1999 renault espace - 5day old and already trouble!

alfa-nitro · Unread post by **alfa-nitro** » 31 Aug 2008, 20:43

dear all

we recently acquired a renault espace 1999 2.0 16 valve rt-x manual with 99k on the clock in blue

but on our way to a dog show this morning getting only around 10-15,20 at the most (miles away from home) we encounted the following problems -

slowly accelerating on a flat to around 79-80mph before hitting a very very gentle slope we backed off the accelerator and heard a very faint squeek-pause for a second or so and the squeek would re appear this went on for about 3-5 mins and then dissapeared then coming to the last few yards eg 40-50 yards of the slope there was a gentle juddering and as the road gently became flat my dad went to accelerate away and there was nothing there so he put his foot down a little bit more and there was a whooshing noise coming from the dashboard which was only there for a second or two and and then a rather loudish tapping n slight clonking noise was coming from so as we could accelarate when we slowed down to around 40ish we had to then drop down from 4th to fith and accelorate again and drove into a laybye and had a look at the engine not seeing anything eg leaks or even the air intake pipe had worked its way loose or anything but nope nothing that we could see
so we drove on and slowly getting worse to where we were changing between 1st n second at around 15 to 20mph and eventually stopped and called out the aa and got towed home (luckily) and then calling back the person we got it from as his brother claims to know about cars-he then drove it round to this garage and claimed it could be down to an egr valve that is sticking ? but realising that an egr valve only exists on diesels and typing in the problem on google this confirmed my suspicions

and the engine very distinctivley sounds like a diesel! but is a petrol and is a very quite rattle on idle but not really noticeable but when reved it nocks - and has a quite bottom end nock notcing the oil was low but not excessivley low eg half an inch above the lowest mark on the dipstick it should have been ok and has behaved a few days before as seen as we baught the car on wednesday we drove it just the same and no trouble at all

so if anybody can help or has any info then please help!

rob:)

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 01 Sep 2008, 14:09

Doesnt sound too good Rob...

I think a compression test would be a good start..

Plus check oil and coolant for unusual smalls, discolouration, levels.

May be worth taking rocker cover off and seeing if all looks ok in there too..

John

alfa-nitro · Unread post by **alfa-nitro** » 01 Sep 2008, 15:33

thanks for your help john

i must say the night before we set off i noticed a browny oily sludgy looking stuff in the header tank and wiped it off with my finger so i could see what the level was at

but i then topped up the water to the correct level ..... but there was no problems there but how much do you reckon for worse case secnario- low oil ,limited oil pressure causing damage to top and shel caps on bottom end and new rings and a rebore ?

rob

billy_bottle · Unread post by **billy_bottle** » 08 Dec 2008, 18:48

possible head gasket gone? comp. test is a v good idea to start.