[sarbagna]

My first post - so please bear with me. I felt this could be the correct place to post this, but if I made a blunder - please feel free to move this to the correct place. ��

Weird Problem with Duster Petrol RXS CVT

I own a Duster RXS CVT 2018 - 1.3 Turbo Petrol - which has been showing a weird problem since day 1. But as it happens, I stop, restart engine - it goes away.

The problem:
- Drive indicator "D" starts going on/off with a bizarre character (like "E")
- Electronic fault warning light comes on



Performance of Car (during this issue):
I generally stop the car within minutes. So, never had the opportunity to check the impact. But yesterday this happened again on my way from "AJC Bose Flyover" towards Airport via "Ma" flyover. Now, I didn't want to stop in the midst on the flyover - so I kept going, in fact pressed the paddle harder. While recording the video - I had slowed down at ~30, but later I went to ~70 & it was smooth & within 4-5 minutes I was out of the Flyovers & took a stop opposite to "Captain Bherry". As usual - as I restarted, all problems gone, I carried along for another 20 Km before I stopped for Garage. It never recurred.

History:
Earlier I had faced this problem before Covid started - around 2019 beginning & had taken it to Vibrant Motors for inspection. They connected to the OBD port & did all sorts of analysis & came back empty handed. Since I couldn't reproduce this issue - it ended there.

Unfortunately, I have to travel a lot - so when it was Covid, my travel was limited, but neither could take the car for a spin. And now when Covid is hopefully going away - I started taking my car out, but this problem is bothering me.

Looking for advise on next steps.

Video Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6ThKBoup64

Thanks & regards
Arijit

[Jaggu]

This seems like one of the sensors on the CVT system misbehaving. Is there a particular condition in which this occurs? egs: Hard acceleration, climbing an incline etc? Try to find a way to replicate it to the service and that should help.

[sarbagna]

Re: Renault Duster CVT - Drive Error
This seems like one of the sensors on the CVT system misbehaving. Is there a particular condition in which this occurs? egs: Hard acceleration, climbing an incline etc? Try to find a way to replicate it to the service and that should help.

Unfortunately, the only commonalities that I could notice is:

1. Starting the car after 2-3 days idle period.
2. In all prior occurrences, it was extremely hot weather (had AC running at max capacity)

I reported this to Renault & they routed this to local service center (Vibrant Motors Barasat). They took the car this morning & spent all day to figure out any possible issue - but no luck yet!
They will try again tomorrow & let me know.

I will update as I hear anything.

[sarbagna]

Update:

Vibrant Motors Barasat shared 2 updates with me last evening:

1. They could neither reproduce nor identify what might have caused this issue. However, they have a suspicion that it may be due to a malfunction of the "P/R/N/D" switch. They reported this to Renault seeking further instructions.
2. With this "suspected cause" they wanted to send the car back to my place, but their driver ended up banging the car on the way & made a nice dent at the front.

Now, they are working on fixing the dent (& paint) & getting my car back is further delayed to weekend. Let's see!

The only positives I am drawing from all these incidents:

• May be this is nothing serious & way too infrequent
• Vibrant Motors Barasat has a body shop (I was not aware)

[sarbagna]

Update (got delayed for the overall process to close):

1. Got my car back post initial dent fix
2. As I received my car, realized the reverse cam was not working
3. Informed Renault Barasat & they assured that they will look in to it, once they take the car back (after the spare part for gear shifting switch comes)
4. After 2 weeks, they informed the part has arrived & they took the car again (picked up from home).
5. Delivered after 2 days & informed my reverse camera probably got wasted!
6. Though car was returned, interior was muddy. Gloves compartment had dusty pieces of clothe - used for cleaning (they forgot to take those out - quite shabby work).
7. Anyways, I replaced the reverse cam with a spare one (43 LED 170 Degree Round Back Up Camera) & it is working (not sure what happened during their first inspection of the car that the camera broke).
8. After receiving the car - so far the garbage text on dash has not resurfaced, but I did notice the electronic fault light appearing once & then disappearing on restart.

Advise Request:
- What could be a good reverse cam? The one I fitted - is good for temporary use, but it zooms too much & doesn't offer wider coverage.

[sarbagna]

Update 31st May 2022:

This problem has resurfaced on 29th May!
Same error, PRND Flashing along with the "Fault Light" showing up. Again had to recycle ignition to get rid of it. But this time, post restart - while the fault light & PRND went back to normalcy, "ABS" light came up permanently. Multiple restarts didn't do any good. I was heading for a close by Mall (CC2) - where I parked & went for lunch. I went back after almost 1-1.5 hours - started the engine, ABS showed up briefly, but voila - all ok! No more warning/errors on dash.

While I was driving with ABS on, I didn't rush - kept a low speed 25-30 kmph. So, not sure if I felt any lack of push/thrust or not - but later on, when I headed back home, all was normal (a test speed for a few seconds at 80-90 was smooth).

Informed "Vibrant Motors" Barasat and they again took the car to their workshop yesterday (30th May). They are apparently collecting all data & will share with Renault & expected to give me an ETA by today.

This is really getting on my nerves now. Just when long drive plans are appearing to be working out, Duster is getting in to problems one after another. I am wondering is this CVT specific issue & not enough expertise around? Quite frustrated & helpless!

