Issue with Clio 3, intermittently not starting. Please help

Jarrod

Jarrod

Jarrod

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Joined
28 Oct 2011
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539
Hi all, looking for some advice as I have a problem with my car and a few different family and friend mechanics seem to thing its different things. Looking for some more suggestions.

I've never had any issues with the car before. On cold mornings I've had to turn the ignition twice a few times, but other than that, no issues.

I'll tell the story how it happened.

Sitting in a lot of traffic, decide to turn the engine off but keep the ignition off for about 5 minutes or so, when traffic flow starts again, I go to start my car but ALL electronics have gone, nothing at all. Nothing happening when I turn the key. Then about a minute later I get the electronics to come on, but dash lights flickering, lots of clicking from the glove compartment area and window wipers going nuts and when I try to start the car, all electronics cut out for about 30 seconds or so.
Fast forward a bit, the car will not start even with jump leads, just a loud clicking noise when trying to start. The car will bump start, every time, and after bump starting it will start up fine with the key for a bit. But then will randomly stop starting with the key.

All the relays have been checked and they are fine apparently, battery is reporting a voltage of 12.8v.

Sometimes the dash reports a problem with ABS and PASSENGER AIRBAGS. Which I've read can be attributed to a battery problem.
Intermittently all the electronics will not work aswell.

I'm losing my hair over this issue, any suggestions will truly be appreciated as I'm in a position where I cant be without my car for too long right now.

Thanks in advance!
 
Immobiliser light seems to be fine, did another test just. Tested the battery voltage while the ignition was off, was getting 12v, turned ignition on, got 8v. Maybe just case of a popped cell?
 
French cars never really mastered electricity.

Seriously though you need to check the battery when it's running, it should be around 14 volts with the engine running, less and the alternator has issues, that's where i'd start looking anyway.
 
I'd say battery. The voltages may show as correct but it could still be doing weird things. They are pretty sensitive to a weaker battery.

If it was alternator, I'd expect it to try and turn over slowly to start with. Also, a bump start is unlikely to work if there was a charging issue.
 
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Well I would say that it's most likely the battery or alternator as like people have said, weird stuff can happen when they're on their way out.
That said, my Clio would randomly not start and it was the crank sensor that was at fault. It's a really common issue and cheap enough to fix.
Having said that though, it should only affect starting and not give you the weird flickering etc that you're getting :(
 
Just wanted thank you all for replying, it was indeed the battery, luckily had a brand new spare laying around, swapped it around and it's fine. Also checked the earth straps while swapping and they were both fine

Thanks again everyone!
 
Also, a general question as this is my first car, I've read online, people taking apart their engine completely, cleaning it out etc, and putting it back together once a year. Is this worth it?
 
Jarrod said:
Also, a general question as this is my first car, I've read online, people taking apart their engine completely, cleaning it out etc, and putting it back together once a year. Is this worth it?
Click to expand...

Wat. No.

***** have you been reading? Advanced Motor Engineering weekly forum? lol
 
Yep, at least once a year. It's dead easy, just need a set of spanner sand a Haynes manual!.....
 
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