Advice Needed - Clio 1.2 16v

[dan.clio]

Hi everyone,

One of our company cars is a little 1.2 16v 03 Reg Clio which recently appears to be losing power.

The lady who drives it took it to her local garage and this is what she says we've been invoiced for so far.....

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I cant scan the invoice as it wont work but see below work already carried out:

First Visit – Investigate lack of power, Suspect exhaust blockage

exhaust pressure test - high
remove back section and carry out second pressure test - test ok
replace rear section of exhaust - £95.01

Second visit – Fault reoccurred

Carry out diagnostic check , Lambda censor circuit fault logged - £29.83
Replace front lambda sensor - £83.68
Labour - £70.50

Total to date £278.57

Car is running but not right he cannot guarantee that it will not break down again as possible Catalytic Converter failure but further tests needed to confirm.

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Now to me the first visit cost of £95 is reasonable for the labour and parts involved.

But the second visit labour of £70.50 represents at least 2 hours labour ....now even I could replace a lambda sensor and run a diagnostic check in less than an hour :S .

I also think that if the Cat had failed they would have noticed this when replacing the old sections of exhaust???

Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated!

Cheers

 

[16v_jon]

How long is a piece of string with that engine there are thousands of known faults with it. What lights if any are coming on?
Have you checked the ECU wiring at the back of the engine going to the ECU protection cover? that usually causes a fault with these.

 

[clio__chris]

2 hours to change a sensor and run a check? did they get a woman to do it who couldnt undo the sensor?

does it run rough or just "slow"?

 

[dan.clio]

2 hours to change a sensor and run a check? did they get a woman to do it who couldnt undo the sensor?

does it run rough or just "slow"?

Exactly my point mate lol .... i've seen invoices from this garage before come through with parts at double the price so i don't have any trust in them at all.

The car is currently down in Devon and i'm based in our head office in Bristol so i'm not entirely sure what i runs like. All i'm told is that i seems to have a major lack of power.

I just wanted to see what everyone else thought of the pricing before i called the garage. Or if anyone else had had this problem.

I will try and find out exactly what the car drives like etc tomorrow

 

[dan.clio]

How long is a piece of string with that engine there are thousands of known faults with it. What lights if any are coming on?
Have you checked the ECU wiring at the back of the engine going to the ECU protection cover? that usually causes a fault with these.

I'm unsure if any lights are displayed .....i will find out

 

[AlexS]

There are good 1.2 16v and bad ones, i ve had one of each, some of them its just one fault after another.
Common issues that you probably check:

-Dirty throttle body
-Coil packs feked
-ECU cage (Directly behind engine) rattles about and chews through half the wires.