2002 Renault Clio Extreme from UK and Ireland - Comments

I commented before about my extremely poorly Clio Billabong! I paid £200 last week to repair the fault with the up and down reving, and loss of power and breaking down. Since paying that bill I have broken down again! This time it decided to cut out doing 70mph on a dual carriageway! Not nice!! And extremely dangerous!

My car is now once again in the garage.. with an auto electrical specialist this time, and I have just been informed that it's going to cost me £700 to put right and that's just an estimate! What a nightmare! That's not far off £1000 worth of bills in 2 weeks: (potential buyers beware!!

I am yet another Clio owner with most of the above faults first when I bought the car a month ago my heaters didn't warm the car up although temperature gauge was showing the car had warmed up had it all flushed out still blowing cold air, have now realized it works on a FLAPS system so have figured if I leave the dial set to red (HOT AIR) the next dial set to windscreen and then when I start the car turn the numbered dial up to 4 I can hear the flaps lift and hey presto I have nice warm air.

Next problem I had airbag and serv light on, I have messed around with the wires under passenger seat and this has worked so that's them lights out.

Next problem when I bought the car front seats were stained previous owner said something had been spilt would soon clean off... yea right, first time I drove it whilst it was raining I soon realized where the stains came from the rain water was pouring in the roof at me, so having got fed up with constantly having a wet leg from sitting on damp seats I phoned Renault asked how much for a new rubber sun roof seal, they said £80, I said no its just the rubber seal I need not the whole sunroof, they replied that's how much a rubber seal is, 4 weeks before christmas and having just bought, insured and taxed the car I couldn't afford that so my boyfriend put the car in my mums garage stripped the roof lining out of the car and took the whole sunroof with its frame out of the car and brought that in the house to have a proper look. Upon close inspection the front corners of the seal were warped so as a cheap attempt to fix it he went to a diy store bought a tube of black silicone for £4.00 ook the rubber out and then siliconed it back in BACK TO FRONT so the warped front corners are now in the back corners, and as the car has a natural slope forwards the water dosent sit in the back corners of the sunroof, (UNLESS you park on a hill of course) he then put the sunroof back into the car and siliconed the frame of it onto the roof of the car just incase it decided to leak from there at a later date, we left it in the garage over night for the silicone to dry and I have had it out for 3 days now in the rain and I have washed it tonight giving the roof a real good soaking and it is bone dry inside. Yippee problem solved for £4.00 and a bit of messing around.

Now just 1 more problem to fix and I should have a decent car instead of a shed... the final problem being the coil looking light coming on revs dropping cutting out etc etc the same as everyone else, I have had it twice on a diagnostic check and its saying a MAP sensor fault, but I'm not prepared to spend any money till I have checked some of the free advice off here so at he weekend I'm going to check the black box, check spark plugs get the battery life checked etc etc, so hopefully by sunday it will be cured if it is I will be sure to post on here how I got on.

Also have noticed my bonnet catch seems faulty have I read somewhere in these comments (there is so many I forget what I have read) hat renault have admitted fault with these and will sort it free of charge or not? if anyone knows the answer to this or has any usefull advise (other than take a match to it ha-ha) I would be glad to hear it cheers.

Jodie.wilcock1@ntlworld.com.

I have a 1.6 Renault clio that has a similar problem to you all. The flashing light that won't allow the car to start. I'm going to try an independent renault specialist. But I tried my local garage the other day to see what they could do and they're not really specialists. But their diagnostics identified a stepper motor problem. But renault won't supply just the motor! I have to buy the full gasket section (£300) and my garage won't do it because it doesn't need doing. More rip-off Renault. If the specialist knows the fault I'll let you know.

Hi Again.

I've now contacted Renault via their online contact form under complaints...

Links as follows:

http://www.renault.co.uk/ContactCustomerServices.aspx

Please can you all fill this in and select the complaint drop down link...

I've been as honest as I can in my letter.

"Dear Customer Services / Complaints.

I purchased a 2nd hand Renault Clio 1.6 RXE Automatic 1999 Six Months ago.

