failure of pretty much everything fml

[Joew182]

had the worst night of my life ever.
driving to collect a friend, get a bout halfway to hers, the stop and battery light come on, but dissapear when i have trhe throttle down, but re-appear when i am off it. pick her up, head towards mcd's whihc is about 8 miles away, get 7 miles along and the abs, tcs, air bag and another light on dash come on (pretty much the brake sensor ones), go through the drive through, and as the food is taking a while i turn the engine off.
go to turn it on and it wont start. literally nothing, not even starter motor. try again and again, eventually get a push and manage to jump start it. the dials sre very dim, the window only winds up and inch at a time, and it sounds proper lumpy and a slight hot rubber smell. get out and there is a 'lumpy' noise coming from the exhaust (engine is on).
decide to drive it to the garage's car park, and all of the warning lights i listed above are on, dials are dim, headlights are very dim (high beam almost cut the enigine out when i was stationary!!) lights end up not working at all, they are in the on positin on the stalk but the green dash light is off and no liht being emitted ahead of me. very low power and revs odd. set off to go to garage and it revved to 2k, stopped, then 3k and no more (limp mode?) also the speedo was not working. sitting in the car stationary it felt very rough, felt like it was vibrating and moving with the 'lumpy' sound. sounded like the dephaser was lumpy too. anyway parked it at the garage and turned it off, went to start it and absolutely nothing at all. no noise atall. dead.
so yh.....great night.

 

[McGherkin]

Alternator by the sounds of it. Make sure the belt's still there as it sounds like it's not doing anything at all.

 

[Joew182]

started off as more of a electrical fault that then gradually turned mechanical. i filled the car up to the brim with petrol earlier today,, which ive never done before.
if its the alternator how bad are we talking?

 

[Joew182]

checked under bonnet and all belts that i could see where still on and not loose at time of leaving to go to the garage

 

[McGherkin]

All the misfires and poor running will be as a result of low voltage doing weird things to the ECU and not having enough power to spark, so I'd not attach too much to that just yet. If the belt's still in place then that's definitely a good sign as it means it's not wrapped itself around the crank pulley and done damage to your engine.

It could be a bad connection (have a look round for anything loose), but if you do need to change the alternator then there may be one for sale here;
http://www.cliosport.net/threads/ph2-172-engine-parts.773234/#post-10728376

I'd check the battery as well though, in case it's not holding a charge, but I think in this case the alternator is more likely.

 

[Joew182]

hopefully that is the case, just the altenator then! i was having thouights of complete engine failure and having to buy something other than a clio sport haha! ive left it at the garage so i will phone up about it tomrrow and it will be looked at on monday.
now to ask the mother for a lift to work later...

 

[LeeRS]

I had sane problem. the connector from the alternator had sheared off and disconnected.
I just fitted a new connector and all was well. Hopefully this is all you need to do.

Pics of girl?

 

[Symon]

If the belt has snapped you would loose the power steering.

It could be the alternator connector as LeeRS says, a broken off earth, cooked (and internally shorted) battery, or the Alternator itself.

 

[Joew182]

Had not lost power steering so can I guess that the belt had not snapped then on the journey from when I checked under the bonnet to leaving it at the garage?
I hope it is only something to do with the alternator, as it was more electrical faults that then morphed into lumpiness and rough idling and decreased performance of the engine.

 

[Joew182]

Went to the garage where the Clio is, which is also where I work on Mondays, and started it over, nothing, sounds like engine may be seized according to my mechanic friends. I hope it isn't! They also spotted that there was some rotting on wires to and from the battery and alternator so replacing these and the alternator should atleast be a start!!
Car is booked in for Friday so I'm without a car for a week!

 

[Addicted]

They sound like cowboys if their first thought is a seized engine, yet they're replacing battery cables imo.

Anyway, best of luck.

 

[Joew182]

yh i was thinking the only reason it wouldnt turn over would be because there is very little electricity running through the vehicle. hopefully its a simple fix like the altenator or battery connection.