Dacia Duster, 999cc of Throbbing Fun

Dacia Duster, 999cc of Throbbing Fun

Author
Discussion

croyde

23,740 posts

236 months

Friday 9th February
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Surely if a fault is logged within warranty then it should be fixed even if it takes you beyond the usual 3 years.

I had a problem with the house and the then insurer took so long about it that when the renewal came up double and the works had still not been finished I changed companies and still made sure the original company finished and paid for the job.

renmure

4,399 posts

230 months

Friday 9th February
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My warranty runs out on 6th March. I'm still waiting for the Dealer to give me a date to fix my heater fan problem for the 5th time in my 3 year ownership.

We've had to cancel the date twice as the part isn't available and is marked as on back order.

I'm in discussions with Dacia Customer Services who, to be fair, are making initial positive noises about extending my warranty for 2 years on a goodwill basis (it's only £270 so I'd do it myself anyhow) but they want the part to be fixed before giving the go-ahead for that. They also say they are actively trying to source the part and get it to the Dealer asap.

We will see how it goes.

Shinyfings

193 posts

53 months

Friday 9th February
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Mikebentley said:
Shinyfings said:
Mikebentley said:
Some of the crappy service was sort of expected by me and to an extent acceptable…ish at £11200 pre reg. The cars are no longer what I consider cheap. I do love the look of the new designed Duster though not enough to get me out of my MG4 Trophy EV which replaced my D.
I’m glad you’re not tempted. I’ve had Dacia U.K. allegedly helping and yet no progress has actually been made in the three dealer visits since July ‘23. The car remains the same. Maybe their strategy is to keep me visiting until month 37 when they’ll say you’re on your own now mate.

I can’t emphasise enough how useless they are.
If you read my experience on this thread yous just echos mine. I got the feeling it is nigh on impossible for the dealer to get approval for warranty work. I believe absolutely they are told to get you in (day wasted) identify a problem. Then book job 6/12 weeks wait. Get car in and don’t fix it. Then rinse and repeat until out of warranty.
It’s a very odd strategy as we’re talking about how useless they are on a public forum and I’d rather walk than ever buy another. Yes it’s cheap motoring but still thousands of pounds. Screwfix apologise and replace a tub of filler spilt in delivery on which they’d have a made a few pounds. Dacia couldn’t care less on a new car costing rather more.

Hugo Stiglitz

38,038 posts

217 months

Saturday 10th February
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How are the 1.0s holding up? Any age issues etc?

PositronicRay

27,422 posts

189 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all
renmure said:
My warranty runs out on 6th March. I'm still waiting for the Dealer to give me a date to fix my heater fan problem for the 5th time in my 3 year ownership.

We've had to cancel the date twice as the part isn't available and is marked as on back order.

I'm in discussions with Dacia Customer Services who, to be fair, are making initial positive noises about extending my warranty for 2 years on a goodwill basis (it's only £270 so I'd do it myself anyhow) but they want the part to be fixed before giving the go-ahead for that. They also say they are actively trying to source the part and get it to the Dealer asap.

We will see how it goes.
Have they tried ebay?



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385700780164?chn=ps&amp...

Shinyfings

193 posts

53 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all
PositronicRay said:
renmure said:
My warranty runs out on 6th March. I'm still waiting for the Dealer to give me a date to fix my heater fan problem for the 5th time in my 3 year ownership.

We've had to cancel the date twice as the part isn't available and is marked as on back order.

I'm in discussions with Dacia Customer Services who, to be fair, are making initial positive noises about extending my warranty for 2 years on a goodwill basis (it's only £270 so I'd do it myself anyhow) but they want the part to be fixed before giving the go-ahead for that. They also say they are actively trying to source the part and get it to the Dealer asap.

We will see how it goes.
Have they tried ebay?

I don’t think they’re that switched on in terms of tech! Or is their (most main dealer service departments) allergy to computers because they don’t like to leave a paper trail.

renmure

4,399 posts

230 months

Saturday 10th February
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Nah, I accept that I’ve been unlucky and that for every one like mine with 5 failures there will be 100’s that never have a failure.

