I'm posting this for two reasons...firstly to have a little rant and secondly for a little bit of advice.
Okay so I have had the Clio a little over 8 weeks now (brought on the 19th July) – I then flew to Bulgaria for a week, in this week my mum used the car as hers was being repaired, she drove it to and from Wales and even commented on how much of a dream to drive it was in comparison to her little 1.4 Ibiza.
So I get back off my jollies and have a fantastic week of driving it…I have done it, I’ve found my little dream hot hatch! I am totally in love with the car and every time I get in it I can’t help but smile – this is where it all went down hill…RAPIDLY!
After two weeks of owning the car it broke down – called the RAC out who came to the roadside and started the car claiming it was a flat battery – they simply hooked up their power pack and it kicked back into life, the following morning it wouldn’t start and I kept getting the ‘’STEERING NOT LOCKED’’ error message on the dash – no amount of wiggling the steering wheel would get the steering lock to engage – called the RAC out and they tried everything for around an hour and a half to get it going – in the end it was towed to a local garage.
The car was then looked at by the local garage, an independent auto electrician and an independent auto locksmith – in the end it was diagnosed with a faulty UCH and needed to go to Renault – by this time 4 days had passed.
It arrived at the dealers and they called me on the Monday morning asking what problems I was having as the car had started first time around 8 different times throughout the day – they put it down to a faulty battery and said that I could pick it up on Tuesday.
Picked the car up lunchtime on Tuesday and it was perfect…finally I thought!..I have my car back I can begin to enjoy it some more! So I drove it home and parked it on the drive, it stayed here all day until I finished work…got home jumped in eager to take it for a spin…you guessed it…wouldn’t start – same symptoms as before!
Again the RAC came out, the guy popped the bonnet cranked it over and it burst into life – much to my embarrassment! However I had been trying to get it started doing everything I could prior to his arrival. I decided to call it a night and get some sleep as I was quite frustrated at the whole incident.
So it was now Wednesday morning – I jumped in the car to drop the girlfriend at work, and guess what…failed to start! By this point am furious – I get straight on the phone to the local Renault Dealers and give them a piece of my mind and they tell me to bring the car in and they will have a look at it.
So I get a tow down to the local garage and they keep the car for a couple of days – I get a phone call and they diagnose the following problems –
Total cost for all this - £1533.00 – I just wanted my car back so I agreed to have the work done in the hope that all my problems would now go away.
A week goes by and I get the phone call I have been longing for…’’Your car is now ready to be collected’’ – I rush over to the garage on my lunch break and pick up the car – finally back behind the wheel! Take the car for a nice little drive and everything is working perfect – so I park it back in its spot on the drive and head to bed.
I wake up to the horror that is a patch of oil on the drive…I try and look for the source of said leak and I can see fluid dripping from the plastic tray under the engine…I am absolutely livid as they were supposed to of fixed all the leaks whilst it was in – Renault assure me its not a problem (who are they kidding!) and to bring it back in and they’ll investigate.
I take the car back into them and they tell me to eave it with them and they’ll call me sometime in the day to report back with what is causing the leak. So a couple of hours pass and I get the call – to summarize there was a major problem – they had taken the gearbox off as the leak was coming from there – the pressure plate had decided to destroy itself sending a bit of metal around the casing taking out the Slave Cylinder, Seals, Flywheel and damaging the inside of the casing (deep scratches throughout) – I have no idea when or how this had happened, the car had no problems selecting any gear from 1[SUP]st[/SUP] through to 6[SUP]th[/SUP] including Reverse, there was no noise, whining, crunching or sounds of any sort coming from the box – all that was there was a leak.
The total to fix this problem…another £1512.00 – I bit my tongue and agreed to stump up the money for the bill as I just wanted it fixed and sorted – after them having the car for a couple of weeks I ring for an update to be told that the Flywheel is on back order and could be any number of days to get to the UK - fast forward to Monday…they call me to say that the part has come but they actually ordered the wrong part and have had to place a new order – but good news its in the UK and will be here tomorrow (Tuesday) – so I waited a good few weeks for a part that wasn’t even for my car!
So I was told that the car would be ready today – I was checking my phone all morning as I can’t wait to get it back so I can begin cleaning it ready for Trax…eventually the phone rings – but guess what…its bad news!
They put everything back together, filled the box with oil and it is STILL leaking – upon further inspection there is a tiny tiny hole in the casing where the bit of metal scratched the inside – apparently you can’t even see the hole until you put oil in the box. The only fix for this is for them to replace the whole box at the cost of £1355.00 – I asked if there is anyway they could seal the hole as its so small to be told that there is no way they can do this as the gearbox produces a lot of pressure and the seal would fail instantly – I spoke to two different independent gearbox specialists who said that if the hole is as small as they say it is then there is no reason it cant be repaired.
So to summarize – I have had the car 8 weeks, I have driven it for 1 week and its spent 6 weeks in the garage…so far the bill is sitting at around £4500.00 – Renault UK have offered a 10% reduction on the cost of the gearbox but can’t do anything more than that.
I am completely stuck on what to do now as in reality I could only just afford the first £3000 – the extra for the new box I cant physically afford – so I am thinking of getting it home and then getting a gearbox specialist to try and seal it – however if that fails it would definitely be a new box regardless.
If anyone has any advise and knows about any of the problems please please please help a fellow owner out!
Sorry for the long post!!
