2001 Renault Laguna DCi Dynamique from UK and Ireland - Comments

Within weeks of purchase:

- Rear axle bushes replaced; £200 inc labour

- EGR valve replaced; £150 + Labour

- Air flow sensor replaced; £150 + Labour

- Aircon system stopped working

- Turbo and intercooler now need to be replaced

I have only owned the car for three months, and it has turned out to be the biggest heap of junk I have ever owned.

I previously had an Audi 100, which had done 135,000 miles and had all manner of the whistles and bells, and despite its age, everything without exception worked and continued to work well for the 5 years we had it, until a Skania truck drove in the back of it!

This Laguna however has proved to be a huge money pit. I started to notice a knocking from the back of the car only a couple of weeks after I'd bought it. This turned out to be the rear axle bushes.

Shortly after this the engine management light started to come on coupled with a loss of power. Turning the engine off and on again would briefly cure the problem. The investigations revealed that the EGR valve was faulty, and then the air flow sensor and eventually the turbo and intercooler. On top of this the aircon has lost its gas and so doesn't work.

All in all, as soon as I can afford it, I'll get rid and buy another Audi. I wish I'd read all of the reviews first.

Yeah it looks like it is a common fault on laguna dci cars... turbo will pack in due to intercooler not allowing enough air into the turbo so it starts sucking up oil from engine blowing out black smoke from the exhaust!!

Should be OK if you change the turbo asap; you may need to change the intercooler if full of oil.

The turbo failure on these engines is caused by the sticking EGR valve. The EGR valve reduces the combustion temperature which in turn reduces the temperature of the exhaust gases entering the turbo.

When the EGR valve fails, the turbo effectively overheats causing a failure of its seals and allowing its lubricating oil to be drawn into the inlet manifold. This, if unchecked, will also destroy the engine as the engine consumes its own oil, and can "run away", being unstoppable with the key.

Renault fixed this on post-2003 dCi engines, and it's accepted wisdom to remove and clean the EGR valve on every service on the earlier engines which is an effective workaround for the problem.

Obviously, it's Renault's fault for such a poor design, but buyers need to research these things before parting with their cash. You can find all this stuff documented with 2 minutes on Google, and even Parkers mention many of these issues now.

Hi there, can any one help, I am getting a knocking from the left hand side back wheel area when going over bumps. The kids say it is under their seat - big thuds. Does anyone know what it could be and how pricey it would be to fix?

I have a 1.9dci Laguna on an 02 plate (77000 miles). Last week on the motorway turbo failed, engine would not shut off, could not stall the engine. Was attended by 2 fire engines and police cars as the smoke was horrendous. Glad I was driving and not my wife as it was quite frightening and potentially very dangerous. Engine eventually cut out, possibly seized.

Have a look on Parkers website. Enough reading on there about dci turbo problems to keep you busy for a while.