Oops I did it again... Adey's Clio 200 EDC

[Daz.]

It's been a lot cooler weather though.... 🤔

 

[Adey.]

It's been a lot cooler weather though.... 🤔

Good point, and on top of that I have had no undertray on since working on it so cooler again 🤔

 

[Sash]

Good point, and on top of that I have had no undertray on since working on it so cooler again 🤔

Mine always used to fault when the ambient air temperature was above 20°c

 

[Daz.]

Strap some ice boxes to the undertrays and call it done.

 

[Adey.]

Mine always used to fault when the ambient air temperature was above 20°c

hmm. I may just carry on and swap out the TCU then.

 

[Adey.]

So I did the above, I went ahead and swapped the TCU this afternoon. Really easy job to do tbf.

and then it went for bad (though fine for 150miles) to worse.

Though the car initially showed no faults, as soon as I started to drive I noticed it showed D (for drive) instead of the actual gear..... then it swapped a few gears and dropped into limp. Looks like the TCU is for a lesser version even though it looked externally the same.

So what to do.... might as well separate the original TCU and fit a new capacitor

Swapped it in, reset everything and took it for a test drive. All good so far, but that said it was already behaving.... not sure if its a placebo effect but the shift feels a lot cleaner and when in sport mode its banging through nicely. Will see how it plays out and if I can get a refund on the china town TCU.

 

[Daz.]

Why are we thinking the capacitors are the culprits? Where has that thinking come from?

 

[Adey.]

Why are we thinking the capacitors are the culprits? Where has that thinking come from?

Its been mentioned by someone else who had a similar issue, changed them out and cured it. Its also noted by the ford folk as an issue (they run a visibly the same tcu and similar getrag box)

The capacitors are used to jump the voltage to around 40v from 12v for shifting of the gears as far as im aware. They do die with age and with heat.

 

[Adey.]

Don't want to jinx it so not saying too much, but did nearly 2 hours of driving in traffic at 22+degrees (must get AC sorted next as that's gone warmish)....

Defo think its shifting better, like cleaner and crisper.

Not sure if I mentioned before in the thread but I bagged some trophy front shocks with 3k on them and around a year old. Decided to order up some matching trophy rear shocks through Kam Racing so will be giving the suspension a little refresh. Its on Cooksport springs on the original, now 114k old cup shocks. Should tighten things up a little all being well

There are 3 factory setups available that I can tell, Standard, Cup and Trophy, all with different part numbers

 

[Daz.]

I have/had low mileage Trophy shocks and cooksport springs.

Front end is fantastic on this setup - sits perfectly.

I DID have cooksports on the rear but one snapped, so I ordered some more and had to stick standard trophy springs on the rear - I've ended up leaving the trophy springs in for now as it sits so nicely and feels no different to me to the cooksports!

 

[Adey.]

Still running sweet as a nut.

Also received the rear trophy shocks and fresh dust covers for the fronts. Should compliment the cooksport springs and compbrake topmounts. Fingers crossed I'll get some time to fit them this weekend

 

[Adey.]

About 300 miles now complete. I think if I can get to 1k without issue I'll relax a little more.

Had a chap come over this afternoon to have his cruise control reactivated. Gave me the chance to check his settings on the dash and compare with mine.... RS Sport light now working again 👍🏼

And whilst I was at it I cracked on and fitted the trophy shocks all round. They are defo shorter front and rear, had to lift everything up to get them bolted in. Not driven on them yet but the car is very firm when I try to rock it.

 

[Adey.]

 

[Adey.]

Quite possibly one of my most boring videos, but I kept getting asked for it. General driving exhaust sounds, not just the full bore bits (though there is some of that added ). This is the sound of the Gt performance resonated cat back, 3inch downpipe and front pipe. Hope you enjoy

 

[Adey.]

500 miles no issues....

Took delivery of some badge covers (plus a few extras, thanks Paul) from @paul b of Diamond performance 👏

Excuse how dirty the rest of the car is. Straight out to clean the old badges and on with the covers 👌🏻 just need to whip the "Clio" off next and possibly get a black rs badge.

 

[Adey.]

and into the fire, ive also booked to do Castle Combe on the 8/7..... 2 weeks before CSF

 

[Brigsy]

Badge covers look good. Sounds like its fixed ok with 500 miles no issues.

 

[Adey.]

Badge covers look good. Sounds like its fixed ok with 500 miles no issues.

Fingers crossed, track day should put some decent heat in there and test it out

 

[thebigmoose]

Black badges look great. Got round to sorting mine out recently too and getting rid of the Clio certainly cleans up the look.

 

[Adey.]

AC has been a little lacking recently so took it in for a top up. Whilst there I got it up on the ramps and did some alignment, tried to balance up the castor but have ended up with a difference side to side, might look into new wishbones in the future but cant really feel it, 2.1deg of neg camber dialled in up front and a little toe out each side. Feels very nice on the road. Rear needs a tweak as one side has a degree more of comber though very even on the toe, again cant really feel it but id like the rear to match either side.

all in all it feels nice and ready for some fun

 

[Adey.]

