Driving the 1600 Megane Hatch

[renaultman]

Hello and welcome all, i have just bought a new megane hatch with the 1600 VVT engine. I find this car hard to drive, especialy on take off. A smooth gear change seems to be a hit or miss affair! It seems to falter if the accelerator pedal is prodded. I think there is a certain way these cars need to be driven due to the VVT on the engine. Does anyone have any hints and tips for me?]

[Stefanel1]

Welcome to you
Nice ride

[motoringhack]

Buy a Ford Focus! How many miles have you done in the car? The engine is not properly loose until about 12,000 miles. That said it's a heavy car for its engine size. The 2.0 litre is not exactly a ball of fire, even with 136 bhp. The best of the bunch is the 1.9 dCi diesel, a real honey of an engine with good fuel mileage. It'll easily do 55 mpg on an Imperial gallon. That's 44 mpg in the US!

However it sounds as if you might have an ECM problem - possibly oxygen sensor or the VPC (Vein Pressure Converter) unit. Your dealer should be able to diagnose for faults - actually nothing usually shows up - it's a "here today, gone tomorrow" type of fault. Sorry I can't be more helpful. Where are you by the way?

[renaultman]

Thanks for the information. I live in Cape Town South Africa. The car has now only done 7000kl. It seems to me i have to tap-tap the throttle to pull away smoothly. The motor pulls strongly and smoothly once it gets going. Overall i am enjoying the car, it corners very well. Took the focus out when i was testing new cars, frightened the poor salesman to death!

[renaultman]

I have found the problem. It seems as though Renault have left off a "U" shaped dampening pipe which is on the plastic plumbing between the air filter and the throttle flap. This left a 20mm hole sucking in raw air from the engine. When the engine got hot the computer could not set the mixture and the car was running lean. I wonder if after 8500 kl this has caused any premature wearing of the engine? I checked the inside of the throttle flap and could only find a thin layer of dark grey grease. The engine is now running sweetly and quieter!

[pauls13]

I have the same problem, with the car jerking when you move off and my car has done 13,000 miles. I figured it was the car but now u have got me worried if it is the same thing, this could be expensive

[renaultman]

If you find this pipe missing off the manifold just block off the hole.

[Hemofagico]

That engine is perfect for the Megane I serie. Despite of this, the dci obtained best perfomance (0-60 in 10,3 sg and 31,3 sg over the 0-1000 m).

But, that is the problem, Megane I 1.6 16v had 110 HP for 1100 kg, and Megane II has 115 hp for 1350 kg.

The 1.6 16v Megane I were a brilliant car but now is a mediocre car.

[J11WBB]

Had same problems on my 1600 Megane.
Stalled when starting, pulling away it would jolt the clutch as if you had released the pedal wrong and generally running bad.

Dealer hooked it up to the computer and found two of the sensors were faulty...One for the VVT and the other for the engine. Had the brain (ECU) wiped twice and runs graet (getting 45mpg each time ) sensors being replaced tomorrow.

[MSX01]

Having similar problems with my Megane II 1.6

Stalls, jitters on pulling away and has this very funny method of not dropping revs between gear changes - actually increases rpm as you lift of the accelerator and engage the clutch - been back to dealer 4 times and only 8000k's on clock - seems like ECU issues or faulty readings from sensors - but Diagnostics show nothing - the problem gets worse after a quick stop over - after the stall or hiccup the engine shows immediate degradation in output power.

Upgraded from a Megane I which was a beauty - mmmm

Any Ideas - also in SA (Johannesburg)