Just bought a 1.6RXE Clio and everything seemed fine. It had been in some ones garage for a month and had had head gasket work done on it etc - £600+ worth.
Went to see it a few times and it seemed fine. Drove it home today (longest run its had in months as the guy towed it to get the engine job done, and the MOT test centre was only 4miles down the road.) and the fuel light was on as i set off.... fuelled it up, And set off home. Drove 30miles - Not going over 60mph for the work on the engine - Parked it up and thought "great!"
Went out about 2hrs later and now it sounds like a diesel! Its struggling to tick over (under 1000rpm) and when i turn things on it will cut out. I need to keep my foot on the gas to keep it running!
What i want is an idea what it is, so i don?t get ripped off at the garage!
ANY Advice would be good, and VERY welcome!
Regards,
Trevor
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I am not a mechanic but this could be a timing problem. I don't know when your car was built etc.
I don't know whether or not an ECU would control the timing or not.
If it uses an ECU, first I would check all the connections. If someone has done some work on it, especially DIY, you could have a poor connection somewhere. Check in the vacinity of the head and where the wiring would have to come apart. If it's ECU related it could be in 'limp home mode'
If it's not goverend by an ECU and has old fashioned dizzy etc, check that this is fastened tightly to the head/block. If it's possible to turn it then there's your problem! You then need to get the timing set correctly. About 30 mins garage labour if that.
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Ahhh, Yes, A bit more info!
It was done "pro" by a company in Stockport. Since that had been done it had only done 18miles.
Its a 1998 (s) 1.6RXE clio
Have checked and cant see anything lose.
What happens is i turn it on, It chugs under 1000rpm and then if i trun say - Lights, A/C on it will just "clikc" and cut out...
Lets hope i can find a garage open tomorrow! I need it for christmass.
Regards,
Trevor H
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Sounds more like bat/alternator fault.Ie not enough power to keep going. May be wrong??
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Steve
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Wife's got a '98 Clio RXE, had it since it was 2.5 years old and only 5k miles, it is great to drive the 8v 1.6 being nice and gutsy at low revs, 90bhp gives it reasonable performance and is fairly refined. Has averaged 38.5 mpg in the 3.5 years / 23000 miles that we have had it.
It did suffer from a problem where it would not idle, it was said by the dealer to be an idle control motor on the throttle body however it was improved by using good quality petrol as opposed to Tesco's which my wife used before. We therefore never had the idle control job done.
The proble you have could also be related to the coolant temp sensor, a common problem on Clio's, causes the ECU to fuel the engine as if it is cold because it is not reading that the coolant is in fact hot.
What mileage has your's done?
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Saying that, when i filled it, it was the first one i came across and it was as "qualifill" or something like that petrol station.... Not one i would normally use, but not knowing the area, i didn?t know were BP was.
Any how. The car has done 60,000 miles, and has had a full engine rebuild - Professionally.
It sounds a bit tick tick but so does my mates
Got to it this morning and it started fine, well above the 1000RPM mark and sounded like normal (Not like the diesel it did last night)
I am thinking - Low grade petrol + Tank been empty it?s dredged all the stuff up at the bottom perhaps.
Well with all this in mind, a trip to the local garage will be a good trip
Thanks,
Regards,
Trevor H
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Are the headlights bright enough ? Do they get bright and dim as you would expect when you rev the engine ?
Does the car start well ? Does it start well if you put the lights, heated rear window and heater blower on and then try to start it ?
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Just went out to try the car again, and it started rough, under 1000rpm. Started the car with all the lights etc on and it started fine (as in key turn) then when the engine kicked in it was struggling to stay alive.
I?m confused
It seems like it will start fine "cold" but after it?s been warmed up it starts up like a diesel with no power.
Any more ideas?
Regards,
Trevor
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I refer to my earlier point:
"The problem you have could also be related to the coolant temp sensor, a common problem on Clio's, causes the ECU to fuel the engine as if it is cold because it is not reading that the coolant is in fact hot."
The car would run roughly due to the mixture being to rich.
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Update
Got a mechanic round - Started it up, left it running it went from fine to diesel sounding then woof, black smoke out of the back.
Bought it from a trader, so hes gonna be getting an unwelcome visit.
Regards,
Trevor
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... woof, black smoke out of the back.
Yep, from what you've told us it definately sounds like a bit of a dog ;-)
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To follow all this up.....
Some good news, It was the coyal that had gone so it was only firing on spark 1 and 2, Cost £70
With this in mind, the cats part of the exhaust has faild - Cost £160, all being claimed back! :D
Problem solved!
Thanks for all the information!
Regards,
Trev
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I have also had a problem with my clio (RXE 1.6 98 S-reg) which i posted a while ago and found out today that it was the ignition coil. Is going to cost £106 at a Renault garage to fix, so I was quite happy. I found that when I turned on the A/C and things like that its revs went even lower to the point of almost cutting out.
Just thought I would add my comment here incase someone else has the problem.
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