[debjyotimitra]

I would like to share a horror story about Renault cars and their service.

I bought a 1.5L NA CVT Duster in January 2019 from Renault Silk Board Bangalore. The delivery experience was not satisfactory. They missed the promised delivery date, a few accessories were missing, the SA who was communicating with me had left the job, there was no celebration, etc. As I was spending my hard-earned 12.5L, we were expecting an experience that would be more memorable. We still relish the experience we had with our new Honda Brio in 2015 in Noida, and it was just amazing.

Though the delivery part was not so nice we loved the car. Duster has been super comfortable on long rides. We traveled a lot with our baby and never felt any challenges during our 14-15 hours trips to Goa, Alleppey, Kannur, Jog Falls, and a lot more. I drove it continuously for 7-8 hours, there was no fatigue ever for me. We enjoyed the cabin space, the suspension, the excellent handling, and the spacious boot.

We never faced any issues with our Duster, except for a few minor things like the front power window, ac cooling, etc. that was easily fixed under an extended warranty.

Sometime last year, we started facing an issue that we didn't much care about. It was a little weird. The RPM started fluctuating for a few seconds just after refueling the vehicle. We ignored it as everything else was as smooth as earlier. We continued with our small/long trips.

The issue became a pain last month when we were visiting Alleppey. The RPM started fluctuating without refueling, and the car stopped on the road. I started it back immediately and took it to a Renault service center that was very close by in 5km.

It was around 6-30 in the evening, and the service station got closed. Only the service manager (Mr. Sachin) was there with one of his assistants. I told him about the incident and he immediately responded. First, he and his assistant came out, opened the bonnet, and checked the vehicle. Then called a technician from home. Reopened the service station. Rearranged the lounge for my family. They inspected the car for 2 hours beyond their office timings! But no issues were found. They said everything looks ok but if I can come again the next day morning they would like to check it again with all the other technicians.

I came back the next day morning as it was quite critical to us. We had to head to Munnar which is a hill station and I didn't want to take any risk. They all thoroughly checked the vehicle again and nothing was found. We drove to Munnar without many issues except for the RPM fluctuation sometimes.

I was trying to identify a pattern of it, but there was no pattern except the consistent one and that was refueling.

We drove back to Bangalore and dropped the car off for periodical maintenance at Renault Silk Board. I mentioned the issue to them and they asked for 2 days to inspect and rectify it. The next day evening the SA called me and told me the car is fixed now. They have replaced the air filter, AC filter, and the 4-year-old battery. And the bill was 22k.

I was happy to see the car. It was cleaned like new. No noise. No vibration. Gear shifting became more smooth. I paid the amount, took the car, and drove it to the opposite side of the road to refuel.

And, again! After I start the engine, the RPM started fluctuating with the same vibration. In a few seconds, again it became normal just like how it was behaving earlier. I called the SA and dropped the car again at the service station.

The next 12 days were the real pain. Every day they came up with a new story. It started with an initial inspection for another couple of days and finally, they concluded the petrol was adulterated! I was so worried, visited the station, and the manager said, they need to drain the fuel tank to clean it. It was 20L of petrol they just drained. The manager said, as it is a petrol system, no further damage should occur. After cleaning the tank, the next day they had a test drive and the same issue was there.

Now they said they need to consult the Renault RnD team for further assistance. Another few days are gone. Last week the manager called me and said after long research now they have identified the issue, and it was the engine compression. As the car is still under extended warranty, I do not need to worry, they are going to fix it, and order the parts right away, but it might take another 15 days.

I had no choice except agree. But next to next day the manager called me again and told, me they need my permission to dismantle the engine. I was surprised and asked why they need my permission at this point. The manager said they want to check what parts of the engine became faulty due to the petrol adulteration. Accordingly, they will find out how much cost I need to bear. I was shocked because this is the same person who told me they already identified the issue and it was the engine compression I do not need to pay anything as the car is under warranty!

Again I rushed to the service station. It was extremely embarrassing and misleading to me. I was keeping my patience for the last 12 days, but this time it was hard. I asked the manager how long it will take to fix the car to the condition that it was before visiting the service center. The manager replied maybe a couple of hours. I said, let's do that, as I don't want to pay a single rupee for a faulty car that is still under warranty.

It seemed to me that Renault could not identify the issue even after 12 days in their car! I am not sure whether it is a manufacturing defect that got triggered just after crossing the 30k or it was a fuel issue. If it is caused by petrol adulteration, it could happen again, with any car. Is there a way to ensure fuel quality?

