Engine fell in car

Renomeg

Hi All,

Hoping you can offer some advice.
I drive (well, not anymore 😩) a 2012 Megan. It was brand new and kept it serviced.
Anyway, today the engine fell. I was at the traffic lights, as I was pulling off I heard something. But thought nothing of it. As I started to move I noticed the car was getting it very hard to move, it got quite loud and there was a strong smell, like the smell of someone welding. I thought it was the timing belt and got it pushed in off the road.
Mechanic said the engine fell down and the smell is from the fan belt rubbing against something.
I have yet to bring it to my own mechanic.
The mechanic today was called by the insurance to have a look and to help us get it up on a trailer so I could bring it back home. I was an hour away from home.

I just want to know if this is a regular problem and if Renault should have to sort me out?
I’m very careful driving, I try my best not to hit any potholes anD I slow well down when going over ramps. I’m not into speed either. So the problem is definitely not from driving the crap out of the car.

Also, will it cost a lot, roughly??

So sickened this happened, I’ve always had second hand balls of sh1te and never had anything as bad. This is my first brand new car.......back to secondhand for me 🙏🏻


Thanks in advance, sorry for long message

Del2005

A 5 year old car isn't brand new.

colm_mcm

Yes. You should expect the engine to fall out once they turn five

JohnBoy26

Probably an engine mount but a rare enough problem. Also your car is not new anymore it's nearly 6 years old. If your car is out of warranty(which it probably is by now) I can't see renault doing anything for you, unless maybe you have a full renault service history you might get some goodwill towards the cost.

endacl

Any I read a thread title that could be paraphrased as “something bizarre and inexplicable just happened my car”, I think, “what happened to a French car this time”, and click into it.

I’ve yet to be wrong!

Eric Cartman

did it go over 100k miles ?
As we all know, once a car reaches this mileage it is a write-off and the engine is very likely to fall out as the body will have completely rusted through at that point.

lawred2

Unless this post was lost in the internet for five years then your car is certainly not brand new.

Having said that I don't know of too many cars of any age where the engine just falls out...

lawred2

Eric Cartman wrote: »

did it go over 100k miles ?
As we all know, once a car reaches this mileage it is a write-off and the engine is very likely to fall out as the body will have completely rusted through at that point.

That's absolute horse sh!t

Comhrá

@Renomeg
You probably got bad petroll.

Riskymove

lawred2 wrote: »

Unless this post was lost in the internet for five years then your car is certainly not brand new.

Having said that I don't know of too many cars of any age where the engine just falls out...

I took it to mean he bought it new and has kept it serviced since then for 5 years

JohnBoy26

lawred2 wrote: »

That's absolute horse sh!t

Sarcasm is lost on you

James Bond Junior

Isn't there a 7 year warranty on renaults of that age?

SEPT 23 1989

was the car submerged in the sea for a perlonged period?

colm_mcm

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Isn't there a 7 year warranty on renaults of that age?

5 on some.

Canis Lupus

lawred2 wrote: »

That's absolute horse sh!t

lawred2

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Sarcasm is lost on you

I've heard similar crap uttered by people who were fully serious so forgive me for presuming it wasn't just more of the same

emo72

But still lads, an engine falling out of a car? Never heard of it happening. And I hang around with mechanics, and they have lots of horror stories.

Renomeg

Folks, I did say “was brand new” and when I say it’s my first brand new car that’s because it is my first brand new car, yes it’s 5 years old now!!

But thanks for all the non helpful comments from some.

Eric, there’s just over 50k miles on it, thanks for your comment

colm_mcm

It's possible the bolts in the engine mounts broke, but unlikely they all broke at once. Hopefully it'll be an easy fix (I'm assuming the engine just moved a bit rather than fell out of the car)

emo72

Renomeg wrote: »

Folks, I did say “was brand new” and when I say it’s my first brand new car that’s because it is my first brand new car, yes it’s 5 years old now!!

But thanks for all the non helpful comments from some.

Eric, there’s just over 50k miles on it, thanks for your comment

50k miles is low. And if you had it serviced by the main dealer, they may look after you. Wish you luck.

Renomeg

Hi Colm, thanks for your comment.
Yes there was talk about a mount and bolts and a drive shaft???. Sorry, I’m a girl and I don’t know anything about cars.
They said the engine fell out but yes it’s still in it. I should have worded that better.
Will it cost much do you think?

JohnBoy26

colm_mcm wrote: »

It's possible the bolts in the engine mounts broke, but unlikely they all broke at once. Hopefully it'll be an easy fix (I'm assuming the engine just moved a bit rather than fell out of the car)

Id say the engine has just fallen down on one side.

Renomeg

Hi emo72, thanks for reply. I’ve had it serviced at another garage. The nearest Renault garage is an hour away so it was easier to go local. But they are registered and very well known.

emo72

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Id say the engine has just fallen down on one side.

