2002 Renault Clio Extreme from UK and Ireland - Comments

I just want too add that I have a Clio Y Reg 1.2 16V Sport which DID HAVE the all so common electrical fault which resulted in loss of power and caused the engine to cut out etc. It is all down to the little Tamper Proof Box which you can see at the back of the engine when you look under the bonnet. The box rattles and wears away at the all important ECU wires it is supposed to protect, which causes the "orange coil light to appear on the dashboard" and the engine to start cutting out and loosing power. All I did with My Clio was place a piece of plastic between the wires and secured the box with zip ties to stop the rattling, I did this in Jan 08 and I have not had a problem with it cutting out etc since! Hope this helps everyone and ends the frustration I went through with my Clio.

Currently having problems with my clio Y Reg. Keeps cutting out whenever im in 1st gear or stopped. Currently at gargage and paying £110 to get the MAP fixed!! After reading these comments I don't think I have heard the last of this problem.

I am reading the comments on this site in complete astonishment! I own a 03 1.2 Clio Dynamique and am currently experiencing the dreaded electrical fault light for the second time! Took it into the dealership in February (when it first appeared) stating that I was aware of others experiencing similar problems and not to fob me off. They reset the ECU and said to hope for the best but if the light should reappear it may need a new ECU or a new throttle body. So tomorrow I will head back armed with a copy of all the above comments and pleasantly inform this issue be fixed without charge due to a clear manufacturing fault. I cannot believe that execs etc are burying their heads in the sand - are they hoping that the problem will just go away? Clearly not.

Angry Clio owner!

I have also had nonstop trouble with my 02 Clio!

I've even had a new engine due to a hole blowing through my other mid drive!

After over a £1000 paid out on the car (if you can call it that) There seems to be more trouble on its way with the engine light flashing and the car not making 40mph on an uphill gradient.

People should not buy these cars!!!

I'm so glad I stumbled across this page!

Hi people, my 51 plate 1.2 16v Dynamique takes the michael... every so often as it used to be, the car's electronic light came on (the one in the middle with the coil) and the cars revs would go berserk!! They would go up and down, up and down, continuously until I revved the car hard and kept it stable for a few seconds, then the light would go out and it would be OK for a while...... Anyway, the past few months it's been doing this it has been getting worse and worse and worse!!!!! VERY VERY frustrating! Makes you look like a fool and as if your not a roadworthy driver.. Every time I come to a stop now the light comes on and the revs go mental.. I cannot understand why or what is happening..

I went to Renault and they said it would be £88 just to have a look on the machine!!!! I mean what a joke! They then said it could cost up to another 300 on top of that to correct the problem! At this I soon left in a temper! I have been getting more and more frustrated with this problem, and on finding this site, I am going to look for this black box thing and see what happens.. I'll write again to notify if it has stopped... thanks

Hi again (comment above) iv looked for the black box but cannot find anything of significance... I did find a metal little casing thing around a wire connection that is very wobbly and I can't see any way of fixing it down.. anyway apart from that I have no idea what this box might be :| anyway.. not sure exactly but my cousin had a fault on his 1.2 16v expression.. as far as I know its along the same lines as whats hapend to mine but I haven't asked yet.. but he took it to a garage near me in Nottingham and he said he knew exactly what is was cause he had done it earlier that week.. he changed a sensor around the freewheel or something and HEY PRESTO!! his cars fixed.. so i'm going to ring and get the full details and maybe it might help a little bit for you all.. thanks for reading people :)

Regards, richard.

My car has been having problems... idleing strange... revs going up and down like crazy when stationary. It has cut out on me at roundabouts etc... the electrical fault light came on and went off. It has lack of power and feels like it doesn't want to go most of the time!

So... its now at renault. They had a look on thurs and put it on the diagnostic machine and drove it 31 miles! But when I spoke to them they said there is nothing wrong with it! They said there were quite a few fault codes that came up when it went on the machine but when the parts were tested they couldnt get any of the parts to actually fault!

