Few issues - owned just under two month.

[-Craigo]

Alright so I've had my Clio for just under two months now. It's pretty great, In fact I love it though there is a few problems I'd like to try and fix, with hopefully the help from you guys. After looking on the forums I've found various scenarios for a couple of my issues. But I'd like to nail it and get them fixed before my winter service!

Info: Clio 1.2 16v 02 plate Expression, so hasn't got climate gor anything fancy lol


They're not really problems, More so issues. No negative effects as I can tell. But they're just there and they've got me worried it would cost a bomb come winter service.

1. My outside temperature is reading an astonishing 42'C! It would be perfect if it was... But it's more like -1'C! Possible problem with the nipple thing on the mirror or wiring etc..??

2. Well... Car starts perfect first time. Every time. I always wait about 10 secs to let thw fuel pump through and wait for he lights to go out before turning it on. Only when it does fire up.. The revs jump slightly up and down a couple of times between 700 to 1100 revs, up and down up and down, after a few mins it'll settle at 1100 then gradually pull down to 700/800 revs where it'll sit nicely, can't hear it run when you're inside the car lol. Is his normal????

3. The engine temperature gauge - it will never reach up to the half way point and if it does it will then just go back down to the quarter point (only half way up to normal operating temp) up and down. A couple of times I've say there nd just let it idle to get to half way, but it would just drop down again. Even after running 20+ miles in 5th gear at 60mph! Sometimes it is fixed by running a journey, stopping for a bit then starting again. (noticeably when I'm shopping etc..)

4. There is never really any heat coming from my heaters. The fans are moving perfect. After say 20 mins I can run the fans on hot on the slowest fan setting and it will blow a bit of heat. Quite hot, but when ever I turn the fans up faster the temperature of the air blowing out just goes colder and colder. I'm thinking that this is some sort of heating element issue? Like... Blowing hot under no air passing past it but gets blown cold by the fast air etc.. If you know what I mean lol.

5. I'm wanting to change my radio from the crappy custom kenwood that's in now to a bluetooth/cd mp3 player phone thing setup. The stalk is not currently working, but how would I go about getting this working when income to change the radio to my current as I'd like to get everything working was it should. Would I need to buy some kind of wire extension ? As I'm thinking the guy who had put this radio in might of just not bothered to get it working. Or just couldn't with this radio.

Thanks for reading and im sorry for making your eyes bleed with ma wall of text!

Hopefully someone can help! Service soon and I think it may be an expensive one !!!!

Cheers
Craig.

 

[-Craigo]

Any ideas on any of these anyone?

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Hi.

The outside temp. sensor sounds busted. Replace it or stop looking at the display. It doesn't affect anything else IIRC.

Engine temp might be thermostat not closing, so it's always passing through the rad. Check it out, or take it to a garage/mechanic you know/trust to resolve.

But this means there's less heat in the water, so your blowers won't get hot.

PM 'MT Audio' regarding the cable you need for the stereo issue.

 

[-Craigo]

Hmm yeah thought it might be busted! Tbh I'm just enjoying looking at the outside temp at 40+ as its reminding me of Dubai! might be a scrappy job!
Would the thermostat be a big job or..?

I opened the Bonnet today an Looked at this bottle. From what I remember... It's been well over a year since I've looked all this up... But this bottle in the picture below is practically empty. Which is this for, the radiator top up?



Actually looking at the bottle in this picture it looks just slightly under half way full. Since I had the car I've always assumed by looking at it that this is the case. Only today, after shaking the car about and not seeing any movement in the bottle I opened it up to find only a slivver left in the bottom. Now I know this should be near full to run at it's best! But no where near.

What do I fill this with again? Is it some kind of coolant or water or..? I'm assuming it's the radiator? I'm thinking this could be a cause or...??

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

I think you need to take it to someone who knows what they're doing as it doesn't appear you have a clue.

Sorry if that's too harsh.

The water should be between the min and max lines on that bottle. It's the expansion tank for the coolant, which at this time of year should be an appropriate ratio of coolant/anti-freeze to water. Water will do for now to get you to a garage. Fill it to max line .. run the engine .. keep an eye on the levels.

 

[-Craigo]

Thanks nah dont worry but it's true, im kinda clueless, but not entirely. Just a noob compared to you guys. but this is just something new which I want to learn to tackle on my own instead of resort to paying good money to fix! you've got to start somewhere! I'm slowly building my knowledge by my own hands on experiences/asking questions and just general reading. But things like this I'd rather ask than just dive in an start tugging at things lol.

Ok so it is actually water I fill it up with? Surely I wouldn't need to take it to a garage just to fill up the water expansion tank? as the sensor can wait till after Christmas an holiday in December which is making me skint! As I know I need to get this filled as soon as possible, I'll be getting it done tomorrow. I just hope there is no damage done....

 

[-Craigo]

Hmm so I need to buy some coolant and/or anti freeze, rough cost DIY? Would you recommend flushing it before a refill?

 

[-Craigo]

Just found some pre-mixed coolant on halfrauds website for 20 quid.. Normal price or..?? Think I may shop around a bit first. I know I've seen asda sell it before mind lol.

I think I'll probably get the concentrate as with winter coming up I'd be wanting more antifreeze to water ratio. But I don't get paid until next Thursday fooook sake. Would water damage the system for a week's use? What are the chances of the water freezing inside the system without antifreeze? I know I need something in there. just skint until next week when i can get the coolant lol..

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

You need to give it to someone who knows what they're doing as the water doesn't just disappear. It's a closed system.

There's a problem which means the water is going somewhere it shouldn't.

