Clio 16V problems, again! Mechanic needed

[Paul16V]

Alright, wonder if anyone can help me with this.

Was coming down the motorway yesterday, my petrol was pretty low, I was gonna get some at the next junction. ON my gauge it said I was half way between quarter full and empty (my gauge is a bit dodgy!) My car started to brake as I accelerated. So I though sh*t! run out of petrol so I pulled over to the hard shoulder and went and got some petrol, put it in and it started really lumpy and kept cutting out. Tried several attempts as I thought it might have sucked some crap from the tank up so I shaked the car to see if that would help. As I have done this on a mates before and it seemed to. Still no good.

Got the RAC out, he played with it, Takin the wires that go on to the throttle body off and stuff and it seemed to rev more but then just kept cutting out again.

Had to get towed home in the end.

He said he thought it must be something to do with the air flow meter or the engine management. Anyone got any idea? I need to try and sort it myself as I am skint. Would taking the air flow meter of and giveing it a bit of a clean out help? I still think that it maybe some crap from the tank stopping the fuel getting through but dunno where to look to try and clear this.

Any help would be much appreciated!!

 

[Nick Read]

There is no airflow meter on a valver. The only thing I can think of is clogged fuel filter, injectors or fuel lines. Check them in that order. In fact just go down Halfords today and buy a new fuel filter for a fiver. Change it over (its underneath the car and held in by a jubilee clip each end. If it works, great, if it doesnt, youve only spent a fiver and it probably needed doing anyway.

If its still rough then Id get a garage to have a look at your injectors unless you fancy tackling the job yourself, which isnt that bad, but you need to mess around depressurising the fuel system and stuff. Engine management doesnt just pack up for no reason. I wouldnt suspect that yet but a proper diagnostic test will reveal any ECU or sensor problems which are a possibility.

 

[Paul16V]

OK, Ill have a go at the fuel filter. Is that usually the first thing to block up?

 

[Paul16V]

I though there was an air flow meter on a valver? A few months ago when I was talking about mine cutting out I was told to clean the air flow meter out,

confused

 

[steve_rt]

what do you guys use to clamp the hose in place? the last time i tried to dfo this my clamp didnt work and i covered myself in petrol

 

[Dave Hester]

just fold the pipe in half at the end and fasten a cable tie around it, then just slide the tie off when your new filter is in place and connect the cable back up

 

[Adams_16v]

Paul,

My dad saw you on the way home from work. He said it was a blue valver with 5 spokes. Obviously he didnt know it was you at the time.

Anyway, if u want to try another ECU to try iv got that spare one. What did the RAC man say to your home made filter? hehe

 

[Nick Read]

lol but Paul, did you find an airflow meter to clean out? If you did Ill be bloody impressed! The valver ECU meters fuel by calculating air volume from manifold pressure and engine speed. Hence no need for an airflow meter or any of that stuff.

BTW yes the fuel filter should be the first thing to clog up. If it doesnt, then its not doing its job properly. Much easier to change a clogged fuel filter than a clogged injector, thats why its first in line.

 

[Paul16V]

Got it sorted. A new fuel filter and some fuel and it was running. Sounfs really tappy now though, could that be because its been started up loads and oils not got round the engine properly? The oil level is ok and it had a change a few weeks ago.

Oh and when I got it all runnin, set of up the road and 100 meters later clutch cable snapped!! Is my car jinxed or what??!! Cheers for helpin push it onto the drive Craig!! Good job u were there!

Now gotta get the clutch cable fixed. 2nd one ive had in a year. Only done 3000 miles since the last one went. Is this normal? It was genuine renault too!

 

[steve_rt]

sorry to hijack the thread, but one more q about the fuel filter: when looking at it from underneath the vehicle, the arrow indicating direction of fuel shoul d be pointing outwards (i.e. to the door). the reason i ask this is that the existing filter points towards the centre of the vehicle, and i *think* whoever put this on before has put it the wrong way round.

am i right, or would the filter just not work if it was incorrectly mounted?

 

[Adams_16v]

hehehe lucky you live on a slight hill. Was a proper comendy moment though. Set off up the hill, it snapped so just rolled back 100yrd and into ur drive exactly as it was before.

 

[Paul16V]

should be pointin out yeah, as thats the way the fuel should flow. Would probably work though. But shouldnt be that way. If u wanna turn it round id get a new one as the crap thats filtered will be sucked through if u just turn it around.

 

[Nick Read]

Well glad the advice helped. I never realised I was such a master mechanic. you didnt get that clutch snapping thing on video did you, Id love to have seen it! Get a new filter anyway and put it the right way round. They definitely work better one way than the other, the arrow should be towards the engine end.

 

[T.Ferrino]

If the valver has a reserve fuel tank like the williams, when you run out of fuel you have to put at least 5 liters in before it tops up the main tank. This could explain why it still kept cutting out after putting a small amount of fuel in and after replacing the fuel filter and putting more fuel in it ran fine.

 

[Paul16V]

I got a new filter on it. It looked pretty old the one that was on it anyway. Still not got the clutch cable on yet. Gave it up as a bad job. Cant get the cable to thread through as its so tight down near the manifold. Get my dads mechanic mate to do it. Afraid it wasnt on vid when it snapped hehe.

Was proper gutted. Got the standard rims on too to see what its like as I have only run it on 16s and 17s since Ive had it. Still not tried em yet. Must admit it appeals to me havin the smaller wheels, much more practical, and how light are the phase 1 speedlines!!! weigh like half as much as the 17s nearly.