On 14 February 2026, I bought my Renault Clio 200. My 6 Clio (rookie by many people's standards).
This car is a small project for me, it's to keep miles and cost off my RS4.
I'm not the best with spanners, so some of this is a learning experience for me.
Car Details:
Number of owners 7 (including me)
Miles: 71k miles
Recaros & Speedline alloys & Cup Packs
Modifications:
TASK 1:
On the way home, the front wipers stopped working. At this point, I was very irate and thankful it wasn't raining. The next day, after I had calmed, I removed the scuttle panel and found the wiper linkage had become detached. I reconnected, and hey presto, it's been fine since. While I was under the scuttle panel I expected to find a pool/puddle due to the drain holes, as this is very common. It was fine, and was in surprisingly good order (no pooling or scum).
One of the things I'd seen on the internet were people really struggling to remove the wiper arms. The night before I soaked in WD40 and the best tip/method to remove for me was to raise the wipers "vertically" and they come right off the thread - this was fine with me.
TASK 2:
When I picked up the car, I knew it needed a service. I could see from the history that it hadn't had much in a couple of years, albeit, this was only maximum 10k miles ago. The seller told me a home service was performed in October 2025 - I took this at face value (I don't think it had). In any regard, I got some ELF oil, new plugs, new coils - the air filter was recently replaced (that seemed truthful).
When under the car the engine/box sump had some oil (sigh) - this would be either a small leak (weep would best describe) or Stevie Wonder doing the oil change and not cleaning up after themselves. Best I could, I decontaminated the area with degreasant, emptying a whole spray can, wiping and sweeping. I think I got lucky here, because once a week I checked the sump area and it's all good, it remains nice and clean (except for the areas I couldn't properly clean).
TASK 3:
I didn't have a lot of time the following weekend, but I did get my polisher out and run it over the headlights - which although weren't that bad, it did bring them back to life.
TASK 4:
Rattles... The car is really low, and whilst messing about on the drive, I have caught the exhaust a couple of times, as annoyingly my drive is almost hump back shaped as you go 'up' the kerb and then 'down' to the drive - so it 'beaches' a little. Anyway, I had a rattle - I had a look under the car, the only thing I could see was the heat shield fouling the exhaust in areas. The shield is made of tin foil - so I just bent if marginally away from the exhaust - this almost entirely removed the rattle. I can see/hear a rattle from the rear diffuser on occasion (when hot) - so I assume there is a thin heat shield in there too, so I will take that down soon and have a look.
I cut off and replaced the old clamps, which were really rusty. A good pry with a pair of pliers and they came right off. I gummed up the join, as there was a slight blow; exhaust looks a bit s**t and quite boomy. The plan is to keep costs down, but, I may swap it out for a quieter/standard one.
When under there I did my best to look at the flexis - for peace of mine. Couldn't really see too much. For a meaningful investigation you'd need to remove the cross member and subframe. Not doing that at the moment.
When messing around with the exhaust, I can see the front discs are in bad shape. No idea how this didn't come up on the MoT (February 2026), Stevie strikes again. The next evening, I bought some c-hook discs and pads from Halo. I've also bought some brake pin punches and new pins - when it all arrives, I'll give it a go removing myself.
TASK 5:
Gear box fluid. I wanted to swap out the box fluid; thankfully the box seems in decent condition - not having crunches or any issues. The fluid change was pretty easy to do, but after 2 litres of ELF GL4 standard stuff, it wasn't dripping out the fill hole. I measured the outgoing oil using an old coke bottle and it was just under 2 litres - so I just left it at that. I swapped the old sump plug for a new OEM Renault one. I had a good look through the old fluid, and although very black, there didn't appear to be any filings or shavings.
For those wanting to do it themselves too, I found the fill plug to be a bit of a PITA to get to when only using axle stands, but thankfully who ever did it last, didn't over tighten it so easy to remove. I used a standard garden hose as the fill pipe with a funnel at one end. The standard garden hose was just a bit too big, so I trimmed the excess plastic and it fitted nicely in - snug. I jacked up the rear of the car too, so it was broadly flat, as the fluid is supposed to run out from the fill hole when sufficiently full. The internet suggests anywhere from 2 to 2.4 litres for a full fill. Given just under 2 litres came out, I was happy to put back in 2.
One of the things that has hit me immediately when initially driving the car, is that the gear change doesn't feel very positive. There doesn't feel like excessive rocking of the gearstick when you come on/off power, but you can feel the drive train inertia when you dump the clutch. Next on the agenda are new engine and gear box mounts. Some research and matching to my driving style suggests standard torque and engine mounts and upgraded gearbox upper and lower is the ticket. I'm going to give EVOL engineering upper and lower gearbox mounts a whirl, I'll do this after the brakes. I'll treat the standard engine upper and torque mounts as consumables. I had a look, and they seem easy to change. I'll just need to support the engine when doing the engine mount. I'll do both at the same time as removing the torque mount looks like it will give me a bit more room.
I will say, I drive quite sympathetically, but, it's obvious these gearboxes are proper dog s**t.
WHAT'S NEXT:
Items in the near term to be completed:
This car is a small project for me, it's to keep miles and cost off my RS4.
I'm not the best with spanners, so some of this is a learning experience for me.