After the 1st time I made a point of using different settings randomly since Google suggested leaving it on setting 1 might be a cause. Made no difference.

It’s more of an inconvenience than anything else. You are left with setting 0… so no fan. Or setting 4.. full demist fan but nothing in between.

blueST

4,442 posts

222 months

Saturday 10th February
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renmure said:
Nah, I accept that I’ve been unlucky and that for every one like mine with 5 failures there will be 100’s that never have a failure.

After the 1st time I made a point of using different settings randomly since Google suggested leaving it on setting 1 might be a cause. Made no difference.

It’s more of an inconvenience than anything else. You are left with setting 0… so no fan. Or setting 4.. full demist fan but nothing in between.
I think I have said this before, but given your pattern of failure I'd be inclined to think the resister failure is a symptom rather than the root of the issue. If it were the resister, odds would be you'd have got a good one by now. I wonder if the fan motor or something is putting too much load on it.

blueST

4,442 posts

222 months

Saturday 10th February
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As previously mentioned, I had my steel wheels replaced a few weeks ago for corrosion at 2 years old. First wash today since the new set went on the tell tale post wash streak of vrown rusty water appeared on each rim. Seems this set will go the same way as last ones. I've dried them off and squinted some ACF50 in the joint to see if I can stall the inevitable, but not hopeful.

renmure

4,399 posts

230 months

Thursday 22nd February
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blueST said:
renmure said:
Nah, I accept that I’ve been unlucky and that for every one like mine with 5 failures there will be 100’s that never have a failure.

After the 1st time I made a point of using different settings randomly since Google suggested leaving it on setting 1 might be a cause. Made no difference.

It’s more of an inconvenience than anything else. You are left with setting 0… so no fan. Or setting 4.. full demist fan but nothing in between.
I think I have said this before, but given your pattern of failure I'd be inclined to think the resister failure is a symptom rather than the root of the issue. If it were the resister, odds would be you'd have got a good one by now. I wonder if the fan motor or something is putting too much load on it.
Well, I've got to say I've been happy with Dacia Customer Services.

They made sure the Dealer had the part to fix my heater blower yet again at the start of the week and I got a call from them midweek to make sure everything was fixed and that I was happy. They followed it up with an email later in the day to confirm that as a goodwill gesture they would extend my manufacturers warranty by 2 years and that it would be transferable if I sold the car in the intervening period.

All in all, probably the best result I could have wanted.


Hugo Stiglitz

38,038 posts

217 months

Friday 23rd February
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What sort of mileages are you on now?

blueST

4,442 posts

222 months

Wednesday 13th March
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Got in this morning to the heater blower failure. First time for me. I guess it's inevitable with these cars.

ChocolateFrog

27,833 posts

179 months

Wednesday 13th March
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blueST said:
renmure said:
Nah, I accept that I’ve been unlucky and that for every one like mine with 5 failures there will be 100’s that never have a failure.

After the 1st time I made a point of using different settings randomly since Google suggested leaving it on setting 1 might be a cause. Made no difference.

It’s more of an inconvenience than anything else. You are left with setting 0… so no fan. Or setting 4.. full demist fan but nothing in between.
I think I have said this before, but given your pattern of failure I'd be inclined to think the resister failure is a symptom rather than the root of the issue. If it were the resister, odds would be you'd have got a good one by now. I wonder if the fan motor or something is putting too much load on it.
I agree. Definitely a symptom and not the cause.

renmure

4,399 posts

230 months

Wednesday 13th March
quotequote all
ChocolateFrog said:
blueST said:
renmure said:
Nah, I accept that I’ve been unlucky and that for every one like mine with 5 failures there will be 100’s that never have a failure.

After the 1st time I made a point of using different settings randomly since Google suggested leaving it on setting 1 might be a cause. Made no difference.

