Clio won't start

[paulb2]

Hey, this is my first post on here after getting a Monaco blue 172 a week ago and it breaking down after 2days but I'm hoping I can be of some use Iv had the exact same fault as you for the past week and have just found the problem. The earth coming out of the main loom from the ecu that connects to the gearbox had broken off due to corrosion. It's worth checking this as all of your symptoms are the same... Engine cranking a few times, immob light on constant, all relays good, fuel pump not priming. Hope this helps.

 

[Jonny1*2]

Thanks Paul. Got an auto eleccy out today to have a look. Fuel pump primes on mine though. I've tried earthing the ECU manually also, but this has no effect.

 

[sir_ash]

Hi, just been reading through the thread and I have the exact same problem - intermittently won't start, immobiliser light stays on. Eventually it starts after waggling a few wires but it's driving me nuts getting stuck everywhere!

Been trying to hunt down a wiring diagram with no luck from unhelpful garages, mines a '03 172 Clio Cup - if anyone has one let me know! If nobody replies, I will see if I can buy one off a mechanic and let you all know if I fix it - please do the same! :S

Things tried so far:
*Replaced 2 black relays next to battery (as advised on here, they looked bad when I took them apart on the contacts, worked for 2 wks but back to same issue)
*Checked and cleaned all earths that I could get to.

I've spoked to some garages who had mixed opinions, but none have a clear fix. Some say wiring loom change, some say key code reader change and also someone told me to drop the key on the floor (but its not that as it happens with both keys.)

Dont want to send to a garage as they'll just change things until it's cured - £££!!

If I dont fix it soon I am burning it!

 

[172HORSES]

hi mate one of those three brown relays is an injection locking relay. it runs straight to the injection computer and that wire is common for corroding inside the loom. strip the loom back from the relay end and where the loom bends round the battery is usually is usually the point it corrodes.

 

[myclio172]

My car has been starting everytime since reearthing the whole car.... (Touchwood)

Also before earthing the car; the only way I got it to start was by opening and closing the bonnet.... I swear I can not understand the relevance of this but someone mentioned the bonnet switch to me and I guess that earths to the body yet I have never found a bonnet switch on my car. I think it is meant to be on the passanger headlight area.

May be worth a look.

 

[myclio172]

Also on another occasion I got stuck outside the powerflow garage.... for nearly 3 hours....

Tried all relays cleaning everything up.... for some very strange reason I thought I should wobble the airbag cables under the passanger seat to clear airbag and service light and guess what.... it started.

Since then I have re-earthed it has been fine....

Might be worth a go...

 

[Jonny1*2]

Your airbag light was causing your issues? wierd?

Reprogrammed my keys tonight with no success. Immobiliser can't be reprogrammed unless you completely wipe the UCH unit. I'm not sure if that will work either. I've got a second hand ECU/UCH coming so fingers crossed that will sort it.

 

[Jonny1*2]

UPDATE: Clio won't start

So looks like it's not an immobiliser fault :S. I put a second ECU/UCH combo on tonight and it made no difference. All the same CLIP info/problems were apparent. Soooo frustrating this.

 

[Jonny1*2]

Had a diagnostic specialist (who does jobs for renault that they can't sort) looking at it for the past few days now. He's removed both of my ECU kits, put them on his car and it runs fine. This s**ts gone international now.lol. He's been talking to a guy in France who works for renault about it, and he's convinced there is a problem with either the CAN-BUS line, or the other data line (name of which I can't remember). I can see this being a new loom job the rate it's going.

Oh, and on the subject of relays. Not sure how much people know about this, but the lines on the ph2 models and up have been adjusted to detect a certain amount of load on them. So even if the relay seems to be working, unless the computer detects the right levels of resistance/current, it will not work. So basically you can't remove the relay, stick a wire in the two points and check the circuit as it will get the wrong signal levels. Thought that was quite interesting

 

[Jonny1*2]

UPDATE:

She's finally working !!!! Yay!!

The guys not 100% what the problem was to be honest. He changed the engine loom (after a week of various testing) and the car fired up straight away. But then it wouldn't start afterwards, but the starter just kept on clicking. Bump started it and it was all good. So starter was then changed and all good. So it was a loom and starter motor issue

This confused him as he had checked the earths and also manually earthed the starter before changing the loom, so it couldn't have been this. So he spoke to Renault senior technical guys in france again. Explained what had happened and he said that this was a common fault on the f4r megane engine. Something to do with electro-mechanical interferance from the starter motor which has a loop back to the immobiliser. So if anyone else is having similar issues in the future, here's a few things to try

 

[mattjk]

glad you got it fixed, interesting read although what a nightmare fault!

 

[AS1]

Let's reply to a 13 year old thread...
I'd say R107 was your problem because both faulty segments were on that connector.
R107 is the connector in the scuttle. It's accessible when the wiper tank is removed.

When the technician changed the wiring loom, which connects to R107, he probably inadvertenly fixed your problem.