The chances are whatever the weather will do, how cold it is when you start the engine in the morning and how much actual antifreeze there is in the system currently.

 

[MartinR]

Do as above take it to someone who knows what they are looking at/for.. also the coolant is only £13 from renault

 

[-Craigo]

I'll be keeping it topped up until I can get it looked into. Would this be sufficient? As i cant afford it atm. Christmas an that Cheers for the Renault price tip. I'll be topping it up this once probably with that, and I'll be keeping an eye on the levels towards Christmas, leaks etc. When I'm able to I'll stick it in the shop. Depending on what happen the first time determines wether or not it's goin in I suppose.... I dunno if the guy I bought it off has drained it on purpose, oil needs changed soon too soo..

I can't help but think its all probably connected somehow.

Anyone got any ideas on the revs * blower temp?

Thanks for your help guys, appreciated

 

[MartinR]

Do not mix red and blue coolant together as it will congeal like wallpaper paste..

Take the bottom radiator hose off and stick about 25-30 litres of water through the system to try and get as much of the unknown old stuff out, if there is any??

And fill it back up with type-d Renault coolant then get it seen to asap before any damage is caused if it has not already damaged

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

I've already answered the blower temp one.

The revs, unless it's bouncing off the redline, is barely worth even investigating. Could be your ICV or a sticky TB or other things.

Christmas is months away and if you can't afford to buy things to fix your car, how can you afford presents ?!

Is fixing the problem cheaper than buying a new car ?

I know which I'd rather do.

All of these are rhetorical BTW.

 

[MartinR]

I've already answered the blower temp one.

The revs, unless it's bouncing off the redline, is barely worth even investigating. Could be your ICV or a sticky TB or other things.

Christmas is months away and if you can't afford to buy things to fix your car, how can you afford presents ?!

Is fixing the problem cheaper than buying a new car ?

I know which I'd rather do.

All of these are rhetorical BTW.

Flol^^ shoplifting i reckon

 

[-Craigo]

Well.. Looks like its the car! It's not Christmas thats expensive, it's the holiday before it lol I'll be able to get it looked at next Thursday but it's just getting it to run until then!

Yeh there's like a cm or so left in the bottom of the bottle. Can't tell what colour it is though. I'll have a better look tomorrow!

Thanks martin + evil giraffe I'll have a go at that tomorrow.

Got it from one of the local garages which does both my dads car and mother in laws anyway which is why I trusted him an didn't think anything of it by looking INSIDE the bottle lol. Looked alright from the outside like....

I'll be returning to him next week.

Hahaha mate I know I'm from the north east but ey, we ain't all that bad!!

Should I just pop a little bit of water in it tonight to get home from work or is that a bad idea??

 

[Owen.C]

Yes fill it up with water to the max line. This should solve your erratic engine temp and weak heater. You will need to test the antifreeze level before it starts to get really cold but you can worry about that later since if the coolant level has dropped that much is means there's a leak somewhere.

You can often spot the leaks by it either being wet of course of a white crusty residue somewhere but I'd let the garage sort that out. Obviously let him know the coolant level was very low when you got it. (Might want to take note of the exact level when you top it up with a mark or something so you know if it's still losing coolant).

 

[-Craigo]

Thanks owen, greatly appreciated. Water wont be there for long, just something temporary so there shouldn't be any of the mineral build up within the system. it's still due a winter service so I'll probably get everything done at once!

 

[-Craigo]

So I have gone ahead and topped up what was in there originally. It was a yellow colour so there was some in there.

Idle'd it for 5 mins and rev'd it at 2k for 30 secs and waited until the temp gauge went up, which it did! Didn't go down this time. So I took it for a drive and the temp gauge went down as normal but so did the heater, i must admit it is a bit hotter than it was before, I will give it a bit of time to circulate I guess, that's if it wasn't full of coolant already, which I'm assuming it was because there was still a little left in the bottom, not bone dry.

So.. There is this noise I'm always having after say... 5 mins of idle and a bit of revs or after a journey Coming from the alternator area, don't know if it's normal of a 1.2 but yeah.. Only just managed to get a video of it because my current phone is garbage. Shitty iPhone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihOhaM3K4o4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Also noticed the radiator fan at the front isn't spinning, normal?

 

[Owen.C]

Temp gauge should go up to halfway and never really move unless you're in traffic for a while or something. Has the coolant level dipped from where you filled it up to? Also the fan only comes on when the car is overheating so that's normal.

 

[-Craigo]

Yeah, the temp goes down when I hust get to traffic lights or somethimes will only reach about 40% of the way up and not any higher until I stop and start.

Nah... Just checked the waters before i started my shift after doing roughly 25 miles tonight ish... and it's not dipped, still the same.

Ah great, so at least it is not overheating then which is a good thing. Thanks for the help Owen. Have you had a look at the vid I posted above? Any ideas?

 

[Martin_172]

my bet is...

waterpump is leaking as these engines commonly do, header tank has emptied causing air to be sucked into the coolant system, as the air goes round the system it stops blowing hot air and coolant temp guage is playing up due to this.

noise at alternator area, is it a squeek, like a failing bearing? that will be the waterpump.

 

[-Craigo]

Ouch. I'm guessing that's an expensive replacement haha? Well it's kind of a weird noise, which only happens when the engine has warmed up. Like a crunchy squeak. It also gets faster the more revs there is and by say 2k revs it seems to stop. Hmm..

Would this cause a visible leak underneath the car itself which would fall onto the road or would that be an internal leak? As the rain goes I'd have a better idea by watching for droplets! The level hasn't dropped all day though which is a plus I guess.