Mad Renault Grand Scenics

Westernman

Our family have 2 scenic's and have had weird stuff happening with this make of car.

Most of our problems were electrical and after a series of issues with ours the dash was replaced after the Instrument panel went black. Yet electrical problems continue and we still get failure and warning lights and often have our the sun roof open while traveling and sticking open.

My brother inlaw also has one and his was giving him problems not starting. But the weirdest things are his one has started by inself with out the key card or anyone inside it twice.

Has anyone else ever heard of this happening to a renault scenic ?

Bigcheeze

Every Renault ever made has had electrical problems. It's a farce that they can't get it right. I always see Renaults going around with flashing brake lights for indicators and reverse lights on while moving forward. Only thing you can do is live with it or sell the car.

Guy:Incognito

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Every Renault ever made has had electrical problems. .

No they really havnt. At its worst, the accepted worst model, the early Laguna II had 35 faults per hundred iirc (less than the similar aged transit btw).

From personal experience with a Scenic I that had the dodgy lights, the cheap bulbs were the cause. Not saying thats the issue with them all but they dont seem to respond well to having the really cheap ones used.

skibum

Jeasus, the missus must be the exception, she has a 00 scenic and the only problems she has had so far (touch wood ) are the "top dead sensor" and dodgy rear lights.... which were easy fixes thanks to a renault forum.....

knowing my luck the fecking engine will go "POP" tomorrow

wonski

Same here, 12 years old and going strong. Lights fixed themselves, after service guy replaced bulb in front fog lamp (didnt even know it was out).
All electrics work fine. New models have new problems, i suppose...

knifey_spoonie

Whats really happening here is Reault are test the first form of artificial intelligence.

TigerTim

wonski wrote: »

Same here, 12 years old and going strong. Lights fixed themselves, after service guy replaced bulb in front fog lamp (didnt even know it was out).
All electrics work fine. New models have new problems, i suppose...

Missus has a '99 model with never a problem. I really can't believe it's so reliable(touch wood). I think it's the next model that came out 2003/2004 that gives all the issues.

T.

wonski

TigerTim wrote: »

Missus has a '99 model with never a problem. I really can't believe it's so reliable(touch wood). I think it's the next model that came out 2003/2004 that gives all the issues.

T.

The guy I bought it from had upgraded to newer model, as he needed 7-seater at the time. He confessed (after i paid him) that the old one is much better car (in terms of reliability). I believe he only needed few weeks to see magic on the dash. Still renaults are cheap because of these problems, but that doesn't mean you can't get good one. You only need a bit of luck...( touch wood).

Westernman

My brother in laws Scenic is like knight riders car, can you imagine if it had been in gear when it started. I would not have believed a car could do this until I saw it myself. Both these are the 05-06 grand versions and we also at one time owned the older scenic which I thing was a more reliable car.

Davidth88

Got a 2006 model

no real problems , except one of the rear windows have stopped working.

I believe the dashboard was covered by ' Watchdog ' in the UK some years ago

Also , in England don't Renault replace the window motors ( or whatever ) free ? However here ( Ireland ) you have to pay for it at I think about 1 grand per door


( No chance that the rear window in my one will ever be fixed at that price ! )

deman

My 03 old model Scenic was easily the most unreliable car I've ever had. Mostly electrical faults, not starting, wipers, radio, lights... but worst of all, the heating. Living in Finland, you rely on the heating a lot during the long winter. One morning, almost halfway through a 90 minute journey at -26c degrees, the blower stopped. Had to turn back and cancel my full day of meetings because of that piece of crap. Thank God it's gone! I'll never, ever buy another Renault.

pcardin

I never owned any Renault but what I can see in my surrounding world FORD cars tend to have far more electrical problems. Never owned any Ford either.

