PROGRESS REPORT 05.05.09 Time for a final update (hopefully). Since I had the car returned to me by the dealer un-repaired. I had a call from Renault Customer Services Independent market research company on the phone asking me about my experience with my dealer. The long and short of it was i told them how incredibly dissatisfied i was, they asked me if i wanted my concerns passing on the Renault Customer Services, so i said yes. A couple of weeks later i had a call from Renault Customer Services about my customer satisfaction survey. I rand through why i had responded the way I did. He said he would look into the problem and try and find a solution with the dealer in question. I got a call back after about a week and he'd agreed with the dealer to have my car for a further week to carry out investigations and try and fix the problem. So i took the car in last Monday. Come Friday morning I hadn't heard a thing so I called the dealer and they said they'd found the problem and fixed it. So with a certain amount of skepticism and trepidation i went to collect my vehicle. So when i arrived they instructed me that the problem was a fault with the actuator on the turbo. They replaced it and it was running fine. They intimated the unit was faulty when they replaced the engine & turbo just before Christmas. I've been running the car over the Bank holiday weekend and (touch wood) it running as it should be (no service light & injection fault warnings) All i can say is that I'm happy that my car is up & running again and for once I actually found a helpful member of Renault Customer Service

Time for a progress report. See previous thread for history of problem http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/garage-services/164101-renault-espace-2-2dci.html After recovering from the shock of the £7k + bill and Renault Customers Services (RCS) insulting initial offer of 20% contribution. I held my ground and complained with RCS. One of there representatives spoke to me after speaking to the Renault Dealer (William A Lewis - Telford). They asked me a few questions about what happened, what the garage had told me and also why i chose to buy a Renault car. About a week or so later they called me back and offered me 50% and said this was no negotiable and they wouldn't increase this offer under any circumstances. Anyway after about 5 weeks from the engine packing up and having to Shell out over £3.5k, i finally got my car back. When i collected the car, i asked what warranty i got with the repairs, they guy said the work was warrantied for 12 months but said the engine should last for a 200,000 miles or more. Well that was just before Christmas. Come January i started to get a warning on the display "check injection" service light on and a loss off power (limp home mode). I took this back to the same dealer. They fixed it said was a loose pipe. But then a few days later it happened again, so took it back to Renault. They said they'd replace a part and it was running fine. Then within a matter of hours, the problem occurred again. They had the car for nearly 2 weeks, then came back to me and said they couldn't find the cause of the fault. Tehy had tried everything they could think of and had been speaking to Renault and nothing they tried would fix the problem. So they gave me the car back and said the next step would be to get a Renault Engineer out to look at the vehicle. This could take upto 2/3 weeks before they could come out and would cost me £150. Why should it cost me £150 to pay for someone from Renault to look at my car for a fault that a approved Renault dealer can't fix. Are there two different Renault's. So i've had a complete new engine & turbo, supplied & fitted by Renault and now since they've put it in i have a car that cost me £20k to buy from William A Lewis Renault - Shrewsbury, Oct 06, and the cost of a new engine by William A Lewis Renault - Telford. I have a car that i can only drive 95% of the time in limp mode and i can't sell coz of the fault, so its completely worthless. I've seem loads of threads on Parkers & Honest John, but there doesn't seem to be a solution to the problem. There's also an interesting article on the Times Online Are car manufacturers responsible for your repairs?

Yes i did buy the car from William A Lewis Renault

Time for a progress report. After recovering from the shock of the £7k + bill and Renault Customers Services (RCS) insulting initial offer of 20% contribution. I held my ground and complained with RCS. One of there representatives spoke to me after speaking to the Renault Dealer (William A Lewis - Telford). They asked me a few questions about what happened, what the garage had told me and also why i chose to buy a Renault car. About a week or so later they called me back and offered me 50% and said this was no negotiable and they wouldn't increase this offer under any circumstances. Anyway after about 5 weeks from the engine packing up and having to Shell out over £3.5k, i finally got my car back. When i collected the car, i asked what warranty i got with the repairs, they guy said the work was warrantied for 12 months but said the engine should last for a 200,000 miles or more. Well that was just before Christmas. Come January i started to get a warning on the display "check injection" service light on and a loss off power (limp home mode). I took this back to the same dealer. They fixed it said was a loose pipe. But then a few days later it happened again, so took it back to Renault. They said they'd replace a part and it was running fine. Then within a matter of hours, the problem occurred again. They had the car for nearly 2 weeks, then came back to me and said they couldn't find the cause of the fault. Tehy had tried everything they could think of and had been speaking to Renault and nothing they tried would fix the problem. So they gave me the car back and said the next step would be to get a Renault Engineer out to look at the vehicle. This could take upto 2/3 weeks before they could come out and would cost me £150. Why should it cost me £150 to pay for someone from Renault to look at my car for a fault that a approved Renault dealer can't fix. Are there two different Renault's. So i've had a complete new engine & turbo, supplied & fitted by Renault and now since they've put it in i have a car that cost me £20k to buy from William A Lewis Renault - Shrewsbury, Oct 06, and the cost of a new engine by William A Lewis Renault - Telford. I have a car that i can only drive 95% of the time in limp mode and i can't sell coz of the fault, so its completely worthless. I've seem loads of threads on Parkers & Honest John, but there doesn't seem to be a solution to the problem.

