When there is a beeping sound and the signal says “danger” and “stop” you do so!
Turning the engine off and back on, the onboard computer checks and says “ok” - so we drive on again, but with some trepidation.
It’s begun to happen with increasing frequency so we booked the car in (they thought it might be the alternator or the battery) and they did diagnostic tests and found nothing, said they’d reset everything (whatever that means) muttered about hot weather, said the car was safe to drive and said come back if it happens again. It happened again within 24 hours of their diagnostic checks.
I feel a letter to the CEO of Renault might be needed - what is the good of a warning system that really panics me so I don’t feel this 2 year-old car is safe to drive any distance and I’m then told “it’s nothing”? This does nothing to reassure me that all is well. Talk about crying wolf. How am I to know when it really is “danger” ffs?
Cleared any stored faults in the diagnostic thing they attach to the car, sort of the motoring equivalent of turning the power off and on again.
It’s possibly worth getting your own OBD scanner - the little ones that connect to the car’s diagnostic port, then to a phone via Bluetooth are not expensive and might show you what faults the dealer is not telling you about and clearing (to be fair they are probably trivial ones).
Googling this does seem to be a bit of a vague fault - it might be a loose connection or CAN bus problem rather than bettery or alternator but the battery or battery monitoring/charge system is probably where most garages would start in terms of diagnostics.
These intermittent electrical issues can be notoriously hard to diagnose on all makes of vehicle Sue.
I had a Tiguan that lit up its dashboard like a Christmas tree, no ABS, no ESC, no ACC, etc. in cold damp conditions abroad, it never happened in France. VW couldn’t diagnose it. It led me to believe that there isn’t one integrated electronic system in many cars, it’s all little “islands” of automation and hard to perform problem determination, especially for a “traditional” mechanic.
The problem you have seems to be well known and from a quick scan of the fora the battery and alternator seem to come up as a problems, but not always and the diagnostic that Renault is using is “suck it and see”, just replace parts and see if that fixes it. If it doesn’t you’re still stuck with the cost of the parts and the labour. So proceed cautiously before authorising any work.
This is a tentative low cost fix I liked the sound of in the attached forum. It may be worth a try. Often something simple can be the root cause of the problem.
“Please please Check the earth cable between the Battery and Gearbox connection point !! This is exactly the same problem I had replaced Battery and alternator total cost £400 and still had same problems. Cleaned original lead connection point and fitted EXTRA earth lead cost £5 and problem SOLVED .please check this first !!!”
If you flick through the options on the “mileometer” - there should be one for the km to service?
Its been to the garage so they should have reset it …
.
But it’s a quirk in Dacias/Renault’s - as you get close to the point it thinks it needs a service it starts to pop up. Once you get to 0 it gets really insistent and won’t go away. If the km to service is under 500km that’ll be why
Sorry, that just sounds bizarre. How can I ignore a large red sign on the main fascia panel saying “danger”, a loud beeping noise and the demand to stop???
Why on earth would that be Renault’s choice of a warning if all the car needs is a service? Sorry, don’t buy that.
I have. They had it for the day and found nothing. It’s where we bought the car on lease purchase. OH is going in on Monday for a serious conversation with the guy who runs the place who sold us the car.
OH went into the garage this afternoon. Long discussions between the manager who sold us the car and the service manager. One issue has been that the instruction to stop, which we’ve always done, doesn’t allow the onboard computer time to register the fault. So OH was told: next time it happens don’t turn off the engine, drive straight here with the warning still showing. Fortunately it came on as he was driving home, so he went straight back to the garage. From the diagnostics they did there and then they think it’s the alternator. The car is booked in for two days of testing and we’ll get a courtesy car.
The manager has confirmed we’re covered by the warranty which is a year from the time we bought it at the end of January.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions / comments. It meant OH went well prepared for the conversation.
That sounds like a very promising result, Sue.
10/10 for persistence and following the garage’s instructions - and also to the garage for their sensible approach.
It’s certainly the case that a failing alternator can throw up a plethora of symptoms that the control system interprets as the simultaneous failure of many modules.
They could have found that out from a quick Google Sue, like I did when you first posted. It’s a known problem.
Reread my warning above Sue If it’s warranty fine but otherwise, don’t authorise anything until they have checked the earth strap too.
Trust me @corana, after my Tiguan experience I know the electrical integration on cars is not half as sophisticated as the manufacturers would have us believe. Depending on manufacturer and new platforms they are probably getting there, but currently sensors and control units not tied in and the diagnostics don’t reach as far as they should. A dodgy connection can still bring a car down, and be hard to trace.
Hence the “doesn’t allow the onboard computer time to register the fault” bullshit to Sue’s OH. What milliseconds? It looks as if the error isn’t logged t all. These garages will say anything.
Thank you for the mansplaining John. Very helpful.
If you go back to my first post you’ll see I’d already mentioned they thought it was the alternator.
Bullshit or not, the diagnostics on the first visit did not flag up anything. When he went back with the warning lights still on, they learnt more.
Fair point - and one that frustrates me. What’s the point of an information system that screams at me STOP DANGER when a quiet little message that says “sensor 539 needs replacing” would enable me to drive with confidence?
OH told me more on our walk with the dog this morning. He asked the manager whether they had come across this before. He said yes. Once it was the alternator. On another car it was a wire shorting behind the steering wheel - took them four days to find it. (I wait for you to tell me that’s bullshit. )
Not wishing to mansplain Sue but the “sensor 539” system would be a lot more sophisticated, perhaps more expensive and even overkill back in the day. From what I can see the Kadjar is based on a platform that first went into production 2013, so I guess the electrical/electronic package is, in effect, out if date, with new stuff just tagged on. Interestingly, VW has a similar platform of a similar age, MQB, which probably why my Tiguan had “islands of automation” too
If it’s warranty fine but otherwise, don’t authorise anything until they have checked the earth strap too.
but the “sensor 539” system would be a lot more sophisticated, perhaps more expensive and even overkill back in the day. From what I can see the Kadjar is based on a platform that first went into production 2013, so I guess the electrical/electronic package is, in effect, out if date, with new stuff just tagged on. Interestingly, VW has a similar platform of a similar age, MQB, which probably why my Tiguan had “islands of automation” too 