clio strange/intermittant starting prob

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Wed 11 Dec 2002 10:21
clio strange/intermittant starting prob - andyeb
I have a bizarre intermittant starting problem with my 1999/T clio 1.2, 44k on the clock.

Basically, from time to time I get in the car, turn the key... ...absolutely nothing at all; engine doesn't even turn over - no noise from the bonnet at all.

Try again, again and again, still nothing. Eventually it starts absolutely fine (like a brand new car in fact) with less than a second of starter motor. The first time it took just one re-try, the last time it took about 10! It has happened to me three times now in six months, but twice in the past two weeks. I'm worried that it will eventually refuse to start at all and of course, it will be when I'm in a hurry!

Any ideas? Immobiliser fault? Wouldn't the engine turn over but not fire?

The fault comes up so rarely that I don't have a chance in the world of showing it to a garage, let alone getting it fixed.

Just wondered if it was a known problem with a known fix??

thanks,

Andy
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Wed 11 Dec 2002 11:06
clio strange/intermittant starting prob - Andrew-T
Tried renewing the battery connections?
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Wed 11 Dec 2002 11:19
clio strange/intermittant starting prob - andyeb
No not yet. I was considering cleaning them up. Is there a standard technique for this? Wire wool? What should you use to regrease afterwards?

The negative connector looks easy enough to replace, but the positive connection looks much more difficult.

thanks for the suggestion,

Andy
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Wed 11 Dec 2002 11:28
clio strange/intermittant starting prob - AWS
I have seen bad connections on the Clio starter motors, same symptoms but on the earlier model (P Reg), May be worth a look, it was a case of when in a no start situation have a wiggle of the main starter connections and hey presto starter motor goes ok!, this was a friends car and this ocured just before he was going to px it for a new model therefore it was never cured so dont know why it happened i.e was it a poor crimp or mucky joint etc
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Wed 11 Dec 2002 11:36
clio strange/intermittant starting prob - andyeb
OK thanks, that is worth knowing about. Fortunately, the starter motor seems fairly easy to get to to have a look.

I'm starting to get a bit hacked off with this car; this is the third intermittant niggle. (Others being refusing to go into 2nd gear and a front axle/differential squeak that only happens at low speed after half an hour of 70mph driving). I'm beginning to understand Mr Clarksons jibes at French build quality.

thanks again,

Andy
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Wed 11 Dec 2002 11:38
clio strange/intermittant starting prob - pmh
What you havent said is whether the Ign lights or other associated dashbord display comes on when first turning key.

To diagnose without this very basic information has as much chance as predicting lottery numbers.



pmh (was peter)
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Wed 11 Dec 2002 17:55
clio strange/intermittant starting prob - Andrew-T
Andyeb - re-reading your query, it sounds very like SWMBO's 205 diesel, which did this occasionally, most often when warm. When it happened, the trick was to turn the ign.key quickly back and forward again. It never took ten tries, however! But cleaning up the battery connections usually made things better, and the garage claimed to find loose starter-motor connections on one occasion. The symptoms are reminiscent of a solenoid or relay sticking somewhere.

Battery posts - a gentle go with wire-wool, thin smear of grease, tighten up firmly, and a little grease over the lot. The fiddly bit is re-entering radio codes, etc.
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