Problems with new purchase... Advice please

[General Madness]

Sorry for the long post,

I bought (brought?) a used 2002 Clio 172 just over 3 weeks ago. It has 54700 on the clock, 2 previous keepers and little service history.

I took out finance for the car as it was bought from an independant dealership in Edinburgh.
The dealership say I have one months warranty free of charge.

As part of the sale I asked for the full timing belt change with water pump and relevant accessories. This work was doen by the garage next door to the dealership as they do all work together.

Since then the car has been back for a new exhaust centre section as the original literally split in half due to corrosion.

It has also been back to have some soldering done on an electrical relay for the aircon fan.

All sorted with no questions by the dealership.


So, last night I head to pick up the other half drive approx 5 miles to her work and switch off the engine as I have 30 mins to wait.

The car now does not start, the battery seems to have plenty juice as its turning over fast but will not jump into life, plenty fuel etc...

Anyway, basically I am looking for opinions on what I should expext from the dealership??? Obviously I expect them to fix any issues and they will be arranging recovery, Should I ask for extended warranty free of charge?

Should I go and hand the keys back as now Im worried what may happen in the future?

Any opinions and help welcomed.

Cheers

Dave

[VR46]

You bought a french car. What do u expect ffs?

[wolf1]

Firstly lock then unlock the car with the key fob as renault immobilisers time out. Secondly does the rev counter twitch or move off zero when turning over as the connector to the crank sensor can be problematic (it's at the top of the gearbox bellhousing on the right hand side of the engine bay) give it a wiggle and it should work.

[S10 GTA]

VR46 said:

You bought a french car. What do u expect ffs?

Sounds like the immobiliser has kicked in. Try locking and unlocking it.

[anonymous-user]

VR46 said:

You bought a french car. What do u expect ffs?

Seriously getting tired of this French car bks now on PH. Not only is this a load of st, you are not helping the OP by posting drivel like this. Cars don't start sometimes, all cars. It could be a component that is not even from France. You can just alt+F4 for all I care.



OP, Any warning lights at all? Try the immobiliser trick above and yes the TDC (top dead centre) sensor can be temperamental. It is located under the airbox on the right side of the engine. It has a 'banana' shaped bracket and looks like this.



I took mine off and cleaned it with some alcohol and the car was fine once again. Even if it's broken it's £30 for a new one and will take about 30 minutes tops to change by yourself. If you sign up to cliosport.net and search for a problem you will have the answer and a place to buy it from in about 5 minutes.

Everyone knocks French cars but the only stuff that breaks is the easy and cheap stuff to fix, whereas the stuff that breaks on a VAG car is something massive like a brake master cylinder to the tune of £800 (from memory).

[bigandclever]

Have you tried starting with wide open throttle (accelerator flat to floor, start engine)?

[anonymous-user]

Also try depressing the clutch first. This isn't a feature like a new BMW, but it used to help when I had starting problems. Just something to try.

Do you know what fuel is in it? I'm assuming you've not had it long enough to fill up yet? My 172 hates Tesco fuel, really really does not run well or will not start. I haven't used it for 2 years.

[siwebster]

MSTRBKR said:

Seriously getting tired of this French car bks now on PH. Not only is this a load of st, you are not helping the OP by posting drivel like this.

I changed the radiator on my sister-in-law's mk2 scenic two weeks ago. I was truly amazed at how badly thought out the design of the car is.

In order to do the job the whole of the front of the car had to come off back to the end of the front wings. All of it, headlamps and all. Compared to the same job on my old BMW, it's a ridiculous faff.

The labour cost at a garage would have been huge, avoidable if the car had been designed properly in the first place.

I only have reasonable experience of 3 French cars - this scenic, my dads old espace, which was massively problematic (remove the whole dash and steering column to get at heater matrix!) and my wife's old Clio (52 plate, had it from new) which rattled, squeaked and leaked from new.

We will never part with money for a Renault ever again.

I hope this isn't also considered ph bks, but more a real world experience of French cars.

[anonymous-user]

siwebster said:

Stuff

If someone can back it up like you, then fine. But when someone says it's French and is automatically bad, then I have an issue. Which is happening a lot here lately.

Personally I find my car easy to work on. Even with a 2.0L stuffed in the small engine bay it's not to bad to get at stuff like that TDC sensor.

[General Madness]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

YES, I BOUGHT A FRENCH CAR FFS!!!

Anyway, It has roughly £10 worth of super in it. I have covered over 700 miles since purchase so put a bit fuel in it already. Always the same, Sainsbury's super.

I have tried locking and unlocking, from inside the car though I didnt get out.
I have also tried starting with accelerator/clutch pressed to the floor.

