The charge plug locking mechanism #4

For a few days charging has been a bit problematic, and finally it quit altogether yesterday. The problem was now definitely the plug locking mechanism as it kept on clicking while the plug was surely locked. I removed the mechanism which usually helps as there is no force involved anymore. Not for me. So then I took it out of the car, opened it up and checked it the micro-switch was working, which it was. I was pretty baffled. I was actually afraid for an expensive cabling or BCB problem.

So this morning I called my dealer (Hans Jongerius Gouda), asked for advice, and luckily I could come. He had a Kangoo ZE on premise that nowadays uses the same lock motor so it could be swapped. Running on the last electrons I arrived there and he swapped the mechanism. Car was happy and started charging again. Fantastic service but WT*???

Long story short…….

The thing is so tight on tolerance that only a bit of wear and tear kills the micro switch engagement.

Dealer was unable to book it under the 5 year drive train warranty so I payed the bill myself (EUR 179.30) and I’ll see what I can do about that with Renault. However, since I did, I took the old part with me. I wrapped 3 layers of kapton tape around the lip that should engage the micro switch and all was dandy again. I’ll keep it “in stock” should it happen again or if some poor sod close by runs into this problem.

Edit: Renault refused to honor my warranty claim on this one. However, they made a gesture that was in my opinion absolutely fair.

Previous posts:

http://canze.fisch.lu/the-charge-plug-locking-mechanism-3/

http://canze.fisch.lu/the-charge-plug-locking-mechanism-revisited/

http://canze.fisch.lu/the-charge-plug-locking-mechanism/

 

 

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