Can't sustain power delivery under load

[cliomtb]

I've had my Clio 182 since April. It's always ran really well until now.

About 10 days ago, it developed an intermittent problem where it couldn't maintain power when using any more than about one third throttle. The problem became more and more common over the last few days and is now pretty much permanent. The problem started after driving through some big puddles. I initially thought the problem was ignition related and have changed the plugs, coil pack and leads.

Now the problem is there most of the time, the symptoms are more obvious. On light throttle, you wouldn't know anything is wrong. It starts fine both hot and cold and idles fine both hot and cold. If I try to use lots of throttle it pulls hard for a few seconds and then it loses power. If I take my foot off the accelerator for a few seconds and then go back on the accelerator it will pull hard again for a few seconds before losing power. When it loses power, there's no popping or heavy misfiring, but almost complete loss of power. The more throttle I try to use, the quicker the problem occurs.

I'm thinking it's a problem with the fuel pump, or fuel pressure regulator. What do you reckon?

Thanks

 

[bloke]

white connector in the fuse box under the bonnet.

 

[STEVE.M]

Is the squiggly light in the centre of the clock display illuminated?

If so, disconnect the 90 pin connector off the top of the ECU and douse both ends with electrical cleaner.

If that does not work, repeat with blokes suggestion.

 

[cliomtb]

Thanks for the pointers! I'd intended to look at these things this evening, but everything has magically returned to normal. It's been sat in the sun all day at work, so I'm guessing maybe there was still some moisture in one of these connectors that has now dried out. Driving home (40 mins country lanes) I tried everything to reproduce the problem, but couldn't. I'll see how it goes over the next couple of days and will probably give both those connectors a good spray at the weekend regardless.

 

[cliomtb]

Forgot to say: squiggly light in the centre of the clock display was not illuminated