Well, it looks like Renault is doing its best to upkeep its terrible reputation :(

Collected the keys and the car on Friday evening after work and apart from the trader being a bit of numpty with the handheld electronic switch/maestro terminal everything was hunky dory. He even had repaired the sill for me, so I was over the moon with my new purchase.

Barely on my way on the motorway I come to some traffic and whilst driving along in 1st gear, the engine manage to stall (probably my own mistake with letting the clutch up to quickly or something), and as I restarted the engine (this is the 1st time i started it, all the other times the car was either already running, or it was being started whilst I was outside the car), the multifunction display showed an airbag symbol followed by the word 'service'. After 30 secs or so it went away and although I was curious, I didn't think much of it (not enough to stop me from driving anyway). Came home fine and took the family out for a little spin and we all lived happily ever after... until Sunday.

As we had a fete at my sons school, and I had to get some new tyres on the octy (thanks Phil ) we didn't touch the Espace at all on Saturday. On Sunday we had made plans to go to Milton Keynes and proper test the car with the whole family for the first time.

And then it started to go all wrong. I started the engine and it sounded like a tractor! The car shook whilst idling, and when I drove away, the engine stalled 5 times in less than 2 miles. All accompanied by a complete loss of power steering too, so quite scary when you're trying to navigate around a roundabout. We turned around and transferred everything back into the octy and made our way to MK for some retail therapy.

As we came home late in the afternoon, I had another look at the Espace, but it hadn't changed. Opening up the bonnet you could see the engine shaking in its mounts whilst idling. It also sounded like it was missing something, there seemed to be no rhythm to the idling. Went for a small drive and it just wouldnt go properly, no matter what gear. The top speed seemed to be reduced to 50mph as well :eek:

Now I am no mechanic, but would the above sound like it is not running on all 4 cylinders? Or like a coilpack (dont know if the Espace has them or not) failure? Obviously I am going to contact the trader tomorrow, but it would help me if I get an idea of what is wrong with it.

I forgot to say, the pipe which goes from the front of the car into the airbox has a big spilt in it, which is ofcourse not good (and he will have to fix that as well), but I wouldnt think it is related? Can air starvation cause this sort of rough idling, running?

Another thing, when I switch on the aircon, it gets worse, up to the point that the engine almost stalls as soon as I hit the aircon button.

It will get worse when you switch the a/c on as it loads the engine up.

Sounds like an air leak maybe but its tricky to say.

that doesn't sound good , i'm amazed that it ran OK for a bit then now its totally knackered , could be a misfire/coil pack fault but i don't work on renaults so not sure , this problem may have been there all the time but on the occasion of your test drive it was OK for some reason . i think you would only get a running concern if that intake pipe was split after the MAF sensor , aircon puts a load on the engine ,therefore slowing it down further so stalls . i think could have a case for rejecting it , if it found there is an underlying problem which means you are going to without it for a while , if you're a member of the RAC or AA you could get them to inspect the vehicle before you return it , also i don't think you should drive it back to the garage as more damage may occur that you maybe blamed for , don't be fobbed off by the dealer either , good luck mate

The intake pipe is split before the airbox, so I think the MAF is safe. I'm not a member of the RAC/AA, and I must admit that I am not keen to drive it the 55 miles back to the trader without him accepting any consecutive damage to the car. I may have to arrange for an inspection/garage service locally and split the costs with him.

On the drive later this afternoon, it occasionally drove like normal, but not consistently. If a coilpack is gone, it would always run bad, wouldn't it? What about misfire? What is that exactly? Or rather, what sort of symptoms, behavior does that have?

When the coilpack went on my Punto to number ? and ? cylinder it sounded and felt like it was running on 2 cylinders (surprisingly lol :P). Similiar to what you have described.

Actually, ive just remembered it wasnt the coil pack at fault (even though it wasnt working) it was the ECU not 'telling' the coilpack to work.

Does the car only stall when you are coasting or in neutral?

It almost stalls when idling, and stalled a few times when I put my foot on the clutch pedal when approaching a roundabout.

Have done quite a bit of searching now, and it seems it can be anything from coilpacks, to plugs to a injectors, to TDC sensors... Oh dear :(

Have you checked the gaps and condition of the spark plugs and HT leads?

It could well be a coilpack, a lot of the Renault engines use them. A work colleagues Megane dropped to 3 cylinders and that was a CP, the local dealer fixed it and said it was becoming a regular problem. HTH

I've now spoken to the guy who sold it to me and after describing the problem he said that he thinks it was due to them valeting the car and using a high pressure washer on the engine bay and that it suffered from some water ingress. He's going to collect the car and put everything right.

Still going to try out the coilpacks tonight, just for my own reassurance.

To be continued...

It almost stalls when idling' date=' and stalled a few times when I put my foot on the clutch pedal when approaching a roundabout.

Have done quite a bit of searching now, and it seems it can be anything from coilpacks, to plugs to a injectors, to TDC sensors... Oh dear :([/quote']

My mother has the same problem on her Fiat, only when the engine is hot, that it will stall. Switch it on, stalls again, on.. stalls again... switch it on, it will be fine until another set of traffic lights! I thought at first it may of been an air leak, but for some reason... i always fealt surely confident it was the battery/alternator failing. But air leak seems to be the most common.

When you get it sorted, please let me know...

Small update: Started the engine and tried each ignition coil in turn to see if there was any difference with one disconnected and lo and behold, the numbers 2 and 3 could both be disconnected and the engine would happily (sort of) keep running, whilst disconnecting either 1 or 4 would caused it to immediately stop running.

Tried to remove the ignition coils, but they are secured by a hexagonal (Torx iirc) bolt, which I couldnt undo. The trader who sold the car to me is coming round today and is either fixing it locally, or take it back to his garage and fix it there.

To be continued...

Both my Clio and my stepdads Megane and Laguna have all suffered from the coilpack problem. It's so bad that the AA actually carry them onboard now for cars in warranty.

I know it's a bit off topic, but, my brother bought a new all singing & dancing Laguna (2.0 litre) 12 months ago, against everybodies advice, and he says it's the best car he's ever had!

Not a moments bother, comfy, reasonably quick and fairly frugal.

Is this a record?

Is this a record?

erm yes , i think it could be , better check with guinness though

He, what's this? The Skoda boys making fun of the Renault boys?

Have yet another update though. The guy who sold it to me came round with his mate and removed all coils and sure enough, they were indeed damp underneath. His sory of the steamcleaner does seem to be true. He went to a local tyre fitter, got them to use an airblower thingie to get rid of all the moist, sprayed them in WD40 and put it all back together... the result: a happily purring 4 cylinder Espace !

He' date=' what's this? The Skoda boys making fun of the Renault boys?

Have yet another update though. The guy who sold it to me came round with his mate and removed all coils and sure enough, they were indeed damp underneath. His sory of the steamcleaner does seem to be true. He went to a local tyre fitter, got them to use an airblower thingie to get rid of all the moist, sprayed them in WD40 and put it all back together... the result: a happily purring 4 cylinder Espace ![/quote']

good result mate , especially as you didn't have to take it back to him , the coil must have been shorted out by the water