Renault looked happy with my decision. I had to sign a bond that I am taking it back at my own risk. I was ok with that too. I took the car, it was extremely silent even at 2500 RPM. I refueled it, there was no RPM fluctuation. The drive was smooth as always. I drove the car for 50+ km in the city to test different use cases and there were just no issues.

The technician and the manager both agreed on the point that, the engine compression is weak at this point and may become faulty very soon. This comment got stuck in my head even while driving the car smoothly without any issues.

---

I started trying selling out my car outside. Got deals from Cars24 and OlxAuto. And finally, today, brokenhearted I handover my Duster to Cars24.

[GTO]

Mod Note: Thread moved to the Tech Stuff forum!

[Mustang_Boss]

You seem very paranoid about minor issues and you have decided to get rid of the vehicle itself.

Often, the kind of issues you described do occur because of wiring issues to different sensors in the vehicle. I have experienced similar issue in my Maruti and it turned out to be a Loose wiring issue, which was resolved by tweaking the cables a bit, it was around the Throttle body. I am not sure what all investigations were carried out on your vehicle, hence, cannot comment on it.

You did the right thing by pulling the vehicle out of the service center though. When they said, "the compression was weak and could break anytime", you should have said, this is not how compression works Its not an on - off switch. The Compression is directly related to the cam shafts & valves, which are not electronic. These are controlled by the timing chains/belts, so mostly the issue could have been with some sensor acting weird.

In my observation, The service personnel at most authorized service stations lack passion, and hence such service quality. As an enthusiast, having an understanding of how things work often saves us a lot. But, there will always be exceptions.

[SNayak]

I can relate to your problem. Never had a good experience with the Renault silk board branch. Recently I had given my Duster for 70K service and the experience has been pretty average and on top of that they ask you to give good rating. The SA keeps changing and every time and the experience with them is nothing to write about.

Duster is a fantastic car and I don't see any car in the market to replace it with even though I have searching since last two years. The great ride quality, the amazing boot space, the drive has no match in this segment. Really sorry to see that you have to part your car for this unsolved issue

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by debjyotimitra

I would like to share a horror story about Renault cars and their service.

The RPM started fluctuating for a few seconds just after refueling the vehicle. We ignored it as everything else was as smooth as earlier. We continued with our small/long trips.

The issue became a pain last month when we were visiting Alleppey. The RPM started fluctuating without refueling, and the car stopped on the road. I started it back immediately and took it to a Renault service center that was very close by in 5km.

Now they said they need to consult the Renault RnD team for further assistance. Another few days are gone. Last week the manager called me and said after long research now they have identified the issue, and it was the engine compression. As the car is still under extended warranty, I do not need to worry, they are going to fix it, and order the parts right away, but it might take another 15 days.

Again I rushed to the service station. It was extremely embarrassing and misleading to me. I was keeping my patience for the last 12 days, but this time it was hard. I asked the manager how long it will take to fix the car to the condition that it was before visiting the service center. The manager replied maybe a couple of hours. I said, let's do that, as I don't want to pay a single rupee for a faulty car that is still under warranty.

I think I may be the only other guy to report an RPM fluctuation problem in my Duster, but it was in my 85PS diesel variant in 2016 and I have written about it on this forum, #5428. In my case, the Renault ASM never turned up and kept giving lame excuses to inspect the vehicle.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...eview-362.html (Renault Duster : Official Review),

[pkulkarni.2106]

Since you say the issue occurs at every refuel, have you tried checking the basics of fuel supply like the fuel filter and the fuel pump?

Similar thing happened to me once when I drove my Santro to Kalyan a few years back in summer heat. The fuel pump was on the verge of giving away, and when I started my car for the return journey, the RPM started jumping up and down. I neglected it, and the engine would just shut off every 30-40 km or so.

While the engine in your case doesn't shut off, I think looking at the fuel pump and the filter would be a good starting point - especially if the RPM fluctuates after a refuel.

[Asoon]

Similar experience with Renault Silk Board. I used to have a problem in my Duster where engine light turns on and with in 24 hrs it used to become normal. I was not able to time my visit to service center,

SA suggested that it may be ignition coil issue and it needs to be changed, so I told him please get it fixed as i am planning Goa trip next week (1400 Kms round trip), post this he completely backed off and told there might be other issues as well and we will have to keep your vehicle in service center for 10-12 days and told me for now it's just light you are not facing problem and if we change coil something else might come up so you can do the trip in as is condition and then drop your car

Looking at his confidence i never Silk board Renault again

[shancz]

Its too late but taking the established case of post-refill fluctuations, I would've asked them to check the fuel system.
Breather valves/tubes if any, fuel filter, any related sensors and lastly the fuel pump as encountered by another member.

