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Renault Clio not idling


theorganist

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Just a quick question to anyone who knows a little about more modern cars, if I may?

 

Someone near me is selling a 52 plate Renault Clio, it has done around 76,000 miles and is tidy. I am thinking of purchasing it for mother as it will be ideal, small and with power steering and I quite like these Clio's.

 

It has a problem though it starts but won't idle and cuts out. I was thinking it is most likely to be some sensor as I know in these more modern machines they give all sorts of trouble (we had to replace the crankshaft sensor (IIRC) in our old Megane Scenic as it wouldn't start from hot). The lady selling it seems to think it may be the fuel pump. I am going to view the car tonight.

 

Does anyone have an opinion on what it is most likely to be? A sensor would be easy and something I can fix myself, the fuel pump would be another matter. I assume it's easy to test the fuel pump as it will be electronic (I assume)!

 

 

 

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Thanks Ken, that does sound like a good place to start.

 

On another forum I have just read someone had the same problem with their Clio, they were told it was the throttle body which they replaced and the problem remained, the next reply was the standard you need to plug the car into the laptop and decipher fault values blah blah blah - thats what frightens me about more modern cars!

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I've had the same problem on my old 52 plate Ka, replaced the ICV with a known good 2nd hand one for £5 and took 2 mins to change - problem solved

Not got any specific experience with Clio's of that age though, sorry.

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Did the battery go flat and was it jump started ?

 

The reason i ask is Clios can do weird things if they are jumped started or cranked with a low battery.

 

The way i fix them is to scan for fault codes and even if there are none stored 'clear' the system anyway and thats allways got them idling again for me.

 

Not sure what causes it maybe the pedal and throttle body go out of sync when they are cranked with a low battery voltage.

 

But if the battery was ok then pass,maybe worth disconnecting the battery for ten mins to see if it resets again.

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Hi. my car has the D4F 1.2 Clio motor in it (single cam/16V)

 

"..It has a problem though it starts but won't idle and cuts out. I was thinking it is most likely to be some sensor as I know in these more modern machines they give all sorts of trouble (we had to replace the crankshaft sensor (IIRC) in our old Megane Scenic as it wouldn't start from hot). The lady selling it seems to think it may be the fuel pump. I am going to view the car tonight..."

 

The whole thing is controlled from the ECU - idle rate/cold start, that is.

 

The throttle body is probs a good place to look first as it gets gummied up, the oil breather is piped into the air filter housing next to the TB and oily mist will coat the butterfly... over time.

 

 

The TDC Sensor usually is a Will Not Start.

 

 

Renault Forum should 'Chapter & V' minor issues.....

 

 

TS

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Thanks for all the advice. It is sub £300 in fact it is sub £200 and I would go in as low as possible if I fancy it.

 

I am going to look at it shortly so I will ask about low batteries etc. I am guessing that these are pretty common in scrapyards so getting bits shouldn't be a problem. If I have it (a big if) I will not spend much on it.

 

It's just that its very local and very cheap and not high mileage and looks clean so its worth a look.

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Thanks for all the advice. It is sub £300 in fact it is sub £200 and I would go in as low as possible if I fancy it.

 

I am going to look at it shortly so I will ask about low batteries etc. I am guessing that these are pretty common in scrapyards so getting bits shouldn't be a problem. If I have it (a big if) I will not spend much on it.

 

It's just that its very local and very cheap and not high mileage and looks clean so its worth a look.

Dont get me wrong- clios are fucking ace!prior to the 172 the burd had a 1.1rn-lovely chuckable little thing.

 

Good luck and it may be worth signing upto cliosport for some useful info.

 

Also if there are any immobilisor issues, its easy to re code the key to the car-just search youtube for a video:)

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I have been to see it and it is a very tidy car. It is a 52 plate 1.2 with 76,000 miles on it. It was taken off the road last year.

 

It has a small dent in the bonnet, very small which was the result of a low speed crash, there is no sign of any other damage.

 

The issue with the idling problem seems a bit convoluted. It was traced to a corroded earth which was fixed however a replacement car had arrived by this time. I am not sure exactly why the car was not re-moted but basically it has been kept running by being driven round the block. A few weeks ago it conked out at the end of the drive but new petrol seemed to cure the problem. He blamed ageing petrol (which would have been around year old).

 

Anyway it started and ran today, the engine sounds very sweet there is no smoke, no sign of head gasket leakage, the oil was pretty clean. It has had the cambelt done at 70,000 miles, new brake discs and various other new parts. He had the throttle body cleaned also when the initial problem occurred.

 

It has been well treated the interior is spotless and not worn and the exterior the same, not rust at all that I could see.

 

They are asking £175 so might offer £150 as if the worst comes to the worst I could probably break it if not scrap it.

 

To be honest it looks to good to scrap but I suppose that is what old cars are worth nowadays.

 

For the last MOT it had an advisory on a ARB bush and the one rear door won't open from the outside due to a faulty catch.

 

Thanks again for your input everyone.

 

One thing that does concern me is this now in autoshite territory or is it just shite! I don't want to let the side down as my other car choices tend to fit right in!  :-D

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Sounds like an alright deal, I like these Clios, still think of them as new not shite. I've known five being owned by friends and the only problem I've heard is the gearstick gator coming off on one of them.

 

They end up dumped (crashed) on roundabouts round here all the time when it's raining, are they particularly poor handlers or is it just crap driving? I'm inclined to say the latter, but for some reason it's only ever mk2 Clios!

 

They're guaranteed classics* because of the famous internet LOLZ with the bloke being absolutely ripped off with one from Carcraft.

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First s reg car i ever saw was a gold 3 door clio mk2. Was amazing, the 3 door ones have aged well. If i ever have need for an early 1.5d 3 door i wont be too unhappy

 

Drove (the above fucked) one once and it wasnt too bad, steering was very light and it seemed to drink fuel, which I dont think they do if the 1.5 in my mates nissan kubistar is anything to go buy

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We have 3 Clios in the family. My wife has a Mk1 1.4 1996, we bought both daughters Clio Mk 2s to learn to drive when they were 17, they are now aged 21 & 23 & still have them a Phase 1 1999 & phase 2 2002. I really like them & didn't know they had got so cheap, bit of a shame as youngest daughter wants to sell hers & get a 182 (she did spin hers on a roundabout). For less than £200 I don't see how you can go wrong.

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To be honest I can't believe what you can purchase now for so little money. Its been some years since I last looked a cheap (ordinary) cars as I have been buying "classics".

 

Twenty years ago £200 would have bought something held together by rust, and with an engine on it's last legs, this has hardly a mark on it.

 

I guess the internet has opened the market up and the propensity of cars to implode due to a possibly expensive electrical problems has caused them to be much more throwaway consumer goods a bit like a washing machine!

 

These do look quite modern still, and are a neat design, I do prefer the mark 1 in looks as I think they are one of the last really "French" looking Renault's.

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