2005 Renault Megane 2.0l hard to start

[biggin]

Hi all,
Wondering if anyone here has experience with Renaults.
I recently sent this thing to the local Renault dealer to have the flywheel, clutch, slave cylinder replaced. When it came back, it now takes a lot of turning over before starting, whether hot or cold. Once started, it seems to run normally.
The dealer, having had the vehicle back for over a week, now reckons the crank angle sensor "might" be faulty.
Surely this is something that could be picked up straight away using the correct diagnostic equipment.
It worries me that they are just clutching at straws and replacing this sensor as they have no idea what is wrong.
I'm pretty certain that the new sensor did not solve the issue, as I have heard nothing from them for the last five days.:(
Any ideas?

[Trout]

Probably cant help you much but I have had a few renaults. Currently have a Megane sport that has been very reliable until it broke down last week. It is sitting in the garage waiting for me to fix it or at least until I give up and take it to the dealer. I hate paying money for them to replace random parts before they stumble across the solution by chance. :mad: I can do that too.

The crank sensor is a known fault. As are coil packs which commonly fail. These coils are expensive but very easy to replace. Electrical problems due to wiring corrosion can be an issue too. Fuel pumps are also known to fail and are expensive if you get genuine. There are cheaper options. For many issues faults do not always show up on the diagnostic so if this is the case I expect they will resort to the option of replacing stuff until they find the fault.

I would guess it's related the something they disturbed while working on it so possibly electrical or wiring related. Let us know how you go.

[biggin]

Well, the saga continues.
They now reckon that the tdc sensor was not picking up a signal from the new flywheel, so they pulled the gearbox out again to investigate. Note that the new clutch/ flywheel assemblies were aftermarket LUK parts supplied by me. Anyway, they gave me some story that about half the teeth on the flywheel were bent over cause the sensor to not work. So they will straighten the teeth and reinstall the lot.
Of course they are saying that this damage must have happened when shipping the part from England.
This is total crap of course, because I inspected each component closely when I received the goods and there was no damage.
How the hell is it even possible to bend a tooth on a flywheel anyway, never mind half of them. And even if it was possible, how do you straighten them again. It's not like the flywheel is made of tin plate.
The story I am getting from them is totally implausible in my opinion.

[justinc]

The Megane (In fact many of these vehicles) requires a very clean signal from the crank sensor, and they do degrade with time also. They are very sensitive to air gap between the sensor and the flywheel 'signal' teeth, and with a failing DMF can attract metal filings etc etc that will effect its performance. The flywheel you supplied them was it a solid conversion or another dual mass one?

JC

[biggin]

Dual-Mass, Justin.
How do you account for the allegded damage to the teeth though.
Thanks for your interest, this is doing my head in, not to mention my wallet. I've spent $2,700 already on this, and still no closer to a solution.
The original failure was only the concentric slave cylinder.

[justinc]

not sure i can, have you seen the damage personally? i would be getting some pics and posting them here if possible, as far as i can tell the 'teeth' are quite robust, not like the tinware on the p38a flywheel chopper plates....i have seen those bent and damaged.

jc

[biggin]

I have asked to see a photo, but they didn't take any, that's is partly what is making me so suspicious.
I thought it would have been standard practice these days, especially with difficult and expensive issues like these, where they will hit the customer for a fortune - again.

[mattg]

Can't help with this but Ken at Carravelle imports is awesome for parts for French cars. He is in Melbourne on 03 98909061. I bought lots off him and most parts are genuine or at least oem.