NCT and aircon not working

Anyone know if my car would fail the NCT if the motor on my Aircon is not working. Everything works fine, it's just there is no air blowing through. Have it booked into Main Dealer on April 7th. 2 local garages said they would not be able to fix it.
It's a 2011 Renault Fluence and it's the first thing that has failed since I bought it 10 years ago.
Tomorrow is 90 days before my NCT test date and there are slots available in Naas for Thursday 1st April. Would like get it done.

Darc19

Could be as simple as replacing a fuse.

But air-conditioning doesn't come under NCT testing

vandriver

A new blower motor is a huge job.The whole dashboard has to come out.

vandriver

vandriver wrote: »

A new blower motor is a huge job.The whole dashboard has to come out.

I think that's why the 2 other garages wouldn't do it.

vandriver

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I think that's why the 2 other garages wouldn't do it.

If you have no air at all,it's dangerous as the windows fog up.

cruizer101

Darc19 wrote: »

Could be as simple as replacing a fuse.

But air-conditioning doesn't come under NCT testing

Not quite true, demisting is covered by the nct which means the blower has to be working for front window.

cruizer101

cruizer101 wrote: »

Not quite true, demisting is covered by the nct which means the blower has to be working for front window.

Ok, best to leave the NCT til Renault have taken a look. There is still almost 3 months to get Aircon fixed and NCT booked. I am just impatient.

Dilbert75

Does it work on full speed or not at all?

No problem with NCT ,they doesn't need your Aircon checked.You could even have your service light on they doesnt care about it.

pippip

Fails from NCT manual -

Demisting system
(h). Demisting/ventilation system (fan) inoperative.
(i). Demisting/ventilation system not directing towards windscreen.

pippip

pippip wrote: »

Fails from NCT manual -

Demisting system
(h). Demisting/ventilation system (fan) inoperative.
(i). Demisting/ventilation system not directing towards windscreen.

This has nothing to do with air-conditioning.

pippip

Deleted User wrote: »

This has nothing to do with air-conditioning.

If you read the ops post they stated "no air blowing through".

Yes Aircon unit isn't a fail but the rest of the system is.

MarkR

If no air is blowing through, then IF they actually tested that, it would fail. Do they though?

vandriver

MarkR wrote: »

If no air is blowing through, then IF they actually tested that, it would fail. Do they though?

A MUCH greater concern is getting in the car, slightly wet and all the windows fogging up completely,rendering the driver effectively blind.

cruizer101

Depends you could be lucky you might not be.
If you were looking at getting it fixed anyway you may aswell wait until fixed to do the nct.
If it was old car and you wern't bothered I'd definitely chance testing it as you may well get away with it.

Also to add, I'm nearly sure I remember a thread on here about someone who failed as their ac wasn't working, even though fan still blowing.
Reason being when a car has it aircon is part of the demisting system so if the aircon isn't working the demisting system technically isn't properly working.
I tried having a quick search but can't find anything so can't be sure about it, very fussy tester is it was the case.

Ciano35

Vents have to be turned off completely for covid reasons so they might not test it?

cml387

Cars had efficient demisting long before aircon was standard. Switch on the heat and the blower and bobs your uncle.

naughtysmurf

vandriver wrote: »

A new blower motor is a huge job.The whole dashboard has to come out.

Deleted User wrote: »

Have it booked into Main Dealer on April 7th. 2 local garages said they would not be able to fix it.
It's a 2011 Renault Fluence and it's the first thing that has failed since I bought it 10 years ago.

Yep, it’s a big job for sure because of where the blower is located, we also had an 11 Fluence with the same issue a couple of years ago, also the only thing that ever failed, cost 750.00 but we got away with murder with that price for a few reasons, I’d be bracing myself for the dealers price if I were you.

vandriver

naughtysmurf wrote: »

Yep, it’s a big job for sure because of where the blower is located, we also had an 11 Fluence with the same issue a couple of years ago, also the only thing that ever failed, cost 750.00 but we got away with murder with that price for a few reasons, I’d be bracing myself for the dealers price if I were you.

Are we getting near scrap the car territory?

naughtysmurf

vandriver wrote: »

Are we getting near scrap the car territory?

