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Vel Satis - Exhaust Worry - Drive or Tow to Garage?

10K views 38 replies 7 participants last post by  hu88ertvelsat 
#1 ·
I posted a few days ago reporting a very faint noise coming from the front nearside of the car, whenever I accelerated, a bit like someone pouring sand or like someone very lightly blowing through their lips to blow some dust away.

I then posted on Sunday to say that when I got home from an hour's motorway drive (the car sounded fine when I set off) and then parked up, the rear end was making a metallic rattling/vibrating sound, which my other half reckoned was the exhaust.

I've just switched the engine on in the driveway and noticed a bit of a funny sound/feeling, compared to previously, but I can't quite describe it.

I got out of the car while it was sitting with the engine running, and the metallic rattling/vibration at the back end is still happening, so I got down on my hands and knees and looked under the car. The exhaust, from a far-off glimpse, looks ok, but I noticed that one of the two round metal clips/straps at the rear end was jiggling around, which is most likely causing the metal rattling?

But, the scary thing is, I opened the bonnet while the engine was running and saw that one of the pipes has either come loose or has sheared off. I have taken some pictures:







I'm very worried that with this loose connection (forgive me, I'm a young novice driver and don't know what it's called or what it does?!) means that the car isn't even driveable to my nearest Renault dealer 5 miles away? what do you reckon, can I risk driving it there or does it need towing? Will I basically be gassing myself as I drive it there?

I'm praying that it's not as bad as it looks, not as expensive as I first thought (e.g. I don't need a completenew exhaust) and it's driveable to Renault 5 miles away? (the car does seem driveable but I don't want to make anything worse).

Many, many thanks for any replies, especially those that put my mind more at ease!

Oliver
 
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#3 ·
Hi,

I've replaced one of the original pictures above with one which shows the whole engine bay, with an arrow going from the closeup (top left) to the pipe which has split.

Hope this helps you help...

Where I've added the wording saying 'cracked', I'm referring to the black plastic cover section thingy, which I'm sure isn't important and vital to the life of the vehicle, but which cracked (the plastic has fracture lines etc) a while ago, but all I've done is open the bonnet a few times and closed the lid normally, not too hard, so I can't work out how it's happened, but is the craked plastic 'hood' or whatever it is related to the severed pipe which has split, which is my main reason for this post?

Cheers,
Oliver
 
G
#4 ·
It's a little difficult with the angle, but I would say that 's a warm air intake for the engine.

If it is (hopefully one of our VS experts can confirm) then it'll be OK to drive until you get a replacement as it'll only really get used in the winter
 
#5 ·
I've got a 2.2dCi so different engine bay. The air filter is at the back right hand side however with the pipework coming forward to the engine so it could be similar for the 3.0 jobbie. If it is the air delivery pipe it means the engine will run very poorly because of excess air getting in after the air meter.
 
#6 ·
Well do you reckon it's safe to drive the 5 miles to my local Renault dealer, or should I contact my breakdown company to see if they will tow me there?

Can't believe this pipe has split at the same time as one of the jubilee clips (right term?) at the rear end has come loose causing a rattle by the exhaust...!

Oliver
 
#7 ·
Me personally I'd spring for a cab to the parts shop. They should have an Electronic Parts Catalogue on computer with diagrams so you can just point and say "one of them please". :d

They will then tell you its 800 quid and needs to be shipped from Frog land.
 
#8 ·
I reckon, thinking back, that I probably drove the hour-long trip home on Sunday night with this pipe already severed, so what's another 5 miles gonna do...

I was left really unimpressed with what a lot of people had until recently called the best Renault independent in the north west, and none of the local garages near me will touch the VS as they can't get parts, so I reckon I'll just try and build a rapport with my local Renault main dealer who may hopefully just charge no more than £150 to fix the split pipe and not much extra to sort the exhaust which hopefully just needs a jubilee clip tightening or something...

I absolutely love my VS but it's giving me quite a few problems. I guess though that any of the cars on my shortlist (Jag S-Type, E39 5-series, 52-plate 7-series, Subaru Legacy 3.0 saloon, Passat W8) before I decided on the VS, would have given me the same grief...

If nobody on here tells me I'll cause more damage by driving 5 miles or so to a garage to get the pipe fixed, I'll do that and keep y'all posted...

Oliver
 
#10 ·
Hi Oliver.

