21st Jun 2008, 15:19

Fantastic thread, Renault should keep tabs on this and see how many pi55ed off customers they have.

I have a 2003 53 1.2 16v Dynamique with 30k on the clock. It's a great car.. except I have the ABS and SERV light come on once I'm over 60mph for a minute or more. Switching off the engine at the end of the journey generally makes it go away. Looking on the web it seems this an ABS sensor problem...

When I got it (2 months ago) it was misfiring and occasionally stalling when idle, so took it back to the garage and they reluctantly changed the coil pack, hey presto it was fixed.

It has always done funny stuff with the revs on start up - revs between 500 and 1000rpm, up and down for 3 seconds and then settles to a 750rpm idle. Is this normal?? My old 1997 Clio didn't do this...

Now the car periodically stalls just after start up, maybe once every 50 starts. Annoying but manageable.

I guess everyone should check the black box and electrical tape around all wires individually where the wires break out of the box. This (grounding/shorting) problem is such a basic design consideration for any electrical system I am amazed *any* car manufacturer has problems with this in the 21st century...

Oh, and moan like f**k to Renault/Watchdog/local press/and picket your dealership if they get annoyed (block their main doors and tell customers not to buy their cars, that'll get their attention!!).

Maybe a mass-demo at Renault HQ would also help :)

Cheers

Ed.

22nd Jun 2008, 08:37

I bought an 02 plate Clio 1.2 Dynamique with 72000 on the clock about 1 month ago. I have experienced the same problems as many others here in that the engine occasionally seems like it wants to stall and the electric fault light comes on. It doesn't happen every time & I Can't tell when it's going to happen. It does seem to be at it's worse though when in slow/stopping traffic. So far, if it does stall at least it starts again first time. Sometimes though, when moving off it seems as if there's no power there. Most of the time, particularly at higher speeds the engine seems fine & quite responsive. I've taken the car back to the dealer twice now & have so far had a lambda sensor replaced, new plugs & coil pack but the fault is still there. I have arranged for it to go onto a diagnostic system on Tuesday, but previous postings do not fill me with confidence that this will identify the problem. I have told the dealer that if the car is not sorted out properly, this time I shall be returning it for a full refund as I do not consider it "fit for purpose" under the sale of goods act.

No more Clio for me. (smiffy_pudsey@hotmail.com)

23rd Jun 2008, 09:00

Hi all.

I have a 53 reg 1.4 16v Clio, that I've had for a couple of years now. Within two weeks of owning it, I had to have one of the coil packs replaced (by the dealer).

Two months later, I had to have another two done. This time by Renault. Word to all; If you go to a dealer, they should replace the coil packs for FREE as they have extended warranty (know issue).

Since then, I have had the wiring re-soldered under the seats for the airbags (cheaky gits wanted £190 per seat! I said no of course, and they did the pair for £90).

I have also been experiencing lumpiness, especially when I fill up with cheapy fuel. Renault can't figure out what it is, and they can't explain why I'm only getting 31.9mpg!!! (no I don't rag it!!!)

I'm currently writing this from a campsite in Belgium, where my car decided that it didn't want to go any further, and stopped (whilst doing 130kph on the motorway). I managed to coast it in safely (avoiding the huge arctic that I had just over taken), and get it recovered to a Renault garage.

The guy reckons that its the distributor, and they get replaced every 100,000km here. This is going to set me back around €2000!!!

Needless to say, Renault will be hearing from me and my solicitor when I get back to the UK!!!

24th Jun 2008, 10:33

As per 20th Jun 2008, 04:22.

I can't believe I made the mistake of taking it to a garage - first look, 'its the coil' - changed coil, not fixed. Second look, 'its dodgy wiring' - had the wiring redone, not fixed. Third time, 'Throttle body' - not fixed, now they're doing a compression test... why did I bother?!

Just walking down there now to pick up the bill for the work that hasn't... worked.

Renault please, I just want to know how to fix my car!!

Tim

24th Jun 2008, 12:15

I've also experienced several of the issues raised in this huge thread of hundreds of posts. I was actually searching the net for solutions, and have spent over an hour going through just half the threads on here looking for actual advice and tips. This is what's helpful to a lot of people, so no disrespect, it'd would make things more helpful if people, rather than just ranting another duplicate post of the usual things wrong, they gave more specifics, and things like when it started happening, what hasn't helped/fixed it, what has etc.

In terms of the air bag light coming on, I was advised by a Renault specialist to check the connection, and clean the wires under both the front seats. I did this, gave them a quick clean, made sure they were tight, and have had no problems with this since. So I really recommend people do this, it's damn easy, to the point this decent garage refused to rip me off without me doing the simple exercise first.

Squeaky sun roof is another he commented on, and said it can be simply, cheaply resolved by sticking a small amount of plastic in a key area on the clip. I've found this also works, so recommend that.

Those are 2 problems I've pretty much resolved. Two I haven't are very loose, airy brakes since using them with the car off to roll it further in the drive. The first 1/2 of the brake being pushed in does nothing, only the latter half does it get tougher and actually brake, and abruptly so. Passed MOT fine, so it's puzzling. Any ideas are welcome.

Recently it's not been starting first time. I intend on emptying the fuel tank as much as possible and filling up with Total Excellium, which has proven improvements for engine performance, and is cleaner. It's really helped my engine in the past, and I get much better performance from it overall. In addition I'll add some Redex engine cleaner, which has been said to generally help things. Then I'll be changing the oil.

If it's still not running as well as it once was, and not starting first time, I've found cheap spark plugs on eBay, which can be fitted yourself, or by a little garage. You can even get cheap ECU checkers and stuff from Halfords and eBay to start to determine the problem areas, post what they are on other sites, and engineers on various sites I've found to advise on the likely problem area and seriousness (already saving you £). One of which is www.renaultforums.co.uk.