Probably not too far off, car worth probably less than 3k, at a complete guess, I’d expect dealer price to be double what we paid a few years ago so you could end up paying up to or nearly 2/3 the value of the car to fix, all depends, if your planning on driving it for another few years maybe not, we found ours solid & reliable for ten years, hadn’t planned to change until next year but the mrs wrote it off, cost to repair was more than the car value

There is no manual system in the Fluence. It's all through the Aircon. When I put the Aircon on full, the fan is not blowing air, however there is just enough air coming through the vents to the windscreen to keep it from fogging up.
If it were to cost €1 to fix, it would still be worth it as the car has not got much mileage and hasn't cost me anything extra since I bought it other than normal servicing costs.
I'll keep it til Diesel becomes uneconomical to run.

Either the above or this is the start of the car falling apart in which case, it's off to the scrap heap!!!

naughtysmurf

Let us know the dealer fix price when you get it, just out of interest

artanevilla

I'd just put it through anyway and see what they say, that's the only definite answer you'll get.

LollipopJimmy

I'd be putting it through the NCT before spending on a big job like this, there could be other expensive issues lurking and you'll end up committed to the car after spending a fortune fixing the blower.

Think having to replace, brakes parts, suspension components etc on top of the blower.

LollipopJimmy

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

I'd be putting it through the NCT before spending on a big job like this, there could be other expensive issues lurking and you'll end up committed to the car after spending a fortune fixing the blower.

Think having to replace, brakes parts, suspension components etc on top of the blower.

I am pretty anal about keeping my car maintained.. The car is serviced according to schedule recommended by Renault. Last service would have been in December. It's never failed an NCT yet. No issues identified at last Service apart from normal wear like the brakes etc.

naughtysmurf

naughtysmurf wrote: »

Let us know the dealer fix price when you get it, just out of interest

I will. Hopefully as someone mentioned above, they replace a fuse and everything works again. With my luck, it's not even a remote possibility.

vandriver

In fairness,they are a pretty reliable car.(400k km on my taxi)

deisechap09

Same issue on a 2010 megane and passed the NCT in September without a word of it.

It's a bit of a nightmare of an issue in the winter with windscreen fogging up etc, but plenty of air and less wet in Summer makes it easy to get by for next few months.

Likewise above, would be great to find out the cost as I am inbetween repair and scrap myself.

Del2005

[Deleted User] wrote: »

There is no manual system in the Fluence. It's all through the Aircon. When I put the Aircon on full, the fan is not blowing air, however there is just enough air coming through the vents to the windscreen to keep it from fogging up.
If it were to cost €1 to fix, it would still be worth it as the car has not got much mileage and hasn't cost me anything extra since I bought it other than normal servicing costs.
I'll keep it til Diesel becomes uneconomical to run.

Either the above or this is the start of the car falling apart in which case, it's off to the scrap heap!!!

Stick the car in for the NCT if you can get a date, I checked for my Mother and no tests till May or June. If it fails it will be a visual retest and you will need to get it fixed anyway.

barneygumble99

Even without replacing the blower motor on a fluence, replacing the pollen filter itself is an absolute cnut

vandriver

barneygumble99 wrote: »

Even without replacing the blower motor on a fluence, replacing the pollen filter itself is an absolute cnut

I think mine needs doing,where is it?

Del2005

Del2005 wrote: »

Stick the car in for the NCT if you can get a date, I checked for my Mother and no tests till May or June. If it fails it will be a visual retest and you will need to get it fixed anyway.

If you go on the website early in the morning, say 7am, you will see cancellation slots available. They will be for the same or next couple of days. Not sure what time of night they are put up on the website.

barneygumble99

vandriver wrote: »

I think mine needs doing,where is it?

Drivers side footwell.
https://www.google.com/search?q=renault%20fluence%20pollen%20filter%20location

Del2005

Deleted User wrote: »

If you go on the website early in the morning, say 7am, you will see cancellation slots available. They will be for the same or next couple of days. Not sure what time of night they are put up on the website.

Must have been a bad time last time I checked. I checked shortly after I'd posted and she's booked in mid April with loads of options at several centers.

