[Ceex]

Know where to come now if I need one done.. 😉 😆

Haha, anytime Phil.

 

[vanmanpaul83]

Should I feel ashamed that it took me about 10 hours yesterday to replace a gearbox on a Zafira B? That included being hungover, removal of exhaust from cat down, dropping of subrame, swapping the gear selector from old box to replacement before bench pressing new gearbox into place in ridiculous stupid heat. I can usually strip a Zafira down ready to replace clutch in 2 hours. I blame the hangover 🤣

 

[Ceex]

Should I feel ashamed that it took me about 10 hours yesterday to replace a gearbox on a Zafira B? That included being hungover, removal of exhaust from cat down, dropping of subrame, swapping the gear selector from old box to replacement before bench pressing new gearbox into place in ridiculous stupid heat. I can usually strip a Zafira down ready to replace clutch in 2 hours. I blame the hangover 🤣

Lol nope.. I took the p.iss with my captur. A few days left on the drive, up in the air. I just took my time because we went into the initial lockdown. I thought sod it since I had nothing better to do.

 

[Gillybeany]

I just thought that I’d come back and update you all as I was really grateful for the feedback.

to cut a long story short - they were sticking their heels in. We got offered 20% goodwill, then 40%, then 50% and finally 60%. I felt so frustrated as I just KNEW that something wasn’t right. I told Renault UK complaints this over and over again but eventually I said we would just pay our share and arranged to go in yesterday when it was finally ready. Then got a call from Renault to say that the clutch was spongy when they tested it. This rang alarm bells with me and I was like “it wasn’t before!!”. The garage decided to give it a bit more testing this morning and during the test drive the clutch failed! All brand new clutch, flywheel etc and the clutch stuck to the floor! Again!!
So the good news is that they’ve finally found the fault, nearly one month on! It turns out that it’s to do with a non-return valve failing linking into the clutch?

Either way, our nightmare is nearly ended with this and I finally have some confidence that the car that we eventually get back has actually had the problem fixed! It’s just a shame that I even had to go through nearly four weeks of hell, daily phone calls and threats of £3k bills to get Renault to just rightfully deal with a manufacturer’s fault!

 

[Dancingdad]

A good result... I assume your part of the bill is now zero.

Very frustrating but well done for sticking with it.

 

[Gillybeany]

A good result... I assume your part of the bill is now zero.

Very frustrating but well done for sticking with it.

Yes our bill is now zero and it’s fully covered by the warranty. Ultimately I’m just relieved that they found the fault as I don’t want that happening again as it was terrifying how it failed in a dangerous place etc.
I do feel extremely disappointed though that it took the battle that it did to get to the bottom of it!

 

[Dancingdad]

I do feel extremely disappointed though that it took the battle that it did to get to the bottom of it!

Fully agree and TBH nobody should have the hassle.
But unless dealers and customer services change the attitude from "blame the customer" to "find the problem" it will continue, stinging people for faults that should have been found.
And not everyone has your willpower.

I'm not sure that we covered ourselves in glory with our thoughts but if it gave you the will to fight on, I'll count that as a win.

Any idea where this check valve is?
If nothing else, I'd like to tuck the solution away in my brain for the next time someone comes on with similar.

 

[vanmanpaul83]

It's great that as a community everyone knew from the problems described it was never about how the vehicle was driven and even better you got the fault paid under a warranty claim. I am interested to know is this return valve part of the clutch damper? Anyway go you!!! Great result! 👍

 

[Gillybeany]

I’m still trying to find out. All I know is that it was a failed non-return valve. I have asked for them to let me know exactly what it was though.
The whole thing has been really disappointing and it just shouldn’t be that way. It was the fact that my young children were in the car that made me keep fighting it more than anything. The outcome could have been much worse…

 

[Gillybeany]

Fully agree and TBH nobody should have the hassle.
But unless dealers and customer services change the attitude from "blame the customer" to "find the problem" it will continue, stinging people for faults that should have been found.
And not everyone has your willpower.

I'm not sure that we covered ourselves in glory with our thoughts but if it gave you the will to fight on, I'll count that as a win.