I would presume the underbonnet pipe is an air intake/feed of some kind. It won't have anything to do with the exhaust as those sort of temperatures would simply melt the plastic. If you are concerned about grit/excess air being drawn in to the engine, you can use duct tape to temporarily seal it. (It'll certainly last to the dealer's & back).

The noise from the rear may be a loose heat shield, or the exhaust may have broken/detached a mounting bush and this excess movement is causing the exhaust to strike the heat shield/underside of the car.

If you had a trolley jack and a couple of axle stands you could determine this in under half an hour. the problem is, if you don't have a mechanic you can trust, anyone can exaggerate the problem (and the cost of rectifying), when it was a simple and cheap fix.

Hope you can get it sorted quickly with the minimum time, cost & inconvenience.

Paul
 
#11 ·
Morning all,

RATTLING AT REAR

My dad looked underneath his own Vel Satis and his also has 2 metal jubilee clips in the rear centre of the car, not towards the rear bumper, but on the other side of the large metal exhaust box, if that makes sense. Both his clips look sound, whereas one of mine is bouncing around like someone jiggling their arm around while wearing a watch strap that's too big. Nothing else looks loose, but it may indeed be a CAT or a heat shield.

SEVERED PIPE UNDER BONNET

A friend suggested I get the local Kwik Fit to give me a 1st opinion before I take the car to the Renault dealer 5 miles away, but my local Kwik Fit has often told me they don't deal with Vel Satises as they can't get parts etc and the lads there don't look that careful with cars, so I'm not sure what to do. I'd rather email the photo of the servered pipe to my local Renault dealer, get their green light for driving it over to them, then hope for the best.

As one of you said, it's great to find an honest mechanic you can trust, but the one I was directed to turned gave me the impression of slight incompetence and took literally over a week to return my calls/emails each time, so it took 5 weeks just to get some new brakes for the car along with a few other things! And he now seems disinterested like he's washed his hands of my car, despite calling themselves VS specialists. A shame, as I wanted it to be a good relationship.

I'm up near Oldham. I've not found any comments/reviews on Renault Oldham though.

If the rattling turns out to be the CAT, heatshield, turbo or similar, would my aftermarket warranty cover it or reject it as wear 'n' tear? Then again, even if it's covered, I didn't tick the option to cover main dealer rates, but if they paid for the part(s), that's something...

Oliver
 
G
#12 ·
Oliver

Just a thought, why not email the photo to the dealer, order the part and then put it on yourself, before you get the exhaust checked out. If you take it off first you may find that it has a part number on it and it can be ordered over the phone :)

From the photo it appears to be a rubber bellows held on by two Jubilee clips. These are really easy to fit and only require a screwdriver.
 
#13 ·
Believe me it's my first car and I'm mechanically/practically like Frank Spencer when it comes to DIY and car repairs etc, so could either get a friend to do it (and potentially lose the friend), or try Kwik Fit I guess, if it's simple?

Renault are bound to tell me I need a new exhaust, engine, dash, cat, turbo, everything. Or maybe they'll be really honest and nice, who knows.

O
 
#14 ·
Personally, I'd drive it too the garage. It's only gonna be an air duct so whack a bit of duct tape round it and get it down the stealers for them to wave their expensive magic wand.

Re the rattling being the catalytic converter.....easy way to check that one. Slide under the car and give it a good thump, ifr you can hear bits in the cat. then it the cat. if not, it'll no doubt either be the jubilee clip you speak of or a mount, either way.....even without mechanical experience you should be able to do it yourself ;)
 
#15 ·
That leads me to ask which bit the cat is so I can possibly squeeze under the car on my back and thump the cat to see if I can hear bits in it. I'm skinny, but doubt I'll be able to get myself under the car in the drive.

Have just come across two mobile Renault mechanics local to me:

http://www.mobilemechanicmanchester.co.uk/

http://www.renodiagnostics.vpweb.co.uk/AboutUs.html

Wonder if it's worth me giving one of these a try, so they can jack the car up in the driveway saving me a 5 mile trip and they may be able to fix the split air pipe on site and also tighten the rear rattle, or at least give me a 1st opinion before I potentially get skinned at the dealer...

O
 
#16 ·
I'm not sure exactly where the cat would be on your car but it'll be the bulbous bit nearest to the front..........

The only problem I can see with the mobile mechanics is that they'll charge you a call out fee and then tell you they can't get the parts due to the rarity of the car :rolleyes:
 
#17 ·
Personally speaking, I would trust a dealer over a fast-fit establishment any day of the week.

