Dacia diesel recall - do I go for it?

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Superplonk
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Dacia diesel recall - do I go for it?

Postby Superplonk » Fri Nov 03, 2017 12:50 pm

I've had a letter from Dacia offering a "free adjustment" to the pollution control systems on my two year old car. When I ordered the car it took several months to arrive as they were switching the production line to produce Euro 6 engines. It very quickly became apparent that these were remarkably filthy (when not being tested, of course). I was also annoyed that the fuel consumption is far higher than expected, even taking into account the usual gap between brochure and the real world. Otherwise, I'm happy with the car.
I'm assuming the adjustment is more for the benefit of the Renault group than for me, and would have an adverse effect on mpg and general performance.
Am I right? I have 3 years left on the guarantee, so I wonder if I'd have any protection if they muck things up.

1bassleft
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Re: Dacia diesel recall - do I go for it?

Postby 1bassleft » Mon Nov 06, 2017 2:02 am

Hi, I'm new to the forum and not au fait with all things Spanish so please take my post as intended to be helpful but possibly dead flat wrong. I have been reading up a lot on diesels in the last month because of the advantages here and some Tdi etc fora have a lot to say.
Assuming your Dacia has the Renault diesel unit, you're probably right - Renault, like other makes, are scrabbling around trying to reduce real-life NOx emissions. This quick article is less of a brain-hurt than most:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/advice/ ... ase-and-s/
My guess is that the ECU will be re-reprogrammed to kick in the clean up more often, at lower temps. This could only reduce your mpg but I'm not sure by how much significance. What would concern me more is the past history (of Volkswagen Audi Group in partic) of rushing through a half-buttocked "make diesels cleaner for certain US states" solution that can have nasty consequences for engine reliability. Not saying this will happen to yours, but subsequent problems have long-running horror stories. Bearing in mind that the franchise dealer might well slip this job in on your next service visit, my less-than-tuppence opinion is that I would have it done on recall and insist that it is logged in the service book.
Two advantages to me: if you sell it on years later, nerds like me read Parker's + Honest John reviews "Dacias were recalled in 2017 for..." and are glad to see it unambiguously recorded in your log. Secondly if you were (unlikely, but still) one of a number of people caught up in a "Renault botched fix leads to EGR/DPF etc catastrophic failure" scenario, you'd have some comeback if the work was done under warranty at their suggestion and later shown to contribute to post-warranty failure.
Bear in mind, again, I'm a petrol type and I'm only going on insomnia-fuelled reading up.
Oz

Superplonk
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:06 pm
Location: Coin

Re: Dacia diesel recall - do I go for it?

Postby Superplonk » Tue Nov 14, 2017 4:33 pm

To follow up on this, I have been advised by a Renault dealer not to have it done. The reasons given were that it will affect performance, can't be reversed and that possibly a less bad version will be offered in the future.


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