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15 hours work to put a series of non crash damaged written off acars back on road/forecourt .... There's a business opportunity there

I have a r135 with 97000 km, which is similar to yours. Do you suggest to change the bearing in advance, to prevent this damage? Thanks

Quite barmy they don't design for repair to allow easy access to the key components. You'd think it would make assembly easier on the production line too. Madness.

Glad I only leased my Zoe 😂 it was a good value option at the time - but clearly they've cut corners to get to the price point they were going for. I had to get a rear beam replaced and it took a month for Renault to ship the parts, and required a lengthy repair when it did arrive. DFM at its worst ...

I predict this ease of maintenance problem is going to be a big issue for Chinese EVs. They've optimised the manufacturing process and reduced the number of components in the build. Most failures will advise replacing the motor assembly or battery assembly. Scrap ! The longevity issue is not good for the planet.

In an ideal world, an enterprising tech would invest in a couple of motors (to cover all bases) and then could replace bearings when they have a spare hr or two so that it becomes "just" a motor stack swap - always assuming this becomes a regular task.

As newer cheaper small EVs appear the value of these less able older vehicles like the Zoe will continue to go down - and judging by the input from you here, many of these will scrapped as beyond economic repair more often going forward. If manufacturers were required to give longer drivetrain warranties like they were with the batteries they'd probably think a little bit harder about getting it right in the first place.

Surely it's similar to rebuilding an ice engine really?

Surely quicker to remove the drive train the same way as it went in from underneath?

Would it be better to repair stallantis vehicles as they are getting over 5 years old and may need repair.

It's the way they package things, like having to take the front wheel off and wheel arch liner to change the headlamp bulbs on some cars, pre 1993 front wheel drive vauxhalls had a clutch inspection plate which could be removed so you could change the clutch without removing the gearbox, then they discontinued it!

Can you a video on the vw e up and weak points and good things about the car you seem to be very knowledgeable on electric cars

What part inside the controller has to be retained on order to fit a second hand stack. Do you know this

Is that level of complication just typical of Renault or are you finding this across many manufacturers? I understand that replacement unit costs are ridiculous across the ranges but if the actual repair process itself is typically labour-intensive it's no wonder people are thinking twice over ownership.

Clearly the issue is the end battery lease return means it effectively costs £1400 to scrap the car, so how much do Renault want for you to buy the battery? Realistically it's worth £1200 at the most, if they'll release it for about that amount then I'd break it. Get you money back on the battery, pull the motor and repair it as an on the shelf spare, salvage all the potentially useful panels, lights, glass, switch gear, etc.

Simply never, never buy Renault.

To be honest most French cars are rubbish,15 hours to replace bearings is very bad design indeed,only worth keeping on road if like yourself you can do the work yourself and save on labour bills, hopefully future designs are much better.

I'm in awe of the depth of knowledge and experience that takes the car from having no front end, to zigzagging past all the parked Zoes and back onto the road.

Anyone know if the stellantis cars has bearing issues as well?

The problem is not that it takes too long to change the motor bearings. Its that the bearings need replacing. If he has changed quite a few its not a case of the occasional bad bearing, but the use of bearings not up to the job - or perhaps poor electrical design that is leaking current through the bearing under dynamic conditions. That's not an uncommon design error in motor systems, and one I think caused Tesla a lot of trouble with early high mileage cars. Either way the design sucks for needing the motor's bearings replaced in less than a few hundred thousand miles.

It would be interesting to see how the rotor performs if you could get it dynamically balanced , and see if if ultrasonics or as somebody has said ,mickey mouse grease on the bearings thats killing the bearings.talking of mickey mouse those bearings, who do they buy them from ? Toys Are Us ?? !! If youve got a tech guy or shop to check them out maybe they can steer you in the diection of the corect bearing to use . I mean 50,000 K thats nothing .And lets face it if you couldnt do it yourself !!!! You would have to sell your house to repair it at the dealers .

How much was the sack of sh1t in the first place ?

on the next job like this it’d be very useful to hear what the fault noise sounds like.

15 hours! wow. how much was their bill?

Would be very interested to hear whether repairs of this level are possible on the MG ZS and VW MEB platform vehicles - makes a difference whether I dump them before the warranty expires. I do think we should give Renault a little bit of slack with the Zoe - we've got to remember this was one of the first really mass market EVs at a vaguely sensible price. Corners had to be cut somewhere. Clearly savings were made on the interior of the ZE22 & 40 - perhaps optimisation for production over repairability was another less visible victim of cost cutting?

It makes having one out of warranty quite a risk. I fancy the Renault 5 but will it have the same issues when older?

