Just bought a car - few minor points...

evil-monkey

Hi all,

Just bought a 01 Renault Megane, drove her for this first time this morning. Just two things that have come to my attention;

1] The dealer said the timing belt would be done (36k miles on her) before I bought her. When picking her up he said the belt had been done, yet there is no mark on the engine to confirm this. You know the way mechanics usually tip-ex on the mileage at which it was done etc - that's not there. I'm going to take a spin down to him today after work and ask him to sign the logbook indicating it was done - what ye think?

2] There's a small bit of a rattle in the car. Nothing major, just a slight rattle when you go over speed bumps etc. Just a sort of general rattle, doesn't sound to be coming from the engine or wheels or anything - any ideas what could be causing this or is it a general old Megane sort of thing?

Thanks in advance

jaggiebunnet

I had a 01 megane from new that had a lot more mileage than yours and I don't remember any rattle - I do remember several other things but I won't go into them seeing as you just bought the car

Alanstrainor

You bought a car without driving it? Seems odd. And the fact that the logbook wasn't updated to say that the belt was done is, well, worrying.

jaggiebunnet

Actually - which dealer was it? as the renault garage i got mine from never ever remembered to update the service book when it was serviced and i had to take the book in to get them to write in it - the worst thing about the renault will forever remain the dealers customer service....

evil-monkey

Alanstrainor wrote: »

You bought a car without driving it? Seems odd. And the fact that the logbook wasn't updated to say that the belt was done is, well, worrying.

i did drive it. i only noticed it today going out a bumpy road...

evil-monkey

jaggiebunnet wrote: »

I had a 01 megane from new that had a lot more mileage than yours and I don't remember any rattle - I do remember several other things but I won't go into them seeing as you just bought the car

lol...such as??

r3nu4l

My Fiat dealer quite often forget to stamp the service log book :rolleyes: so I have to check each time (not for much longer \o/ ).

OP, have you identified the source point of the rattle? When we bought our last car it rattled over bumps and it turned out that our boot clips and droplinks needed to be replaced.

I don't know enough about cars to know which of those problems caused the rattle...

jaggiebunnet

evil-monkey wrote: »

lol...such as??

i don't want to jinx your car - i was lucky - i never got any real problems other than customer service until 60k miles. I like to think I got off lightly compared to other stories i have heard - but mines was a good one even with the problems i guess.

incidentally (total chancer alert!)- I have megane roof racks for sale if you ever need them

evil-monkey

r3nu4l wrote: »

My Fiat dealer quite often forget to stamp the service log book :rolleyes: so I have to check each time (not for much longer \o/ ).

OP, have you identified the source point of the rattle? When we bought our last car it rattled over bumps and it turned out that our boot clips and droplinks needed to be replaced.

I don't know enough about cars to know which of those problems caused the rattle...

I haven't even had time to identify the source. it was a kinda of general rattling. i suppose i'll just have to get it checked out.

evil-monkey

jaggiebunnet wrote: »

i don't want to jinx your car - i was lucky - i never got any real problems other than customer service until 60k miles. I like to think I got off lightly compared to other stories i have heard - but mines was a good one even with the problems i guess.

incidentally (total chancer alert!)- I have megane roof racks for sale if you ever need them

i actually do need them for the surfboard!! who are they made by?? stick me a pm.

tell me, did you have a sunroof?? i had a clio and the sunroof leaked...i'm worried it will happen again...

jaggiebunnet

Didn't have a sun roof so no problems there - we had the air conditioning, which you could audibly hear the engine power reduce each time you switched on

pm sent.

Steve

evil-monkey wrote: »

1] The dealer said the timing belt would be done (36k miles on her) before I bought her. When picking her up he said the belt had been done, yet there is no mark on the engine to confirm this. You know the way mechanics usually tip-ex on the mileage at which it was done etc - that's not there. I'm going to take a spin down to him today after work and ask him to sign the logbook indicating it was done - what ye think?

They normally do this but not always.

I would think that in the event of something going wrong, an entry in the service log would hold more weight that a tippex mark / scribe mark - so yes I think this is a great idea.

evil-monkey

will take a saunter down to him so this evening and get him to sign the book.

macroman

Most mechanics will indicate somewhere that the timing belt has been done - either in the engine bay on the cambelt shroud, or else on a sticker on the windscreen. I'd ask for an invoice for the work carried out on the car too if the dealer sent it to an outside mechanic.