2002 Renault Clio Extreme from UK and Ireland - Comments

I have the same problem with my Clio warning lights come on loss of power Clio dealership try this and that change sensors it would be good if Renault came back and said this is the problem and how to fix it.

Cheers Stuart.

I bought a Renault Clio 1.2 Dynamic for my wife about a year ago, she loved it, but not for long. It seems that we have the same problems as most people writing into this site. Apart from the air bag warning light never going out the engine management light keeps coming on whenever it feels like it and all power to the vehicle diminishes and she crawls along at snails pace until she can find a suitable spot to pull in, turn off the engine and fire it up again. This works, the light goes off and happy motoring resumes, for about 10 minutes then she goes through the same thing again. Apart from anything else it is not safe, wish I had never bought it, totally unreliable and Renault having got a clue apparently!!

I have a Clio extreme 02 reg and have suffered from the following problems, low revs when stopped at lights etc, engine warning lights coming on at random times although usually just after I have started the car and engine not firing at random times.

Well I now no longer have any of these problems and it costs me under a £10 to fix.

Bottle of cleaner such as Redex into fuel tank cured the low revs and engine not firing problem.

Can of WD40 used on engine wiring cured the engine warning lights problem which I noticed seem to happen on damp/wet days.

So far 6 months on not a problem since.

I would be interested if this works for anyone else.

Good Luck.

I bought a clio expression+ about 2 years ago, it starting having rev problems at random times, took it into renault about 5 times whilst it was under warranty, but they said as it was intermittent they couldnt find out what was wrong with it?

As time went on it got worse to the point of dangerous, cutting out then reving really high. went back to renaul;t several times, but they changed one thing at a time then saying they were not under warranty then charging me for them, eg new spark plugs, new cat etc. I couldn't afford them to guess any longer so it has not moved for 8 months.

So to date my car has been in renault 15 times non of which made any difference, paid about £1000 on work that didn't needed doing. and still nobody knows what wrong with it.

A load of cowboys at renault, willing to do services and brake changes? things that anyone can do, but when theres a real problem they don't want to know.

There was even one occasion when I collected it, they said there was nothing wrong with it, I drove it 5 yards and the revs went crazy!!!

Anyone want to get together and make a group complaint about renault service and this REV problem.

We too have suffered with a range of similar problems with my Sons first car, a Clio 1.6 RXE. It appears to have a mind of its own, revving, stalling and poor starting. So far we have had to replaced a fly wheel sensor and had water removed from the ecu. This is within the space of a month. The car has been at times dangerous, slowing down when overtaking for example. Time to get rid I think. We have a Megane Scenic, no problems at all apart from a very poor heater.

I recently bought a Clio extreme (2002 plate), within the first week the power was cutting out, revs high one day low the next, radio would go quiet then loud, and this happened every time the coil light came on (my car was still drivable, but it struggled when pulling away and changing gears) This then did the same thing 5 more times and my car has just been taken to Renault, they said they found 2 faults although they haven't told me what exactly and they've re mapped the ECU, and this was causing all the other problems apparently. So I'm picking it up tonight and this should all be sorted, right??

I'll let you know how I get on.

I have a 2002 clio 1.2 16v dynamique within the first few months of owning the car from new, driving, all lights came on the dash board, from new it has been in the garage on four separate occasions within the first 2 years, with me trying to tell them there was something wrong with the computer on board the car. Things were going OK until last weekend when like the majority of you, orange coil light on the dash and engine management light on, spoke to Renault UK, advice take it to a dealership, which I have done, total cost to replace the computer £775.00 plus VAT!!! Phoned Renault as car is out of warranty and now a death trap, nearly got hit by fast moving traffic on Saturday, they have refused to do anything to help. Wondering has Renault agreed to fix anyones car as goodwill if it is out of warranty?? Thanks.

My wife has a 1.4 Clio and the same problem of cutting out.

Tried a couple of local garages and had some short term success, but it always returns.

I am stunned that Renault can win the F1 Grand Prix Championship, but cannot fix an apparently trivial, but dangerous problem like this.

Anyone know the e-mail address of the MD of Renault F1... perhaps we can all ask him?

1.2 Clio 16 valve, exactly the same as everyone else.

I managed to cure (with NO help from Renault) - the poor tick over by installing a new coil pack - (NOT a genuine Renault unit, on checking there's the resistance values were out). Cured the starting problem when warm by installing a new TDC sensor from G.F.S parts. The stupid Renault metal box situated around the ECU wiring plugs had rattled it's way through the ECU wiring lume which I repaired after the short had taken out the coil pack and spark plug pencils. Informed by many Renault specialist - (independent ones, the main dealers won't divulge such information), to bin the stupid metal box as it simply prevents escape of any signal and holds moisture in.

However now have a car that won't start due to water ingress into the ECU lume blocks which are conveniently situated vertically in front of the bulk head where all the water gets in. We've just moved into our first house and attempting to resolve the broken piece of French junk in order that we can move in, but it doesn't look like it's going to be a cheap fix as it looks like I'm looking at a replacement ECU based on the response left by another person on this list. I *HATE* this car so much, it's easily *THE WORST* car I have ever own and work on. If you search using Google for "Clio problems Renault" you'll get so many responses from customers experiencing similar problems. If this were a pair of shoes or some fishcakes the DTI would be in full swing. Because it's a large motor car manufacturer they're obviously too afraid to do anything.

