[ssedrgmechtvc]

Samba, thanks for the reply and the information that it's too early for the evaporator coil to go kaput. But unfortunately by the time i read your reply I've got the work done by Renault and it cost me 10.2k, a few thousand bucks more as you said. Anyway the ac is working perfectly now.
The payment was made through card, though i wished to make the payment through 'My Renault' app for the first time, i was told by the dealer that the they will receive payment confirmation message only after a day resulting in delivery of the vehicle. Is payment through app so clumsy everywhere?

[Samba]

Originally Posted by ssedrgmechtvc

The payment was made through card, though i wished to make the payment through 'My Renault' app for the first time, i was told by the dealer that the they will receive payment confirmation message only after a day resulting in delivery of the vehicle. Is payment through app so clumsy everywhere?

I never tried from the app. But I have paid Renault and Toyota both directly to their account for contact less transaction. I asked for their account details, added it & paid online. It was prompt and worked well both the times! No cash or card was required!

Update on my car. Odo reads 21,250 km

Meanwhile am waiting for the guessed spare (EGR cooler) to arrive from Chennai. Once the spares arrives, I will take my car to get the coolant consumption rectified. As of now, am driving by topping up the coolant, whenever it comes down to 'Min' mark.

In last 930 km of driving, the coolant level again came down to min from the max level.

[ssedrgmechtvc]

What could be the probable reasons for premature failure of EGR cooler - material failure or some collision during off-roading?

And by the way could you please tell me the probable reasons of premature failure of my ac evaporator coil, so that i could be cautious next time to avoid a premature failure due to human error if there were any

[Samba]

Originally Posted by ssedrgmechtvc

What could be the probable reasons for premature failure of EGR cooler - material failure or some collision during off-roading?

And by the way could you please tell me the probable reasons of premature failure of my ac evaporator coil, so that i could be cautious next time to avoid a premature failure due to human error if there were any

My Duster never had any collision till date, be it on the road or be it in an offroading event. I do not attempt obstacles where my car might get damaged.

Will update the reason after getting it rectified from the service centre. Till then, I am also not sure about the actual cause. Plus the EGR cooler is just a guess, there might be some other reasons too.

Its pretty difficult to tell reasons for a parts failure. It can be a manufacturing defect too. Premature parts failure depends on many factors.

There is nothing much you can do apart from servicing your A/c unit time to time. (General maintenance)

Clean the dusts.
Clean/change A/c filter as per instruction given in the owners manual.
Park the car in shade as much as possible. This will be good for all electronic items.
Use all the modes in the A/c, including the recirculating mode.
When the car is parked for a prolonged period, keep the A/c on for 5 mins atleast twice a month, so the A/c gas will flow and help keeping the unit in working condition.

[ssedrgmechtvc]

Thanks samba.
As i follow all the general instructions you mentioned, my ac evaporator coil case appears to boil down to material failure/manufacturing defect

[Samba]

22,000 km update

Got the EGR cooler replaced under warranty.





But the coolant consumption is still there.

Before changing the EGR cooler, the below points were checked-

No leak from radiator or hoses.

Coolant container is fine, so is the cap.

Engine oil & coolant both for contamination. All were clean.

Coolant thermostat valve is also fine.

There is no leakage from static car.

Drove around 750 km after the EGR change.

Attaching few pics of the coolant consumption after top up.

I have marked the level with a white line, so comparing the level by noticing the yellow mark and the 'X' of the 'MAX' mark as a reference will be easy.

After top-up.



After 160 km



Next day before the drive



After 170 km drive



On another day before the drive



After 385 km drive



All the pics were taken while the engine was cold. If we notice from the 1st pic till the last pic, in this 700+ km, atleast the car has consumed around 200 ml coolant. Check out the yellow marking for reference.

Renault Budgebudge is cooperating a lot to solve this, they have escalated this issue and asked for some more time. They have given me 2 L of coolant free of cost, so I cant top up and use, till this issue is resolved.

Rest, the car is doing fine. The highway drives are enjoyable.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Samba

Got the EGR cooler replaced under warranty.
...
But the coolant consumption is still there.

Before changing the EGR cooler, the below points were checked-

No leak from radiator or hoses.