The car was running great for two weeks. However, after that the car has been having power problems (Juddering / Spluttering, Loss of power). Not only that! The car has been intermittently cutting out on the move and/or stationary. (Twice in very dangerous locations).

After doing some research on the internet I've noticed this is a very common fault.

Please look at the following Link

http://www.carsurvey.org/viewcomments_review_25613.html

Now, I'd like to know if there is some kind of recall on this issue?

Please contact me about this matter ASAP – I'll also forward the complaints contact form to other users on various websites so we can get something done about this common issue.

Regards.

Liam

"

Please do this guys... more and more pressure will make them give in.

Cheers People!

I have commented twice now about my poorly clio billabong and it has now finally been repaired and is now running fine. touch wood!! I had to have the throttle body replaced and the wiring loom. not cheap, but it seems to have done the trick. just thought this may help others in my situation who still cannot locate the cause of the problem! good luck!

Hello everyone some major problems with these cars got the same with my partners car.

OK first I had a prob with the car cutting out an not starting with the light flashing on the dash and it is the sensor ring around the ignition key that causes the problem only thing is you have to have new keys made also, cost me around £260 to have that done, but since had no trouble with it.

Yesterday that light with the squiggle's came on and read on here that its the black box rubbing wires just checked it this morning and yes that's what it was so rewired the one that had broke taped it up removed the box and so for all is OK with it.

The sunroof is the other issue same as others will be looking at that this weekend if anyone has any questions on the keys and ring please email me on.

St343n_mc@yahoo.co.uk.

Clio 1.2 16v 53 plate; only 9800 miles done.

Hi All.

I just thought to let you know about my problem which is very similar to most of the other comments here.

Just over a week ago my wife (on her way to work) started to get the coil-like warning light appear; it was then followed by total loss of power, and then the red engine symbol light came on. She had to call out the RAC who said it could be an electrical fault.

I took the car to Renault London East for a Clip test and I was told that it had the following faults:

A) Injection Loom rubbed against bracket.

B) Throttle Body Loom needs replacing

C) Throttle Body needs replacing.

D) Sensor and connector (not specific) need replacing.

Total cost of all the above: £945.59.

On getting this report, I questioned the Clip test results, and was told they were correct.

I also questioned why this fault had occurred on a car that has only done 9800 mile in four years. The answer was it's an electrical fault which can happen any time.

I was not happy with this, so I did my own investigation on the Net and came to this site, where I looked at all the comments from you all to see if there was a solution to this.

On taking all the info picked up here, I looked at my car and guess what?

After 10 minutes I spotted the problem, which was down to the black metal case at the rear of the engine; having rubbed through 3 cables in the loom, it was causing a short in the electrical system. Total cost of repair: £1.

I feel very let down by my Renault main dealer, as they must have known this, but were trying to get as much as they could out of me.

I have a 52 plate clio 1.2 16v. and I too have a problem with said black box and bare wires, have spoken to renault today told them about all the comments on here, they say "we have not had any problems with them working loose" how do you get the things off? I have spent hours can't budge it,

I have a Renault Clio 1.2 dynamique (02 plate) I was having serious problems with the car juddering with loss of power, orange coil light coming on and cutting out whilst driving or slowing down – like the rest of you by the sound of it!

I decided to Google before taking it to Renault and cannot believe how many Clio owners have the same fault. I noticed a lot of people kept referring to the black box cutting through wires, so I took my car to an independent garage and ask for that to be looked at and would you believe it they were trapped with the box lid and cutting through - the actual black box inside has a small amount of foam to the top to stop the wires cutting, but on mine the foam was flat as a pancake and was trapping the wires, the mechanic took the black box off and insulate my wires and for over a week now my car is absolutely fine no more cutting out - all for the cost of £29.00.

Maybe it is worth a try before you take it to Renault as it seems to me they just do unnecessary work that cost the earth which does not sort the fault out. Renault certainly is not bothered about our safety otherwise the cars would have been recalled.