I told them I would come down and show them what I meant when I said it was "idleing funny" and they agreed it wasnt right. They are going to keep the car and keep taking it out for little road tests to see if it actually does fault! God knows how long they r going to have it for!!! But they might aswell keep trying cuz Im not driving it at the moment anyway as Im too scared to get in it incase it breaks down!!!

So... any1 got any ideas what I could do/ replace to fix this problem???

Thanks x.

My wife's 25,000 mile 04-plate Dynamique was juddering at low revs & if you gave it the beans then the "toxic emissions" light used to start flashing. Having had a similar problem with my Peugeot 206 - thankfully without the juddering so badly (is it just French cars that get this!) a few months ago, I knew one fix (please don't think this is a free get out clause) as this worked on my 206.

Dodgy petrol from a certain supermarket is to blame. In both cases, we had just filled up & driven to somewhere (in my case half way across the country, in her case to work). We both ran the tanks to almost dry (low fuel light on) & then put £20 worth of super-unleaded in. In the case of my 206, the light went out straight away, with my wife's Clio, the juddering stopped, but the light still came on at about 3,000 revs until she'd driven along a dual carriageway for about ten miles.

If this is similar to anybody else's issue, try this before letting Renault loose on it. And as far as petrol from supermarkets go, in this case "every little didn't help".

Hi.

I don't know if I should feel happy or mad, as I'm kind of sitting in the middle with some of the problems mentioned here.

My Clio 53 1.2 16v, 90k miles and is lacking power. It's not misfiring, and there's no lights up on the dash to say it's got any problems. This happened not to long ago, when I was low on fuel and filled up from a station that I don't usually. Anyway I filled up again from the station, and this time added an engine cleaner and still no joy. I've also noticed it's drinking a lot more fuel as well.

As I'm nearly empty, I'm filling up from a different station to see if this helps it, however I'm not holding my hopes out. You really notice the problem when you put your foot down, there is just now proper bite any more, and going up hills well, I simulate lorries and tractors now on some steep hills.

I've never had any problems with it really up to now, and from reading this post I seem very lucky. The car up to this point has done me well, as I do a lot of miles. The car is serviced properly and I take good care of it. The other thing is it drinks oil. But I keep an eye on that, even though I know it shouldn't be, unless someone tells me otherwise.

With no lights coming on I'm left thinking is there enough pressure in the engine, so I'm going to do a compression test on it. When starting at with this, I knew very little about cars, now I'm learning fast, and I'm thankful I'm technically minded, oh and have a Haynes manual. If it doesn't sort itself out, I'm cleaning the throttle body as there is some residual oil build up in the air filter, but not as much as some people are mentioning. As a precaution though, I've just renewed my RAC cover as it ran out last month.

As for electrics, I always remember from being a young kid that you should never buy a French car because of the electrics. They've always been rubbish at electrics. I just wish I remembered this when I bought the car back in 04.

I have a good mechanic at a independent garage, who will look at it if the problem persists, but with so many problems causing very similar symptoms, I'd rather narrow down the problems before handing it to him.

ECU is checked, and had rubbed one wire to the metal. This was then insulated with electrical tape, and also the pin that secures the lid to the ECU had come loose, and actually jammed itself open. Very anti tamper, but made my job easier in getting to the wires.

All in all, I'll never buy a Clio, as, well they're rubbish put simply. If it's a big job, I've already decided to get rid and just buy a Golf instead. They run like trojans and hopefully I won't experience the same problems I've experienced with Renault.

IF I get to the bottom of this, I'll post my solution.

Added a link from wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Clio#Consumer_safety_issues_.28Watchdog.29

I've been suffering from random electrical problems too. The latest of which is that it intermittently won't start.

The electrics come on, but I turn the key and nothing happens. I get a click relay sound from the fuse box but that's it.

I wonder if the Renault business model is based on inkjet printers? They get you started really cheap, and then make all their money selling consumables. Unfortunately in our case the consumables aren't £20 ink-cartridges but endless tests and replacement parts with no guarantee that it'll actually fix the problem.

