Megane Problem - Any Ideas?

[mx5tom]

My girlfriend's having a problem with her Renault Megane and I was wondering if anyone here might have any ideas.

The short of it is, the 'Toxic Fumes Light' has come on and she doesn't know:

a) Why
and
b) Is it safe to drive?

Apparently before the light came on the car has been generally fine to drive, although it has had a few issues where it would struggle to start, or start and then stall straight away. Also, once or twice the car has struggled through the gears and would judder quite badly.

A quick check online suggests one of the coils may be to blame, although to be honest I don't even know what a coil is so I have no idea if that's relevant.

So, any ideas what the cause could be and if it is a dodgy coil, what sort of price she'd be looking at to fix it?

Thanks

ETA: It's a 2005 1.4 'Oasis'

Edited by mx5tom on Saturday 2nd June 20:13

[SirSamuelOfBuca]

no idea but ill follow this. Sisters 1.6 meganne stalls like that :s

[VR46]

It's french so breakdowns and faults come as standard. Get rid and get a jap or kraut motor.

[MondeoMan1981]

Under £50 quid for a set of 4 coils on the bay of E.

Worth doing all four, as guaranteed if you find out what the dodgy one is and replace it, another one will go.

[Roadrunner23]

VR46 said:

It's french so breakdowns and faults come as standard. Get rid and get a jap or kraut motor.

Why put stupid st like this. OP is asking a genuine question for help and u replying with crap like that is not helping.

[TinySpock]

If a coil pack has failed then you'd notice it as it wouldnt be firing on all cylinders, if it drives OK then I would say it's something else?

[750turbo]

VR46 said:

It's french so breakdowns and faults come as standard. Get rid and get a jap or kraut motor.

Idiot!

FFS.

[matthias73]

VR46 said:

It's french so breakdowns and faults come as standard. Get rid and get a jap or kraut motor.

tit

[aw51 121565]

I'd suggest taking it to an Independent Specialist (or - at least - someone who has the proper 'electrical equipment' to plug in to the onboard Diagnostics Socket) and see what 'fault codes' are stored on the car's computer. A french car specialist would probably be the best place to go; a main dealer generally the worst choice to make in terms of cost and often expertise .

(I'd also suggest trying specialist forums for Meganes and see (a) if they can suggest what the problem might be, (b) if you can obtain the 'fault codes' yourself without any equipment and (c) if they can suggest a specialist if (b) can't be done. They might also be able to give guidance on the 'fault codes' your mechanic gets if he has the code-reading kit but can't make sense of them (some 'fault codes' can be erroneous, see below).)

The mechanic will then clear the 'fault codes', let your girlfriend drive the car for a short while (typically a day or two, but just long enough for the problem to happen again is needed) then interrogate the car and see what new 'fault codes' are stored. With intelligent analysis (some 'fault codes' can give false leads, hence the need for an experienced specialist) the problem will be glaringly obvious.

I would hazard a guess at the 'exhaust gas recirculation' valve, but I might as well be a million miles away and an experienced soul looking at the 'fault codes' will tell all .

Incidentally, the coils - 'ignition coils' - provide the high voltage for the spark plugs. There may be one for each plug (attached to the top of each plug, on top of the engine), or one for each pair of plugs. Only looking at your engine and knowing its capacity and 'engine code' will tell for certain... But your specialist will be able to sort this and advise you in the blink of an eye.

[drdino]

Does the MIL stay on? Does the engine feel "normal" or are there any flat spots, hesitations, abnormal vibrations etc?

Edited by drdino on Sunday 3rd June 00:56