Renault Croydon killed Laguna.

[Noesph]

Right, this is about my Dad's car, its a 2007 Laguna 3 dci 150 with 19000 miles, always looked after well (serviced every year etc). It's like a new car really, had it for 3 and half years with no problems.

Dad went into to Renault Croydon Dealership last Friday(First time he ever went to a main dealer, normally goes to a trusted indy). The car had a boot lock fault (boot wouldn't open sometimes, intermittent fault). Everything else on the car was fine. He picked the car up that afternoon. On the way home the car flashed up a error message about Brakes / ABS and the Speedometer stopped working. About a mile or so from the dealership.

Car went back to Renault Croydon on Monday morning now with the new fault. Dad called the dealership at 1pm and was told the car was ready.

He went to the the dealer after work, and was there about 5pm.

As he was walking up to dealer, he spotted the workers there with a pry bar behind the front passenger door, and he stopped them just before they were going to break the window.

They were panicking as they locked the keys in the car with the engine running. We don't know how long it was sitting running for. Instead of ringing us, they were going to break into it instead.

So I had to come from work (about 10miles away) with the spare key to unlock the car.

The dealer didn't do anything with the car apart from reset the ecu (all trip, mpg reading etc is now blank). They now reckon the car needs a new abs unit costing £1319.96 (they didn't say sorry for locking the key in the car, and then trying to break into it). They won't admit if they did anything wrong, and its just coincidence the computer failed just after being in there.

Personally I'm not sure if it does need a new computer, as it seems to me they don't know what there doing. I mean its not very professional trying to break into a customers car. I don't know if they bothered to check the sensors or the wiring.

No courtesy car either as there was no way we where leaving the car with them. So now they have left us with a car that no abs and no speedometer.

We rang Renault UK, and there doing there best to get out of it too, saying its just coincidence. They didn't seem bothered that there workers where going to break into the car either.

 

[oscar]

i really don't want to be a killjoy here Noesph but renault aren't responsible for those crow bar baring barbarians (tongue twister and a half) that would be the company who holds the franchise rights and it is the same for any mechanic in a dealership you don't work for the manufacturer. you are only manufacturer trained. i'm surprised you didn't whack them with the crowbar if i'm being honest. did they say what was wrong with the abs ecu exactly? if the speedometer stopped working and an abs warning light came up, i can officially confirm to you that you have been hit by a bunch of cowboys in their stirrups or ... genuinely the worst luck ever. what would cause the speedometer to stop working and the abs light to throw up would be a faulty abs sensor? ... the speedometer works off the abs ring in your hub, so if for whatever reason it's not getting signal then it's either suspiciously came loose if you get me or it just has genuinely died at the worst time. the ecu itself will be fine, and if not, get onto ebay and buy one for 70 pounds second hand

 

[singlespeed]

Maybe they have disturbed a wire/plug whilst looking into the original fault. Maybe its just coincidence but we go by the rule of look where you were last working when something that was OK suddenly goes fits.

How did they manage to lock it from outside?

 

[Noesph]

Thanks Oscar, I don't know why Renault uk couldn't tell me that though.

I have a theory about that. I plugged my obd2 reader into it on Saturday, as I said the car has no speedometer, but while it was sitting on the drive, it was giving me a reading of 15mph. So what I think might of happened was the car was running, they got out of it, but as the car thinks its doing 15mph it automatically locked the doors. Which makes me think speed sensor problem.

 

[oscar]

deffinately has all the symptoms of a done in abs sensor / speed sensor although from what you have said it would appear that the problems already been there before it went into the dealership. usually abs doesn't kick in untill 3 or 4mph. i've known abs sensors to break even just by a tap of a screwdriver. as they're driven on the road and subjected to water and dirt on the outer casing they become very brittle and the tolerances in millimetres to which the sensor sits from the reluctor ring is miniscule so a small tap could throw that out. i'd say that you would know if your abs ecm had gone as abs would be locked on from 3-4mph to 15mph or therabouts and you'd know by braking and feeling the judder of the wheels. if the sensor had only went, you'd get a reading of 15mph through the obdII but will clear once you hit 3-4mph as it's relying on the last known reading which was from when it was last taken out if that makes sense? so once you get up to 3-4mph the other sensor would activate engine speed to the ECU and will read from that and unlock. let the dealer try to rectify the problem, and if they still try to feed you crap then take the car to the independant garage you mentioned. all the best dude!

 

[singlespeed]

I have a theory about that. I plugged my obd2 reader into it on Saturday, as I said the car has no speedometer, but while it was sitting on the drive, it was giving me a reading of 15mph. So what I think might of happened was the car was running, they got out of it, but as the car thinks its doing 15mph it automatically locked the doors.

that makes sense if auto door locking is on.

Strange that two related faults have appeared.
Constant 15mph signal on the can bus
No speedo display (which should at least show 15 if that's what's on the bus)

I'd be skeptical of a wheel speed sensor or ABS pumpECU. If that's the cause, why no display on the speedo. Smacks of fat fingers in and around plugs and wires