Car sometimes will not start

Saruman

Any one any idea on this? It happened this morning after i stopped in tesco for some stuff quickly and i was stuck in maynooth for a half hour till it got going again. In fact i was just about to call rescue, tried it one more time and it worked...

So here is what happens.. turn key, the starter does its thing but nothing happens after that. Starter motor just keeps going but the engine does not fire up.

The only thing i can think of is, before Christmas i hit a puddle in the dark which caused the car to slow down very fast. After that the exhaust was lose. I had trouble starting the car a few days later and brought it somewhere to get it looked at and they just hammered the exhaust back on and it was fine.

More recently, and mainly when its damp/wet out the car does not start for no reason, or i could drive somewhere and when i get back in the car a few mins later it will not start and it takes a while to get it to go.

Its not a battery fault as i have a battery booster and i use it each time this happens but it makes no difference because there is no shortage of power.

The car is a Renault Scenic 02. There is no need for "thats the problem right there" jokes

On other thing is that twice, it has conked out while in motion. Both times i was slowing down almost to a stop. One was approaching a roundabout, the other was when parking... in a Renault dealership ironically (business reasons).
Its an automatic so its not caused by user error with the clutch

So any idea's? Could it be caused by the exhaust?
By the way the car was serviced a few months back and it passed its NCT a week later.

L-M

Ok i'm no mechanic but the last Polo i had something similar would happen, and when it was in damp conditions it would judder in the wet. It was all becuase of driving through a puddle as well.

Water, and dampness got inside the distributer cap. I took this off, (two clips), dryed it out the cover part with a cloth and put it back on. It seemed to do the trick. As i said i'm not a mechanic but that's from my own experience.

Saruman

Good tip.. now where would one find a distributer cap? Give me a server to fix any day

L-M

That i'll leave to the experts:D

Saruman

Is that the round thing with the spark plugs on it and a load of leads going into it i wonder?

Quazzie

It is but touching it and moving it can lead to deffective timing which is worse than whats happening now.

Anan1

Saruman wrote: »

Is that the round thing with the spark plugs on it and a load of leads going into it i wonder?

That's the one. As long as you only remove the cap, rather than the distributor itself, you'll be fine.

Quazzie

Anan1 wrote: »

That's the one. As long as you only remove the cap, rather than the distributor itself, you'll be fine.

+ If you remove the leads note where the came from because they are in a specific order and have to put back in that order

Saruman

Grand, now i just need a day without rain

unkel

If all looks well under the cap, it's time for the next step while you're there

Do you get spark?

OldmanMondeo

I had the same problem with a 98 Megane 1.4 non-injected engine. Left it in to Renault, they put a new coil pack into it, sorted it until it rained again. I sorted the probelm in the end, bought a newer car.

It is a nightmare probelm. Several garages were unable to fix the issue. This is where my dislike for french cars came from.

event

aye same happened me in my old ibiza, would happen in heavy water

garage fixed it in a service

Saruman

Ultimate solution will be a new car. Problem i have found is, well apart from the obvious crap resale value of a renault... the resale value of an Automatic Renault is much worse. I was offered 5.5k for it from a toyota dealer who could not believe it when he rang "someone in the know". Obviously his book had it at a lot more.
Its the Dynamique model so has all the extras in it. Lovely car i have to say.... shame this problem started.

Was hoping to keep it going a little longer until its worth scrappage money

By the way, anyone know the URL for the Renault Forums in the UK that people usually post here for renault problems? Would you believe i can not find it on google.

Mr.Diagnostic

I suspect you would be doing very well to find a dist cap on an 02 scenic.

My money would be on the crank sensor. Common problem and the symptoms match.

RobAMerc

Mr.Diagnostic wrote: »

My money would be on the crank sensor. Common problem and the symptoms match.

Same problem with the wifes Punto - however it never cut out once running.

It was a €60 fix on the Punto.

Saruman

Any idea where the crank sensor is? If its anywhere near the bottom of the engine where it may have been damaged by water then its possible.
I see other people with similar probs reporting it on the interweb but none say where it is exactly.

comanche

Saruman wrote: »

Any idea where the crank sensor is? If its anywhere near the bottom of the engine where it may have been damaged by water then its possible.
I see other people with similar probs reporting it on the interweb but none say where it is exactly.

was about to say that this sounds like the TDC (Top Dead Center) or crank sensor as you say.

This page should sort your out.
http://www.renaultforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=10062&highlight=scenic+TDC

Was about to sort this out with a 99 Megane myself but it settled down again.

What got it going for me if it wasn't starting was changing gears... seemed to just shake the TDC!!

Saruman

Grand thanks, mine being automatic means gear changes are not an option. However, since it did start yesterday morning after i closed the bonnet and the boot, perhaps the impact made it work. It gave trouble going home later and also this morning but only a little. Its very odd, this morning i turned on the windscreen wipers (damp windscreen) and it started when i tried it then. Coincidence most likely.

Thats the perfect page Commanche, even has pictures. Also i was looking for the URL for renault forums uk. Google refused to tell me And im a member for about a year now