The dealership have advised me that they will arrange collection as I work long hours so I am unavailable when it suits them.


I have no intention of trying to fix it myself, Its under their warranty.

Can anyone advise how they would play it when dealing with the dealership???
Cheers

[BliarOut]

Set your expectations realistically, it's a ten year old car. It's bound to have niggles

[Esseesse]

I thought the law stated that you get 90 days warranty from a dealer?

[barker22]

General Madness said:

As part of the sale I asked for the full timing belt change with water pump and relevant accessories. This work was doen by the garage next door to the dealership as they do all work together.

This is the part that worries me. These F4r engines need Renault specific timing tools to do the belt properly. The pulleys are of the floating variety so the standard laser tools just aren't good enough. Unless this garage knows about this type of engine then there is a good chance of your timimg being out.

[sawman]

General Madness said:

Thanks for all the replies so far.

YES, I BOUGHT A FRENCH CAR FFS!!!

Anyway, It has roughly £10 worth of super in it. I have covered over 700 miles since purchase so put a bit fuel in it already. Always the same, Sainsbury's super.

I have tried locking and unlocking, from inside the car though I didnt get out.
I have also tried starting with accelerator/clutch pressed to the floor.

The dealership have advised me that they will arrange collection as I work long hours so I am unavailable when it suits them.


I have no intention of trying to fix it myself, Its under their warranty.

Can anyone advise how they would play it when dealing with the dealership???
Cheers

Sounds like they are doing their bit, so I wouldn't be putting them offside by moaning at them too much. It is a ten year old car, some things have gone wrong, they are standing by the car and helping you out.

If they stop trying to fix it and start messing you around then you can start on them.

[General Madness]

barker22 said:

General Madness said:

As part of the sale I asked for the full timing belt change with water pump and relevant accessories. This work was doen by the garage next door to the dealership as they do all work together.

This is the part that worries me. These F4r engines need Renault specific timing tools to do the belt properly. The pulleys are of the floating variety so the standard laser tools just aren't good enough. Unless this garage knows about this type of engine then there is a good chance of your timimg being out.

Yes, That is what worried me at first. The garage is very reputable with 2 or 3 Audi trained master techs, I advised them of my concerns when I was asking for the service to be done. I was assured they would use the correct tools and processes.

[General Madness]

Esseesse said:

I thought the law stated that you get 90 days warranty from a dealer?

I thought that there was 90 days for any legal recompense should the car be unfit for purpose, I do not know if this is the same as a warranty.

[General Madness]

sawman said:

General Madness said:

Thanks for all the replies so far.

YES, I BOUGHT A FRENCH CAR FFS!!!

Anyway, It has roughly £10 worth of super in it. I have covered over 700 miles since purchase so put a bit fuel in it already. Always the same, Sainsbury's super.

I have tried locking and unlocking, from inside the car though I didnt get out.
I have also tried starting with accelerator/clutch pressed to the floor.

The dealership have advised me that they will arrange collection as I work long hours so I am unavailable when it suits them.


I have no intention of trying to fix it myself, Its under their warranty.

Can anyone advise how they would play it when dealing with the dealership???
Cheers

Sounds like they are doing their bit, so I wouldn't be putting them offside by moaning at them too much. It is a ten year old car, some things have gone wrong, they are standing by the car and helping you out.

If they stop trying to fix it and start messing you around then you can start on them.

You are spot on, I do not wish to hassle them as they have been helpful so far.

My concern is this warranty issue, Should I be requesting and extended warranty free of charge due to the issues within these first 3 weeks alone?

[sawman]

General Madness said:

You are spot on, I do not wish to hassle them as they have been helpful so far.

My concern is this warranty issue, Should I be requesting and extended warranty free of charge due to the issues within these first 3 weeks alone?

I think someone posted higher up the thread, but the traders are deemed liable for any faults that develop within the first few months of your ownership - I think its 3 months, they may tell you you have a one month warranty, but that is essentially worthless because the law protects you longer than that ( I am not a lawyer, this is just my understanding of things that have been talked about on here before) It might be the something to do with the sale of goods act, if you are worried and want some proper advice rather than internet hearsay, you might want to have a chat with the citizens advice bureau.

[General Madness]

General Madness said:

I thought that there was 90 days for any legal recompense should the car be unfit for purpose, I do not know if this is the same as a warranty.

[Deva Link]

Esseesse said:

I thought the law stated that you get 90 days warranty from a dealer?

I wish people that wrote this could be banned from the forum, although, to be fair, it comes up so often there wouldn't be many members left.

The dealer is not required to give any warranty at all.