Lumpy idle / spluttering, now gone away

[jackthewelshman]

My car had been running perfect up until last night. However when I popped out to buy some Pepsi, starting her up gave a lumpy idle - drove it down the street to turn around, fealt hesitent and not good at all, just wanted to swing it round and park up. I noticed that the engine management "stop" light was flashing. When I stopped to reverse and turn around, the car cut out. It required a couple of tries to restart so that I could nurse it back up the road to myself.

Went to look at it today in the light, taking a look in the engine bay for anything obvious (only thing out of place was some battery cover part that needed clipping back down), it's all over my head really (as I'm still learning) but I just looked to see any loose cables and checking it had fluids etc. Started her up, a bit lumpy, feathered the throttle a bit, didn't sound smooth - about as bad as last night but maybe not as bad as it was (no engine light came on). Left it running for about 2 mins and looked under the car, couldn't see that anything had obviously come apart.

My dad came up with the suggestion of being low on fuel plus crap in the bottom of the fuel tank could be the issue, but it has about 7L in there so no chance really, just a classic easy blame. At this point I was thinking these are quite a few possibilities - lambda sensor (dirty or breaking), ignition leads / spark plug issue, coils, throttle body issue or exhaust issue. Anything really, I'm no expert.

Anyway took it out to top up with fuel as I need some for an early start tomorrow anyway. Car still hesitant, would drive smoothly if you didn't push the throttle hard, but if you try to accelerate it doesn't seem to like the extra power delivery. This means that the issue didn't seem to be rev related, I didn't go above about 3.5k, but was fine up to there, the problem was when you requested more revs / delivered more fuel. Within 3 - 5 minutes of being out on the road, the problem had gone away. Tested it through the rev range to 6000, revs freely and smoothly with no feeling of power loss. Also tried taking it to around 6k and lifting off, stayed in gear etc and slowly began decelerating without any noticeable jolts etc.

The problem does seem to have gone, but do any of you guys know what this could be at all? If it happens again then I'll get it to someone who can plug it in and diagnose it, but for now it seems alright (touch wood). Could be something to do with the s**tty wet weather we've been having here, but really this shouldn't affect a modern car so that's just me hoping for the best I suppose . Any suggestions welcome

 

[jackthewelshman]

Hate to bump this, but it's moving to page 2. Anyone seen this or have an idea? If not then I'll just continue as normal and possibly get the exhaust checked out and just see if this happens again.

 

[jackthewelshman]

This problem re-occurred today . The car doesn't idle nicely, e.g. slowly jumping around stuttering between 1.1k and 1.3k mainly. Pushing your foot on the gas doesn't really give the throttle response expected really, ie a bit sluggish and not high revving. I thought I'd try driving it anyway, but turning the steering wheel to pull out proved too much strain, the engine just cut out. (I've noticed in a previous car, if you turn the steering wheel a lot on idle, the revs dip down, that must be to do with power steering). I gave it one more try 20 seconds later, still the same, so thought I'd just leave it for when it's light and dry. Grrrr!

^^ this is only the second time this has happened and once again in wet conditions if this could mean anything (highly likely coincidence though), the rest of the time she runs perfect with steady idle etc etc. Straaaange.

I got no idea what the problem is, within the next few weeks when I have time off work I'll get it plugged in and get someone to give it a once over I think.

 

[Matt Cup]

Dodgy coil pack?

 

[jackthewelshman]

Ah ok cheers. Unfortunatley I don't know anyone in particular locally that can do good work for a good price, but for a chance of getting this fixed by Friday I'm going to have to get it done locally (rather than getting a mechanic near my hometown who does reliable work but is booked up at the moment).

My choices within a few mikes of me are: ATS, KwikFit, Renault or unknown local garage (although will try asking around at work). If the breakdown people do actually do things like a physical check of coils and sparkplugs and it turns out to be plugs then Renault currently offer a £49 spark plug change so would ring them first in that situation, just that any other diagnostics / parts / labour could prove costly.

 

[MRBILLYUK]

I had this on my 172 , now having it on my 182 intermittenly , mainly after being left out on a cold night and not being run for a day or so . Once it warms up it goes away . But it judders if i put my foot down up to about 3k revs . It was the spark plugs on my 172 so i'm assuming the same on my 182 . If i plug my OBDII scanner in i get code P0303 misfire on cylinder 3 . Once i reset it , it's ok .

 

[Jonny1*2]

Could be a few things. Where you based?

 

[townlea]

Sounds the exact problem I had... that turned out to be the lambda sensor.

 

[flat-eric]

Lambda or coil pack would be my guess

 

[jackthewelshman]

Ah cheers for the replies, I'm based in Aberystwyth. Now that it's dried out it has started again (I left it another 2 hours in the dry and popped the bonnet for 15 mins). May just drive it to a mechanic who I know is reliable about 50 miles away (and will have to get a lift back to where I am now). He reckons crankshaft sensor is the issue, but he can also plug it in if I take it over there.

As it sounds like it could just be a sensor issue, I'm tempted to get it done locally here, even at Renault, but then I run the risk of it being other things which would be pricey! Glad it started anyway, gave it a good run.

Will decide what to do now.

 

[jackthewelshman]

Dropping it off at the garage tomorrow so I can get it inspected, plugged in (if needed) and repaired. Also going to get my handbrake tightened up as it's a bit of a joke at the moment, also I'll get the spark plugs inspected as I am unsure of what date they were last done and to make sure that they are NGK PFR6E-10's.

Will update when it's been done! (to help future problem searcher's!)

 

[jackthewelshman]

Just to close this off with the confirmed fix - cleaned the crank angle (TDC) sensor, the car how seems to work fine, even in the wet weather that it wasn't liking previously. I'm not sure why it wasn't replaced as requested :/, I've been at work in a different location all week while my father is sorting this out for me (as the garage charge him next to no labour). Diagnosis turned up nothing either, which makes me wonder if he actually had the Renault clip machine or something else (as I could have sworn a light came up on the dash a couple of weeks back, in conjunction with poor starting issues).

To future onlookers, this is a possible cheap fix - cleaning it costs nothing if you're confident enough to do it (probably around 15 minutes labour). Replacement I believe is around £70 brand new genuine, including the new wiring loom needed.

 

[columbo]

Nice to know you finally got it sorted out. Also a potential money saver for other people should they have the same problem