Renault Clio - Renault Clio engine shutsdown | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

Mon 23 Sep 2013 06:22

Renault Clio - Renault Clio engine shutsdown - IW42

Hi, my daughter has a 2002 Clio 1.4 Auto. It runs fine for about an hour, then an engine light comes on and it drops power completely... very dangerous on the highway. If you stop and restart the car it seems to reset and run OK for a while then does the same thing... could be related to temp?. There is a strong petrol smell when it does this. The Renault dealer has charged a fortune to have this diagnosed previously, it has been back to them on several occassions, at one point they claimed it was the rear lights that all needed to be replaced along with wiring... they based this on the fault indicator 'tool' showing a short somewhere in the system. They kept the car for several weeks testing it (which was good of them to do...but) and claimed it was fine. I suspect it had not been run for long periods, just short hops around the town. So when she drove the car again for a long highway trip it went into this limp type mode after an hour, then continued to do it every few miles. I have read articles/blogs that talked about lambda sensors, UCH's MAP sensors, Coil Packs and the like, but the symptoms, although similar, were not the same. Has anyone come across this before or know what a likely fix might be ... especially as it seems to ok when the engine is hot. Many thanks. Ian

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Mon 23 Sep 2013 12:57

Renault Clio - Renault Clio engine shutsdown - Bromptonaut

When you say shutdown I assume you mean 'limp' mode where RPM is limited. My old Xantia used to do similar occasionally. In that case it was weak point in the induction circuit where a flexible hose was prone to split leading to the car's CPU assuming a turbo fault. While it's kicking in under acceleration can feel like hitting a wall it's a risk that once known can be mitigated by careful driving.

The dealer sounds pretty useless; computer says Y/N sort of stuff. Can you find a local specialist. We have one here in Northampton who majors on the 3 French brands and is very good. I'd have thought Lamda sensors, MAP or something in the injection plumbing would, given petrol smell, be much more likely cause than wiring to lights.

Alternatively, have you tried the French Car Forum or any Renault only group, perhaps under auspices of owners' club. I'll bet you're not the only Clio owner to experience this.

Edited by Bromptonaut on 23/09/2013 at 13:01

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Mon 23 Sep 2013 14:14

Renault Clio - Renault Clio engine shutsdown - unthrottled

I would be tempted to start with coils because:

1.) They tend to short when they get hot

2.) If you have ignition failure, you'll get a strong petrol smell

3.) They'll still work at low loadconditions/limp mode.

4.) Around 2000 Renault switched from Bosch to Sagem coil packs which are known to be b***** awful!

I put a pair of known faulty coil packs on my engine, but it tended to kangaroo rather than smoothly cut out completely.