Numerous Car problems......any help with diagnosis

[mayur_m]

Wondering if anyone can help me diagnose the problems I'm having with my clio 182. The first problem I've noticed is when driving on the motorway the car occasionally judders like its losing power but only happens momentarily and drives normally but happens several times on my journey from London to Swindon I only notice this happening at higher speeds on the motorway but never driving around town. At the same time I notice the temperature gage drops down like its no longer working and then randomly will flick back up showing a temperature reading. Not sure if these two issues are linked. As I pulled off the M4 the car stalled while I was at the lights and I couldn't get it to turn over. I finally managed to get it running with a rolling start and then after that it seems to turn over fine. I'm feeling quite nervous to drive it right now as it seems like a ticking time bomb and feels like it could fail on me at any moment. The car has been into the garage a couple of times and my mechanic can't seem to pin point the fault and it always seems to be running fine when I take it in. The car has a new coil pack and new spark plugs so I'm assuming its not a problem with those parts. Any help would be greatly appreciated otherwise I can see myself throwing loads of money at it to find out the problem. My first thought has been a problem with the starter motor but if it is would this also cause the juddering during motorway driving.

 

[ADS_V6]

thermostat and coolant temp sensor could be causing the flickering temp problem

 

[mayur_m]

I should also mention that I don't think its an immobiliser issue because the car sounds like it was trying to turn over but doesn't fire. After some time it completely stopped turning over but at this point I managed a rolling start.

 

[clioben182]

Coolant temp sensor

 

[mayur_m]

would a faulty coolant temp sensor explain all the problems that I'm having or just the flickering temp gage? Anyone know how much the part is and how much I might expect to have it fitted?

 

[ADS_V6]

dodgy temp sensor can cause power loss etc as car is not getting up to temp correctly,gad it on mine

 

[mayur_m]

Is the sensor something I can easily change myself? Where is the sensor located?

 

[ADS_V6]

yes coolant sensor undo the airbox the coolant sensor is under the throttle body,to the right of the head of the engine,its black easy to change etc

 

[mayur_m]

Thanks for your help. I ended up buy an after market sensor from euro car parts but when I went to screw it back in it snapped. I'll be taking it back for a refund and trying to source a genuine part. I took some abrasive paper to my old sensor to clean it up and the car seems to be working ok. Hope it holds out until I get the genuine part. Your advice has saved me significant money as I was quoted 100 pounds for a new one. Now I can do it myself it should be a lot cheaper.

 

[ADS_V6]

thanks,get a renault one,the i had from ecp failed within 2 months,so onto my third from renault 6 months no problems lol

 

[mayur_m]

Since buying a genuine renault part all my car problems have disappeared best part about it is that it only cost me 30 quid.