Regarding parts availability? Its not even confirmed that any parts are needed as yet - underbonnet repair can be temporarily effected with duct tape, and the exhaust 'issue' may just be some jubilee clips needing re-sited into their original position, and tightened up.

I would call your friend, and have him look the car over in these areas.

If you lived closer, I'd do it myself, its less than an hour's time involved to sort this out.

Regarding the temporary nature of the duct tape repair - I've seen this tape hold for years.

I honestly don't believe its anything more than an adjustment that's required. You have visible reasons for the symptoms you've observed - fix what's obvious, then investigate further if needed.

Chin up mate!

Paul
 
#18 ·
It's a shame I don't live down south as many of you friendly forumers seem to be down there! I'd have bought many of your beers/curries by now!

Either that or maybe I should join some kind of basic mechanics course in the near future...

My friend nor my dad can look at it until next week or later, so I may just have to leave it sitting there for a while, so it's lucky I hardly drive/need it. Either that or I get the CAN Clip mobile Renault mechanic to look at it and hopefully fix it quickly and cheaply, but yep, no way would I go to a high street fast-fit place...

Cheers,
Oliver
 
#19 ·
Bit of an update... spoke to a RTE and a new pipe will cost £19 which sounds fair to me and the two jubilee clips I referred to, at the back end, are to hold the balance weight in place, which is there to reduce vibrations at lower revs but won't have any major mechanical effect.

Going to wait til Saturday til someone less cack-handed than me can have a look at it, then see what they reckon and if the new pipe and a new clip sort the issues out, I won't bother heading to a local dealer.

O
 
#23 ·
Thanks for the kind thought though Dave!

There are 3 or 4 other Vel Satises in my local (ish) area plus one where my other half works, plus there's an Avantime in the next town 2 miles away.

Hopefully one day I can make contact with one or more of these VS/Avantime owners somehow, to pool together on things.
 
#25 ·
Just posting these FYI in case it helps anyone else in the future:

Email sent to me from another Vel Satis 3.0 dCi owner:

"Yes I can help you here. The pipe in question is the air intake pipe to the inlet manifold. It is vital that this pipe is repaired satisfactory (Sealed joint) because the engine computer relies on the information from the air flow sensor situated in front of the air filter. You MUST either cut off the split portion and re connect or tape up making sure there are NO leaks. What is happening is that UN metered air is being sucked into the engine. This UN metered air is also NOT being filtered so muck and dust is also being sucked in. Providing the joint is made good in some way or other you can again drive the car.

I suggest you buy the new pipe and fit it but it will be very expensive!!!!!

Hope this helps."


My reply to them:

"...After a lot of paranoid thought, I reckon the air intake pipe completely severed on Sunday night on my way home, although I had begun to hear a very fait air-through-a-straw noise for the past few weeks, so it may have started to split a few weeks ago before completely going on Sunday.

Since Sunday I've not driven the car and it's been sat in the drive, apart from when I switched the engine on for 2 mins to check if the exhaust was still rattling.

I called a Renault Technical Engineer with CAN Clip, Dialogys etc, yesterday, and he priced up a new pipe at £19 which is great, plus £35 labour, so hopefully I'll have got away with it! Unless your estimation of it being very expensive being based on something I've not considered, like needing a new engine just because I did one journey with a split pipe?

In terms of the metallic vibration sound at the back end, the exhaust looks sound from a kerbside inspection my hands and knees, but I saw one of two jubilee clips jangling around causing the noise, so hopefully one of the clips (by the balancing weight at the back, just in front of the main large exhaust box and exit pipes) needs tightening to stop the rattling.

Just praying I don't need a new exhaust and/or engine, turbo and everything else...! But if you reckon a new air intake pipe should sort it, £50ish quoted by the RTE sounds good eh?..."
 
#27 ·
Yeah considering how expensive most other Vel Satis parts seem to be, I'm well chuffed that the new pipe is £19 plus fitting! Sure, I could have a go myself and bodge it, but for £50 including labour, I'd rather a Renault engineer does it. IF indeed it's just this new pipe that's required, fingers crossed!

Repair's being done Monday in my driveway, so if I'm told anything else needs doing to the car too, at least it's still at my home (better than breaking down etc!) til I drive or tow it to the Renault main dealer 5 miles away.

Have a good weekend all!

Oliver
 
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