have owned my 3.5 v6 for 20 years has served me well, no major problems until last
week. Engine turning over at usual speed but refuses to start tried 5/6 times no joy, I could
smell the fuel so no problem there.
Left car for ten minutes, tried again, started first time. Drove to Tesco, parked 30 minutes.
Car repeated the problem, would not start tried 5/6 times.
Call the AA. Waited 30 mins. HE SAT IN the car it started straight away, drove home. My
wife no longer drive car to work as it displays this fault all the time. I left the car at my local
garage for two weeks he could not find a fault bill was £750 he changed a few parts, did
not fix.
There does not appear to be a Renault garage near me, I live in unstable Bedfordshire.
Lu56bd.
Does anyone know what I can try, I love this vehicle and do not want to lose it.
Could it be a computer problem my local garage does not have the equipment to solve
that particular problem no main dealer close, my old main dealership closed some years
ago.
I would be obliged if someone can over some assistance.
Anthony. Reg. HV53DFD
Anthony, further to what Kieran has said it might also be useful to know the service history of your car, if it has had the 72K spark plug change etc. The only time my VS failed to start was when the MAF sensor broke - it failed while I was accelerating away from a junction and stopped the engine. After many attempts it did start and run in a very rough way but I had any number of faults displaying on the dash afterwards.
I feel extremely lucky that I am within walking distance of a Renault main dealer who have always looked after my car, and have the relevant experience and equipment to do so. Having said that I am surpirsed your local garage could not diagnose a fault as I would expect a code fault to be stored in the ECU after a number of failed starts.
I also have had to replace my starter motor, but if your car is turning over at normal speed that is unlikely to be the issue.
Regards, Steve
Hi Anthony
First off can you tell me what the garage replaced as it matters to help try diagnose what issue you may have? £750 does sound steep to not solve the issue.
Common things to prevent starting on the 3.5 would be / more likely causes:
-Starter motor, these can start to go bad. Mine started to fail but sometimes i could tap it with a mallet and that would get it going until it really went altogether
-Main one on the VQ35 engine is Camshaft postion sensors. There are x2, one per bank on the V6 and these can go bad and cause it to not start or cut out. You get the fault in fuel injection message
-Crankshaft position sensor. Likewise to the Camshaft one just sits lower.
-Chain tensioner (unlikely as you'd hear a rattle at startup) but if gone ages between oil chanegs they are known to fail in some rare cases.
-VIAS solenoid. Sits on top of engine can be sourced on Amazon and they cause the VVT to stick fully open or closed depending. You get fault in fuel injection message
-Then at a guess id be on to Coils/spark plugs worth checking
Worth noting that "Fault in fuel injection" is not an MOT failure but does generate a code if you have the right plug in software. So if the amber display is on with that message in the car then any garage should have been able to diagnose it for you. At which point I'd come back here with whatever it says!
Hope that helps
Cheers
Kieran