Any idea where this check valve is?
If nothing else, I'd like to tuck the solution away in my brain for the next time someone comes on with similar.

I queried again today to get details of this - it was the “master cylinder two way valve” that failed. Does that make sense?!

 

[Doggie Barker]

We have a Renault Kadjar 18 plate, petrol and manual. Less than 19k miles on the clock. Fully serviced by Renault. Just coming up to 3rd service and 1st MOT. One month left on manufacturers warranty.
We’ve had a few sensor issues since we had it and it’s been looked at in the past by Renault but nothing really found. Active braking would be disconnected.
Anyway, over the past year it’s literally done about 2000 miles since service due to Covid. Been away for a few days with the family. Was fine on the 115mile journey there. Was fine whilst on holiday. About 40 miles into the journey back the display starts telling my husband to shift up a gear (it was already in 6th). I said was he in 4th but definitely not. As we drove along at 70mph the car would make a Rev sound like if you’re driving an automatic and it’s shifting gear. (And I could see how he had his leg - he wasn’t riding the clutch).
anyway, we got most of the way home and then as we went to come off the motorway and he depressed the clutch to change gear the clutch stuck to the floor. We were stuck in neutral on the motorway, was not nice! Managed to stop and start again a few times and eventually managed to get the clutch to release. Got it in gear and continued on as we weren’t far from home.
4 miles from home on a major road and it makes the rev sound again whilst in 6th gear. And no we still definitely weren’t riding the clutch. Slow down a little and go to shift down and clutch sticks on again. It’s flat to the floor and we are in neutral.
everything going super fast around us so I say to my husband if he can keep it running to get over the hill and there’s a lay-by (we had our newborn in the car and a car full of stuff). Managed to coax it with the clutch stuck down and in neutral about 1 mile to lay-by. Strong smell of clutch burning!!
Car was recovered and RAC guy said clutch evidently burned out and he had to force it back up. I’m not surprised considering the 1 mile with it stuck down to get to the lay-by.
Anyway, car has gone into Renault and they’ve looked at the clutch which is indeed burned out. Only they say it’s the way we’ve been driving it and no manufacturer fault and cost of £2800 to us. Both my husband and I have been driving for over 20 years and never had this issue so I don’t believe it’s the way we are driving it, we’ve had many a car for longer and for much higher mileages.
has anyone else had experience of this or similar as there’s no way that this is just caused by us and more than anything if we are having to fork out all of this money to repair it we want to understand what the problem really is in order to make sure it doesn’t happen again!
(And obviously if we can get it investigated further then we would like to do so as we believe this should be covered under warranty!)

I sympathise with you totally Renault uk completely useless , 4 1/2 year old 2017 plate kadjar 27000 miles fir me dualmass flywheel completely knackered , for Renault to replace complete clutch £1700, car out of warranty , but the same parts that are fitted as standard Luk parts are available from eBay for less than Renault quote far less, in the end I had my local garage fix it , cost to me £ 298 not oem but of oem quality Sachs, for a four piece clutch and just under £400 for a days labour saving £1000 ,

 

[Doggie Barker]

That’s for:
Fly wheel £687
Clutch plate £550
Clutch pressure plate £150
Plus misc - unconfirmed cost
Release bearing £100
Labour is £700
Plus VAT
I thought that it was ridiculous too

Luk original fitted parts four piece eBay £500 , Renault just takin the ****

 

[Ceex]

Luk are not as good as they once were. I've had a clutch gone out within less than 50k miles on our captur. Sachc or Valeo are of better quality these days. I personally went valeo for the clutch and Sach for release bearing. Suffice to say, the throw on the clutch pedal is much more softer and all around smoother. Renault take the absolute p.ss with their pricing on parts for fit and finish.

 

[vanmanpaul83]

Luk original fitted parts four piece eBay £500 , Renault just takin the ****

Just for the record, I did a flywheel and clutch on a 2008 Ford Kuga (all wheel drive) for about £310 in parts (LUK flywheel and clutch kit including CSC bearing, gear oil and brake fluid). Ford had quoted in excess of £1200 for this job. Admittedly the flywheel had failed and locked up causing me to have to grind out the outer plate of flywheel to get to the bolts. Work out the book time (labour time) and then look at how much you are being ripped off!