And I'd concur. The odds of all the bolts breaking at once?

Needles73

It's only sounds like a failed engine mount. Was there any warning sounds before this happened ? E.g. Strange clunking noise or car popping out of gear ? Not sure why insurance is involved unless they cover breakdown costs

JohnBoy26

emo72 wrote: »

And I'd concur. The odds of all the bolts breaking at once?

Extreamly remote.

boardsuser1

I had engine mount problems with a 00 Megane a few years ago, one side was gone so if I pulled away from a junction quickly I could feel it ‘kicking’ so to speak.

colm_mcm

Renomeg wrote: »

Hi Colm, thanks for your comment.
Yes there was talk about a mount and bolts and a drive shaft???. Sorry, I’m a girl and I don’t know anything about cars.
They said the engine fell out but yes it’s still in it. I should have worded that better.
Will it cost much do you think?

Well if the engine moved it might have pulled a driveshaft out of the gearbox. Don't panic at this stage, it actually mightn't be too bad.

Toyotafanboi

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Id say the engine has just fallen down on one side.

That's it.

"The engine fell out" is a nice dramatisation.

Unless the tow truck drivee picked the car up first, then came back for the engine afterwards, it didn't fall out.

An engine mount broke and it tilted to one side a bit. The engine has 2 or 3 mounts and even if they all broke it's probably still not fall all the way out as the 50 million hoses and pipes attached to it, along with the exhaust, gearbox etc would still take the strain for ages.

I wouldn't say Renault will be interested in contributing, thankfully an engine mount is a relatively quick and inexpensive job in most cases. Worst case maybe a small bit of collateral damage.

emo72

Renomeg wrote: »

Hi emo72, thanks for reply. I’ve had it serviced at another garage. The nearest Renault garage is an hour away so it was easier to go local. But they are registered and very well known.

Wait till they look at it and see what went wrong. The fact that it's not a Renault dealer would complicate getting them to use some good will, and doing labour for free. If the 5 year guarantee is just up, sometimes they are sympathetic.

JC01

Iv only ever seen that happen with big power FWD cars and even at that the engines tend to completely rip the engine mounts apart rather than actually fall out of the car which I'd guess is what happened your car.

It's bizarre in a normal relatively new hatchback but that doesn't really help much being told that...

As for repairs it depends on a few things. I'm not familiar with Megan's but usually you'll have a mount either side of the engine/gearbox, one at the rear of the engine to the subframe and usually one or two torque mounts at the front to protect the other mounts from the torsional forces of the drivetrain. What you need to find out is which mounts have given way as that will decide what damage has been done. Best case scenario is the engine has fallen onto the frame rather than out of the car and not done too much damage. If that's the case it should be relatively easily repaired with replacement mounts and probably some pipes/hoses that were stretched/pulled or rubbed by the fan.

Worst case scenario one of the main mounts may have pulled or sheared bolts out of the block which means you may need helicoiling etc to replace them or even worse it could have cracked the block or bellhousong of the block or even damaged the legs or frame of the car. The engine falling onto sensors or the timing belt could cause very expensive damage too.

One thing to note is in an insurance job pricing lots of genuine new parts can get very expensive very fast and effectively write the car off where as a lot of the time the same repairs can be done with parts from scrap cars for a fraction of the cost.

EPAndlee

Been working in Renault a good while now and never heard of this happening. It sounds like the right hand engine mount gave way. That would more than likely cause the engine to drop at one side at the fan belt side of the engine. I'd say your probably wasting your time contacting Renault about it. They'd make any excuse not to cover it but could try customer service and see what they say.

Have you had any work done that would involve the mount being taking out like a timing belt?

jca

lawred2 wrote: »

That's absolute horse sh!t

Whoosh....

dense

Renomeg wrote: »

Hi All,

Hoping you can offer some dvice.
I drive (well, not anymore 😩) a 2012 Megan. It was brand new and kept it serviced.
Anyway, today the engine fell out. I was at the traffic lights, as I was pulling off I heard something. But thought nothing of it. As I started to move I noticed the car was getting it very hard to move, it got quite loud and there was a strong smell, like the smell of someone welding. I thought it was the timing belt and got it pushed in off the road.
Mechanic said the engine fell down and the smell is from the fan belt rubbing against something.
I have yet to bring it to my own mechanic.
The mechanic today was called by the insuranc3 to have a look and to help us get it up on a trailer so I could bring it back home. I was an hour away from home.

I just want to know if this is a regular problem and if Renault should have to sort me out?
I’m very careful driving, I try my best not to hit any potholes anD I slow well down when going over ramps. I’m not into speed either. So the problem is definitely not from driving the crap out of the car.

Also, will it cost a lot, roughly??

