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Before you buy a used Renault Fluence.

2009–2016 · Petrol / Diesel / Electric · 3 engines

Taken only from Testigo's sourced sheets. Use it to question the seller and on the test drive: it does not confirm that any particular car is affected.

Renault Fluence, real photo of this generation
Rutger van der Maar · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Photo source

The essentials.

Typical faults by engine

The period and mileage are those mentioned by each sheet's sources. They are not a maintenance interval and do not predict that any particular car will fail.

1.6 16V (K4M / H4M)

Petrol

  • Engines, EGR and campaigns on the Mégane IIIKnown weak points
    Period mentioned
    2008–2016
    Mileage mentioned
    The sheet does not mention a mileage.

    Applies if: The Fluence is the saloon derived from the Mégane III, with the same platform and the same 1.6 16V (K4M); the sheet covers the Mégane III.

1.5 dCi (K9K)

Diesel

Fluence Z.E.

Electric

Which engine has the fewest documented faults?

Documented faults and recalls by engine for the Renault Fluence
EngineDocumented faults
1.6 16V (K4M / H4M)PetrolFewest documented11 with conditions
1.5 dCi (K9K)Diesel41 with conditions
Fluence Z.E.ElectricFewest documented1

According to the data we have, the engines with the fewest documented faults are: 1.6 16V (K4M / H4M) (Petrol), Fluence Z.E. (Electric).

By fuel type, the ones with the fewest documented faults are: Petrol, Electric.

We only count the sourced sheets we have. An engine with fewer is not guaranteed to be more reliable: it may have been studied less or sold in smaller numbers.

Official recalls: ask before you pay

We have no official recalls on record for this model. Our list is not complete: ask anyway, with the chassis number.

  1. Ask the seller for the chassis number (VIN): it has 17 characters, appears in the car's documents and can usually also be seen at the base of the windscreen.
  2. Ask an official Renault dealer, or the brand's official website if it lets you check by chassis number, whether each recall has been done or is still outstanding for that VIN.
  3. Manufacturer recalls are normally carried out free of charge by the official service network. If one is outstanding, ask for it to be done before you close the sale.

On the test drive: what to look and listen for

Taken from each sheet's symptoms and checks. You can tick off what you have already looked at: it is saved only in this browser.

0 of 6 checked

Valve timing

  • Look out for: Noise or squeal around the belts; if the timing belt breaks, the engine stops suddenly and can be badly damaged.

    Ask them to check: Keep to the timing-belt interval and always replace the full kit (belt, rollers and pulleys); check the auxiliary belt and its pulley.

Exhaust and emissions

  • Look out for: Particulate-filter or emissions warning, limp mode with loss of power and frequent regenerations.

    Ask them to check: Read the soot load with a diagnostic tool, run a forced regeneration at the garage and check the differential-pressure sensors and EGR. Make long road trips now and then.

  • Look out for: Uneven idle, jerks when accelerating, lack of power or the engine going into limp mode, sometimes with the engine warning light on.

    Ask them to check: At the workshop: read the codes with diagnostic equipment (EOBD P0400 to P0404 or P0172; Renault DF077, DF084 or DF241), test the valve electrically and its opening with the engine warm, and find where the oil comes from (breather, turbo, level). Pierburg advises against cleaning it, as it can be damaged: it is replaced if faulty, and an engine ECU update sometimes solves it.

High-voltage battery

  • Look out for: Loss of brake assistance (hard pedal) due to the electric vacuum pump control unit; a Type 2 plug on the charging lead that gets warm when charging at 3.6 kW.

    Ask them to check: Ask Renault whether the vacuum-pump control unit was replaced; touch the lead’s plug while charging: it must not get warm.

Known weak points

  • Look out for: Camshaft phaser on the 1.6 (K4M), stretched chain on the 1.4 TCe (H4J) and 1.2 TCe with a risk of serious failure, oil consumption, 1.9 dCi turbo, clogged EGR, juddering clutch; at the roadworthiness test, springs, shock absorbers, joints, lights and brakes.

    Ask them to check: Listen to the chain when cold (TCe), measure oil consumption, clean the EGR; check the campaigns by VIN.

Inyección

  • Look out for: Hard to start or will not start, stalls, loses power or jerks; sometimes air bubbles show in the clear fuel pipe.

    Ask them to check: At the workshop, in this order: look for air and leaks in the low-pressure circuit and prime it; check the fuel filter bowl for metal swarf (if there is any, the whole injection system is replaced); measure the rail pressure, the IMV regulator's resistance (4.8–5.8 Ω) and each injector's return flow (25 ml at most in the test). A new injector's code must be written into the ECU.

OBD codes worth looking for

If they let you read the fault memory with an OBD reader, these are the codes mentioned in this model's sheets:

P0400P0401P0402P0403P0404P0172DF077DF084DF241

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from these Testigo sheets and their original sources. Sources are not checked in real time.

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