Limp Mode; Throttle Potentiometer - What to do? (Useful thread)

[Josh@Renparts]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

think we supplied the pedal unit for it, did your garage source it?

 

[Si]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

pedal unit for me? i got the pedal unit from f0xy.

the TB i got from ebay?

or were you not talking to me?

 

[Si]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

mini update on this. After thinking the problem had 99% gone away (apart from the throttle occasionally being jumpy) it's now come back to haunt me. goes into limp mode on most journeys and dies on idle very regularly.

not ideal when a trip to the Nordschleife is only 5 weeks away!

I spoke to Dave at Rentech about the problem when i was in there for my service. I explained that i'd tried changing the TB and pedal unit but with no luck. He said another common fault was the wiring itself (I hope i've remembered that correctly? don't like to miss-quote). So it's looking like i'll book in to have it sorted with them

my only worry is whether the TB and pedal unit i tried as replacements were also faulty?

such a pain. wanted to get my engine mounts done too but the cost of both is pushing it.

 

[Schweppy]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

Sounds exactly the same as my problem Si. Mine ended up being the ECU itself as I had someone off here spend a lot of his time checking wiring.

I was told by a Renault Mechanic that jump starting can cause the ECU to have problems such as this!

 

[Si]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

i fear mine may be the same too.

although the connection seems a logical explanation it doesn't seem to behave like a poor connection?

how much did the fix set you back?

also... would the jumping thing be linked to jumping your car off someone elses? or the other way round?

Cheers for your help bud. Need this sorted asap

 

[Si]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

right, need a lot more help now

The car went from tolerable to undriveable today. went to meet Revels for a few pics but on the way the car went into limp mode... i tried the usual trick of turning it off and on again but to no avail... then the car wouldn't start at all. it turned over but wouldn't fire up. eventually managed to get it going and limped it back home. limited to about 1.5k revs. lol. hills were erm.... interesting.

The way it goes into limp mode has also changed. now not only does the usual limp mode type light thing come on... but the service light and traction control light thingy also come on. lol. technical FTW.

Any ideas? I really cant see how a wiring fault would cause all this. to make matters worse i have no way of getting the car to Rentech where it's booked next tuesday. I could risk attempting to drive it to the ferry but i'm not sure... and a flat bed is mega money on the ferry.

 

[TimR26]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

Have you got breakdown cover that you could use to recover the car to Rentech?

 

[Si]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

I have breakdown cover, yes. but a truck on the ferry is about £200 and i'm sure RAC wouldn't want to help out with that. lol. im tempted to attempt getting it to the ferry. then if it doesn't start when i'm trying to get off i can just push it off/get it towed off and then get RAC to take me to rentech.

I'm not sure if i could get it to the ferry though!

 

[TimR26]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

Rentech is probably within 10 miles as the crow flies so shouldn't be a problem. They might not be happy about it though!

 

[Si]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

it's only a 5/10 min drive off the ferry. shouldn't be a problem!

 

[Schweppy]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

Sorry Si, only just seen this again.

Exactly the same as me with the traction and SERV lights. Main reason I ended up selling it!

However, I did actually fix it, just as I sold it! LOL. As mentioned, I ended up getting a new ECU, which I won off eBay for £5 LOL! Then needed it unlocking which I did by sending it off to Henk at Fastchip for £50 odd.

Plugged it in and got Renault to do a diagnostics reset and all was fine after that!

I will never be sure what caused it as i replaced so many sensors and the pedal, pedal loom, TB, etc! But I'm pretty sure it started around the time I left my lights on and ran the battery out which ended up in me jumping it off my dads car.

 

[Si]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

ok bud, i fear it's the same problem tbh. just hope i can get an ecu for £5. LOL.

 

[Si]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

Just tried the car again in the hope it'd start... no such luck. it does try to fire up but it just dies instantly. stuck on the drive now.

the "limp mode" light is now contantly on, as soon as you turn the key. was yours like this schwep?

Don't think i'll be making my booking at Rentech anymore. wait and see.

will see what the local garage have to say. I think they quoted £40 to get the car from my house to theirs when i last checked. better than a few hundred on the ferry i guess!

 

[sideways danny]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

i'm over again at the weekend Si. Let me know if it's still playing up

 

[Si]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

That'd be superb bud If i could just get it so it's driveable i'd be sorted. it's a 10 minute drive to the ferry from mine and then another 10 minutes off the ferry. that's all i need!

I might try swapping the TB and pedal units over again. it might lure it back into life. haha.

 

[boywonder]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

As you might have seen with mine. I tried TB, then Throttle pedal and wiring loom, then TDC sensor but it still did it.

Got a new ECU in the end which cured it. However i always got the Pot error when connected to diagnostics.

Have you jump started the car recently?

Did you get the ECU form Renault? Ignore that, just read it was from eBay.

 

[Si]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

Another kinda update on this.

After my serious limp-mode problems I managed to get the car to Rentech. Turned out a lambda was to blame. Since sorting that I've had absolutely no limp-mode problems but recently the car has gone back to being very jumpy from a cold start. The throttle isn't smooth in how it seems to work, there'll be a lot of dead pedal travel and then a sudden jump if that makes sense?

The car also pops and bangs a LOT from a cold start. which is kinda cool i spose. haha.

Sorry to dig up and old thread again but I get a few PMs about this and if it is of help to anyone I thought I may as well explain the problems I'm having.

 

[The Boosh!]

Re: Throttle Potentiometer - What to do?

Useful info thread. Renamed to make it easier to search for - Hope you don't mind Si.

 

[sideways danny]

needs plugging in again, sounds like another sensor down, maybe coolant temp.

 

[Si]

Cheers Boosh, was just thinking how the title isn't quite suited to the contents anymore.

Cheers Danny also. I'll get it looked into.