I had problem with my fan speed regulator on Renault and passed all NCTs with it no problem.The motor was working on speed 1-3 and did not work on speed 2 and 4.There was no problem with motor the problem was with regulator.
I had problem with wetness in a car because once my child turn Take air from inside car regulator from Take air from out
side and wetness from inside car came back on window.This option are for the tunnels.
I never had problems with filters
Once your motor work there is no problem with motor
Fuses blow to protect the car electric system and if your motor dead and fuse gone replacing the fuse not gonna help

Renault took a look and said it is an interior motor fan that needs replacing. Cost of replacement is €810. Part needs to be ordered and could take up to 10 days.
Decisions, decisions. I am inclined to go ahead and get the work done rather than go looking into getting a new car.

spaceHopper

Deleted User wrote: »

Renault took a look and said it is an interior motor fan that needs replacing. Cost of replacement is €810. Part needs to be ordered and could take up to 10 days.
Decisions, decisions. I am inclined to go ahead and get the work done rather than go looking into getting a new car.

Can you get it repaired elsewhere, like get one from a scrapped car ? Even at 810 +VAT? It would be less than 4 months repayments of a car loan so if you get another year out of it then it would be worth it?

naughtysmurf

If that 810 is the total cost for a new blower motor installed, it’s a very reasonable price considering it’s from a main dealer, tbh I’m surprised

naughtysmurf

naughtysmurf wrote: »

If that 810 is the total cost for a new blower motor installed, it’s a very reasonable price considering it’s from a main dealer, tbh I’m surprised

It's €810 including VAT. Waiting on a quote from a crash repair place that I dealt with previously and were very good.

pippip

I'd take that 10 days with a pinch of salt to. Mad delays out there.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It's €810 including VAT. Waiting on a quote from a crash repair place that I dealt with previously and were very good.

The crash repair place quoted me €980 and said part was in UK and would take 3 days. So booked car in with Renault for repair. Considering it's first failure in 10 years, it's worth getting it repaired.

naughtysmurf

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The crash repair place quoted me €980 and said part was in UK and would take 3 days. So booked car in with Renault for repair. Considering it's first failure in 10 years, it's worth getting it repaired.

Think that’s a good decision & price, if you’re happy & planning to drive on for a while, in fairness to the fluence, we had 250k on ours, still had all original suspension parts, the 1.5dci engine maybe not the most refined but a solid tried & tested workhorse all the same & as I said, the blower motor was the only significant issue we had in 10 years

Driving a civic now but would have no issue returning to Renault in the future

naughtysmurf

naughtysmurf wrote: »

Think that’s a good decision & price, if you’re happy & planning to drive on for a while, in fairness to the fluence, we had 250k on ours, still had all original suspension parts, the 1.5dci engine maybe not the most refined but a solid tried & tested workhorse all the same & as I said, the blower motor was the only significant issue we had in 10 years

Driving a civic now but would have no issue returning to Renault in the future

The way I see it, the car owes me nothing, have driven it 10 years from new. There is 152k km on it. Has perfect service history, mostly in main dealer and never had anything fail before this. I did do 1.5k damage to the car last year but that was fixed professionally. Its going to run another 100k and hopefully with little or no other failures (anyone know any other things to watch out for on aging Fluences?).
It's diesel and gets great mileage, so may as well stick with it until I can pass it on to my son when he gets a full Driving License and then get myself a midlife crisis 2 door convertible red sports car for myself and my partner to drive around in with the roof down on the 2 hot sunny days each year.

vandriver

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The way I see it, the car owes me nothing, have driven it 10 years from new. There is 152k km on it. Has perfect service history, mostly in main dealer and never had anything fail before this. I did do 1.5k damage to the car last year but that was fixed professionally. Its going to run another 100k and hopefully with little or no other failures (anyone know any other things to watch out for on aging Fluences?).
It's diesel and gets great mileage, so may as well stick with it until I can pass it on to my son when he gets a full Driving License and then get myself a midlife crisis 2 door convertible red sports car for myself and my partner to drive around in with the roof down on the 2 hot sunny days each year.

My Fluence(taxi) is at 392k km.
Apart from the blower motor,I've had to put a recon gearbox at 300k,along with rear shocks.
I just had the bottom engine mount replaced(10 minute job) and the front drivers wheel bearing needs replacing.
It's on its second clutch.
All in all,not much for the mileage and usage.