clio 172 alarm problem. many an angry student after me

[doddz123]

Good morning all,

So I bought a clio 172 last month and had no problems with it other than the battery. Three times ive gone to go out and its been completely flat. This happened again yesterday, so I got it jumped and drove around a bit to charge it.

Im currently living in a halls of residence and flatmates and I fancied the fine cuisine of a late night maccies. Got back about 3am and for some reason the alarm keeps going off?

I have tried using the door lock button from inside and then using the key in the drivers door to lock but the key just kept turning and when it stopped, it hadnt locked, just turned full circle.

Any help would be appreciated by me and all of the other restless students ha!

 

[Jekyll]

Bonnet alarm sensor. I had te same issues as you as it went in my old 182 and bought a new one (£15iirc from Renault) and was fine after that.

 

[doddz123]

Are they easy to fit/replace? Im a complete novice when it comes to cars.
Cheers

 

[doddz123]

Just seen that someone had turned on an interior light. Could that be causing the sensor to set off the alarm?

 

[Spinksy]

Just seen that someone had turned on an interior light. Could that be causing the sensor to set off the alarm?

Not afaik

The sensors in the car work on pressure difference, the ones in the door and bonnet work on something pressing against the button

Most likely as Dr Jekyll says your sensor under the bonnet

 

[Spinksy]

Are they easy to fit/replace? Im a complete novice when it comes to cars.
Cheers

Yes, they pretty much just plug in/out

 

[koi]

Flat battery caused mine to go off.

 

[Brett]

My MX5's alarm was really over sensitive, when I was at uni I had exactly the same situation.

It was worsened when my mates realised banging on the soft top would set it off; every time we went out one of them had to set the alarm off on my car, t***s.

 

[doddz123]

Think switching the light off worked.
Cheers for all the advice.

 

[doddz123]

OK, so slight update.

Battery died again and now my key fob wont work and nor will the spare. The light on the keys flash but the car doesnt lock/unlock.
I put my main key in the drivers door lock and twisted and it went round and round.

Is this in anyway normal or at least related to a dead battery or have I just been mugged right off?

 

[bloke]

if the battery is dead then the remote locking won't work.

 

[Spinksy]

if the battery is dead then the remote locking won't work.

This^

But your key should still work in the door unless the door/lock were replaced for some reason...

Accident damaged that you know of?

 

[doddz123]

Every other time my battery has died, the remote locking has still worked.

I wasn't told of any accident damage.
When I next go home (or if I can get home, ha!) ill check all of the history that I got with it.

 

[Spinksy]

Every other time my battery has died, the remote locking has still worked.

I wasn't told of any accident damage.
When I next go home (or if I can get home, ha!) ill check all of the history that I got with it.

If the key doesn't open the door mate it is likely that one of the two is not original

Most likely the door

 

[bloke]

could be the locking mechanism has been disconnected so the car can't be opened with the key, seen this a few times before now.

 

[Spinksy]

could be the locking mechanism has been disconnected so the car can't be opened with the key, seen this a few times before now.

Why though? Surely to do something like this something has got to have been wrong in the first place...

And the locking mechanisms on clios are pretty basic in the sense that the barrel has a bar at the end which should turn into the locking mechanism to get the car to lock/unlock

The locking mechanism has to be there for the central locking to work

So you would have to remove the bar, which is f**king pointless unless you have stolen the car yourself..

Most likely that the car was broken into or crashed into causing it to need a replacement door.... Owner replaced door, but didn't change barrel

 

[AlexW]

If the lock turns, its the right key, but the barrel/plastic rod on the end will be broken.

Bonnet pin switch can be unplugged to prove its the issue too.

 

[Spinksy]

If the lock turns, its the right key, but the barrel/plastic rod on the end will be broken.

I beg to differ

I had experience with this before I replaced my entire lock set/key/ecu/ uch on the 1.2

I guarantee you now I had the wrong key for 6 months and it opened the car via the button for central locking but when put in the barrel would just turn endlessly even though the barrel and locking mechanism were fine