Associate
Wondering you anyone can point me in the right direction with a problem I have, or at least give me a better picture of what's the matter before I make my way to the local specialist. It's more than an hour away and requires some planning as public transport to the further reaches of Wales (where I live) is non existent.
I have a 2006 Renault Clio III 1.5dCi Dynamique S (106bhp model) with nearly 100,000 miles on the clock that's been regularly serviced by main dealer and most recently a reputed Renault specialist (Renotech, Llandudno) just a month ago. I've had it for the last 50k miles and 4 years and it's been great. However, in the last couple of months a couple of odd things have happened and I'm not sure what to make of them.
Firstly, and most importantly, I've had an 'Electronic Fault' come up over Christmas on the trip. As a result I bought a cheap bluetooth OBD reader to find a fault code reading P0381. It implies it's a glow plug/heater indicator circuit problem. I'd have thought glow plug issues would mean starting problems. Thing is, the car never has trouble starting. I have the push-button start so it always allows the coil light to go out before turning over which is does perfectly. Researching this code or it's description hasn't got me very far. Lots of other marques' stuff comes up, not much on Renault's 1.5 dCi.
Secondly, can an OBD reader upset a car? Mine came with no instructions so I rather haphazardly plugged it in, messed about and went about my business driving. When driving the left side of my instrument cluster (revs and temp) went dead, my car was very juddery at low revs in 3rd/4th and my trip's fuel related bits and bobs were flashing dashes as opposed to the usual figures (gallons used, distance done, mpg). On the dash it also told me to 'Check Steering' with the spanner symbol. Since last summer there have been clicks in the steering when I turn over 45 degrees either side of centre. I drove to where I was going and unplugged it. I then went in for a coffee and set off to find these problems were gone.
Finally, prior to this upset and since I had a new key programmed in about 2 months ago, my auto lights and wipers have stopped working. It doesn't bother me much on the wipers side, but it means my lights never turn off. In the 'off' position they are on dipped beam, then side lights and dipped beam work as normal. I seem unable to disable auto lights using the 'auto' button on the stalk. Whilst my car was having the above upset the lights strangely went off when in the 'off' position. As soon as I pulled out the OBD and plugged it back in they went back to being on in 'off' position.
I've put the OBD in since and driven home with it this afternoon and the car was as it was before it's upset. Going for a driver later with my phone paired up to see what comes of it. Sorry to have rambled on, any advice is much appreciated. I'm worried if I went to the garage with this the poor guy'd run for the hills.
Edit: Searches on Clio and Renault forums haven't been particularly fruitful and they're not especially active either.
I have a 2006 Renault Clio III 1.5dCi Dynamique S (106bhp model) with nearly 100,000 miles on the clock that's been regularly serviced by main dealer and most recently a reputed Renault specialist (Renotech, Llandudno) just a month ago. I've had it for the last 50k miles and 4 years and it's been great. However, in the last couple of months a couple of odd things have happened and I'm not sure what to make of them.
Firstly, and most importantly, I've had an 'Electronic Fault' come up over Christmas on the trip. As a result I bought a cheap bluetooth OBD reader to find a fault code reading P0381. It implies it's a glow plug/heater indicator circuit problem. I'd have thought glow plug issues would mean starting problems. Thing is, the car never has trouble starting. I have the push-button start so it always allows the coil light to go out before turning over which is does perfectly. Researching this code or it's description hasn't got me very far. Lots of other marques' stuff comes up, not much on Renault's 1.5 dCi.
Secondly, can an OBD reader upset a car? Mine came with no instructions so I rather haphazardly plugged it in, messed about and went about my business driving. When driving the left side of my instrument cluster (revs and temp) went dead, my car was very juddery at low revs in 3rd/4th and my trip's fuel related bits and bobs were flashing dashes as opposed to the usual figures (gallons used, distance done, mpg). On the dash it also told me to 'Check Steering' with the spanner symbol. Since last summer there have been clicks in the steering when I turn over 45 degrees either side of centre. I drove to where I was going and unplugged it. I then went in for a coffee and set off to find these problems were gone.
Finally, prior to this upset and since I had a new key programmed in about 2 months ago, my auto lights and wipers have stopped working. It doesn't bother me much on the wipers side, but it means my lights never turn off. In the 'off' position they are on dipped beam, then side lights and dipped beam work as normal. I seem unable to disable auto lights using the 'auto' button on the stalk. Whilst my car was having the above upset the lights strangely went off when in the 'off' position. As soon as I pulled out the OBD and plugged it back in they went back to being on in 'off' position.
I've put the OBD in since and driven home with it this afternoon and the car was as it was before it's upset. Going for a driver later with my phone paired up to see what comes of it. Sorry to have rambled on, any advice is much appreciated. I'm worried if I went to the garage with this the poor guy'd run for the hills.
Edit: Searches on Clio and Renault forums haven't been particularly fruitful and they're not especially active either.