Okay so I have had the Clio a little over 8 weeks now (brought on the 19th July) – I then flew to Bulgaria for a week, in this week my mum used the car as hers was being repaired, she drove it to and from Wales and even commented on how much of a dream to drive it was in comparison to her little 1.4 Ibiza.
So I get back off my jollies and have a fantastic week of driving it…I have done it, I’ve found my little dream hot hatch! I am totally in love with the car and every time I get in it I can’t help but smile – this is where it all went down hill…RAPIDLY!
After two weeks of owning the car it broke down – called the RAC out who came to the roadside and started the car claiming it was a flat battery – they simply hooked up their power pack and it kicked back into life, the following morning it wouldn’t start and I kept getting the ‘’STEERING NOT LOCKED’’ error message on the dash – no amount of wiggling the steering wheel would get the steering lock to engage – called the RAC out and they tried everything for around an hour and a half to get it going – in the end it was towed to a local garage.
The car was then looked at by the local garage, an independent auto electrician and an independent auto locksmith – in the end it was diagnosed with a faulty UCH and needed to go to Renault – by this time 4 days had passed.
It arrived at the dealers and they called me on the Monday morning asking what problems I was having as the car had started first time around 8 different times throughout the day – they put it down to a faulty battery and said that I could pick it up on Tuesday.
Picked the car up lunchtime on Tuesday and it was perfect…finally I thought!..I have my car back I can begin to enjoy it some more! So I drove it home and parked it on the drive, it stayed here all day until I finished work…got home jumped in eager to take it for a spin…you guessed it…wouldn’t start – same symptoms as before!
Again the RAC came out, the guy popped the bonnet cranked it over and it burst into life – much to my embarrassment! However I had been trying to get it started doing everything I could prior to his arrival. I decided to call it a night and get some sleep as I was quite frustrated at the whole incident.
So it was now Wednesday morning – I jumped in the car to drop the girlfriend at work, and guess what…failed to start! By this point am furious – I get straight on the phone to the local Renault Dealers and give them a piece of my mind and they tell me to bring the car in and they will have a look at it.
So I get a tow down to the local garage and they keep the car for a couple of days – I get a phone call and they diagnose the following problems –
- Lower Balljoint has excessive play
- Two new front tyres
- TDC Sensor
- Oil Sump Gasket
- Thermostat Housing
Total cost for all this - £1533.00 – I just wanted my car back so I agreed to have the work done in the hope that all my problems would now go away.
A week goes by and I get the phone call I have been longing for…’’Your car is now ready to be collected’’ – I rush over to the garage on my lunch break and pick up the car – finally back behind the wheel! Take the car for a nice little drive and everything is working perfect – so I park it back in its spot on the drive and head to bed.
I wake up to the horror that is a patch of oil on the drive…I try and look for the source of said leak and I can see fluid dripping from the plastic tray under the engine…I am absolutely livid as they were supposed to of fixed all the leaks whilst it was in – Renault assure me its not a problem (who are they kidding!) and to bring it back in and they’ll investigate.
I take the car back into them and they tell me to eave it with them and they’ll call me sometime in the day to report back with what is causing the leak. So a couple of hours pass and I get the call – to summarize there was a major problem – they had taken the gearbox off as the leak was coming from there – the pressure plate had decided to destroy itself sending a bit of metal around the casing taking out the Slave Cylinder, Seals, Flywheel and damaging the inside of the casing (deep scratches throughout) – I have no idea when or how this had happened, the car had no problems selecting any gear from 1[SUP]st[/SUP] through to 6[SUP]th[/SUP] including Reverse, there was no noise, whining, crunching or sounds of any sort coming from the box – all that was there was a leak.
The total to fix this problem…another £1512.00 – I bit my tongue and agreed to stump up the money for the bill as I just wanted it fixed and sorted – after them having the car for a couple of weeks I ring for an update to be told that the Flywheel is on back order and could be any number of days to get to the UK - fast forward to Monday…they call me to say that the part has come but they actually ordered the wrong part and have had to place a new order – but good news its in the UK and will be here tomorrow (Tuesday) – so I waited a good few weeks for a part that wasn’t even for my car!
So I was told that the car would be ready today – I was checking my phone all morning as I can’t wait to get it back so I can begin cleaning it ready for Trax…eventually the phone rings – but guess what…its bad news!
They put everything back together, filled the box with oil and it is STILL leaking – upon further inspection there is a tiny tiny hole in the casing where the bit of metal scratched the inside – apparently you can’t even see the hole until you put oil in the box. The only fix for this is for them to replace the whole box at the cost of £1355.00 – I asked if there is anyway they could seal the hole as its so small to be told that there is no way they can do this as the gearbox produces a lot of pressure and the seal would fail instantly – I spoke to two different independent gearbox specialists who said that if the hole is as small as they say it is then there is no reason it cant be repaired.
So to summarize – I have had the car 8 weeks, I have driven it for 1 week and its spent 6 weeks in the garage…so far the bill is sitting at around £4500.00 – Renault UK have offered a 10% reduction on the cost of the gearbox but can’t do anything more than that.
I am completely stuck on what to do now as in reality I could only just afford the first £3000 – the extra for the new box I cant physically afford – so I am thinking of getting it home and then getting a gearbox specialist to try and seal it – however if that fails it would definitely be a new box regardless.
If anyone has any advise and knows about any of the problems please please please help a fellow owner out!
Sorry for the long post!!