DubOnHoliday

One time water got into the drivers side window mechanism, driving down the M50 with the window continuously opening and closing by itself was not fun.

naughtysmurf

Davidth88 wrote: »

Got a 2006 model



Also , in England don't Renault replace the window motors ( or whatever ) free ? However here ( Ireland ) you have to pay for it at I think about 1 grand per door


( No chance that the rear window in my one will ever be fixed at that price ! )

Won't be anywhere near a grand a door for a start

Would be worth calling in to your nearest Renault main dealer or contact Renault Ireland directly, believe they were doing significantly cheaper if not free window reg repairs as a goodwill gesture after the consumer show done a feature on them last series, worth a shot

TMC99

naughtysmurf wrote: »

Won't be anywhere near a grand a door for a start

Would be worth calling in to your nearest Renault main dealer or contact Renault Ireland directly, believe they were doing significantly cheaper if not free window reg repairs as a goodwill gesture after the consumer show done a feature on them last series, worth a shot

Was on holidays about 3 months ago near Tralee and the passenger window went - in the down position. It was stuck down and could not pull it up and I called into a Renault dealer to see if they could do a temporary fix to jam it closed - he told me he would have to charge for the 'quick fix' but that he could replace the window motor free of charge as it was a free replacement from Renault - this was on a 2004 Scenic. Needless to say went with the full fix but was (pleasantly) surprised that they were still offering free replacement motors on an 8 year old car !!

The Tyre Dude

TMC99 wrote: »

Was on holidays about 3 months ago near Tralee and the passenger window went - in the down position. It was stuck down and could not pull it up and I called into a Renault dealer to see if they could do a temporary fix to jam it closed - he told me he would have to charge for the 'quick fix' but that he could replace the window motor free of charge as it was a free replacement from Renault - this was on a 2004 Scenic. Needless to say went with the full fix but was (pleasantly) surprised that they were still offering free replacement motors on an 8 year old car !!

Good result and encouraging to see Renault doing the right thing here.

alias no.9

Westernman wrote: »

My brother in laws Scenic is like knight riders car, can you imagine if it had been in gear when it started. I would not have believed a car could do this until I saw it myself. Both these are the 05-06 grand versions and we also at one time owned the older scenic which I thing was a more reliable car.

Can you explain the procedure for starting a scenic to anyone who's never driven one? Do you need the keycard in the slot (or within range if keyless start is fitted) AND to press the Start button AND to have you're foot on either the clutch or brake?
If you fail to do any of these 3 things, it just doesn't start. I'm just not buying it, that 3 independent circuits can fail simultaneously and then spontaneously repair themselves. The rest of the stuff, dashboard display failing, window regulators, etc... sure, that does happen.

Davidth88

alias no.9 wrote: »

Can you explain the procedure for starting a scenic to anyone who's never driven one? Do you need the keycard in the slot (or within range if keyless start is fitted) AND to press the Start button AND to have you're foot on either the clutch or brake?
If you fail to do any of these 3 things, it just doesn't start. I'm just not buying it, that 3 independent circuits can fail simultaneously and then spontaneously repair themselves. The rest of the stuff, dashboard display failing, window regulators, etc... sure, that does happen.

On my one ( 2006 ) . I don't have the keyless stuff.

So it's key card into slot , then foot on brake or clutch ( clutch in my case , brake would make more sense on an aut ) , then hit start,

To stop , you hit start again , and the handbrake comes on automatically


BTW , I thought I was going to hate the auto handbrake , I now like it , trusting it on a hill start is a bit of blind trust of course.

Guy:Incognito

alias no.9 wrote: »

Can you explain the procedure for starting a scenic to anyone who's never driven one? Do you need the keycard in the slot (or within range if keyless start is fitted) AND to press the Start button AND to have you're foot on either the clutch or brake?
If you fail to do any of these 3 things, it just doesn't start. I'm just not buying it, that 3 independent circuits can fail simultaneously and then spontaneously repair themselves. The rest of the stuff, dashboard display failing, window regulators, etc... sure, that does happen.

Yeah, as David says, you need key in, foot on brake or clutch and hit start.

I've never got the missus Scenic to start without any one of the 3 , nevermind all.

I think the keyless stuff was brought in on Renaults around 07 as an option (may have been availabel before that ( I think the Vel Satis had it) but the mothers Megane is the same as the Scenic bar not havign to press the button to open/lock the door or put the key in the slot. Still wont do anything without the key present. Also wont start teh car if you stand outside it with the key.

As an aside. Does anyone know what the deal is with the push button starts on cars? Does is work the same as a key? As in if you hold it does it continuously turn the starter? Wasnt going to use either of the 2 in the family to experiment on.

I do notice a difference in some peoples use though. Older people tend to go for the long push till they hear somethign happening then release. A single quick press sets it in motion, which is what I do.

alias no.9

Thanks guys. I know the routine, mrs alias has one. That's why spontaneous startup just doesn't have any credibility.