I bought a Renault Scenic 1.9dci about 4 months ago from a used car dealer. It is a 2006 model. Yesterday on the motorway we heard a strange whistling noise for some time, then the electrical fault button lit up. We pulled over, the button went off, so we continued driving, but about 10 minutes later the gearbox seemed to disengage (couldn't switch gear, had to stall car), thick smoke began trailing out the back of the car and there were actual sparks & fire which I'm told was from oil going down the exhaust.
There was a fire engine at us in less than 3 minutes and they spent about half hour hosing the car down underneath with thick steam coming off it and said under no circumstances could we try to restart the car. We were put in a very dangerous situation, we had animals in the back which were extremely distressed by the amount of heat and smoke and the fire truck as well as having to stand on the side of a motorway in a dangerous position in the freezing cold for two hours waiting for a tow truck on a sunday. My wife was extremely scared & upset and my animals need antibiotic eye drops for the smoke damage and we are just very grateful we got off the motorway safely and the fire brigade were so prompt.
We had to get it towed home (150 miles!) and the local garage says that the turbo has blown (we also need to replace the catalytic converter and exhaust due to the burning oil that created the sparks/smoke I'm told) and they are looking for quotes but I've been told it could potentially be £3000+
I have no warranty from the dealer - this was our first car and in hindsight perhaps we did not get the best one as it has 160,000 miles on the clock which I believe means Renault will have nothing to do with it as it comes under wear and tear, is that right? I strongly believe this problem if a known one, could put lives at risk which should never come under any wear and tear descriptor!
It has been frequently serviced in accordance with the mileage. I know this is a lot of mileage but we were told because it had a very good service history that there would be no problems, and I guess we had a good salesman. It was owned by a company and was used by sales reps so it does have a full and on time service history.
Is there anything we can do in regards to this problem? It seems now after searching that it is a known fault, but it seems an extremely dangerous fault, not only to ourselves but to all passing motorists as view was actually obscured for some drivers by the amount of smoke or do we have to chalk it down to us being stupid to buy a car with such a high mileage and no warranty.
Our first car so we are absolutely gutted and totally confused to have such a massive problem happen. The problem is going to cost almost as much to fix as the car cost to buy so it may be a scrappage job now but I know it's our own fault as we bought such a high mileage car and no warranty.
Is there anyone we can write to, to complain about this problem and how dangerous it potentially could be or is it pointless and we just have to suck up the cost or scrappage and learn from it.
There was a fire engine at us in less than 3 minutes and they spent about half hour hosing the car down underneath with thick steam coming off it and said under no circumstances could we try to restart the car. We were put in a very dangerous situation, we had animals in the back which were extremely distressed by the amount of heat and smoke and the fire truck as well as having to stand on the side of a motorway in a dangerous position in the freezing cold for two hours waiting for a tow truck on a sunday. My wife was extremely scared & upset and my animals need antibiotic eye drops for the smoke damage and we are just very grateful we got off the motorway safely and the fire brigade were so prompt.
We had to get it towed home (150 miles!) and the local garage says that the turbo has blown (we also need to replace the catalytic converter and exhaust due to the burning oil that created the sparks/smoke I'm told) and they are looking for quotes but I've been told it could potentially be £3000+
I have no warranty from the dealer - this was our first car and in hindsight perhaps we did not get the best one as it has 160,000 miles on the clock which I believe means Renault will have nothing to do with it as it comes under wear and tear, is that right? I strongly believe this problem if a known one, could put lives at risk which should never come under any wear and tear descriptor!
It has been frequently serviced in accordance with the mileage. I know this is a lot of mileage but we were told because it had a very good service history that there would be no problems, and I guess we had a good salesman. It was owned by a company and was used by sales reps so it does have a full and on time service history.
Is there anything we can do in regards to this problem? It seems now after searching that it is a known fault, but it seems an extremely dangerous fault, not only to ourselves but to all passing motorists as view was actually obscured for some drivers by the amount of smoke or do we have to chalk it down to us being stupid to buy a car with such a high mileage and no warranty.
Our first car so we are absolutely gutted and totally confused to have such a massive problem happen. The problem is going to cost almost as much to fix as the car cost to buy so it may be a scrappage job now but I know it's our own fault as we bought such a high mileage car and no warranty.
Is there anyone we can write to, to complain about this problem and how dangerous it potentially could be or is it pointless and we just have to suck up the cost or scrappage and learn from it.