I am new on here and I have a 2004 plate clio 182 that has just clocked 98,000 miles. I am sorry if this is in the wrong section and I am sorry for the long essay lol but here goes;
I have had the car for 2 weeks and it has been brilliant, very responsive and no loss of power, everything works as it should.
About 7 or 8 days into owning the car the temprature gauge began to creep up ever so slightly by about 1 or 2 bars per journey (from the exact middle of the gauge, every clio I have owned has always had a temprature gauge that always shows the needle exactly in the middle) However longer journeys on the motorway are a different story because they will go fine for a little while and then after about 10/15 minutes of doing 70/80mph on the motorway the temprature needle will start creeping up by 1 bar and then 2 bars and then 3 or 4 bars and the needle even reaches the very top of the temprature gauge and the red 'STOP' light appears on the dashboard along with another small red engine management type of symbol. Strangely though when the 'STOP' sign appears on the dashboard I simply have to take my foot off the accelerator and then the temprature needle drops back down by about 3 or 4 bars and then the red 'STOP' sign goes off until I accelerate again and then it will come back on. Another strange thing is that it can sometimes be the other way round meaning when I see the red 'STOP' light come on all I have to do is accelrate hard resulting in the red 'STOP' symbol going off and also the temprature gauge dropping significantally by about 3 or 4 bars.
The car does not have any loss of power at all, it doesnt loose any coolant and it doesn't leak any oil and it doesn't have any head gasket problems at all.
About 5 days ago the engine management light started coming on which I knew was probably related to the problems I had already been facing and after looking into it people advised me that the 'coolant temprature sensor' is faulty on my car as this is a common fault on the clio 182's. So off I went and got a new coolant temp sensor fitted and when I picked the car up after it had the work done the engine management light had gone straight away and the temprature needle was sitting just under half way and already the car felt better to drive. I drove the car for 20+ miles after having the work done and part way into this journey the temprature needle shot straight upto the top of the gauge and the 'STOP' light came on again but this time the needle kept staying at the top of the gauge, however when I was coming off the motorway it settled down and the needle dropped to the middle of the gauge again. Someone did say to me that I have to let the new sensor wear in for a little bit, so what I did was turned on my front heated windscreen on full and as soon as I did this the temprature gauge more or less immediately settled straight back down to just below half way and since that moment the temprature needle doesnt move at all past half way. It has been absolutely perfect for more than a day now.
The engine itself has been well cared for, it has had alot of work done in the past with reciepts to prove. When the red 'STOP' light comes on I can still drive the car however I want because the STOP light doesnt affect the driveablity of the car at all, it just appeared to be a minor fault of some sort.
I have had it into a garage and they cannot find any faults at all when they plugged their computer in.
Upto now I have had no more problems, but I just wanted to post this on here because to be honest it might happen again and I just wanted some advice of what it could be or if anyone else on here has experienced a similair siutation to this.
Many thanks and any advice will be appreciated.
I have had the car for 2 weeks and it has been brilliant, very responsive and no loss of power, everything works as it should.
About 7 or 8 days into owning the car the temprature gauge began to creep up ever so slightly by about 1 or 2 bars per journey (from the exact middle of the gauge, every clio I have owned has always had a temprature gauge that always shows the needle exactly in the middle) However longer journeys on the motorway are a different story because they will go fine for a little while and then after about 10/15 minutes of doing 70/80mph on the motorway the temprature needle will start creeping up by 1 bar and then 2 bars and then 3 or 4 bars and the needle even reaches the very top of the temprature gauge and the red 'STOP' light appears on the dashboard along with another small red engine management type of symbol. Strangely though when the 'STOP' sign appears on the dashboard I simply have to take my foot off the accelerator and then the temprature needle drops back down by about 3 or 4 bars and then the red 'STOP' sign goes off until I accelerate again and then it will come back on. Another strange thing is that it can sometimes be the other way round meaning when I see the red 'STOP' light come on all I have to do is accelrate hard resulting in the red 'STOP' symbol going off and also the temprature gauge dropping significantally by about 3 or 4 bars.
The car does not have any loss of power at all, it doesnt loose any coolant and it doesn't leak any oil and it doesn't have any head gasket problems at all.
About 5 days ago the engine management light started coming on which I knew was probably related to the problems I had already been facing and after looking into it people advised me that the 'coolant temprature sensor' is faulty on my car as this is a common fault on the clio 182's. So off I went and got a new coolant temp sensor fitted and when I picked the car up after it had the work done the engine management light had gone straight away and the temprature needle was sitting just under half way and already the car felt better to drive. I drove the car for 20+ miles after having the work done and part way into this journey the temprature needle shot straight upto the top of the gauge and the 'STOP' light came on again but this time the needle kept staying at the top of the gauge, however when I was coming off the motorway it settled down and the needle dropped to the middle of the gauge again. Someone did say to me that I have to let the new sensor wear in for a little bit, so what I did was turned on my front heated windscreen on full and as soon as I did this the temprature gauge more or less immediately settled straight back down to just below half way and since that moment the temprature needle doesnt move at all past half way. It has been absolutely perfect for more than a day now.
The engine itself has been well cared for, it has had alot of work done in the past with reciepts to prove. When the red 'STOP' light comes on I can still drive the car however I want because the STOP light doesnt affect the driveablity of the car at all, it just appeared to be a minor fault of some sort.
I have had it into a garage and they cannot find any faults at all when they plugged their computer in.
Upto now I have had no more problems, but I just wanted to post this on here because to be honest it might happen again and I just wanted some advice of what it could be or if anyone else on here has experienced a similair siutation to this.
Many thanks and any advice will be appreciated.