It’s more of an inconvenience than anything else. You are left with setting 0… so no fan. Or setting 4.. full demist fan but nothing in between.
I think I have said this before, but given your pattern of failure I'd be inclined to think the resister failure is a symptom rather than the root of the issue. If it were the resister, odds would be you'd have got a good one by now. I wonder if the fan motor or something is putting too much load on it.
I agree. Definitely a symptom and not the cause.
I'm sure you are both right but if they knew what the underlying fault was they would have sorted it by now so it suits me to simply change the part under the now extended warranty when needed.

I've also haven't seen any posts from others with a similar issue where the dealer changed or even investigated anything else other than swapping the resistor so it must suit the dealer and manufacturer as well.

Edited by renmure on Wednesday 13th March 11:33

ChocolateFrog

27,833 posts

179 months

Wednesday 13th March
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Well yes. Its a 5 minute job and the alternative is pulling the whole dash.

Calite

4,282 posts

118 months

Wednesday 13th March
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ChocolateFrog said:
Well yes. Its a 5 minute job and the alternative is pulling the whole dash.
Is it?

Never done it in a Duster, but other Renault B0 platform cars you take the clutch pedal out, remove the retaining clip holding the plug into it then it just twists off & wiggles free.

It's a ballache of a job lying in the drivers footwell, but only a couple of hours. Motors are about £60.

Mikebentley

6,550 posts

146 months

Wednesday 13th March
quotequote all
renmure said:
ChocolateFrog said:
blueST said:
renmure said:
Nah, I accept that I’ve been unlucky and that for every one like mine with 5 failures there will be 100’s that never have a failure.

After the 1st time I made a point of using different settings randomly since Google suggested leaving it on setting 1 might be a cause. Made no difference.

It’s more of an inconvenience than anything else. You are left with setting 0… so no fan. Or setting 4.. full demist fan but nothing in between.
I think I have said this before, but given your pattern of failure I'd be inclined to think the resister failure is a symptom rather than the root of the issue. If it were the resister, odds would be you'd have got a good one by now. I wonder if the fan motor or something is putting too much load on it.
I agree. Definitely a symptom and not the cause.
I'm sure you are both right but if they knew what the underlying fault was they would have sorted it by now so it suits me to simply change the part under the now extended warranty when needed.

I've also haven't seen any posts from others with a similar issue where the dealer changed or even investigated anything else other than swapping the resistor so it must suit the dealer and manufacturer as well.

Edited by renmure on Wednesday 13th March 11:33
They clearly take the path of least resistance.

I had 3 on mine in 2.5 yrs but according to one of our resident Renault/Dacia salesman here it’s never happened to anyone and I imagined it all. But he would say that wouldn’t he.

Hondashark

397 posts

36 months

Thursday 14th March
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From my figuring from one of my cars is that fans like to stick. So if you leave it on setting 1, when you start the car you don't know that the fan has stuck and it heats up the resistor which also normally uses the fan to cool it which now isn't turning.
One I had melted the fan blades it was next too. (Not a duster).
So now I always switch them off when parking up and when turning them on I go to full power to "unstick" the fan if it has and then put it on setting 1.

blueST

4,442 posts

222 months

Monday 18th March
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My current usual dealer told me they couldn't look at the fan fault until June at the earliest! Dissapointing. In past they've been good to me, but didn't seem very bothered about helping. They didnt even ask for my reg, or what the fault was. This made me wonder whether they don't really want warranty work at all and they were just hoping to put me off and go somewhere else. Which I've done. It's in with another dealership tomorrow. If they do a good job, the old place have lost a customer.

PositronicRay

27,422 posts

189 months

Monday 18th March
quotequote all
blueST said:
My current usual dealer told me they couldn't look at the fan fault until June at the earliest! Dissapointing. In past they've been good to me, but didn't seem very bothered about helping. They didnt even ask for my reg, or what the fault was. This made me wonder whether they don't really want warranty work at all and they were just hoping to put me off and go somewhere else. Which I've done. It's in with another dealership tomorrow. If they do a good job, the old place have lost a customer.
Attitudes are all driven from the top. This happens whilst senior management are all sitting round in a huddle, whilst congratulating themselves on the results of their latest customer satisfaction survey.