 

[Ceex]

Just for the record, I did a flywheel and clutch on a 2008 Ford Kuga (all wheel drive) for about £310 in parts (LUK flywheel and clutch kit including CSC bearing, gear oil and brake fluid). Ford had quoted in excess of £1200 for this job. Admittedly the flywheel had failed and locked up causing me to have to grind out the outer plate of flywheel to get to the bolts. Work out the book time (labour time) and then look at how much you are being ripped off!

That sounds about right. Without the labour, these dealerships wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

 

[flying clutchman]

Just have to play devil's advocate for a moment on dealer's labour charges. The overheads in running a main dealer site are horrendous. I know someone who has a garage in a modern industrial unit in loughton, essex. It can accomadate a maximum of 4 cars. He tells me his overheads work out at £200 per DAY. For a single industrial unit. The real stitch-up comes on parts. Renault dealers have to buy parts from Renault GB, they can't get them of a bloke on Ebay. Of course they earn 30% on everything fitted. On the original post, this was always clearly a master cylinder fault, probably caused by inactivity.

 

[Scenic 11]

At least Renault admitted to a part being faulty! As they could have just renewed it, said nowt and charged for the full repair, so fair do's to Renault in this case👍

 

[Ceex]

Just have to play devil's advocate for a moment on dealer's labour charges. The overheads in running a main dealer site are horrendous. I know someone who has a garage in a modern industrial unit in loughton, essex. It can accomadate a maximum of 4 cars. He tells me his overheads work out at £200 per DAY. For a single industrial unit. The real stitch-up comes on parts. Renault dealers have to buy parts from Renault GB, they can't get them of a bloke on Ebay. Of course they earn 30% on everything fitted. On the original post, this was always clearly a master cylinder fault, probably caused by inactivity.

I agreed for the likes of the smaller dealerships. But Renault dealerships such as WR Davies, have been around for decades. At this point, they turned over a profit margin of 780 thousand in the year 2018. It may not seem a lot for a company as big as them. But that's a profit margin, not to be confused with outgoings. They have 9 mortgages unsettled out of 30 odd buildings owned. They do over charge for labour and parts as they pay a minor percentage for those parts as they are practically selling cars for Renault, while making a turnover profit from labour and parts.

But like I previously mentioned. Smaller dealerships I agree with your statement. Their over heads a considerable, since they are mostly small family run buisnesses.

Companies like WR Davies also make a huge profit out of used car sales. Then cheap out on any parts that have either clearly aged or completly degraded to the point of failure. They then try their very best to wiggle out of any warranty work. If I have to go to a garage/dealership. I will always prefer to give my money to those that deserve it and deserve the recognition for the work they've carried out on my vehicle.

 

[Pauliboi]

Just to add, the non return valve on these is supposed to prevent flutter or a pressure bleed off. It's located on the right handside of the
engine if you're looking from the front, near the bulkhead, next to the abs gubbins. Taking the battery out helps. Valve has two lines, one in and one out. Mine was leaking slightly and over 5 months let all the fluid out, until I couldn't engage the gears. Pedal to the floor, wouldn't come back up. Renault replaced the master first, then the slave and now they have to replace this valve too. All under warranty, its a Dec 2019 car so has 5 yr warranty...pita taking it back in though, renault refused to recover it.

 

[flying clutchman]

Just to add, the non return valve on these is supposed to prevent flutter or a pressure bleed off. It's located on the right handside of the
engine if you're looking from the front, near the bulkhead, next to the abs gubbins. Taking the battery out helps. Valve has two lines, one in and one out. Mine was leaking slightly and over 5 months let all the fluid out, until I couldn't engage the gears. Pedal to the floor, wouldn't come back up. Renault replaced the master first, then the slave and now they have to replace this valve too. All under warranty, its a Dec 2019 car so has 5 yr warranty...pita taking it back in though, renault refused to recover it.

these valves are more trouble than they're worth. They're fitted on many makes of vehicles and often leak slowly