Finished off the rear with the badge cover (i damaged it already as some tar remover blew onto it 🤦🏻‍♂️) and swapped to a black metal RS badge to match. Not sure how well the sticky bit will work but it it starts to fall off i can sort it..

 

[Adey.]

Finally found a front lower panel with both inspection hatches in. Lots of the RS' are missing them, though they are held in pretty well. Added some RTV to try and keep them in place and slapped them onto the Clio. Should, all being well, aid cooling some more as it completely closes off the rad area. Simple things for simple minds.

 

[Adey.]

750miles..... and its done it again 😡

 

[Matt Cup]

So it’s not the capacitor then?

 

[Adey.]

doesn't look like it.

Things to note it was hotter this afternoon than it has been

The fault was the same as previously so rules out the external actuators Id guess (swapped them around but fault hasnt moved)

so leans me towards the internal actuators ? or dodgy replacement capacitor?

ill have a think on it and what I want to do next.

 

[Matt Cup]

Are these boxes used in any other cars or are they specific to Renault?

 

[Adey.]

dc4 004 box seems to be Renault specific, the ford powershift is very similar though, and they have a worse reputation

 

[Adey.]

Fark it, ordered a complete box with clutch ecu and actuators from a 30k 2018 trophy. should give me all the spares I need/want

 

[Matt Cup]

Hopefully that’ll serve you well.

The trophy box is better/ stronger /more reliable too isn’t it?

 

[Adey.]

Hopefully that’ll serve you well.

The trophy box is better/ stronger /more reliable too isn’t it?

possibly 🤷‍♂️ id hope that the later the box, the more updated it was. That was my thinking anyway.

Watch it bite me in the ass and the later stuff isn't backwards compatible..... 🤣😭

 

[Matt Cup]

possibly 🤷‍♂️ id hope that the later the box, the more updated it was. That was my thinking anyway.

Watch it bite me in the ass and the later stuff isn't backwards compatible..... 🤣😭

I presume this is something that hasn’t been done before?

Hopefully it’s plug and play.

 

[Adey.]

probably has been, just not documented that I've seen. all looks pnp to be fair, we will see

 

[Adey.]

So woke up early, car drove fine, set off at lunch time and it seemed a little sluggish but covered 75ish miles (temp getting up)

started it about 30 min ago, full blown wobbly and not engaging anything, both shift drum actuators not finding position (very hot outside, car saying 34!)

I had a look at the live data and the amperage for the shift drum current was all over the shop when not doing anything and the positions were shooting all over the place too. You can hear when they try and find home and even forcing a position reset using the diag wouldn't make them play ball. Defo a temp related issue in my mind.

Anyway, I had an mot booked for tomorrow which I will have to cancel and hopefully rebook. All being well I can swap out the TCU from the trophy bits when that turns up and get it going again early next week. Will have to bust out the R8 for some more daily duties...

 

[Sash]

So woke up early, car drove fine, set off at lunch time and it seemed a little sluggish but covered 75ish miles (temp getting up)

started it about 30 min ago, full blown wobbly and not engaging anything, both shift drum actuators not finding position (very hot outside, car saying 34!)

I had a look at the live data and the amperage for the shift drum current was all over the shop when not doing anything and the positions were shooting all over the place too. You can hear when they try and find home and even forcing a position reset using the diag wouldn't make them play ball. Defo a temp related issue in my mind.

Anyway, I had a mot booked for tomorrow which I will have to cancel and hopefully rebook. All being well I can swap out the TCU from the trophy bits when that turns up and get it going again early next week. Will have to bust out the R8 for some more daily duties...

Mine was definitely heat related, perfect winter car 🤣

Took mine for a little spin today, cold start is a bit iffy running wise but once it’s up to temp she’s good as gold.

 

[Adey.]

Gearbox was delivered today, on the wrong driveway further around the cul-de-sac. dragged that thing back to my garage lol.

Its a later box and TCU from a 2018 trophy, so say on 30ish k. TCU whipped off and slapped onto the Clio. Reset everything along with the counter on the dash. Lets see how long it goes for, fingers crossed its all good.

Feels ok on a short test drive and everything is talking to each other fine, the only thing to note is TCU's internal temp is showing at 8000+ lol.

 

[Adey.]

Chatting with an Australian owner, heat causing tcm issues is common there. He had one replaced on warrantee last year! Shame Renault UK wouldn't entertain that at all.

Anyway on to more tweaks, removed the rear hub and fitted up some pure motorsport shims. 1 degree camber and a .1 to toe it back out, adding camber generally increases toe in. Won't know for sure where it's at until I get it back on the alignment kit but should be close side to side now