Renault Kadjar - 2 auto electricians and no help

[andywilliams1187]

Hi all,

Just joined the forum in the hope someone can help with the below problem - I have tried to keep it as short as possible but car has been to 3 different mechanics and no one can solve the problem

• Car was sent to mechanic 1 in Southport to have cambelt and water pump replaced on Thursday 05th March – job completed but had difficulty with bleeding air out of the system
• On Friday 06th March, orange warning light came on with “Check Vehicle” message. Car taken back to mechanic 1 and OBD2 scan completed, codes reset (Glow Plug, P0380 code)
• Same day, car went into limp mode and a “Stop Vehicle, check gearbox” message appeared. Car taken back to mechanic 1 who checked the sensors and reset the warning lights
• On the 10th March, drove car to Watford (200 miles) – no issues until I arrived in Watford and the “Check Vehicle” warning light came on. Contacted mechanic 1 who said it could be air in the fuel line so bring vehicle back in to have new filter replaced.
• Drove home from Watford, no issues until arrived home and “Check Vehicle” warning light came on again
• No issues with the journey (apart from the warning lights) – car averaged 55mpg (normal for my Kadjar) on a 400 mile round trip
• 11th March – car in garage for new fuel filter. When I went to pick it up, mechanic 1 advised that car was running perfect until they test drove it and “Stop Vehicle” message appeared on the dashboard – unable to diagnose any further and recommended booking in with Fuel Injection in Burscough

I was away for from the 13th March until 21st March – car was left with an auto-electrician just to run diagnosis. They confirmed the following:

• Lots of different codes on the scanner for the vehicle
• They reset the codes and drove the car whilst I was away – “Check Vehicle” light came on and OBD2 pointed towards the oil pressure sensor
• Oil pressure sensor was removed and cleaned, wiring checked and car running perfectly
• On the 21st March, I drove the vehicle, running fine until the “Check Vehicle” light came on again

Anything anyone can suggest would be much appreciated – car runs and drives fine but cannot pinpoint the cause of the fault. When driving, no warning light until I stop at a junction and the stop/start function activates, which is then accompanied by the orange spanner/check vehicle message when the car engine stops.

I am currently being told by a third mechanic that the best thing to do would be to replace the oil pressure sensor as the fault seams to start there, but I don't want to keep throwing money at this

[mickthemaverick]

Having no Renault experience at all this may be complete nonsense but from reading the last part of your post I got the feeling that the light comes on when the battery is placed under extra stress as in the stop/start mechanism. I would have the battery capacity and charge performance tested as well as the alternator. Is the car equipped with the alternator/starter system or are they seperate?

[andywilliams1187]

Having no Renault experience at all this may be complete nonsense but from reading the last part of your post I got the feeling that the light comes on when the battery is placed under extra stress as in the stop/start mechanism. I would have the battery capacity and charge performance tested as well as the alternator. Is the car equipped with the alternator/starter system or are they seperate?

Thanks Mick for the response - this was my initial thought as well as the battery is the original and the fault only occurs when the stop/start is activated. I might run the car up to Halfords and have the battery load tested - it is showing at 12.4v on my multimeter (engine off) and 13.9 - 14.5v when engine is on so looks to be charging correctly but I think a decent load test would at least either rule it out or help point in the right direction

[mickthemaverick]

12.4 is not great, it should be around 12.7 so it may be the issue. You haven't said what year the car is but I am not surprised to find cars with start/stop burning out batteries in 4-5 years

[andywilliams1187]

12.4 is not great, it should be around 12.7 so it may be the issue. You haven't said what year the car is but I am not surprised to find cars with start/stop burning out batteries in 4-5 years

Its a 2020 plate mate so battery been in for 6 years now. Second mechanic I spoke to is adament its the oil pressure sensor (which is about £15 to get an OEM and 10 mins to fit) - will get battery tested as well and hopefully be able to report back later in the week what the actual issue was (if fixed lol)

[Mihael_M]

Check engine is a warning indicating that an error should be read with diagnostics. If that error points to the oil pressure sensor then it must be checked. At the same time, the diagnostics distinguishes between various errors related to the oil sensor and should be acted upon according to that error. It was therefore unnecessary to change the fuel filter before the oil pressure sensor. Otherwise, the sensor is around £60, not £15. With current cars, the owner must have a cheap OBD reader, otherwise he often has to go to the service. It was necessary to read the oil pressure with that reader, which must be around 3 bars.In addition, there is also the Pressure Switch Engine Oil Level Sensor, which can also be the cause of the error. It is probably the diagnostics that indicate to whom the error refers.

