Broken Down In Spain

[martyn1970]

I was driving through Spain with my wife and our little dog (a blind and deaf Cocker Spaniel named Mickey), on my way back to the UK on Friday and my car has broken down. It's a Renault Megane (2003) 1.9 deisel.

We had been driving for about two and a half hours and stopped for a quick break for ten minutes. When we got back in the car it was a bit sluggish starting and pulling away but then drove as normal for another two hours (motorway). When we slowed down to take an exit off of the motorway, the car became sluggish and started to lose power. We managed to chug to safety before it stopped completely. We left it a while and tried starting but no joy. Breakdown service took us to a local garage, but being a Friday afternoon, they were unable to look at it until Monday. Their initial thought was a problem with the fuel injectors.

Our insurance company put us up in a hotel over the weekend. Monday came and went and the insurance company booked us an extra night. Our policy only allows a maximum of four nights in a hotel, so after today we are screwed. I am heading home for work and have very little money.

The garage have told us this morning that the injectors are ok and that they are now looking at the engine. I have very little mechanical knowledge and am concerned about getting ripped off.

Any ideas what the fault could be would be appreciated. There were no warning lights on the dash before or after the breakdown.

Many thanks.

[Bob225]

It could be anything. to really be honest I would scrap the car where it sits as any repairs will be double the value of the car

A diesel of this age and it being French its bound to be electrical, From experience they fail in a cascade manor and you could be chasing your tail

Fuel may of caused the seals in the pump to fail - European diesel contains a high % of ethanol Edit. FAME

[Dave54]

I wouldn't know what's wrong myself. I agree with Bob though. I wouldn't be spending much money on it trying to get it repaired.