Tom.

My Clio would not start. Turn the key and nothing except a relay sound. iIt turned out to be a loose and dirty white wire connection on the starter motor at the front of the engine.

Read on for how I fixed the dreaded orange light curse!!!

I have Clio y reg 2001. I have had all these problems as well the orange light then cutting out at lights, roundabouts etc. I also had problems starting hot or cold anytime of the day. I can now say completely FIXED.

My hubby is a top mechanic he has replaced the engine earth. new earth lead bolted through the starter motor directly to the battery. topped up level in battery, and fitted new lamber sensor underneath (15 pound local scrap yard!!!)

the lambda sensor on my car has been dodgy all along so not too sure if this actually made a difference but I have no prob at all with my car. It has been over a fortnight and no light. Started every time everyday. before you spend any more money replacing expensive things please try this. Good luck.

Guess what I have a the dreaded renault clio with all the above problems.

I turn the iginition, the engine starts, the car then decides which lights to have up on the dash board. These range from the airbag light, to the ORANGE COIL, engine light all sorts!

I then try to rev the car and theres no noise no movement, I can put my foot to the floor and nothing.

I have had the computer reset a couple of times and a new acceleration sensor which worked for about 3 weeks before all this happened again today. The rev counter can go up slowly or down when I put my foot to the floor.

I think we should all contact watch dog, that is what Im going to do after this. Renault are a joke!!!

I replied a few days ago about my clio loosing performance, however not having any lights up on the dash. I have now solved part of this problem.

This weekend I went to clean the throttle body, but got a set back as you have to remove the wiring loom to remove the air-filter housing, to remove the throttle body. BAD DESIGN RENAULT!! You also need a star shaped adapter to remove it, as I hadn't got this I just replaced the air filter before it service requirement, as it was filthy and there was a fair bit of oil the housing.

Low and behold my performance has picked up, it's still not 100% but I'm changing the spark plugs and if still no improvement then the throttle body. I know the engine needs to be looked at as there is a slight knocking sound from it. Time to take it to my garage to get it looked at by my local mechanic. However as we all know the Clio is a REALLY bad design engine wise, oh and electrics, but from my experience French and electrics REALLY REALLY don't go together.

To the people of the last couple of posts before mine, I would check your ECU. If it's a 1.2 16v (D7F) engine this is located at the back of the engine and at the top. You'll see one set of wires go into a socket and another set that is covered by a thick metal box like lid. This could be quite loose, or even removable. Funny as this is the anti-tamper box that Renault put on to stop people getting to the ECU controls. Anyway remove this and look at the wires underneath. You'll all probably find that this metal protection box has rubbed the wires underneath it and have exposed the cores in them. In my case only one wire was exposed and I sealed it up with electrical tape. You should do the same to stop them shorting, and even if it hasn't just do it for added protection. This has been mentioned on here but further back.

The other thing to check is to see if the throttle body has got clogged up with oil. You can usually tell if it has by looking at the air filter housing. If you're not sure about this take it to you local mechanic to do as it's fiddly and can be quite daunting.

Hope this helps, and once I get my car back at 100% i'll post again with my solution.

Simon.

I've had a few problems with my 52 reg clio over the last 2 years. The engine management light came on 1 day and stayed on. I took it to the garage and they put it on the diagnostics machine and told me I had a faulty speedo... even though it worked fine!

Then my car began to have trouble turning on. The ignition would turn over but it just wouldn't start. You would have to try it 4 or 5 times before it started.

On top of that!!! When it did start you would go to pull away and the accelerator wouldn't rev! You would pump the pedal in and out and it would just stay at 2000revs.

I paid £100odd pounds at the garage and it still wouldn't fix until 1 day it just stopped doing it. That was about a year ago and its been fine since. Until today!

Whenever I put my foot down now the car shudders and splutters before the engine bites in. I look a right tit at trafiic lights!

On top of that the oil needs changin every few months.

What a joke. Im off to change the spark plugs tonight to see if that helps with the engine misfiring.