Car Details:
Number of owners 7 (including me)
Miles: 71k miles
Recaros & Speedline alloys & Cup Packs
Modifications:
- Exhaust - unsure
- Bilsetin coilovers and top mounts June 2023 - 63k miles
- Remap at KTEC with 203BHP print out
- Registered April 2010
- Service April 2011 – 12k miles
- Service April 2013 – 16k miles
- Service April 2016 – 38k miles
- Service May 2018 – 42k miles
- Service by KTEC 2019 50k miles - front and rear discs, steering arms, starter motor, track rods
- Service August 2019 – 50k miles (Renault & Cambelt)
- Service August 2020 – 51k miles
- Service August 2021 – 53k miles
- Service December 2022 – Cambelt, remap & O&F change (Next cambelt due December 2027)
- Service January 2023 - 60k miles (new pads front and rear and O&F)
- Service June 2023 (plugs, coils)
- Parts February 2025 - 4 new tyres
- Service Feb/March 2026 - 71k miles - oil and filter, spark plugs, coils, gearbox fluid
TASK 1:
On the way home, the front wipers stopped working. At this point, I was very irate and thankful it wasn't raining. The next day, after I had calmed, I removed the scuttle panel and found the wiper linkage had become detached. I reconnected, and hey presto, it's been fine since. While I was under the scuttle panel I expected to find a pool/puddle due to the drain holes, as this is very common. It was fine, and was in surprisingly good order (no pooling or scum).
One of the things I'd seen on the internet were people really struggling to remove the wiper arms. The night before I soaked in WD40 and the best tip/method to remove for me was to raise the wipers "vertically" and they come right off the thread - this was fine with me.
TASK 2:
When I picked up the car, I knew it needed a service. I could see from the history that it hadn't had much in a couple of years, albeit, this was only maximum 10k miles ago. The seller told me a home service was performed in October 2025 - I took this at face value (I don't think it had). In any regard, I got some ELF oil, new plugs, new coils - the air filter was recently replaced (that seemed truthful).
When under the car the engine/box sump had some oil (sigh) - this would be either a small leak (weep would best describe) or Stevie Wonder doing the oil change and not cleaning up after themselves. Best I could, I decontaminated the area with degreasant, emptying a whole spray can, wiping and sweeping. I think I got lucky here, because once a week I checked the sump area and it's all good, it remains nice and clean (except for the areas I couldn't properly clean).
TASK 3:
I didn't have a lot of time the following weekend, but I did get my polisher out and run it over the headlights - which although weren't that bad, it did bring them back to life.
TASK 4:
Rattles... The car is really low, and whilst messing about on the drive, I have caught the exhaust a couple of times, as annoyingly my drive is almost hump back shaped as you go 'up' the kerb and then 'down' to the drive - so it 'beaches' a little. Anyway, I had a rattle - I had a look under the car, the only thing I could see was the heat shield fouling the exhaust in areas. The shield is made of tin foil - so I just bent if marginally away from the exhaust - this almost entirely removed the rattle. I can see/hear a rattle from the rear diffuser on occasion (when hot) - so I assume there is a thin heat shield in there too, so I will take that down soon and have a look.
I cut off and replaced the old clamps, which were really rusty. A good pry with a pair of pliers and they came right off. I gummed up the join, as there was a slight blow; exhaust looks a bit s**t and quite boomy. The plan is to keep costs down, but, I may swap it out for a quieter/standard one.
When under there I did my best to look at the flexis - for peace of mine. Couldn't really see too much. For a meaningful investigation you'd need to remove the cross member and subframe. Not doing that at the moment.
When messing around with the exhaust, I can see the front discs are in bad shape. No idea how this didn't come up on the MoT (February 2026), Stevie strikes again. The next evening, I bought some c-hook discs and pads from Halo. I've also bought some brake pin punches and new pins - when it all arrives, I'll give it a go removing myself.
TASK 5:
Gear box fluid. I wanted to swap out the box fluid; thankfully the box seems in decent condition - not having crunches or any issues. The fluid change was pretty easy to do, but after 2 litres of ELF GL4 standard stuff, it wasn't dripping out the fill hole. I measured the outgoing oil using an old coke bottle and it was just under 2 litres - so I just left it at that. I swapped the old sump plug for a new OEM Renault one. I had a good look through the old fluid, and although very black, there didn't appear to be any filings or shavings.
For those wanting to do it themselves too, I found the fill plug to be a bit of a PITA to get to when only using axle stands, but thankfully who ever did it last, didn't over tighten it so easy to remove. I used a standard garden hose as the fill pipe with a funnel at one end. The standard garden hose was just a bit too big, so I trimmed the excess plastic and it fitted nicely in - snug. I jacked up the rear of the car too, so it was broadly flat, as the fluid is supposed to run out from the fill hole when sufficiently full. The internet suggests anywhere from 2 to 2.4 litres for a full fill. Given just under 2 litres came out, I was happy to put back in 2.
One of the things that has hit me immediately when initially driving the car, is that the gear change doesn't feel very positive. There doesn't feel like excessive rocking of the gearstick when you come on/off power, but you can feel the drive train inertia when you dump the clutch. Next on the agenda are new engine and gear box mounts. Some research and matching to my driving style suggests standard torque and engine mounts and upgraded gearbox upper and lower is the ticket. I'm going to give EVOL engineering upper and lower gearbox mounts a whirl, I'll do this after the brakes. I'll treat the standard engine upper and torque mounts as consumables. I had a look, and they seem easy to change. I'll just need to support the engine when doing the engine mount. I'll do both at the same time as removing the torque mount looks like it will give me a bit more room.
I will say, I drive quite sympathetically, but, it's obvious these gearboxes are proper dog s**t.
WHAT'S NEXT:
Items in the near term to be completed:
- Front brake disc and pad change [waiting on items to be delivered].
- Treat the subframe - when working on it so far the subframe is a bit rusty. When the manifold / cambelt needs changing, I'll replace for a new one [got some rust treatment and black metal paint to cover post rust treatment].
- Spray centre caps black, to match wheels, currently grey.
- New engine and gear box mounts [ordered one of four].
- Machine polish (compound, polish, wax) - as soon as I get some time.
