colin4255
Sr. Member
Posts: 119
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« on: December 27, 2010, 03:39:14 pm » |
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Ha, I knew it was too good to be true. After a year of good motoring, My espace has begun playing up. It started a week ago Sunday after temp here in the UK dropped to minus 15 C. Next day I started the car and it seemed ok, but after about 10km it spluttered and stopped. Got the ususal injector message on the dash. It took several goes to make it start, each time it stopped again almost immediately. Eventually got it running and drove it slowly to garage. Lack of power, black smoke from exhaust on acceleration, very sluggish and then it would pick up and run OK, then go slowly and have little power again. DEaler did clip test (Christmas eve) and found a number of errors related to injector and fuel system, all seemed to be electrical faults related to each injector not getting enough voltage and two other fuel related electrical issues including cold start heater plugs on two cycliners need replacing - car does start immediately though when cold.
I am assuming diesel did not freeze in the pipes, but not sure. I have the car back now, but they have not had time to fix it and they do not seem too sure where to start. It starts fine, you can rev the engine and it sounds OK, it puts out quite a bit a black / dark grey smoke when you accelerate (even slightly), but once its moving it drives OK apart from being sluggish and not having the same acceleration I am used to seeing and the almost constant black smoke when you accelerate.
I am going to take it back to garage when they open again on Wednesday, but does anyone have any idea what can be wrong?
It does need two new heater plugs, but fuel filter was changed about 5 months back, it is regularly serviced. TDC sensor replaced about 6 months ago.
Since they zeroed the errors no more have come up on dash, but it is not running properly. The little cold start engine came on yesterday (-6C) and it put out a huge amount of grey smoke??
Maybe there is an issue with wiring, or something has got damp or is maybe earthing out?? Any ideas on where to look would be a help?
Thanks Colin
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colin4255
Sr. Member
Posts: 119
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« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2011, 02:15:14 am » |
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Many thanks for this Renaultbillier. My G9T DCi doesn't look quite like this, BUT I did find a small section of wiring close to generator, that had no outer sheathing on it. IR several wires in a bundle not protected. Why I don't know, but one of the wires was touching an A/c pipe close by. As the wire weas grey, the inner wire was grey and the a/c pipe was grey it was almost impossible to know if it was shorting out, but I have re-sheathed the whole section (about 2 inches), in hard plastic sheathing and the problem seems to have gone away. I will try and take a photo so you can see if its the same area. I also found the wiring to the EGR valve was touching the pipe that comes from top right of the cylinder blcok into the EGR hoousing was partly melted. Now the wire themselves were not exposed - insulation on the individual wires inside the outer sheath were fine, but can the fact the individual wires were getting hot affect the voltages going through them? I have been told that it can??
I have driven the car for 2 days now and it seems fine. No issues with service lights coming on, no problems with performance - it all seems to be fine.
Alarm BTW is NOT working. Apart from checking the fuse in the cobra unit under the main dash section, I am not sure what else to look for here - I assume there are no fueses in the fusebox for the Cobra unit?
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colin4255
Sr. Member
Posts: 119
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« Reply #12 on: January 05, 2011, 04:05:51 pm » |
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It is known as a Thatcham CAT1 Alarm system - very hard for any burglar to get around. Its just our insurers here in the UK that are driving this kind of thing, mainly due to ever increasing levels of car theft. They say that as many as 4 - 5,000 cars a week that are stolen are leaving the UK on ships, in containers, in whole or stripped into parts, and by road to be sold in Europe - highly organised crime - that is what drives us to fit these expensive alarms.
Though, in the case of My espace, they would never get very far in it until it broke down at side of road with a wiring, EGR, Injector or air mass meter fault!!
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colin4255
Sr. Member
Posts: 119
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« Reply #14 on: January 08, 2011, 10:55:34 pm » |
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Finally, I just wanted to add a sincere thanks here to Renaultbillier for his timely and excellent advice. The longer I own the Espace the more I learn about it, but without this forum and the extremely useful advice given freely by its members the worse off we would all be. I try to contribute when I can and when I have learned something useful, but you guys are amazing. My Renault dealer is very helpful, they often don't bill me for doing diagnostic checks, or indeed other exploatory work, but I am sure my garage bills would be a lot higher without all the help you guys always offer.. Please keep up the good work. I love my Espace, I just wish it was an easier vehicle to live with day to day.. IE that it just kept working al the time like my last VW did!!!
That said, with all your excellent help, I am learning how to live with it day by day and how to mend things myself. You are all outstanding.
Many thanks indeed.....
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