‘07 Mk3 Clio
Hello everyone,
I am encountering some really weird starting problems with my MK3 Clio. I've searched all over but haven't found anything related to this actual behaviour.
When i try to start it, no MIL/check engine comes on, only the airbag and ABS and the lovely key light; immo stays solid on; if i try to crank it, nothing happens. The only thing that it does is turning the cooling fan on max speed. Sometimes, turning the key back and forth repeatedly for about 20-30 times gets the check engilne light on, immo light goes off and the car starts without any problem. Also, leaving the car in direct sun with the windows/sunroof opened for a few hours helps, it starts without any problems then, but if i stop it, it may not start again..
I suspect some water damage somewhere, as the car has panoramic sunroof and has been sitting outside for quite a time. I cleaned all the drains and they were all clogged.
Now, what i have tried checking/cleaning but with no succes:
- UCH connectors: they were all clean and shiny, without any traces of corrosion, sprayed some contacts cleaner spray on them.
- UCH board seems fine, no traces of water or corrosion, no blown components/joints
- ECU connectors: all clean, also sprayed some contacts cleaner on them
- relay/fuse box/UCE: found some traces of water and corrosion on some relay pins, opened the module up and cleaned all the contacts, relays and fuses too, resoldered all the major joints on the board as i thought there might be a cracked joint (that was the case back when i had a '99 Vectra B with ABS module issues)
- fuse box monted on the battery box: all good, also cleaned it
- faulty immo: tried starting without the immo transponder chip and the light starts flashing like crazy, so i assume the key gets read
What conclusions did i came to: somehow the ECU does not get any power, the relay for ECU doesn't do any clicks, tried swapping the relays but this did not made any difference.
Does anyone know, by any chance, what i should try/do? Has anyone encountered this kind of issue before? May be an UCH fail?
I am encountering some really weird starting problems with my MK3 Clio. I've searched all over but haven't found anything related to this actual behaviour.
When i try to start it, no MIL/check engine comes on, only the airbag and ABS and the lovely key light; immo stays solid on; if i try to crank it, nothing happens. The only thing that it does is turning the cooling fan on max speed. Sometimes, turning the key back and forth repeatedly for about 20-30 times gets the check engilne light on, immo light goes off and the car starts without any problem. Also, leaving the car in direct sun with the windows/sunroof opened for a few hours helps, it starts without any problems then, but if i stop it, it may not start again..
I suspect some water damage somewhere, as the car has panoramic sunroof and has been sitting outside for quite a time. I cleaned all the drains and they were all clogged.
Now, what i have tried checking/cleaning but with no succes:
- UCH connectors: they were all clean and shiny, without any traces of corrosion, sprayed some contacts cleaner spray on them.
- UCH board seems fine, no traces of water or corrosion, no blown components/joints
- ECU connectors: all clean, also sprayed some contacts cleaner on them
- relay/fuse box/UCE: found some traces of water and corrosion on some relay pins, opened the module up and cleaned all the contacts, relays and fuses too, resoldered all the major joints on the board as i thought there might be a cracked joint (that was the case back when i had a '99 Vectra B with ABS module issues)
- fuse box monted on the battery box: all good, also cleaned it
- faulty immo: tried starting without the immo transponder chip and the light starts flashing like crazy, so i assume the key gets read
What conclusions did i came to: somehow the ECU does not get any power, the relay for ECU doesn't do any clicks, tried swapping the relays but this did not made any difference.
Does anyone know, by any chance, what i should try/do? Has anyone encountered this kind of issue before? May be an UCH fail?