Going forward, if you have a confirmed reproducibility then don't let go of it unless that has been addressed regardless of the car or the ASC.

[Jeroen]

First of all, it can be difficult to troubleshoot intermittent problems. But it is not impossible and it should not take 12 days. If anything there is a lot of stuff that you more or less can disgard. Like for instance adulterated fuel. It is unlikely that would cause intermittent problems. Same for things like air/fuel filter. They don’t cause intermittent problems. Fuel pumps, both high and low pressure, if the engine runs well otherwise, it is unlikely to be with any of these components. (unless it is an electrical problem, see below).

In my experience if a petrol engine shows fluctuating RPM during idle the most likely culprit is the idle control valve. Over time they tend to get sticky and dont work properly.

Here an image of what to look for:



It might also cause problems during higher RPMs and starting. The easiest way to check it is to disconnect it when the problem occurs. Just pull the connector off, if the fluctuating stops you need to overhaul or replace the idle control valve.

However, as I have said about a billion/zillion times, don’t do anything on any modern car, until you have had it hooked up to a brand/model specific OBD scanner. Did the service station do so? If not, find one that does. Even if it doesn’t show any error codes, it is important because it eliminates a whole bunch of potential problems as well.

As MustangBoss wrote the most likely problem is with the wiring of some of the sensors, including the wiring to the idle air control valve. This can be difficult to find when it is intermittent. What you do is leave the engine idling and start pushing and pulling each and every connector/wire/sensor in the engine bay. If the engine RPM varies, you have likely found the culprit.

I don’t understand how they can say the compression is weak? What does that even mean. One cilinder, all cilinder, how much. When mechanics talk like this it is rubbish.

The only way to diagnose compression is by doing a proper compression test. Once you have done that you would never ever hear something generic such as compression is weak. You would say something like, cylinder 3 is at 65% of the recommended compression, other cylinders are at 90%. Because a compression test doesn’t give you a general answer, it gives you very specific numbers for each cylinder. It doesn’t take to much time to do a compression test. You need to take out all spark plugs and disconnect the fuel supply. And you need to have an appropriate compression tester. That is all. I did it on my Jeep Cherokee recently.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-d...ml#post5421297

It would be very odd, to say the least, if any car has weak compression after 30K!!

My Jeep has run for 300K and is still at just about factory specification. That doesn’t mean much perse, but I would say a proper maintained engine will keep its compression well over 150-200K easily!! In fact, I have four cars with more than 200K on the clock and none have compression problems.

I am not sure why the replaced the air filter? Was it dirty. A dirty air filter can’t really cause RPM fluctuations, although it will definitely hamper performance and fuel efficiency. What about the AC filter? Really, there is no way that could have caused the RPM fluctuation. Battery, maybe, but did they do a capacity test?

I don’t want to be drawing conclusions, but you might want to take your car to another service centre. Make sure they do a full OBD scan first before.

Good luck

Jeroen

[SideView]

Originally Posted by debjyotimitra

I would like to share a horror story about Renault cars and their service.

I bought a 1.5L NA CVT Duster in January 2019 from Renault Silk Board Bangalore.

If it was out of warranty they would have magically found the root cause and would have charged you a hand and limb for it. (If that doesn’t fix the issue, then they it is some other issue and ask you to replace one after another)

ASC if they cant root cause who else is meant to help the hapless owners? So much for been called “Authorised”.

I will like to end by reiterating that Renault/Nissan are not failing due to their vehicles but this lacklustre attitude towards aftersales experience. ( One good customer would recommend vehicle to 100 such customers and same hold true for unhappy customer)

[Evyas]

Originally Posted by Asoon

Similar experience with Renault Silk Board. I used to have a problem in my Duster where engine light turns on and with in 24 hrs it used to become normal. I was not able to time my visit to service center,

SA suggested that it may be ignition coil issue and it needs to be changed, so I told him please get it fixed as i am planning Goa trip next week (1400 Kms round trip), post this he completely backed off and told there might be other issues as well and we will have to keep your vehicle in service center for 10-12 days and told me for now it's just light you are not facing problem and if we change coil something else might come up so you can do the trip in as is condition and then drop your car

Looking at his confidence i never Silk board Renault again

This brings back such horrible memories. My wonderful Duster that started to have the RPM fluctuations after the first year itself and the issue was never fixed despite taking it to all the company service centres in Mumbai.

