.

I do not have any reference numbers but if you need to, you are more than welcome to quote my reg number.

 

[Foxspeed]

the more i look at this the more it says the flywheel came off or bolts sheared causing the damage to the new gearbox

did they remove the flywheel for any reason?

did they fit new bolts to the flywheel?

only time i seen a gearbox like this is when they have selected two gears and then they didnt exactly explode.....

 

[Cannit]

Seen this before on an F4R, the flywheel went through the radiator on the 172 we had in though and ended up wedged in the front bumper/radiator!

In your case blatantly miss diagnosed in my opinion and was flywheel from the start but how they didnt work that out god knows.. Would have been scored badly..

 

[Troopy]

Holly **** that looks bad anic:

I had my gearbox replaced around September last year for a problem with the gearbox crunching when changing from 2nd to 3rd.

I do not have any reference numbers but if you need to, you are more than welcome to quote my reg number.

Thanks Matt, I'd really appreciate it. I'll PM you now.

the more i look at this the more it says the flywheel came off or bolts sheared causing the damage to the new gearbox

did they remove the flywheel for any reason?

did they fit new bolts to the flywheel?

only time i seen a gearbox like this is when they have selected two gears and then they didnt exactly explode.....

I have no idea what they did. At the time I was staying in a hotel away from the Garage and relied on the RAC being in daily contact with the Garage as I cant speak french one bit.

Seen this before on an F4R, the flywheel went through the radiator on the 172 we had in though and ended up wedged in the front bumper/radiator!

In your case blatantly miss diagnosed in my opinion and was flywheel from the start but how they didnt work that out god knows.. Would have been scored badly..

Interesting to know, maybe you're both right that it was the flywheel but the RAC didnt really go into huge amounts of detail when I asked them questions.

Thanks for all your help. Sending the letter to RUK tomorrow so fingers crossed. Just need to find out who to send it to!!!

 

[Troopy]

After a long long time of other problems involving other aspects of my car it's healthy again and now running better than it ever has thank god! Thank you to all who helped or gave advice it's very much appreciated.

Renault UK offered to cover half of all my costs incurred after my breakdown in France (Gearbox etc). I tried to get more from them and even wrote personally to the Managing Director of Renault UK... Thierry Sybord. He understood my predicament and was extremely helpful along with Hazel Wylde my Customer Services Manager. I would recommend writing to either of them for assistance should you need support from RUK.

Unfortunately even after agreeing to their offer.....my Car still had a fault with a 'Low Battery' and 'STOP light on the dash' ever since the Gearbox and Engine Block etc were changed in France.

Renault in Sutton Coldfield (Sutton Park Renault) had my car in total for 16 days and finally managed to rectify that there was a problem with a sensor attached to the Alternator.

Whilst having the car for 16 days....I had the UPC changed (Which made no difference but was fully refunded by RUK) a New Alternator (which they replaced like for like from the French one put in, again which made no difference) then realised that this was in fact the wrong alternator and had to change it again. After fitting the right alternator the only thing it could be was sensors and it was a matter of testing them individually as the light only came on after a 15 minute, 10 mile odd cycle. In the end obviously they found the problem but for all those with the Low Battery Light, beware, there are a hell of a lot of systems running through that one sensor and it's a nightmare to find the culprit.

In all it's been a bit of a nightmare and a terrible 3 months since my car was healthy and I'm glad to have it back in my possession and hopefully thousands more miles of trouble free driving!

Thanks again. James

 

[Digital Reaper]

Dare I ask - what was the total cost in the end?