Clio 172 Phase 1 steering problem!

[Samjjj]

Just bought myself a clio 172 phase 1 it has the abs light on the dash along with serv light. .. On the trip home after 145 miles of everything working as it should with no problems what so ever the steering suddenly went 'crazy' turning itself left to right very voilently at 70mph. i pulled off the motorway and had it in the air and everything seemed to be fine and in place other than that the drive shaft boot was wrapped round the drive shaft. so i unwrapped the rubber boot from the shaft and manned up the drive home.. again 30miles of everything as it should then again the steering went hard left to right.. almost as if the ABS was cutting in or the wheels lost all balance or the drive shaft is killed. it was becoming more frequent so i pulled off the motorway and left the car in a housing estate for the night and recovered it on a flatbed the following morning.

I have bought a new NS driveshaft and abs ring sensors and will be fitted this afternoon. if this doesnt fix the problem what else could it be?

any help would be great!

 

[freerider247]

Might be the fact you bought a shitter! Scrap it! Or the fact u were topping it out at 70 there only really good for 69 tops! 70 is pushing the limit!!!!! and 145 miles in one run woah!!!!! 144 at the most! Stop at a pub let her rest grab a few pints and carry on look after her and she will be fine Come on guys help out anyone had simular problems? ...

 

[Dan@SJM]

Sounds like it's got the wrong shaft fitted

 

[MicKPM]

It would be doing it all the time at a guess if that were the case Dan? I've never known a Ph1 (with Bosch ABS 4.0) to activate braking on its own and as the system is extremely basic and balanced it shouldn't be able to violently alter trajectory.

Are you on the brakes at all when this happens or is it just when driving down the road? I suspect it's more to do with either the brake servo/vac line or the brakes themselves. Proper investigation required and finding out why the SERV & ABS light is on wouldn't hurt either. A really dangerous vehicle to be driving until it is sorted to.

 

[Samjjj]

MikeKPM, euro car parts suppied me with the wrong drive shaft so im yet to fit that.. but i got her plugged in and the NS front and OS rear ABS sensors are toast ( im guessing thats the abs/serv light delt with once fitted )

The ABS rings are like new already, so i think fit the new drive shaft take it for a test drive and see.. if its still there i guess i move on to the next bit :/ all bushes are good and everything is tight, wheels balanced etc etc.. it was driving PERFECT for a good 140 miles them it just went rubbish

dam thing

 

[Dan@SJM]

It would be doing it all the time at a guess if that were the case Dan? I've never known a Ph1 (with Bosch ABS 4.0) to activate braking on its own and as the system is extremely basic and balanced it shouldn't be able to violently alter trajectory.

Are you on the brakes at all when this happens or is it just when driving down the road? I suspect it's more to do with either the brake servo/vac line or the brakes themselves. Proper investigation required and finding out why the SERV & ABS light is on wouldn't hurt either. A really dangerous vehicle to be driving until it is sorted to.

My theory was that it was the wrong shaft and it was fine when in a straight line however after a certain amount of steering angle applied it pulled the shaft out of box.

 

[Samjjj]

anyone else able to help ??

 

[Jekyll]

Might be the fact you bought a shitter! Scrap it! Or the fact u were topping it out at 70 there only really good for 69 tops! 70 is pushing the limit!!!!! and 145 miles in one run woah!!!!! 144 at the most! Stop at a pub let her rest grab a few pints and carry on look after her and she will be fine Come on guys help out anyone had simular problems? ...

How is that helpful?

 

[Rob669]

OP, buy an exchange shaft from Renault, try Adam at Renault Wolverhampton (his details are in the trader section). That way you'll get the correct one. The ABS and SERV light is probably the wires under the driver's seat (very common problem do a search and easy to fix with a cable tie). You can test the ABS sensors with a multimeter, easy to do and there's a vid on YouTube. To replace the sensors in the hub, I found you had to destroy them to get them out as they are so tight. New ones, again from Renault and they are not cheap.

 

[Samjjj]

Thanks for your help

I now have a new NS drive shaft , new NS ABS sensor ( there wasnt one there ) a new OS read ABS sensor ( £137 ) and tonight i give it a good drive of about 65miles and everything seems spot on, no lights on the dash, and no random left to right steering!!

im going to get 4 wheel allingment done and wheels balanced and new set of AO48 tyres for it just for good measure

compared to my old 197 the phase 1 is so much more alive! i love it!