Further update since my last post:

Well the car is still as usefull as a bucket with no bottom. Looks like it's possibly either a faulty ECU or a fault in the loom that feeds the ECU which I hear from other forums, action groups and the DTI is installed too tightly causing various electrical gremlins. Looks like it's not going to be a cheap fix and any fixes won't be a guaranteed resolution.

I thought this site was particularly interesting:

2002 Renault Clio Extreme Comments - Carsurvey.org.

Oh! Even the BBC Watchdog have an issue listed, but it's a nice and simple mechanical fault:

BBC - Consumer - TV and radio - Renault statement.

Consumer Action Group have a little thread too:

Consumer Action Group.

I have an 2003 Renault Clio 1.2 Dynamique, which recently suffered the commonly reported issues of: Airbag Warning light on, electric windows not working, temperature gauge not working, immobiliser light on and finally this week it wouldn't start whatsoever (even AA couldn't get it going).

The Renault dealer tells me that the wiring loom had water in it, this blew the ECU. And so, after 5 hours work already to get this far I need a new ECU and they recommend new looms incase there is a slit wire casing that is letting the water in. With the labour charge and VAT the total bill is £1,900. I was left speechless, and so they offered me a 10% discount seeing as I was spending so much money with them - thanks!

My car was purchased new from a Renault dealership and has a full dealer service history and so with a bill of £1700 I called Renault UK who to their credit did called me back only to say that they could not say for sure that this was a design fault and wouldn't help with the cost of repair - without too much effort I have found lots of disgruntled customers with suspiciously similar and costly problems that suggest this could well be a design fault! I feel extremely let down and would advise strongly against anyone wanting to purchase a clio, or indeed any other Renault - that is once I have repaired and sold mine at the earliest opportunity.

If your Clio's warranty has expired you are exposed to some very common and extremely costly problems ahead - be warned!!!

I was looking for any topics regarding how to fix a problem with non working front fog lights and non working horn on a Clio Extreme 16V 2002 model.

I haven't found anything. If anyone knows of any issues regarding these please help.

However, all the memories came back after reading these comments above. So I thought I would share, in order to put the story straight.

I have owned the Clio from new May 2002 - Renault West London dealership. The car went in for warranty repairs over 25 times in the 3 year period. I'm not entirely sure what components were changed if any.

The problems it encountered were engine cutting out at traffic lights or while driving, shaking badly at idle, driver side electric window failing, gear nob falling off, not starting from cold, rear light bulbs constantly blowing, and now horn and fogs not working.

To say that Renault are unaware of these issues would be lying. One time I was in the dealership with several other customers and we all had the same problems. There is a common fault with Clio's if not all Renaults.

I had a friend who worked as a mechanic for Renault France who was brought to the UK to help out with the West London service centre for a few weeks. He said all the faults are known faults, but this is how Renault make their money. They do not fix the issues, but make you try this and that, and finally they hope that you sell the car and move on.

With regard to my car having problems starting, switching off, and so forth he mentioned it was only to do with the spark plugs not the coil. They needed to be a particular type (I don't know which sorry) and had to be fitted in a certain way (I didn't know what he meant by that either). But whatever he did fixed the problem. I am still driving the car, 5 years on, and those issues seem to have been resolved.

I have not taken the car to Renault since he tampered with it a couple years ago. Instead only to my local mechanic to change the oil and brakes.

I believe if one person had the time to approach every person who has posted a negative comment about Renault and their product, something could be done to bring about mass coverage to Renault's failure to provide goods of quality. They are literally selling more faulty goods than working goods.

Just like the rest of you 3 weeks ago I bought a 2002 renault clio sport 172 cup now it sits in Renault Chester looking very sorry for itself. The problem involved driving along and on comes the management light down goes the power!!! Renault have advised me that the wiring loom needs replacing price unknown at this point, but it's not going to be cheap. As for warranty, it was not bought from Renault so I only got 1 mth the car is covered, but point being that the Clio Cup is a perfomance car mine is not perfoming... should have got the Honda Civic Type R. Any advice mrjmdavis@aol.com. Regards James.

Hi there, in October last year I went and bought a 2002 52reg Renault Clio extreme for my girlfriend, which we hunted down for ages as she wanted it in a particular colour, boy I wish we had never found it! The most annoying problem is the god awful creaky sunroof, it drives us both nuts no matter how loud we have the music! The new feature it has developed is when started it will run for 5-10 seconds and then simply cut out, when started again it runs fine as if nothing was wrong, and this is now occurring every day. I am just worried that this will develop into some of the problems you other guys are having, granted as of yet we are not having half the problems that have been posted on here which I am highly thankful for as I am really not keen on my girlfriend driving it, but if you have any advice I would be very grateful to hear it. Cheers.

I have a 1.2 16v 02 clio extreme, which I purchased a year ago. It has under 19,000 miles on the clock and has been suffering from what appears to be a very common non-start problem. It has also cut power at speed on motorways and cut out completely when sat in traffic, at traffic lights etc. The yellow engine fault light comes on when the power cuts and on non-start.

The dealership has run a diagnostic, which has indicated that the main engine loom has been shorting, which has damaged the TDC sensor.

I am facing a hefty repair bill, and given my discovery of this site, I am clearly not alone. I have printed this entire thread from start to finish and intend on taking it into the dealership with me tomorrow. I also intend on contacting Renault and taking this up with them. What ever the fault, it is dangerous!

If a few more of us were to do the same and deluge Renault with our comments on these problems maybe there is a chance we will get some assistance towards the repairs - we can, but try!