[Prem]

I left my car at the airport for 11 days. When I got back, the remote unlocked the doors but the car would not start. Nothing displayed on the dashboard.

I managed to jump start it - with difficulty. When I connected the donor battery, it kept complaining that the parking brake was fault and refused to start!

After a few attempts, the car did start but the dashboard showed up several error messages:

- fault passenger airbag
- faulty type pressure sensor
- check injection
- check emissions

and 2 others I can't remember.

Got the car home but was totally disgusted that this could happen to an 11 month old car.

Anyway, all but one message has now disappeared without doing anything.

The only message left is 'check emissions'. I need to book this car into my local dealer and generally waste lots of time.

Has anything similar happened to anyone?

 

[chris m]

There has been issues with some cars after being jumpstarted but they mainly concern blown displays. If the battery went completly flat the ECU would have lost certain "learnable settings" and would need to relearn them as you are driving.

 

[ns.thomson]

You are right about the warning messages - can be an annoyance.

The other day I almost stalled the car and it came up with a few warnings (battery faulty charge) and fault codes - and told me to stop driving- anyway all went away.

The other warning I had once was self levelling lights faulty - again never seen it since - it seem t occur after I had used the function to turn the lights on when out of the car.

I guess you will be asking the dealer why your battery would drain in the first place - I guess you would not want it to happen again.

I'm sure there will be an occasion when I will appreciate one of these warning signs - preventing serious damage when there is a genuine fault.

Nige

 

[WebCode]

Did you use another vehicle to start the car or a Jump Pack??

It is Advised that you do NOT use another vehicle to start modern cars as serious damage can occur to the ECU's Alternators etc...

 

[Prem]

I was in the Gatwick Airport's long term car park - did not have a 'jump pack' handy.

Seriously though, why are the electronics so fragile?

It's at the stage where I just don't believe the warning mesages any more.

 

[Chris999]

My first post!

Recently (4 weeks ago) bought a 51 plate Grand Espace 2.0 Auto. It has the warning light for self levelling headlights that illuminates every time you leave the car. Can't see anything wrong with the headlamp alignment though. There is also a 3 position dial on the dash which manually changes the headlamp height. So a little confused? Does the car have auto self levelling suspension aswell as manual alignment?

Also been in Florida for 3 weeks. Got back and guess what - flat battery! Borrowed my father-in-law's charger and plugged it in for 90 mins. Then I was able so start it. Since then (only last Thursday) I have had the airbag warning light come on on a few occaisions when turning on the ignition. It hasn't done it every time and it only stays on for a few seconds then says service and disappears. Mostly though it just does the check and displays "OK". I assume from reading the posts here that this may be to do with the flat battery. Do I need to go and get the faults cleared out of the memory at a dealer or will it "learn" and sort itself out in due course (assuming there is no fault!)?

Maybe the battery went flat because of the self levelling headlamp warning light being on for 3 weeks...? Any suggestions on this one gratefully recvd.

Regards

Chris

 

[Prem]

Not too sure why the warning signs come and go.

In my experience, the warning lights come on, stay for a few days and then go away - all by themselves.

Mind you, I've got the Espace Iv and I'm sure it's different from the III.

The flat battery 'should not' have been caused by the self levelling lights - these should only come on every time you start your car.

My own opinion, as long as the car starts and drives, take these warning with a pinch of salt - or better still, ignore them.

Before anybody has a dig at me for saying this, I AM a responsible person and do not take these things lightly, but the electronics in the IV are so fragile, I'm too scared to sneeze in the damn car!!!

 

[ns.thomson]

Chris,

Not too sure about the self evelling headlights.

Air Bag Warning - I used to get this coming on when I had a phase 3 espace - it would occor if the drivers seat had been pushed forward and then returned to its rearward position.

It seemed to be the wires underneath the seat that where sensitive - giving them a gentle 'wiggle' would usually cure the issue for 3 months or so - I guess not really a cure as it would come sometimes when the seat was moved or the kids books etc came sliding under the seat.

Hope this helps - in summary - air bag warnings usualy something to do with the wire under the drivers seat.

 

[Chris999]

Prem & NS,

Thanks for that. Especially about the airbag wiring and movement of the front seat. It hasn't come on at all for the last few times of starting so it may have sorted itself for a while. When I get the chance this week I'll have a thorough going over of the interior and maybe see if I can spot any dodgy wires...

Regarding the battery - it seems fine now. My main curiosity is the little warning light/symbol for the self levelling headlamps (a kind of headlamp symbol with an up arrow above it and a down arrow below it). This comes on and stays on when I turn the ignition off. At night you can clearly see it lit up on the dash (right hand side) along with the flashing red leds for the alarm/immobiliser being active.

If I use the 0-3 position headlamp adjustment dial both headlamps seem to move up or down correctly and appear aligned ok (passed mot ok the other week). So I'm not to sure why this is on. Don't know if my car has the pneaumatic rear suspension or not. It's a Nov 2001 Grand Espace Expression Auto (2.0 16v). I'll be popping into my local independent Renault garage tomorrow so will try and get to the bottom of it....

Maybe as prem says I should just ignore this altogether!

Car certainly drives very well and smoothly.

As an aside wonder what I'm likely to get milage wise out of a full tank. I've done about 355 miles and have 2 bars left on the gauge....

Cheers again...Chris

 

[berushka]

flat battery

Hi there, had similar problem last week, alarms all over the place, non-starter, doors not locking, no radio etc.etc. With good advice from members here, Truckbuck, Prem etc. called renault service. They replaced the totally dead battery, that could not be recharged, as I tried that:steam:, and within oone houreverything was back to normal. Head mechanic told me that the original battery was too low-rated for the Grand Espace and they replaced it with a much mmore powerful type. said they do this all the time maybe another way of Renault after sales grabbing our money:crazy:
Anyeway, I think you should wait a while and all the alarms should dissappear. Good Luck
Graham (Berushka), Czech Republic

 

[tango]

parking brake warning light

Hi guys,
my espace mk4 recent just came up with the service light & parking brake warning light, do you thing it might be the rear pads just need change.

cheers

 

[berushka]

Hi everyone. Had a similar problem, but after driving out of my drive onto the road, my Espace just died. Wouldn't jump start, so had to call service. The mechanic told me that the battery was totally knack...ed and that the original one was underpowered anyway for this model, a renault ploy to make you buy a new one soon after buying the car. Anyroadup, they changed the battery for a more powerful type, and all is fine and dandy. When you get all those warning lights, it usually means the battery is totally berift of life, like the Monty Python parrot, so a change should cure all.