Renault Scenic radio mystery!

[paxtec]

Hi Everyone,

I'm faced with a real mystery with a brand new Scenic. Yes I know - don't buy a Scenic - but my other car is a Porsche honest, see it at Wilmslow this coming Wednesday evening.

I bought a new Scenic in March this year and within a day realised the radio was playing up. On Radio 4, yes I know boring!, and RDS it would lose signal and go silent, seeming to search for a signal. Sometimes it took 20 minutes to find a signal. Complained to the dealer, they tried to fix but no difference. Wrote to Renault UK they tried all sorts of things - software updates, DAB radio processor, entire new radio system all to no effect. Finally admitted defeat in August this year and agreed to replace the car(!!!!).

So I collect my new car end of September and guess what the new car is just the same...........

Dealer says they don't have another Scenic showing this problem.

Lots of recent messing: if I listen to Radio 4 on Long Wave no problem its just a crap sound; its not just Radio 4 its any FM station; if a traffic update comes in whist the signal is lost, cancelling the traffic signal brings Radio 4 back; its not consistent on a journey as to where a signal is lost; turning the radio off and on again makes no difference; turning the car on and off again makes no difference; if I park with the signal lost, by the time I come back to it the signal is always recovered; Renault say it is only my car, no-one else has the problem hence replacing my car.

I'm not particularly odd - no pacemaker, no metal in my body.....

I'm losing the will to live, a great car audio guy has had the car today and can't shed any light on the problem, what the hell do I do?

Peter

[paxtec]

Hi,
Nothing odd, the Scenic has facility to Bluetooth a mobile phone which I do, but over time I've had 2 different phones and tried decoupling the phone for a couple of days but no difference. No garage opener, or anything else non-standard.
Peter

[paxtec]

Hi,
DAB as an add-on accessory, but no difference at all, just proved that the problem was within the radio/RDS function to me.
Remember, I've had 2 cars both brand new, both with exactly the same problem and the DAB processor has't effected the core signal loss problem.
Peter

[paxtec]

Hi,
Asking to borrow a Scenic demonstrator is a good thought, I'll do that, thanks.
Peter

[paxtec]

I was told I was the first vehicle they had retrofitted the DAB processor to, but they were clutching at straws at that stage, it didn't help at all.
When it loses signal the radio locks up you can't retune at all, even turning the system off and back on again makes no difference, it seems to need time to reset itself. Its better to leave it switched on and let it find a signal again, 2 to 20 minutes, then all returns to normal, meanwhile phone system and nav work fine.
Peter

[paxtec]

It doesn't seem linked to bluetooth, I've tried it without the phone being coupled but the problem still happened.
Peter