Purchased a small French lightweight hot hatch - Renault Clio 172 Cup & NOW 182 Trophy
- Thread starter Gibbo
- Start date
Hi there
OK the little French car is doing what French cars do, being temperamental.
It has not being used much over last couple of months, anyway I took it out last week and it was fine.
Drove it yesterday and morning and I could swear there was a minor hesitation at steady state throttle or partial loads but dismissed it and in afternoon it was none existent. Then driving home it was certainly hesitating, felt like a coil pack / HT lead down but very intermittent.
Drove to work this morning, all fine, then at lunch hesitating, so decided to swap the HT leads out, if anything marginally worse, then fine again. Drove home and it was really bad, when it does it you have to let off and then sometimes its fine or you have to floor it at which point it pulls like normal.
As car was fully serviced (major) less than a thousand miles ago, spark plugs are also new.
The only items left that I did not replace are the:
- Coil Pack at back of engine that the HT leads plug into.
- Map sensor
- Injectors
My guess is its one of the above three, if it helps narrow it down the problem only seems to be apparent on a fully warm engine, car has vpower99 so unlikely to be bad fuel.
To further explain it feels like a missfire (no bangs) or incorrect fuelling, it is intermittent, full throttle seems fine though maybe down on power but that could be placebo. When it is doing it the exhaust is burbling, sometimes happens at idle which makes me think coil pack.
As I've done HT leads, next stop is coil pack as £40 from Renault and very easy to swap out, if still present then I am thinking injectors as doubt map sensor would do this but I suppose I can just disconnect that to try and rule it out, but the way it feels when it happens is as if the engine is not sparking or fuelling right, I'd suggest lean rather than rich as no smell of fuel hence me thinking coil pack or an injector going down. If its an injector I will just buy 4 new and change them all, is Renault best bet or is there an alternative of same quality without the £250 price tag?
OK the little French car is doing what French cars do, being temperamental.
It has not being used much over last couple of months, anyway I took it out last week and it was fine.
Drove it yesterday and morning and I could swear there was a minor hesitation at steady state throttle or partial loads but dismissed it and in afternoon it was none existent. Then driving home it was certainly hesitating, felt like a coil pack / HT lead down but very intermittent.
Drove to work this morning, all fine, then at lunch hesitating, so decided to swap the HT leads out, if anything marginally worse, then fine again. Drove home and it was really bad, when it does it you have to let off and then sometimes its fine or you have to floor it at which point it pulls like normal.
As car was fully serviced (major) less than a thousand miles ago, spark plugs are also new.
The only items left that I did not replace are the:
- Coil Pack at back of engine that the HT leads plug into.
- Map sensor
- Injectors
My guess is its one of the above three, if it helps narrow it down the problem only seems to be apparent on a fully warm engine, car has vpower99 so unlikely to be bad fuel.
To further explain it feels like a missfire (no bangs) or incorrect fuelling, it is intermittent, full throttle seems fine though maybe down on power but that could be placebo. When it is doing it the exhaust is burbling, sometimes happens at idle which makes me think coil pack.
As I've done HT leads, next stop is coil pack as £40 from Renault and very easy to swap out, if still present then I am thinking injectors as doubt map sensor would do this but I suppose I can just disconnect that to try and rule it out, but the way it feels when it happens is as if the engine is not sparking or fuelling right, I'd suggest lean rather than rich as no smell of fuel hence me thinking coil pack or an injector going down. If its an injector I will just buy 4 new and change them all, is Renault best bet or is there an alternative of same quality without the £250 price tag?
Ordered coil pack, I shall make that next on the list as its also a cheap item.
Assume this is the part:
https://www.renaultpartsdirect.co.uk/parts/engine-parts/renault-clio-172-182-crankshaft-sensor/
https://www.renaultpartsdirect.co.u...lt-crankshaft-tdc-sensor-loom-various-models/
Coil pack is on the way, no improvement and as long as the above is simple job that can be next one on the list to try.
Sounds like it could be the lambda sensor to me (you can swap pre & post cat round to test) - it can play havoc with how they run. Crankshaft sensor typically stops the car starting as it can't see TDC.
On the crankshaft sensor as you can see Renault revised the loom to the blue plug, so it will require soldering.
On the crankshaft sensor as you can see Renault revised the loom to the blue plug, so it will require soldering.
Yeah I had an issue with the crankshaft sensor on mine many years ago, but it was only a problem starting not driving.
Ones from Renault.
What’s my money is on, cheap and easy to replace plus it’s the original item so 56k miles and nearly 18yr old.
Might be worth checking, they tried to sell me Bosch ones when I had my 182 and you need NGK ones as it won't run properly.
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I expect it's the coil packs, I've never known a Renault not to have coil pack issues so it's the first thing I'd replace.
Last night at an event for work I met Henry Catchpole and had quite an in depth conversation with him about cars; he's currently running a Clio 182 and absolutely loves it, which got me thinking about buying another one (I had a phase 2 172 in 2006). I think a 172 or 182 cup will be on my list in the near future. The only thing I remember was the poor driving position and I remember a lot of other people complaining about it.
Coilpacks are actually a pretty rare failure on the 172s / 182s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4e-Mwalhkg
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Looks a hoot to drive, such a great little chassis, he looks so cramped in it though
He does look really awkward in it! I'm 6ft 4 and its not the best driving position, however I've got the optional Recaro Trendlines with lowered mounts - this helps a bit.
Don't bother with the 182 Cup, get a full fat 182 with the Cup packs fitted.
Think was NGK, shall see if I can find my order history or invoice, but car drove fine after service, was spot on.
Well does not have coil packs as to speak, just a coil pack distributor at back of engine, HT leads already tried swap, tomorrow the distributor should arrive, quick job, see if it sorts it, fingers crossed.
You sit high, does it bother me? No!
I can rev match and heel and toe so easy in this car, visibility is incredible and its so small you can drive it like your doing the Italian Job.
It is huge fun, passengers actually say getting in the Clio with me is more scary than the M3 or SVR, simply as I drive like a total idiot, sliding, unsettling the car and just driving blatantly like I stole it, yes its huge fun in its own unique way, it has many faults but just like Henry says, I doubt there is a single car out there for under £5000 that is as much fun or as a cheap to run for smiles per mile. If your doing motorway commutes, avoid unless the newer ones had six speed boxes.
Henry has the Trophy. That’s the one.
Think you mean Harry, unless Henry has both a 182 tatty edition and a 182 Trophy edition.