Car is holding back and then accelerating again

[Terry172]

I had this problem approx 2 years ago on/off and one day it decided it had enough and didn't like fuel injector 3 so I had that changed it's been fine since until towards the end of Jan this year. Since then till now I have noticed the car keeps holding back when it was getting up to temperature and mis-firing but has only happened 3-4 times max e.g. on sat I left mine in the morning and it was doing it for about 10mins and then once on the motorway and warmed up it was fine, even the drive back home that afternoon.

Noticed my mpg is not very good compared with others doing the same journeys and just seems to be running lower on overall power.........thinking of trying the lambda sensor 1st because that has never been changed since I have owned the car (5 years) and not sure in the 6 years before that.

My question is...could changing the lambda sensor solve the problems I am having?

If so does the Bosch lambda sensor Eurocarparts sell for the clio work? They charge £79, Renault want £112.90 and the other option is K-tec £96....

Just hoping it doesn't suddenly get worse and the fuel injector problem comes back again....

Cheers

Tel

 

[blambert]

Upstream Lambda fo sho.BUT, if you know someone with a Clip who will do it for £20 on teh side then get it checked to be sure.

I had the exact same problems, intermittent holding back and misfiring that then cleared after a few minutes and it drove fine. The upstream lambda alters the fuelling when cold, and over fuels, flooding and causing pops and bangs. You should find over the next few days it gets progressively worse. I got an emission light after 4 days of it.

http://goo.gl/YusFR

£60 from NW Performance, Bosch is the OEM manufacturer so it's the same from Renault.

10 mins with a 22mm spanner and you'll be good to go.

 

[Terry172]

Have an RSTuner module so I can read all the faults and for the last 3 years it's been saying 02 sensor fault but I was told this was common and to ignore it....so I just wiped it off each time

Cheers for the heads up about the one from NW Performance will get that ordered and sort it out :approve:

 

[HOMERV6]

Yeah sounds like lambda sensor Look on well known auction site and get one for £20 like i did { Yeah ok i was lucky }

 

[scottyuk7]

yeah does sound like the lambda sensor after replacing that my other clio worked fine but only after replacing the coil pack first

 

[Terry172]

Ok so I have been a little lazy sorting this out until I was off last week. How the hell do you get the sensor off?! I have sprayed lots of wd40 on it and left it to soak over night as well as on the day of doing it and the sensor won't shift!! It doesn't help that the ph1 172 manifold doesn't give much access to it and laying on the ground under the car doesn't help. How did others get theirs off? Want to attempt it again tomorrow before and get it sorted before a long drive next week so any help much appreciated before I give up and give it to a garage to do....

 

[regi james]

heat or take it to an exhaust fitter and pay them a fiver to loosen it

 

[Terry172]

heat or take it to an exhaust fitter and pay them a fiver to loosen it

I have no way of heating it so I think your 2nd idea will be the one I will have to do

 

[john.med]

Which lambda are we all talking about, the one nearest the engine?

I've had hesitance around 1800 rpm on and off for years, slightly worse now. Mpg is fine, 30+. I've replaced plugs, TDC sensor and leads, throttle body and pedal even [cos of high revving and non responsive throttle]. kept clearing the fault code, and It did no good. Had a clip machine clear all codes and I've not had another code since, but the hesitancy is still there, years later!!!

 

[regi james]

the front one. all the rear one does is monitor exhaut gasses for the emission light

 

[john.med]

^ta.

With a baby on the way I think I'll save the money and time and live with it a bit longer. I dint get any bangs or pops to be fair. Could be the coil pack?!

 

[ScarySquirrel]

I have this exact same problem. It doesn't happen every morning, it seems intermittent. After a few mins the car drives fine. MPG is fine, occasionally the EML comes on for 20 miles or so but usually goes off after a while.

Is it damaging to the car in any way?

 

[Terry172]

As others have said it's the front sensor that causes the problems unfortunately for me I only have the 1 so I can't just swap them over. You guys that have the 2 sensors swap them over and see how things go.

Problems if left I have been told could be damage to the cat etc with the over fuelling that happens

Unfortunately no garages out of the 3 I tried could get me on the ramp today to gain access

 

[ScarySquirrel]

Is it simply a case of jack the car up, unbolt it, unplug it, plug new one in, tighten it up, job done?

 

[Terry172]

Is it simply a case of jack the car up, unbolt it, unplug it, plug new one in, tighten it up, job done?

Yep if you can get to the bloody thing on a ph1 to get the thing off lol......with your 182 it will be much easier

 

[ScarySquirrel]

Cool, thanks Terry.

Might have to buy a new one then. It's getting quite annoying, and I definitely don't want to damage the cat as I've had it modified slightly. Would be a right ball ache is that broke!

 

[john.med]

I had engine management light come on today, again it's code: P0420 catalyst efficiency below threshold (bank 1). Last had this code in December '08. Is this the pre or post catalyst lambda, and is it worth swapping them over or renewing?

Thanks chaps!

 

[daddycool]

i had a load of hassle trying to remove my last one. i made a tool in the end out of a spanner, socket wrench and spark plug socket. did the job in about 10 minutes where the day before i spent a couple of hours trying to shift it.

stick the ring end of the 22mm (i think) spanner on the sensor. in the open end of the spanner, stick your spark plug socket in there. needs to be a spark plug socket as they have a six sided hex on it. then i whacked my socket wrench onto the spark plug socket et voila a breaker bar with an elbow joint so you can work with different clearances . i couldn't use my actual breaker bar as it would just bend when trying to use it on this.

 

[john.med]

Thanks for that, can you confirm which sensor is bank 1?

 

[john.med]

Anyone?

 

[daddycool]

bank refers to a group of cylinders, a 4 cylinder engine has 1 bank of four cylinders, a v6 engine has two banks of 3 cylinders (for example). bank 1 is the group of cylinders that contains cylinder #1. in the case of the clio, it only has one bank of cylinders, there is no bank 2. what you'll prob find is a bank 1 sensor 1 (before the cat) and a bank 1 sensor 2 (after the cat).

4 cyl
c1 c2 c3 c4 (bank 1)
b1s1
b1s2

v6
c2 c4 c6 (bank 2)
c1 c3 c5 (bank 1)
b1s1 b2s1
b1s2 b2s2

c=cylinder
b=bank
s=sensor

 

[john.med]

Woh. Thanks for the detailed explanation!!!