Can anyone advise? My wife's Clio broke down last week - the ECU had a fried capacitor inside it on inspection. Another one put on .... week's fine motoring ..... today the same thing and same capacitor. Any thoughts what could be causing this?
Many thanks,
Y
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Poor earth causing bulging capacitors.
Teast Ground/Earth resistance with multimeter.
Are you replacing the capictor component or the whole ECU?
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could also be over-voltage. Check voltage, should be regulated at 12v.
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Were looking to replace ECU probably - from salvage spares - renault charge £464 for a new one!
Will check earthing & voltage
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If I were you, and were dab hand with a soldering iron, I would try replacing the bulging capacitor first. If it works it will be a cheap-fix (under £1). You can pick up a similar rating capacitor from your local Maplin outlet.
You still need to diagnose the cause and rectify.
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Hi,
My thoughts would be that the alternator is overcharging causing the capacitor to fry. It is worth checking the engine to body earth lead for a good condutivity as well. The only way a capacitor can go pop is to be over voltaged, as described above. Providing its only the capacitor gone, you could read the details off the side of it and buy a replacement from Maplin or a suitable electronics components seller. A smal bit of soldering will, hopefully fix it saving you a lot of expense.
Hope this helps
--
These are the views of Robin the Technician with 35 years in the trade. I fix, therefore I am...
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Robin, great minds think alike!
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In December my 306 was 5 weeks and less than 1000 miles out of warranty. One day the car engine turned over o.k. but failed to start. I couldn't see what was wrong. Considering that it was just out of warranty and that there was chance of a bit of help-customer relations and all that, I contacted the dealer who towed it in. They told me it needed a new e.c.u. at £753! I was shocked, but as the car is needed every day, they were given the go-ahead for the repair. Despite several letters to Peugeot customer care they are not willing to help in anyway. Has anybody else had any similar experiences and how did you get on. Thank you.
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Sorry to hear about your story. In my experience, French cars have always been extremely expensive to repair .... especially at the authorised dealers. I really try and avoid them. I drive a Ford now and have found parts, servicing a lot more palatable than my wife's Clio.
Thanks for the advice on this subject. I fitted its 3rd(!) ECU and took it round to a good electrical place I know in Bedford which required driving up the motorway a bit. Hopefully they will be able to get to the bottom of it. For anyone's information a great place for French car spares is A5 Autos near Leighton Buzzard. They are a breakers, but really helpful and have most things stacked high ... like ECUs at £40!
Y
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Renault are noted in the industry for having driven supplier prices down to about the lowest (they pay considerably less for their components than Ford do, for example). To compensate they allow component suppliers a very high margin on items supplied for spares.
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I think what Aprilia is hinting at (but could not possibly say it!:-) is that Renault long term longevity is likely to be "challenged"..
After my experiences with Peugeot/Audi/BMW /Mercedes and Ford I would place Peugoet at bottom of the list for spare prices and reliability and Ford at the top (i.e Ford are most reliable and cheapest prices).
(and Audi second bottom).
Exploiting your customers on longevity and spares pricing is not a way imo to generate long term goodwill.
madf
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