One tip until you managed to get to a garage is with my car you could feel the juddering starting and the coil light would come on as soon as that happens give the car some loud revs until the coil light disappears that was the only way I stopped it from cutting out, but do get it looked at ASAP as its not safe.

Hope this helps you.

I bought a second hand Clio 1.2 16v in march 07. It's a 51 plate and at the time had done 59000 miles. Within days of purchasing the car The steering was constantly stiff and rendered the car undriveable with the steering wheel light on the dashboard always on. This was diagnosed as a problem with the electrical system which cost £600 to repair.

For the past few months I have been having a new problem, which seems to be quite common among other users on this site - When driving (usually on the motorway) my car seems to temporarily lose power and the revs drop to 0 then after a second jump back to normal. This causes a jolt and the engine management light to come on. The amount of times it does this varies, but at times it has done it 20 or 30 times in a half hour journey. What's all this about? I took it to my local non-renault garage and they could find no fault in it. Can any one shed some light on this?

Oh... One last thing! My radio/cd player needs to be recoded after a lose connection with the battery caused a complete shut down. I have since visited my renault garage for 2 different codes, both unsuccessful. If anyone knows any code which might be of some use i'd be more than happy to give it a go!!

Today I removed the black box (with great difficulty) put some black tape on bare wires and, light as gone out on dash. car is running perfect. cost= 2 hours of my time and about 2 inches of black tape.

Thankyou to everbody who has left feedback on this site. would have cost me a lot of money without you all. paul.

Warning light stays on; it states that is toxic fumes light in manual book. Are there any ideas?

It might be an O2 sensor. If the car is running badly as well, I would almost defiantly think it is.

I hope this helps: the O2 sensor is in the exhaust downpipe usually (in case you didn't know).

Cheers.

Ref Exhaust Fumes Light on (plus limp mode)

This problem occured on my daughters Clio and the repair required four ignition coils to be replaced plus four spark plugs (new set) then all was fine - Bill £207 from independent electrical specialist.

Each cylinder on a clio has an ignition coil which presumably ignites the petrol air mixture. When the coil fails which is a common problem, misfire occurs and the neat (unignighted) mixture passes the lambda sensor in the exhaust which inturn causes it to light warning light etc.

My daughters car was missfiring on 3 out of 4 cylinders, but best to replace all coils, hope this helps.

Hi to all you poor Clio owners who still having problems with your cars, you will see my previous post on the 29th November 2007 where I had all the problems you were having and I'm pleased to announce it is now fixed; let me explain how...

...first of all we took the advice from this site and removed the black box, although mine didn't look like it had damaged any wires, we removed it anyway. It slowed the problem down for a day, but then it came back with avengance, so I took it to a friends garage who put it on the diagnostic test for me, and it came up with a faulty map sensor, so I bought and changed this... it helped it again, not juddering as often, but still not cured completely.

3 or 4 days later, back to square one, cutting out all the time, coil light coming on. Starting to get really fed up with it, I got an RAC man to put it on his diagnostic test and his came up with a faulty crank sensor, so I bought and changed this, guess what... it made the problem worse then ever, so I phoned my dad up (who incidentally is a great mechanic, but he doesn't like electrics, hence why I took it elsewhere previously) I said dad this car is going to be the death of me, I can't keep throwing good money after bad, please just go back to basic mechanics and find the problem cause all these computers seem to be wrong.

So he took it into work with him the next day, and he was shocked at how bad it was to drive. He went through the whole engine and eventually found what seemed to be causing the problem, the throttle bodies were that gunked up and full of rubbish there was no way they could function properly, so he cleaned them all out put everything back together, and now my car runs like a swiss watch; it hasn't done it at all since, and I'm really liking the car now.

Some garages may tell you the throttle bodies need replacing, or tell you to change all different sensors or the wiring loom, but my dad reckons the way the engine is designed that this is definitely going to happen, something to do with the air inlet etc etc, If you are struggling to fix yours or the garage is quoting you silly money, my dad has said he will do the job for you for around £100 as it is about 3 hours work to get to these throttle bodies, we are based in the midlands. If you need any more help get in touch jodie.wilcock1@ntlworld.com