 

[sideways danny]

i'm down end of the month. Remind me and I'll bring the scan tool

 

[Si]

will do! My hero iirc.

 

[franx]

what happened in the end ?

Mine is playing up too :dapprove: I have Google-d and saw a lot of Throttle positioning sensor fault probs, also a test on the sensor on youtube.. So i'm thinking i'm joining the everlasting problem-list here for f***s sake

 

[Paddy_g46]

Any update on this? I am getting limp mode problems on my car and also yesterday the emission light decided to come on and hasn't gone off since.....Although my exhaust is blowing but don't think this would cause it!

 

[oliver9523]

Every LHM P0120 thread I see I'm just directing people to a thread I wrote a while ago about my fix. I tired a lot of the 'fixes' I found on the web, didn't have much luck with any.

http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?546411-TPS-P0120-Limp-Home-3k-rev-possible-fix

HTH

 

[Paddy_g46]

Every LHM P0120 thread I see I'm just directing people to a thread I wrote a while ago about my fix. I tired a lot of the 'fixes' I found on the web, didn't have much luck with any.

http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?546411-TPS-P0120-Limp-Home-3k-rev-possible-fix

HTH

Hmm, thats quite interesting. Do you have any pictures of exactly what you did to the loom to split them?

 

[Stephen-Fót]

Hi all.

I had six months an similar problem...What do you think?? The serious, it is not always doing it...Just if the engine cold.

Video:

[video]http://videa.hu/videok/jarmuvek/clio-182-alapjarat-TB7ykZiwd0Xeoy5R[/video]

 

[oliver9523]

Hmm, thats quite interesting. Do you have any pictures of exactly what you did to the loom to split them?

I'm not at home at the mo, will try get some pics up of the wiring loom soon.
The garage I took it to did the job so I'm not 100% sure what the new route is, I just know that it doesn't run through the main loom along with the battery cable.

I've not had any kind of issues since it was done ages ago now. They said that they did a similar fix on a 1.2 previously to my 172

 

[Anim@l]

I've just saved this thread. I'm currently having problems with mine. The joys of owning a Renault I suppose. Wish me luck.

 

[Ianboom]

Interesting thread.

If it makes you fell any better, I drive a 3.2 Audi TT (wife has the 182), and I have an erratic idle that comes and goes and occasionally thows up an engime management light, I've changed stat, temp sender, cleaned MAF and throttle body...time will tell if I've cured it.
Only had one fault on the wife's car,reset it and all's been OK!

Advantage of the Audi is VAGCOM is freely available in a basic form, and a full version can be had for £200, shame that's not the same for the clio.

 

[Si]

I do love digging an old thread up.

Mine's back doing this again. Same error code but behaving slightly differently when in LHM. The car revs itself and is almost undriveable when it's in LHM. When idling the car revs itself. Luckily it's only done this a few times as to get it working again I have to reset the ECU, wheras before I could simply turn the ignition off and on. I really do not believe it's anything to do with the TB or the pedal unit given the problems I've had previously, nor do I think it's a lambda sensor as it was last time, although when not in LHM the car is behaving in a similar way to when I last had the fault - jumpy on acceleration, not smooth power delivery etc.

I'm going to have a play with a few things and see what happens. Maybe try what Oliver did above.

 

[Paddy_g46]

Thought about trying a different ecu?

 

[MicKPM]

Maybe get it looked at properly?

 

[Si]

Maybe get it looked at properly?

So taking it to four different garages, including one genuine renault and one renault specialist, and having multiple parts fitted isn't having it looked at properly?

Patrick - Yes I have but I think there are a few other things I want to try before that.

 

[MicKPM]

That question must be rhetorical because i am sure you answered it yourself.

If four places have looked at it and replaced parts, assuming of course its the same throttle related problem that they've failed to fix, why haven't you simply stuck with one and taken it back to them? Is it there ability or diagnosis you don't trust or is there more to it than above?

Mick

 

[Si]

Renault said it was the throttle body, quoted me silly money, I did all the work myself with no luck. Eventually got it fixed at Rentech, who I trust. The "same" problem has come back but given what happened last time, i'm still not convinced the throttle body/pedal is to blame. Also, given how the lambda isn't that old, i'm not sure it's that this time either. Therein lies the problem.

 

[MicKPM]

Okay so it really needs the services of someone then with more diagnostic equipment than just a CLIP/Snap-On/Generic code reading equipment.

There are literally tens of different reasons for a limp mode/reduced engine output scenario to occur. Hardware (pedal ad TB's) are common failures but not always the true cause. It can be anything from someones "custom" wiring to a slightly low voltage on the sensor circuit. Even damaged or trapped wiring an cause a signal to break down which in turn makes tour car have problems and they're getting on a bit now so the wiring condition may be questionable. Code readers on the X65, even CLIP, are pretty poor in this area and tend to flag any fault on this cable-less throttle circuit as a "pedal potentiometer" fault.

Ideally its going to need the pedal lines "Scoping" and the signals being checked for interference so i'd advise you to hunt out someone more electrically biased.

Mick

 

[Si]

Thanks, Mick. Appreciate the help. I did think this may be the case. I would hunt for someone more electrically based but living on an island makes things a little challenging.

 

[chloe53]

Ahhhh been having same trouble with my 53pl 172 except the engine management light came on and without using my ECU reader n code wiper it went off :dapprove:
As for ringing Renault well pointless don't even think they know a thing about these cars so rather stuck at this point so any ideas would be brill ty lol

 

[chloe53]

Same issues here and i'm sure urs doesn't have a lamda sensor on....
Even Renault tried telling me it was mine muppets:nono:
I have lost all trust in garages as so many have tried rip me off,i find this forum knows more than the idiots who built the flaming cars grrrrr