Une_Baguette
ClioSport Club Member
Renault Clio 172
Hello all, been a member a while here but I tend to generally browse and not post that much but I'd thought I'd maybe change that a put up a project thread of the daily life of being a clio hoarder 😂. So I've a had a good few clios over the years where I think I have an obsession with them and can't seem to justify buying any other car (I know it's a real problem), I thought it would be only right where everyone can see all the work I do to them and somewhere I can maybe document it.
So I bought my Clio 172 back in December 2019 and I've loved every minute of it but it was requiring some work and TLC which I couldn't realistically do while I was driving it daily so I decided in January 2023 that I needed a 2nd car to do what I wanted to my 172. This is where I decided I needed something cheaper on tax and fuel cost with the goal of keeping it long term as my daily driver. As silly as it seems I'm concerned spending money on the car keeping it going or modifying it a bit to my liking. So in February of 2023 a dci 80 popped up for sale.
Surprisingly this is only photo I have of the car as I never took any before doing some work to it etc. It's a dci 80 dynamic, the 80 was the one I wanted as I wanted to convert it to 172 suspension and brakes as I had most parts lying around without costing me much to do it just my time and effort. Around from February till May of 2023 I worked a bit here and there converting the suspension and brake setup along with general servicing and a timing belt while I was at it. I didn't take many photos of any of this which I'm still working on getting better at as I tend to get carried away working on the car without taking any pictures.
The rear beam was a bit crusty and the bushes were past there best so I did a quick tidy up on the rear beam along with poly bushes on the rear eventually I plan to get rear callipers from a 172 installed.
With the rear sorted out and the front converted it was nearly ready to hit the road! After the first few weeks of driving I was getting a good steady 65mpg from mostly rural road driving and some motorway which I was well pleased with. Took it for a trip to Enniskillen in July 2023 where it drove without any hiccups.
Unfortunately my luck was to change as not long after this the fuel system started playing up on it which was not ideal as anyone that knows these the bill can get quite costly if the pump was on it's way out. I also managed to run hit a badger on the way home one night which destroyed my radiator and bumper grill along with cracking the bumper just my luck.
I checked the fuel filter for metal filings which I put it down to the one of the injectors starting to go I'll be honest I drove this car much longer than I should have with this issue as it was not until November 2023 I decided to sort the injectors out.
The fuel system seemed to be fine after changing the culprit injector out and I had no more faults on the dash or any weirdness for a good few months until my next hurdle in May 2024 I started getting fuel related issues again at this point I decided if the high pressure pump is on it's way out I just drive it till it quits and I'll decide from there whether to fix the dci or scrap it and get something else.
Mid June the dci completely broke down on me on the way home from Belfast I was driving home on the motorway and all of sudden a big bellow of white smoke started coming out of the exhaust and the engine just completely shutoff on me doing 70mph
I was able to limp it to the hard shoulder where thankfully I was able to coast it to an entrance of the nearby service station. The engine would fail to start and I was suspecting at that point the fuel system was dead. I got it recovered home where I'd have a look at it the next day.
Sure enough the high pressure pump was dead and there was metal swarf throughout the whole fuel system. I cut the fuel filter open to take a look.
Metal filings everywhere so at minimum I was going to be needing the high pressure pump, 4 new injectors along with the fuel tank and fuel pipes being completely cleaned out very carefully. I'll leave you all at a cliff-hanger on what I did after that and I'll update this tomorrow
So I bought my Clio 172 back in December 2019 and I've loved every minute of it but it was requiring some work and TLC which I couldn't realistically do while I was driving it daily so I decided in January 2023 that I needed a 2nd car to do what I wanted to my 172. This is where I decided I needed something cheaper on tax and fuel cost with the goal of keeping it long term as my daily driver. As silly as it seems I'm concerned spending money on the car keeping it going or modifying it a bit to my liking. So in February of 2023 a dci 80 popped up for sale.
Surprisingly this is only photo I have of the car as I never took any before doing some work to it etc. It's a dci 80 dynamic, the 80 was the one I wanted as I wanted to convert it to 172 suspension and brakes as I had most parts lying around without costing me much to do it just my time and effort. Around from February till May of 2023 I worked a bit here and there converting the suspension and brake setup along with general servicing and a timing belt while I was at it. I didn't take many photos of any of this which I'm still working on getting better at as I tend to get carried away working on the car without taking any pictures.
The rear beam was a bit crusty and the bushes were past there best so I did a quick tidy up on the rear beam along with poly bushes on the rear eventually I plan to get rear callipers from a 172 installed.
With the rear sorted out and the front converted it was nearly ready to hit the road! After the first few weeks of driving I was getting a good steady 65mpg from mostly rural road driving and some motorway which I was well pleased with. Took it for a trip to Enniskillen in July 2023 where it drove without any hiccups.
Unfortunately my luck was to change as not long after this the fuel system started playing up on it which was not ideal as anyone that knows these the bill can get quite costly if the pump was on it's way out. I also managed to run hit a badger on the way home one night which destroyed my radiator and bumper grill along with cracking the bumper just my luck.
I checked the fuel filter for metal filings which I put it down to the one of the injectors starting to go I'll be honest I drove this car much longer than I should have with this issue as it was not until November 2023 I decided to sort the injectors out.
The fuel system seemed to be fine after changing the culprit injector out and I had no more faults on the dash or any weirdness for a good few months until my next hurdle in May 2024 I started getting fuel related issues again at this point I decided if the high pressure pump is on it's way out I just drive it till it quits and I'll decide from there whether to fix the dci or scrap it and get something else.
Mid June the dci completely broke down on me on the way home from Belfast I was driving home on the motorway and all of sudden a big bellow of white smoke started coming out of the exhaust and the engine just completely shutoff on me doing 70mph
I was able to limp it to the hard shoulder where thankfully I was able to coast it to an entrance of the nearby service station. The engine would fail to start and I was suspecting at that point the fuel system was dead. I got it recovered home where I'd have a look at it the next day.Sure enough the high pressure pump was dead and there was metal swarf throughout the whole fuel system. I cut the fuel filter open to take a look.
Metal filings everywhere so at minimum I was going to be needing the high pressure pump, 4 new injectors along with the fuel tank and fuel pipes being completely cleaned out very carefully. I'll leave you all at a cliff-hanger on what I did after that and I'll update this tomorrow