Renault Customer services have offered to pay 50% towards repair, but made it clear that we're not claiming any liability for the failure of the turbo which caused the damage.

I did say full contribution considering it had only done 56,000 miles and there we're contributing factors.

Latest Update I have finally had a call from Renault Customers Services. They asked me a few questions about why i bought a Renault & what happened prior to the incident. They are telling me that the cause of the problem as far as they are concerned was catastrophic turbo failure which sucked the oil from the engine causing the conrod failure. They also asked me what i expected from them with regards to a contribution from them. I've had a look on a few forums and there is one on the Parker's website which is a very long thread on fault with the turbo on the dCi engine. Has anyone else had this problem. I'm not holding out for much assistance, been two days since they've called me.

The oil level was fine, it was only change 10 days prior and the oil level check when you start the car said it was ok aswell. There was plenty of oil left in the engine even after there was a big hole in it. The first thing the guy from the RAC did was check the oil level on the dipstick and it was showing a good level even after the incident. The Renault garage can't find any problem that may have caused the conrod to go, other than the turbo has also blown.

Whats SOGA?

Thanks for the reply. The car is only a couple of months outside of the warranty, although still inside the 60,000 miles. The service was carried outside of the warranty period and was carried out by Nationwide Autocentre's on there Major Service. See http://www.nationwideautocentres.co.uk/pdf/menu_service_schedule.pdf They also claim on there website the following: 10 reasons to use Nationwide Nationwide Autocentres are the leading UK MOT and car servicing specialist. See the top 10 reasons for choosing to service your car with us! AA audited service centres Huge savings on dealer prices Honest and accurate advice All parts are guaranteed for a minimum 12 months or 12,000 miles (whichever is sooner) Price Promise - we won’t be beaten Highly experienced, qualified technicians Use of the latest technology and equipment Having your car serviced with us will not invalidate your warranty We service all makes and models of cars Over 200 centres nationwide See point 8 of there top 10. Surely this means that the service was carried to the same as renault standards. I have spoken with the Renault Garage and they've told me that they are unable to really acertain whats caused the failure and without completely stripping the engine, which they don't want to do. They have told me that the turbo on the engine has failed also. They have told me that they have spoken to Renault Customer Services and they are willing to contribute to the repair and have initially quoted a 20% contribution, but they are yet to discuss it with me direct. The Renault dealer has told me to tell them it was caused by failure of the Turbo. I had a look at my fully comprehensive vehicle insurance policy with MoreThan and it doesn't cover vehicle repair due to mechanical or electrical failure. I have bought the car through my company, but not sure if company insurance would have any effect. The garage also said that they have NEVER seen this kind of failure in an engine with so few miles on. Surely this indicates a fault with either the conrod itself or the turbo, although i'm not 100% sure turbo failure would necessarily cause such a catastrophic result. Either way both parts should last longer than 56,000 miles. So not sure what next step will be. 20% is definitely insulting this rate will not be getting a renault again.

Hi. I'm after some advice. I have a 05 plate Renault Espace 2.2dCi Initiale. Its just over its warranty by a couple of months and has only done 56k miles. I had it serviced as per schedule 10 days ago at a Nationwide Autocentre, prior to this has been serviced at Renault Dealer. I have had no problems with the car other than faulty tyre pressure sensors. I was driving the car back from Nottingham when the was a rattling sound coming from the front of the car, it sounded as if the exhaust had split or a hole in it. A couple of minutes later a warning message on the dash came up "Low oil pressure" then the oil light came on, as i pull off the road into a layby, the STOP light came on and lost all power to the engine. When the RAC arrived the told me the conrod had gone through the the Engine. The car has now been at the Renault Garage for the past couple of days. They're not sure what has caused the problem, as the engine had oil in it, it hadn't overheated or had been driven hard. They say it will cost £7250 for new engine. They're also saying that because the last service wasn't by a dealer Renault won't accept any liability. Has anyone experienced a similar problem or had any dealing with Renault customer service. A diesel engine that's only done 56k miles shouldn't do this. Help please as there's no way i can afford £7250. Thanks Simon

Hi Kim Thanks again for your help. I'm just filling in the AQ now. 1 further question, which i can't find answered. In section H Other Information Do you intend to make any applications in the immediate future? Do you answer Yes & Know If yes, what for? Thanks Simon

Cheers Hedgey, definitely sounds the way i want to go. If you could send me details that would be great. The other thing that concerns me is that when they sent the offer letter they said they'd credit my account, although my account is still active, i no longer bank with them as i entered into an IVA last year. Is there anyway i can stipulate that they have to pay me by cheque or pay into my new bank account.

Thanks Hedgey. What does the second option achieve and why do it rather than completing the AQ form?

Since my last post, i have received a letter from Natwest offering to pay the full amount less interest. I have not accepted there offer and have proceeded with court proceedings. J have filed my N1 form (Thanks Hedgey for the pointers). I have received notification from the court that Natwest have filed a Defence and i have to return the Allocation Questionnaire. I need some pointers on how to fill the questionnaire in. I know this is par for the course and there just trying anything to get me to stop me from claiming.