Have heard all the ‘reasons’ starting with ‘petrol adulteration’ and ‘water got into fuel tank during monsoon’ to the ‘injector coil’ that 2 service execs literally argued over. Not fixed ever.

By the 5th year the engine check light had become a constant companion and without fail it ABSOLUTELY wouldn’t get replicated at the service centre! I had to resort to recording videos whenever it occurred, showing it to a service engineer and them checking it for a day or so and then saying it’s all clear.

And back to the same issue later.

Which is why though I loved the car, never going back to a Renault ever..

[giri7int]

Originally Posted by debjyotimitra

I started trying selling out my car outside. Got deals from Cars24 and OlxAuto. And finally, today, brokenhearted I handover my Duster to Cars24.

It's a tragedy that you took the decision to sell such a nice car for an apparently unsolvable issue. My brother also owns the same version of the Duster for several years and has clocked more than a lakh kms in it. Except for the change in AC kit at around 30k on the odo and some minor sensors, the vehicle has been a workhorse of the family. The Dusters road presence, rigid body frame, strong suspension and large boot space beats most modern day compact SUVs hands down!

In your case, not sure if the OBD scan was done and if not what other checks did they do by keeping the vehicle with them for several days!

Considering that the vehicle was under extended warranty you should have escalated the issue to the Renault corporate team directly. As a last resort taking it to a trusted mechanic could also have been explored as an option.

Now that you have sold it to cars24, we can only feel sorry for the way things have turned up for you and your lovely Duster.

[pratyushforza]

Not sure if it was the same case but I had an issue with my SX4 around the 12 year mark.
RPM fluctuations if I remember correctly started around the 8-9 year mark but were very minor where the RPM would fluctuate by about 500-600 rpm when idle. The noob in me thought this was some sort of anti-stall measure and never bothered checking.
A few years down the line, one day after a full tank of Speed (usually fill-up regular unleaded), this issue continued as I drove and there was a sharp drop in power post the 3000 rpm mark.
Dropped the car off at Acer Maruti in Secunderabad and after a week of checking god knows what, they told me they could not identify the issue and that the car returned no error codes. Their best solution for me was to wait for another SX4 to show up for it's scheduled service in a month's time and if the owner agreed, swap injectors and see if that would solve the issue.
Thankfully, my father's official ride at the time was an SX4 and we brought it into the service center to play "swap the part". After a few tries, the Throttle Body from the donor SX4 seemed to have fix the issue.

I was happy to replace the part since the car was already 12 years old and had 90k kms on the odo. To my surprise, however, Acer Maruti quoted 25,000 for the part claiming it was being imported as an SGP part. Found the same on boodmo for ~7,000, showed the service advisor the website and asked him if I should order it instead.
They were luckily able to find the same in their system after I showed them the screenshot and I ended up paying much lesser than they originally quoted.

What bothered me most was that no-one at the ASC was able to diagnose the issue and had I not been lucky to have another SX4 to swap parts with, I would have ended up waiting months to figure out what went wrong.

[MT_Hyderabad]

I strongly suspect the fuel pump to be the culprit.
Do you remember running the car with extremely low fuel before this issue happened for the first time.

I would have used a fuel additive and checked the rpms, then I would have replaced the fuel pump.

[SX4fan]

Have a similar tale of woes. I own a 2017 Petrol Duster and I stay in Bangalore. I have been facing issues with RPM. The vehicle would also stall at traffic lights and the starter would get stuck. On a recent trip (July 2023) to Mysore, i noticed that the pick up was sluggish and I was getting very poor mileage, around 5-6 kmpl. I booked a slot with Wheels Wonder to identify and resolve the fluctuating RPM issue. The vehicle was picked up on a Wednesday and taken, most probably to a Multi Brand SS. The WW personnel were very efficient and kept me updated. The following tests were done
1. Scan using Diagnostic tool for sensor issues
2.Throttle Body and spark plugs
3. Air intake manifold pressure sensor
4. Throttle body
5. Sensors again through through ECM tool
6. O Ring
Wheels Wonder does not work on week ends so no work could be done on Sat-Sun. Work started again on Monday afternoon.
7. Ultimately on Wednesday, ie, after one full week, the root cause has been diagnosed as (probably) faulty 'Idle Control valve'.
Unfortunately, the said spare part is not available at any Authorised Service Centre in Bangalore. It is not available in Renault Spares Centres nor is it available online. This begs the question - does Renault stop stocking spare parts 5 years after selling a vehicle? This will definitely not encourage car buyers to choose Renault cars - especially when there are so many choices !

My vehicle is yet to be repaired as there is no news about ETA for the spare !!!