zeroptzero

That is what happened in our event , pretty similar. It only happened once and after replacing the battery it did not happen again. I upgraded the size of the battery after that to get more CCA since it was winter time.

boltonblue

Many moon ago I had an renault 18i sedan. This was early in the days of electronic voltage regulators being built into the alternator.
Renault in their infinite wisdom stuck the alternator inside the bend of the exhaust. obviously they must have felt keeping it warm and toasty would improve it's performance.
They were wrong. Every once in a while the regulator would enter a state called latch-up and decide that the voltage was too high.
It would exit this condition when the voltage of 12V was zero or below. You'd drive in with a car that seemed ok, park it and come out some time later with a dead battery.
It would take a jump and behave normally. replacing the alternator would do no good sine it was a design defect.

Sometimes though it would be more exciting since it could happen while driving and your voltage would slowly go down.
The wipers would go real slow and the lights would get dim and eventually the fuel pump would shut off and you would coast over to the side of the road as the engine quit.
Let it cool down and it would start right back up with a jump.
I think even the Quebecois gave up on Renault.

robb

Funny you mention Renault, I listen to a car repair show on the weekends and a guy called up today with a question about his 1984 Renault Alliance. I.I.R.C. it was Motor Trnend’s car of the year and I DO remember correctly that it was not a good car. The caller who owned this car lived in Mexico City where they probably don’t have as much of a choice for cars as us in the states.

Lainey

We had three Renaults. First up the LeCar. It was a fun little car. My first front wheel drive. A special edition with the large canvas sun roof. If it had a lot of mechanical quirks I can't recall as if a car needed service, Rick and I would just swap vehicles and he'd take the car to work. Sold that one to a friend when it had about 50k on it. She had it a while. Can't remember if she had issues or not. The second one as the Alliance. Motor Trend car of the year! I don't think we had that many mechanical issues. We used to trade in after a few years. Sold it to my niece with around 50K on it. She had it quite some time, don't know how often she had issues. Next up we had the Renault GTA, same body as the Alliance, but a little sportier, performance tires which we knew from driving a demo would not be suitable in the winter. They were fun cars. Drove it for a few years then passed/sold it to our son. I can't remember what issues it had, but I know it spent quite a bit of time with one of the mechanics Rick worked with who worked on the side.

My son's first car as an 18i wagon. He wasn't fussy, the price was right, we had some routine maintenance done to it when we got it. I'm guessing he had it a couple years before he took over the GTA. I know it had a small oil leak that we never looked into, but I don't recall much down time for that vehicle.

robb

My buddy had a Renault Feugo for a bit back in the day it was a decent handling car but did have some quirks. It had what sounded like a coffee percolater going behind the dash and the shifter came off in my hand at one point.

boltonblue

I'd list all of the issues with the Renaults but I'm sure it would take multiple posts.
I loved my lecars, they were fun little front mid-engine cars, yes you read it right, mid engine.
The longitudinal inline 4 sat behind the longitudinal gearbox/transaxle assembly.
They ran the auxiliaries with the CAM shaft. If you belt tension was wrong the CAM would snap.
I had one break just ahead of the distributor turning it into a 2 cylinder running rather rough.
of course the alternator, air pump and water pump weren't turning since they were on the broken half.

They used to be fun to autocross, if you were smooth on big corners you could emulate a dog relieving themselves with one leg way up in the air.
I'm talking 12-15 inches worth of lift.

Lainey

Grandson's VW He's lucky they brought it to the dealership Rick used to work at. The service manager is going over the bill he told my grandson to give his Papa (Rick) and Grandma (me) a big hug...I'm guessing there may be some discounting. Tires and alignment were not the only issues.. Control arms, and more...oh needs a wheel bearing.

Surprises like this might have been avoided by purchasing a vehicle from a larger, more reputable dealership, (if they even put a 2009 VW on their lot) perhaps paying more upfront, or having the vehicle inspected by a trusted mechanic before finalizing the sale.

That didn't happen. Keeping it here.....

boltonblue

Lainey, sometimes are job is to gently help teach so they will learn from the experience.

zeroptzero

We all learn from tough experiences, my first car was a bit of a lemon , more of a maintenance nightmare, despite it being a nice BMW. The expense of keeping it on the road and running drove me to buy a reliable car from Honda, and I never looked back after that.

Lainey

I don't know....his sister went from a VW to a BMW. Right now he's only been inconvenienced. No pain to his wallet. Not much money in there after he pays car insurance.

I'll say it again, he's a good kid, that counts for a lot in my world.

PS, I hope the service manager is working on a discount, not telling him to hug his grandparents thinking we are paying the bill.