Coolant container is fine, so is the cap.

Engine oil & coolant both for contamination. All were clean.

Coolant thermostat valve is also fine.

There is no leakage from static car.

Drove around 750 km after the EGR change.

I have heard of many cars having a drinking problem, but it's usually been fuel or engine oil. This is quite an uncommon and intriguing drinking problem, I must say.

So I pulled out some manuals to look at the cooling circuit of the K9K engine, and here's what I found.



From your description, the service centre seems to have addressed most of the issues where coolant loss can be suspected. That leaves out a few things that need to be looked into:

1. The oil-water heat exchanger. Maybe there's such a minor leak, the coolant isn't contaminating the engine oil enough to cause a colour change.

2. The cabin heater radiator. Hidden inside the dashboard, a minor leak can go unnoticed.

3. The expansion bottle pressure cap. Swap it out with another Duster, and check after a few hundred km.

4. The head gasket. A hairline cut / crack in the head gasket might bleed coolant from the cooling circuit directly into the upper cylinder, and from there to the exhaust. Perhaps happening only in a hot engine at high revs. The loss would be so minor that no one would notice the smoke, and there would be no telltale mark of coolant leakage either.

It would be interesting to learn what is actually causing this drinking problem!

[jsamba]

I do own a 110ps,2wd rxs duster bought in April. 2018. I had similar injector failure on the Trichy-Chennai highway. My odo reading was around 8500kms. It was replaced at Renault-Pondicherry. They gave the same explanation. After reading about it from this forum, it looks like a design fault either with the fuel pump or they have to use a higher tolerant injector. These injectors are piezoelectric. But most certainly it's not fuel adulteration as claimed by them.

It's not limited to the Duster AWD. The injector failure is common across the k9k, 110 ps tuned engines. The 85 ps tuned k9k engines do not have this issue.
The injectors are from Continental and is super sensitive to adulterated fuel & not suitable for Indian condition's. In more humid places the injectors are more prone to failures. Maybe with BS6 fuel with lesser sulfur content this will work better! It's just a guess though.
Many owners use fuel additives and injector cleaners from LIQUI MOLY and have got very good results. Though am yet to use it.[/quote]

[Samba]

Duster turns 2 with 22,755 km on the Odo!

We had our fair bit of fun during these two years.

Snow drive - Check
Water wading - Check
Attending an off road event - Check
Visiting 4wd territories like Sandakphu - Check
Fast highway driving or taking fast corners on hill roads - Check

This 2 years journey with the Duster had its own up's and down's.
The car has shown tantrums which needed attention. It was not a niggle free journey. Thankfully Renault after sales service (Renault Budgebudge) has given me all the required support.

Do I regret buying this car, or if I get a chance to rewind these two years and change the buying decision, will I still stick to Duster?

Yes. I will/would stick to the Duster AWD. There is no alternative to this car in this budget, unless I go the pre-owned way. My family members love this car for the unmatched comfort during long journeys.

Does the new Thar ring some bell in my head? Hell yes! But still it's a jeep which is getting better day by day. It still has it's own shortcomings in sheer practicality.

I will just drool on the new Thar, but keep driving my Duster !

Sharing few pics-

[Dry Ice]

Congrats for the 2 year mark!

Originally Posted by Samba

Does the new Thar ring some bell in my head? Hell yes! But still it's a jeep which is getting better day by day. It still has it's own shortcomings in sheer practicality.

Thar maybe better off-road compared to Duster. But as you said, it's still quite low on practicality and family friendly option. It's future iterations may get better (with a 5-door option also rumoured), but in the current iteration I guess Duster still remains a better choice if one needs a 4WD for going places and not competitions. Only wish Renault had kept it updated with the times. It could have been an even more successful product.

I guess we can expect a comprehensive comparison once the TD Thar is available from the Kolkata chapter? With some seasoned 4WD drivers like you, PapaBravo, 1100D, BlackPearl etc it can provide some valuable insights .

[click]

Originally Posted by Samba

Duster turns 2 with 22,755 km on the Odo!

We had our fair bit of fun during these two years.
Attachment 2050052

Wow, congratulations on such a nice journey with your car. Love your pictures. Where was this picture taken where the car is on and slightly above the clouds or fog?