[sarbagna]

Update 12 Jun:


Yesterday I received my car back from Vibrant Motors (Barasat) workshop. They had informed me that they were going to change the "Vacuum Booster Sensor". But as I received the car - there were neither any job sheet, nor any clarification! Just the designated driver dropping the car at our door step.

Now what I noticed after receiving the car is quite interesting. Please have a look at these readings:


Seems like an erroneous mileage!


Average speed too looks incorrect!

I already reached out to Vibrant Motors - but was advised to drop a mail with details, which I just did. I am suspecting they made ECU reset/reprogramming - which may have triggered such readings (& hoping as I drive, they will restore normalcy). But I am really getting tired of this never ending story now.

[sarbagna]

Update 06 August:

After all the erroneous reading on the dashboard, checked with Vibrant Motors and they advised a resetting of the trip meter and then go ahead with regular use.
Have done that (to get rid of the reading errors) and been using our Duster without the issue since.
I am still unsure what caused the problem in the first place, but I am happy that we are back on track (& thanks to the extended warranty that I had opted for, Vibrant Motors did all these troubleshooting and the apparent fix - without charging me a penny).

I do hope that the problem doesn't resurface and look forward to have many miles of association with our beloved "champ"! 🤞

[debjyotimitra]

I need help.

I am facing an issue with my 4-year old Duster 1.5 CVT that could not be identified/rectified by the authorized service stations. Sometimes, after starting the vehicle, the RPM starts fluctuating with vibration, and the engine shuts off if I want to move the car in D or R modes. During the RPM fluctuation, black smoke comes out with the smell of petrol. The RPM gets steady in a few seconds, and the car starts moving without further issues.

I am not able to identify a consistent pattern till now when it happens, except refueling the car. Whenever I refuel, the first start gets this issue. Even though I tried not switching off the engine when refueling— it still happened.

The car runs smoothly without noise or other complaints, but this particular issue gave us trouble during our long trip to Munnar and Alleppey recently. The car shut off multiple times on the road on the hill. I visited the Renault Service Station in Alleppey. They were able to replicate the issue but could not resolve it as their computer was NOT showing any particular error!

Somehow we managed to come back to Bangalore. After 15 hours of driving, the issue was still there, and the car went off a few times, but we reached home safely. Now while visiting the Silk Board service, again the same thing happened— the computer is not throwing any error!

I asked them to check the oxygen sensor and fuel injector, but they said all fine!

At this moment, I'm feeling clueless and not sure how to deal with it. We do road trips quite frequently, so we need to rectify this problem as early as possible.

Any suggestion/advice/help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by debjyotimitra

I am facing an issue with my 4-year old Duster 1.5 CVT that could not be identified/rectified by the authorized service stations. Sometimes, after starting the vehicle, the RPM starts fluctuating with vibration, and the engine shuts off if I want to move the car in D or R modes. During the RPM fluctuation, black smoke comes out with the smell of petrol. The RPM gets steady in a few seconds, and the car starts moving without further issues.

Can you update on the progress after you took the car to the service station again?

[debjyotimitra]

I dropped the car to the service center one week back from now. After a couple of days of inspection, they concluded it was an issue with petrol adulteration, and drained the fuel tank completely.

After drying and refueling the car again, unfortunately, the issue was still there. So now they contacted the Renault RnD team for further assistance.

What the service manager has told me today is, the Renault RnD team has asked for a few-point-checks, they are doing that, and will be sending the report to Renault by EoD.

I am hoping to hear back from them in the coming week.

[sarbagna]

Originally Posted by debjyotimitra

What the service manager has told me today is, the Renault RnD team has asked for a few-point-checks, they are doing that, and will be sending the report to Renault by EoD.

I am hoping to hear back from them in the coming week.

Sorry to hear about your trouble. I am sure the mechanics have already checked the fuel line, air filter, spark plug, injector and sensor status as well. If all turned out negatove, I am sure R&D Team will be able to come up with a solution. In my case they did & I will hope for the same for you.

[debjyotimitra]

Originally Posted by sarbagna

Sorry to hear about your trouble. I am sure the mechanics have already checked the fuel line, air filter, spark plug, injector and sensor status as well. If all turned out negatove, I am sure R&D Team will be able to come up with a solution. In my case they did & I will hope for the same for you.

Thank you for your response. In my case, unfortunately, I took my vehicle back from the service station as there was no positive movement in the last couple of weeks. They wanted to dismantle the engine to inspect it further, but I just took it back.

Surprisingly, now there are no issues. I refueled the car and drove for 100+ km, and it looks like resolved. Though the service station guys didn't confirm that. Not sure what is going on.

Could you elaborate a little more about your incident, please?

[sarbagna]

Originally Posted by debjyotimitra

Could you elaborate a little more about your incident, please?

In my case, CVT was throwing error light on dash - which (per manual) indicated electronic fault & the PRND display changed to a garbage text (as if all characters overlapping on each other). Thankfully - it didn't impact the throttle or any other performance. And this error typically disappeared after a restart & appear again if driven for a significant duration (say, >45 minutes), particularly under HOT climate. Now, these all sound bizarre & honestly - this pattern is loosely stitched. And hence ASC could never reproduce this. But they showed proactive interest to fix & took the car for multiple days - did all possible experiments & eventually (on 3rd attempt) came with a possible fix to replace "Vacuum Booster Sensor".

I am thankful - post that, this issue has not re-appeared (but I must also mention - I moved to Bangalore, hence car is not being used much).