I think the obvious reason they aren't designed to be easy to work on is because they don't want people to repair them! They are designed to run for a few years and then be binned, which is totally criminal given that EVs are supposed to be greener vehicles. It totally offsets any savings they make if they have to be replaced more often. As I've already said previously, if nothing else then at least the battery cells should be a modular design to allow easy and cheaper replacement of damaged sections of the pack.

Hi Gary, i drive a R90 with 31k miles. We love our white “stormtrooper”. If the bearings are done im hoping to find someone as good a you to fix the engine. 15 hours is a lot but after the revision the car is a good as new. You should teach other people how to fix this car. Every EV has its failures, take a BMW i3 for example, they have the same bearing problem but engine cant be opened! The front chassis of a Zoe is from a Clio and the back from a Scenic. Parts are really cheap to find, the 41kw LG battery is also very durable. But i agree, modulair would be better in the future. Thx for fixing all those stormtroopers out there. Amazing job!

Hi, are you rejecting to repair other models, like bmw i3 or just zoe breaks so often?

Hi Garry, are you accepting repairs atm? I need a motor bearing change in the new year.

Of course it has,,,,,,, its part of the JLR stable of expensive 'bit' vehicles........Remember the ingenium engines in their range, & how many are or have failed.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Knowing your capabilities, i think you should do both: - fix and - complain.

Thanks for the videos. I wonder if anyone else here would also appreciate some accelarated views of the work you're doing between your explanations. Just putting the camera on a stand while you're doung those bits. Add some music when you're editing, we don't need more voice explanations than the one you're already giving.. just saying... merry christmas

Does the ZE50 have the same prone-to-failure AC compressor as ZE22 & ZE40? Could an uprated after market part be fitted?

This car hasn’t even covered the extra mileage needed to make up for its carbon footprint when compared to an ICE car. So much for saving the planet.

What a piece of stinking sh1t. Avoid Renault and other cheap low quality products as they are more expensive in the long run. There are plenty of RUclips videos most of which recommend Toyota Yaris or Honda jazz or vw Up but never seen anyone recommend Renault Zoe electric

How long does a Zoe usually last before it reaches potential end-of-life level issues like this? I keep seeing cases where the mileage is not very high. ICE cars are not being scrapped in numbers at this sort of mileage, other than ones that have suffered serious impact damage. This car has clearly not been well cared for, judging from the scratches, but a 67k mile car with a seat that seems to be falling apart seems more like a toy than serious transport.

Maybe the real problem is finding honest mechanics who can do these kinds of fixes at a fair price. £80 perhour plus 400 for parts totalling 1.6k sounds perfectly reasonable to me considering that car has saved about 7k in fuel costs so far. At a fair repair price, the cost could be recovered quite quickly. The stealer ships want to sell you a brand new motor instead of fixing the problem.

Sell for parts perhaps? Although many of the interior parts looked tired and scruffy as per your comments so may not be that fruitful.

Park it on a Renault forecourt and let them recycle it. They made their bed.... it's a typical Renault product. The Renault 5's were tricky to work on too!

I have a friend who has a 2016 Zoe 22kW leased battery. The car runs OK at the moment but the heating is pathetic. She bought it last year from a Renault dealer. She is 79 and works part time to make ends meet. If the car ever goes wrong I can't see her affording the repair and if she scraps the car then will Renault come after her for the price of the battery?

It's really worrying and it's the next big motoring scandal. Renault will be using the same build quality in all their ev cars including the much lauded 5. At some point the buyers of these cars will meet up online and form an action group to take them to court and raise a stink. If I had a problem I would go public and embarrass them. As to the car, it looks like it's a slow burner or buy the battery lease out and sell for parts. Was it the fan that killed the motor or is it something other than poor quality bearings like driving style. Who knows but Nissan leaf s don't seem to get the same problems.

8 years old with 67,000 miles and it's effectively scrap because it's uneconomic to repair. Even then it'll cost you another £2k (including transport) to scrap it. Not very green and expensive. Why would anybody buy such a liability?

"🤔Fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again.”

So you have taken over lease. When do you start paying monthly instalments? Cars are now disposable items, especially EVs. Pretty scruffy, use for spares.

the extreme dirt cover under the hood indicate the intensive use from this car on dirt roads...

I once owned an ICE Renault. Everything electrical on it failed at some point. The thought of buying a Renault EV would give me the shivers.

The point at which "it wasn't worth it.." was at the dealership when she paid for it.

Wow - getting out of the battery lease is another downside to owning an EV that isn't widely advertised.

I noticed the scantool can also reset some fan counter where you reset the waterpump counter. Is it maybe this fan? Or is it the battery fan?