[Samba]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Congrats for the 2 year mark!
I guess we can expect a comprehensive comparison once the TD Thar is available from the Kolkata chapter? With some seasoned 4WD drivers like you, PapaBravo, 1100D, BlackPearl etc it can provide some valuable insights .

Thanks. Quite eager to take a test drive of the new Thar, as well as the new Duster 1.3 turbo petrol!

Originally Posted by click

Wow, congratulations on such a nice journey with your car. Love your pictures. Where was this picture taken where the car is on and slightly above the clouds or fog?

Thanks.

These are from Sela Pass, Arunachal & Sandakphu, WestBengal.

You can checkout both the travelogues-

Arunachal-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...s-bhpians.html (Sailed through the Northeast in hatchbacks & crossovers with BHPians)

Sandakphu-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...sandakphu.html (A weekend road-trip from Kolkata to Sandakphu)

[Samba]

24,000 km & an interesting update.

The coolant consuming issue was finally solved after a couple of visits to the service center. In the first visit the car was kept for 26 days and on the 2nd visit the car was kept for 18 days. Total 44 + 1 (In Aug to change the EGR cooler) = 45 days.

At the first visit the EGR cooler was changed, but the problem persisted.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post4871187 (Renault Duster AWD : An owner's point of view)

On 1st September I gave the car to Renault Budgebudge.

1st September - 26th September

They did the following-

Radiator & hoses - Checked
Coolant reservoir and cap- checked
Pressure test for 12 hours at 2.8 bar for the whole cooling system - Checked
Heating coil by opening the dashboard - Checked
Head Gasket- Replaced
Test for checking warpage in engine head & block - Checked
Water pump - Checked
Oil-water heat exchanger- Checked
EGR cooler - Replaced

& according to them, all the above were fine.

Still the coolant level was going down in the same rate.

Now the service center guys were doubting a manufacturing defect or a minor crack in the engine block. To verify that, the technical team guys from Renault were scheduled to come and take a decision. If required they were contemplating to change the whole engine block under warranty.

So the technical team guys from Renault were scheduled to visit on 1st week of October.

The 2nd phase-

3rd October - 21st October

Got an update on 10th October & I was dumbstruck!

Two persons from the Renault technical team arrived at the service center to inspect my car. They instructed to open all the cooling components and do a pressure test individually at 3.5 bar.

Now they are saying they found a coolant leakage from the left lower side of the radiator mount, where a hose is connected with the radiator, just above the mounting.
I do not know where this coolant used to fall, I never saw a single drop of coolant in our garage, from my parked car. According to them, when the car engine was running, only then it leaked due to pressure and it used to evaporate as the leak was minor.

So they changed the radiator and mounting under warranty and they drove the car for 500 km and reported me, there was no loss of coolant.

On 21st October I received my car back.

Since then I drove for 300 km and to my relief the coolant level is not dipping any further.



After 300 km



Earlier after 300 km the drop in the coolant level was easily spotted. Now the level is not dipping anymore. (Post no 126 on this thread can be checked for reference.) So am hoping that the problem is finally resolved. Fingers crossed.

The brake pads were also changed before they delivered the car. According to them they were in their last stage. So got it replaced. In my other cars the brake pads last somewhere between 35,000-40,000 km, but in the Duster it just lasted for 24,000 km, which I feel is quite early!
The windshield washer nozoles were jam, so those two were replaced too.

Total damage to pocket including the brake pads and wiper nozoles = Rs 4,800.

And lastly it's Durga Puja time in West Bengal so few pics of the Duster from the drives-

[SideView]

Originally Posted by Samba

[b]24,000 km & an interesting update.

After 300 km

Attachment 2072198

Hey Samba , maybe it is the pic, isnt your coolant level above the max threshold line?

Could there be any sideeffects due to overfilling?

[TrackDay]

Originally Posted by Samba

Duster turns 2 with 22,755 km on the Odo!

We had our fair bit of fun during these two years.

Boy those pictures of your Duster make me want to pack my bags and go out on a journey ! I always loved the duster despite its aged looks.

Wish this Covid situation is resolved as soon as possible and we can all resume our long journeys !