So sickened this happened, I’ve always had second hand balls of sh1te and never had anything as bad. This is my first brand new car.......back to secondhand for me ðŸ™ðŸ»


Thanks in advance, sorry for long message

Didn't really "fall out of the car" though did it?

Nope, you didn't pass it out, with it waving frantically at you as you went by did you?

But enough of the funnies. You might be ok. Is there oil in it still?
Did you try starting it again once pulled over?

No I wouldn't think its a major issue, possibly a few hundred. Mount, pulley and whatever and labour, but no one can tell for sure with what they have to go on here.
Doubt if its anything to do with Renault at this remove unless it's documented as being a regular occurrence.

Renomeg

Hi EPAndlee,
I thought that alright, it’s just out of warranty, I think. I bought it in June/July time. So it’s just a few months out. From reading the comments it’s hopefully not going to be too bad.
No, I haven’t had anything done with that part of it yet. I know the timing belt needs to be done in the new year, I actually thought it was the belt that went.

Maytrix

Sounds to me like you have a good case. Five year old and 50K is nothing for a modern car and it's certainly not normal for this an engine to fall down - ever. It clearly isn't your fault unless you've been under it loosening bolts which I doubt. Therefore, it's the manufacturers responsibility to you and I imagine that if you handle it right they will want to see you fixed up rather than having photos of the 5 year old Renault with the engine hanging out splashed all over social media.

Isambard

why the sarcastic answers? it's a 5 year old car she bought new and it sounds like an engine mount failure. She clearly knows little about cars and is asking for advice. Give her a break!

Renomeg

Thanks a mill JC01, i think it’s down on the drivers side. The insurance was just a breakdown assist, that’s where that mechanic came into it. 5hanks for all the information, makes sense now

Renomeg

Hi Dense, no I didn’t try to restart it. I was sure it was the timing belt and I was too afraid to. Oil is still in it. It was only serviced a couple of months ago.

colm_mcm

Isambard wrote: »

why the sarcastic answers? it's a 5 year old car he bought new and it sounds like an engine mount failure. He clearly knows little about cars and is asking for advice. Give him a break!

He's a girl

Renomeg

Cheers all for the genuine comments, really appreciate the time taken.

EPAndlee

Renomeg wrote: »

Thanks a mill JC01, i think it’s down on the drivers side. The insurance was just a breakdown assist, that’s where that mechanic came into it. 5hanks for all the information, makes sense now

If it's the driver side it's definitely that mount that's gone. Hopefully it hasn't done any major damage

bucketybuck

Renomeg wrote: »

Sorry, I’m a girl and I don’t know anything about cars.

Are girls not allowed to know how engines work?

For those jumping straight to "warranty, warranty, warranty" I would consider one thing. Engine mounts don't spontaneously combust so just what does the OP mean by keeping it serviced?

Renomeg

Thanks very much Maytrix, I’ll give them a ring and see. If there’s nothing they can do it might not be as bad as I thought, from reading the comments. I thought that was the car ruined, I was so sickened cause I try my best to mind it.

fancy pigeon

emo72 wrote: »

But still lads, an engine falling out of a car? Never heard of it happening. And I hang around with mechanics, and they have lots of horror stories.

Years ago the right mount collapsed on me one night, the result being the engine sank a lot in the bay. Recently, I left off a stabilizer link for the same mount while moving the car off the lift, one reverse out was all it took to smash it in half completely. Another one was on a donor car nearby (15 feet away) and fitted, along with the aforementioned stabilizer link

On another car the engine movement limiter fell off on the M4, staggered to Kilcock and fitted one in the car park of the scrapyard before continuing on my journey. A few weeks later the bolts fell out of the gearbox and smashed the clutch

Never had a gearbox mount go... Yet. How good are Avensis mounts? :P

So yes, they do go, just the majority don't know what goes on in the background and are usually never told!

grogi

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Isn't there a 7 year warranty on renaults of that age?

No, it was Kia that offered 7 years.

rex-x

emo72 wrote: »

But still lads, an engine falling out of a car? Never heard of it happening. And I hang around with mechanics, and they have lots of horror stories.

It doesn't happen often but it does happen :pac: Had a 2004 fiesta I had to recover a few weeks ago, engine was on the ground but contained in the bay because the mounts had snapped off :eek:

Fuzzy Clam

emo72 wrote: »

But still lads, an engine falling out of a car? Never heard of it happening. And I hang around with mechanics, and they have lots of horror stories.

Ive seen it happening.
Was driving home a few years ago and a car was stopped on the road ahead if me with a lad looking at the engine.
Fortunately were were on a country road and a local farmer gave us a hand pushing the car off the road.

colm_mcm

Any update OP?

khaldrogo

The only thing I wish to add is........don't buy French

colm_mcm

You're not going to back it up with any reasoning or knowledge or anything?