4th May 2008, 16:31

I just want too add that I have a Clio Y Reg 1.2 16V Sport which DID HAVE the all so common electrical fault which resulted in loss of power and caused the engine to cut out etc. It is all down to the little Tamper Proof Box which you can see at the back of the engine when you look under the bonnet. The box rattles and wears away at the all important ECU wires it is supposed to protect, which causes the "orange coil light to appear on the dashboard" and the engine to start cutting out and loosing power. All I did with My Clio was place a piece of plastic between the wires and secured the box with zip ties to stop the rattling, I did this in Jan 08 and I have not had a problem with it cutting out etc since! Hope this helps everyone and ends the frustration I went through with my Clio.

12th May 2008, 18:59

I am reading the comments on this site in complete astonishment! I own a 03 1.2 Clio Dynamique and am currently experiencing the dreaded electrical fault light for the second time! Took it into the dealership in February (when it first appeared) stating that I was aware of others experiencing similar problems and not to fob me off. They reset the ECU and said to hope for the best but if the light should reappear it may need a new ECU or a new throttle body. So tomorrow I will head back armed with a copy of all the above comments and pleasantly inform this issue be fixed without charge due to a clear manufacturing fault. I cannot believe that execs etc are burying their heads in the sand - are they hoping that the problem will just go away? Clearly not.

Angry Clio owner!

14th May 2008, 12:53

Hi people, my 51 plate 1.2 16v Dynamique takes the michael... every so often as it used to be, the car's electronic light came on (the one in the middle with the coil) and the cars revs would go berserk!! They would go up and down, up and down, continuously until I revved the car hard and kept it stable for a few seconds, then the light would go out and it would be OK for a while...... Anyway, the past few months it's been doing this it has been getting worse and worse and worse!!!!! VERY VERY frustrating! Makes you look like a fool and as if your not a roadworthy driver.. Every time I come to a stop now the light comes on and the revs go mental.. I cannot understand why or what is happening..

I went to Renault and they said it would be £88 just to have a look on the machine!!!! I mean what a joke! They then said it could cost up to another 300 on top of that to correct the problem! At this I soon left in a temper! I have been getting more and more frustrated with this problem, and on finding this site, I am going to look for this black box thing and see what happens.. I'll write again to notify if it has stopped... thanks

21st May 2008, 08:13

My wife's 25,000 mile 04-plate Dynamique was juddering at low revs & if you gave it the beans then the "toxic emissions" light used to start flashing. Having had a similar problem with my Peugeot 206 - thankfully without the juddering so badly (is it just French cars that get this!) a few months ago, I knew one fix (please don't think this is a free get out clause) as this worked on my 206.

Dodgy petrol from a certain supermarket is to blame. In both cases, we had just filled up & driven to somewhere (in my case half way across the country, in her case to work). We both ran the tanks to almost dry (low fuel light on) & then put £20 worth of super-unleaded in. In the case of my 206, the light went out straight away, with my wife's Clio, the juddering stopped, but the light still came on at about 3,000 revs until she'd driven along a dual carriageway for about ten miles.

If this is similar to anybody else's issue, try this before letting Renault loose on it. And as far as petrol from supermarkets go, in this case "every little didn't help".

27th May 2008, 03:55

Hi.

I don't know if I should feel happy or mad, as I'm kind of sitting in the middle with some of the problems mentioned here.

My Clio 53 1.2 16v, 90k miles and is lacking power. It's not misfiring, and there's no lights up on the dash to say it's got any problems. This happened not to long ago, when I was low on fuel and filled up from a station that I don't usually. Anyway I filled up again from the station, and this time added an engine cleaner and still no joy. I've also noticed it's drinking a lot more fuel as well.

As I'm nearly empty, I'm filling up from a different station to see if this helps it, however I'm not holding my hopes out. You really notice the problem when you put your foot down, there is just now proper bite any more, and going up hills well, I simulate lorries and tractors now on some steep hills.

I've never had any problems with it really up to now, and from reading this post I seem very lucky. The car up to this point has done me well, as I do a lot of miles. The car is serviced properly and I take good care of it. The other thing is it drinks oil. But I keep an eye on that, even though I know it shouldn't be, unless someone tells me otherwise.

With no lights coming on I'm left thinking is there enough pressure in the engine, so I'm going to do a compression test on it. When starting at with this, I knew very little about cars, now I'm learning fast, and I'm thankful I'm technically minded, oh and have a Haynes manual. If it doesn't sort itself out, I'm cleaning the throttle body as there is some residual oil build up in the air filter, but not as much as some people are mentioning. As a precaution though, I've just renewed my RAC cover as it ran out last month.

As for electrics, I always remember from being a young kid that you should never buy a French car because of the electrics. They've always been rubbish at electrics. I just wish I remembered this when I bought the car back in 04.

I have a good mechanic at a independent garage, who will look at it if the problem persists, but with so many problems causing very similar symptoms, I'd rather narrow down the problems before handing it to him.

ECU is checked, and had rubbed one wire to the metal. This was then insulated with electrical tape, and also the pin that secures the lid to the ECU had come loose, and actually jammed itself open. Very anti tamper, but made my job easier in getting to the wires.

All in all, I'll never buy a Clio, as, well they're rubbish put simply. If it's a big job, I've already decided to get rid and just buy a Golf instead. They run like trojans and hopefully I won't experience the same problems I've experienced with Renault.

IF I get to the bottom of this, I'll post my solution.