Something weird happened today.

[blambert]

I got in the car and drove out of the industrial estate our office are in... as i got out of the compound and tried to accelerate gently in 2nd I couldn't get about about 3200rpm. It was pretty much exactly like when you are in the wrong gear going up a hill and there's just not power. The engine was hot, my girlfriend had just driven it 65 miles to pick me up no problems.

I shifted down to first and the same happened... just absolutely no power maintaining around 3000rpm with a judder... and then it kicked in and we were off with a chirp of the tyres (as I had my foot planted).... I slowed down, switched off and on, and it did it again as I tried to turn round.

But then was 100% fine... 10 mins later I stopped at Tesco and as I pulled out slowly from the car park it did it again. And then was fine.

I then drove it 65 miles home with no issues, there were no lights at any time and no noticeable drop in power when working fine. I've just been driving around town to pick up my girlfriend and to ASDA... no problems.

The engine sounded like it was struggling, with a bit of a judder and almost blurpy exhaust. Weird. My girlfriend said it happened to her last week and the same first few miles of driving... she asked me about it but I thought she meant cold start.

I was told when I had the car checked over after buying it that the back cats have collapsed.... Wouldn't cause something that extreme though would it?

 

[luk3matth3ws]

Sounds like limp mode, mine did it for a while but was showing the electrical fault warning light

 

[Yellow Dave]

Does sound like the CAT. When they start to break up or collapse they restrict or sometimes block your exhaust so you can't rev as the gases can't escape. Same thing happened to my sisters clio 1.4

 

[Harpham]

Does sound like the CAT. When they start to break up or collapse they restrict or sometimes block your exhaust so you can't rev as the gases can't escape. Same thing happened to my sisters clio 1.4

Makes sense, as mine did that sometimes before I fitted the decat... No problems now though!

 

[Yellow Dave]

Has your exhaust been rattling at all. as when we replaced the CAT, a load of the stone from within the CAT had worked its way along the rest of the system. Try and jack the car up and give it a bash to see if it rattles.

Reading your post again, you said the rear CATS had collapsed, doesn't the 182 only have the 1 CAT just before the mid silencer? An OE Renault CAT is uber expensive though

 

[Blue Mez]

If i was you blambert, the bird would be tied to a chair getting violently interrogated. lol

 

[blambert]

Reading your post again, you said the rear CATS had collapsed, doesn't the 182 only have the 1 CAT just before the mid silencer? An OE Renault CAT is uber expensive though

I was told 'the rear boxes have collapsed'... I said 'oh I saw they looked a rusted and old' and he said 'yeah, if you hit them with something you can hear the chunks of stuff inside rattling around like glass, they honeycomb structure has collapsed'... 'probably won't pass next MOT so get it replaced before then'

I just got hold of Dialogys to show you what he showed me on the screen... I'm talking about this bit:

 

[Scadden182]

Perfect excuse for a Yozza or Milltek

 

[Dave.]

that sounds more like a failed lambda to me....

 

[realnumber 1]

that sounds more like a failed lambda to me....

+1
Replaced my cat after it collapsed and had the same problem still. Got a new front (iirc) Lambda and was perfect again.