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Hello, I am writing about a brakes problem on my Megane 2011 model. It all started in December when i realized the brakes pedal is a bit soft and it doesnt stop as it should be. After a visit to a local garage they said my rear back wheel was blocked and the pads were a bit rusty so they tood them out and cleaned them. I was told there is air in the front left wheel and they bled the system oldfashion way. After a week it was the same so it was bled again, and the same no brakes after 2-4 days. I went to a Renault dealer and i explained what is wrong so they bled the system and it only lasted 3-5 days again. The symptoms are. pedal getting soft when u press the brake pedal and if u try to stop in emergency only front right wheel locks the left one looks like doesn't stop. I went back to Renault and they said its the master cylinder. They replaced the cylinder with a brand new one and bled the system. Again after a week the same story again. Also I noticed when i press the brakes pedal a noise like air coming out sound like from the servo and when u pump the pedal few times the pedal not only gets harder but the servo makes strange noises for a while and then stops. I went again to Renault garage and the said the will pressure bleed this time, so they did and the car was perfect for 7 days. on the 7th day i was driving and i had t stop hard in an emergency and the abs on the car was working in order to stop and immediately after that i felt like there is something wrong with the brakes again. 4 days later i have again air in the same left from wheel and no proper brakes. They told me in Renault its probably the servo but probably yes may be not it costed me a fortune so far and even more to replace servo if I decide to. Please anybody with similar problem or a clue what is doing all this, is it realy servo, is it some air still left to give me an advice.
I have the same problem on my 2011 megane dci, I have had the abs module replaced as the brake pedal would lose pressure. This came back again after 2 weeks, brake pedal would slowly lose pressure until it would only brake at the bottom of travel, quite scary! So we had the master cylinder replaced, once again the brake pedal was hard for about 2 weeks now it is completely dropped again. We have found no leaks and no fluid drop so at a complete loss now. Has anyone found the cause?
 
Hello I have a 2011 Megane dci and I had the same problem with the brakes feeling spongy, but only for one day, the next day my brakes completely failed (SCARY) I luckily had warranty and took it back to Renault who diagnosed a fault with the ABS chip. Once this was replaced I haven't had a problem with the brakes since. Maybe if your problem still exists ask the dealer to check the ABS chip also. Hope this helps good luck
 
Ive had the same problem and it's cost me 400 pounds so far. Master cylinder replaced, brakes bled three times. Brakes too sharp last time after asking main dealer to investigate and fix. Then in days, back to virtually no brakes even when foot pedal was pushed to floor. There are a lot of stories on here regarding the 2011 Magan having difficulty fixing the same braking problems. I even took it to the main dealer in Canterbury because I was frustrated at the last garage's lack of success after a master cylinder was replaced. The Main Dealer didn't fix it either. Took it back as an emergency after the brakes were failing and it was dangerous to drive. They've had it for two weeks. They havent even phoned.The manager insisted I paid another 144 pounds because "he wasn't repairing another garages work for free." I'd just paid that to him for a failed repair. My faith in his dealership is now at rock bottom. He even implied the other garage had fitted a second hand part.
I said he must be able to tel. He said not. Come on...
I've now had no car for weeks and no idea why there's still a problem, or even if and when it'll be fixed. Only that it's likely to cost more than the car is worth. It's only done 31,000miles and always driven carefully.
It's possible there's a major problem with Renault.2011?
 
I tried posting a fuller answer but the forum seems to have crashed and lost it, so here goes, a bit more briefly. My 2011 diesel Megane started showing brake problems (soft, long travel on pedal, deteriorating braking performance) out of the blue (no recent work done or any possible obvious reason) which caused air in the system, so bleeding removed the problem for a week or so before the problem returned.
Local garage replaced master cylinder (£275, with no improvement). For a while I bled the brakes myself to keep it roadworthy every week or 2. Now the ABS unit has come off and gone away to a specialist to recondition it. They got back yesterday and said it's absolutely FUBAR and beyond any repair. New one will be ~£900.
A friend of a friend suggested going down the same route as above, a used / recon unit for £100-200.

Question is, what software issues are likely to emerge? Last year I had a saga replacing a simple door lock actuator which turned out after a lot of messing about by the same garage, to be a software update requirement.

Another question is, has anyone looked into why there's been no recall? It strikes me that there's been a lot of Renaults built ~2011 with very expensive failure of a major safety critical component. Was there a duff batch of units built on a Friday afternoon?
Mine is exactly the same. "Fixed" 3 times, last by Main dealer. It went back thete as an emergency as the brakes were virtually non existent. Master cylinder replaced, baked 3 times. Still dangerous to drive. Had no car this time gor 2 weeks. Same with last "repair"
There has to be a dangerous problem with 2011 Meganes. Mines only done 31,000 miles and never thrashed.
This has to be a manufacture/design/ materials problem.
 
Hi I read this forum last year but did not post, trying to work out whether my 2011 1.5dci III Megane estate was suffering the same problem of air ingress to the braking fluid, lengthening pedal travel and worsening braking performance. It started out of the blue last October, the mechanic simply bled the brakes back to normal but seemed uninterested in the possibility that the problem would simply return. Which it did... I took it to the local garage (different to the 1st place) where I was told unequivocally that it was the master cylinder. £275 and a week later... guess what. Soft, longer pedal travel and ever decreasing braking performance after about a week and average (if steady, driving), mileage. Since then I have been bleeding the brakes myself regularly to keep it roadworthy while I worked out what to do but with decreasing confidence in the car and the ability of anyone to correctly diagnose and repair this persistent slow airleak into the brakes. (NSF corner always seemed to cough out the most air during bleeding).
At no point has any warning light shown and no fault codes back from diagnostics.

It managed to pass the MoT but they reckoned at that point it was the ABS causing intermittent problems. Solution: remove ABS pump / unit and send away for reconditioning. OK, I said. After a delay by my local garage, the answer has come back from the pump reconditioning people, this ABS pump is absolutely F****d and beyond repair. Replacement ~£900.

I saw the post above from Paul2 and thought this might be it but there had been no such work carried out on my car prior to it starting to go wrong. How does this situation explain the ingress of air? I also noticed the fuel economy worsen - from ~58mpg down to ~52. Could this be in any way related?

So many questions but the main one is :- What software issues would we face if I and a skilled acquaintance were to try to replace it with a recon part from online? Given that a replacement door lock mechanism would not work down to some S/W compatibility update issue bullsh*t, would the car's electronics not freak out at some new part?

Thanks for reading!
Megans from 2011 have serious impossible to fix braking problems
 
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