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General Introducing Worzel

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General Introducing Worzel

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renaultvation

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Hi, I thought I would introduce myself to this section having recently bought a 2015 1.4 multiair Pop Plus to replace my wife's 500 Lounge (Bella), as we now require a sensible car having just become grandparents. We still have Bertie, our 1994 Punto Cabrio and my Jaguar XK8 (now for sale). We were looking for an Italian name for the car, but with a the number plate ending in WZL the name chose itself.

We have now had the car a couple of weeks and have just had a return trip from Suffolk to West Cumbria via the A1 and A66. Overall we are very pleased with the car. I haven't worked out the fuel consumption, but filled up in Workington and managed to get £50 of fuel in it when I got back to Bury St Edmunds and I wasn't hanging around. The only issue I experienced was on inclines at around 70mph in 6th gear when the engine seemed to surge, then hesitate rather than run constantly. Having never had a turbo before, I wondered whether it was just the speed at which the turbo was cutting in, then out again, or whether it is something like a faulty sensor.
 
Yes, a full service history. It has only done 24,000 miles. I bought it from an independent Fiat and Alpha specialist who stressed the importance of the correct oil. It has a warranty, but I didn't want to worry if this is normal for this engine.
 
I have a 500X 1.4 Multiair 2015 from new and whilst not exactly like you explain I've had the car fail to pull until I drop a gear.

For me when this happens I'll have been pulling steadily reasonably well with 2/3rds+ turbo boost on the dash boost gauge. Then there will be a change in load/incline the car will lose power and when I depress the throttle (even to the floor) nothing happens. Boost is steady or even drops.

Drop a gear (once when towing I had to drops two gears) get the RPM up and all springs back into life again.

On the 500X the turbo really only starts to kick in around the 1750rpm range. (similar to the change gear light operation when not pushing the car). With 6th gear and 2000rpm one is fairly whizzing along and I suspect the while the boost may be at a highish level the ECU predicted required boost would not be enough (ie maxed out in too high a gear) and so it does not bother to increase the boost pressure but "waits" for the drop in gear and load before doing what you want.

I have no real proof that this theory is correct but it is plausible and logical.

Coming back to your case a possible explanation is that for your particular "moment in time" you hovered on an ECU decision threshold when it first wanted a gear change and then changed it's mind.
 
s130 said:
I have a 500X 1.4 Multiair 2015 from new and whilst not exactly like you explain I've had the car fail to pull until I drop a gear.

For me when this happens I'll have been pulling steadily reasonably well with 2/3rds+ turbo boost on the dash boost gauge. Then there will be a change in load/incline the car will lose power and when I depress the throttle (even to the floor) nothing happens. Boost is steady or even drops.
Click to expand...

This may sound a silly question, but what boost gauge?
 
Depending on model then:

When certainly in Sport Mode you can use the steering wheel display Up/Down buttons to scroll through the various displays like oil temperature, battery voltage.

On my 500X Cross Plus then when in display MPH then a "down one" on the steering wheel menu key gives me the turbo boost guague. If you have a City model then this may not be available to you.

Suggest you fully explore all the menu options you have. Not only Up / Down but also Right/Left button actions.
 
Thank you. I tried that, but only in eco mode, I will try it in sport mode. Mine is a Pop Plus, so maybe I don't have that feature. There is nothing in the handbook to help.
 
It was certainly there on the 2015 MA Lounge that I had. After much experimentation with the drive "Moods" the one that suited me best was "All Weather". I found this gave a better throttle response than the "Auto" setting, without being over-sensitive and making the steering heavy, which happens in "Sport".
 
My last post was a little premature as the problem returned, but not consistently. However, the problem was diagnosed as wear in the turbo, so today it had a new one fitted (under warranty). Hopefully all will be fine now, but I will take it very carefully as I don't wish to cause any premature wear in the new turbo.
 
Haven't seen that reported here before, glad your dealer did the decent thing!
The most important thing for long turbo life is to not stop the engine immediately after it's been working hard (eg towing or a hard uphill slog). If the turbo is very hot and the oil isn't flowing through the bearings, it can carbonise and gum up the bearings. Hopefully, the garage checked the oil supply pipes weren't clogged when they changed the turbo.
 
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