[Sloppysod]

Just a simple question, is the oil correct? Not just the level, but the grade, if it's too thin then when it gets hot it gets thinner, and may indicate low presure. it may be that the garage that replaced the cam belt refilled with the wrong oil? The page below shoe 5W/30W and 5W/40W, depending on Engine. It may be on your invoice.
https://www.whatcaroil.com/renault-kadjar.html

[andywilliams1187]

Oil level is correct and checked regularly - car is also serviced every 10000 miles with renault recommended oil (done by myself - next due in 3k miles)

Weirdly today I did a 60 mile round trip with no issues - possibly because I deactivated the stop start so the car didn't power off at any point through the journey

I have a new obd2 scanner (topdon) arriving this week and have also ordered a new oil sensor which should be here Wednesday- will update later in the week (unless car explodes before then)

[Mihael_M]

That's good, but since we don't know exactly what error it was reporting, we should also pay attention to:
https://eurofrance24.com/oil-level-sens ... nault.html

[andywilliams1187]

Hi all,

Apologies for not updating - was waiting for the postman to drop me off a new scanner and battery tester. I think this may be a battery issue that is causing the problems - tested today on a Topdon Charger and had the following results:

Battery Test:
Health - 13%
Charge - 11.95v

Cranking Test:
Time - 5071ms
Voltage - 9.69V

Charging Test:
Loaded - 14.56v
Unloaded - 14.58
Ripple - 49mV

On my fault code tester, I had the following come up:

181316 - Computer supply voltage, circuit voltage below threshold
404086 - Multiplex brake pedal UCH invalid, invalid signal
180516 - Computer supply voltage, circut voltage below threshold
Oil pressure sensor fault

My current line of thinking is that there is a dead cell or deteriation in the battery - when the stop start kicks in, voltage is dropping too low and the ECU is getting confused and just lighting up random codes. I have been driving the car all week whilst turning off the stop/start function and had no issues (350 mile round trip)

[Paul-R]

I think you're on the right track. A six year old battery i highly likely to need replacing.

[mickthemaverick]

Well I'm glad to see my initial suspicians seem to be on the mark. Hopefully a new battery will sort you out completely though the stop/start will continue to load it heavily if you do a lot of town driving.

[andywilliams1187]

Looks that way mate - new battery in and cleared the fault codes - looks to be OK.

Will be servicing the car in 2k miles so I am going to swop out the sensor when I'm underneath doing the filter - hopefully all sorted now thanks everyone for their help - will report back if it starts playing up again

[andywilliams1187]

Spanner has come back on - scan tool saying its the oil pressure sensor so will replace tomorrow. Not done one on this car before but assume its near the fuel filter (will have to take the undertray off) - will update tomorrow

[andywilliams1187]

Hi all,

Just to update on this (still having issues)

New battery fitted (as needed after testing)
Oil Pressure Sensor replaced
Glow plugs replaced (two had failed after 42000miles so replaced all 4 - bit tricky but managed to do it without taking the fuel rail off

Still have one problem with the car and its really weird. I keep getting the Check Vehicle (with the orange spanner) pop up - fault code is 922C64 which points to the oil pressure sensor. Its very strange though - if I get in the car, depress the brake pedal and start straight away, no warning comes on. If I get in the car, turn the ignition on (without starting) and wait a couple of seconds then the spanner comes on. Same issue with the stop/start - if I deactive it then I don't have any issues, but if I leave it on, when the car stops at traffic lights and the engine cuts, a couple of seconds later the Check Vehicle comes on and get the error code pointing to the sensor

No idea where to go with this - spoke to two other mechanics and they are stumped

I want to avoid taking it to renault if possible as they are charging a ridiculous amount for diagnostics at the moment