Clio won't accelerate and Electrical Fault light is on?

[maclements]

Car : 2002 Renault Clio 16 V Dynamique

Earlier today I was driving home and my car decided to lose power as I was about to pull off from some traffic lights. I started it again and put it down to me stalling, about 5 minutes later it did the same thing at a set of traffic lights, then again when i was approaching my house up a hill? I just went to pick something up from a friends house and about 5 minutes into the journey it did the same again, but now, when driving the electrical fault light stays on and I can't get above about 30MPH with my foot flat on the floor? I just about got home, going about 5-10 mph because i couldn't gain speed? When i got it on the drive, i turned the ignition off but the car sounded like it was still running, fans running and everything? Anyone ANY ideas why this has randomly happened? I didn't do anything differently it just happened.

Thankyou for your help guys!

 

[.GAZ.]

Limp mode.

 

[maclements]

Im sorry? I read something similar to this which means it gves you enough power to get home? Is that right? What's causing this?

 

[Daniel]

Probably plugs/leads/coil pack.

They're prone for it.

 

[maclements]

I took a quick look at the plugs by removing the coil pack (i think) and the look clean and 'gunk' free, i didn't remove them as i haven't got the tools to get down there, but what should I bet looking for? Is there a way of knowing if you need new spark plugs? I took the car out today, only up the road though and it was fine, i'm hoping she had a bad day yesterday and that may be the end of it but i wont know until i gte out driving for a longer distance, if someone could expand on what they think the problem may be down too i would very grateful! I don't know an awful lot about cars, i get by but my dad knows more, again, not a huge amount though. Thank you guys.

 

[DEEMUS]

I'm getting this too... getting the girl serviced in the next couple of weeks so i'll let you know what they say

 

[*Clare*]

This happened to mine a few months back, was runnning rough and wouldnt accelerate. Turned out to be the lamda sensor..

 

[maclements]

Did you get the service done? It went into limp mode the other day, and i think it may be down to the bass bin in the boot. ive got a mechanic from honda who comes up the pub i work in having a look at it later hopefully, check if its the battery or something.

Im not familiar with a lamda sensor, quick google search says its something to do with measuring o2 or something? Was this expensive to fix? a DIY job?

 

[Dip]

I've recently had to deal with similar. On and off I'd get sluggish acceleration, coughing, just poor running.

This turned out to be coil pack and lambda. Even after the replacement parts, it still had a problem - Cat had melted.

Get it checked as soon as. The Lambda sensor can be done at home, but if you get it plugged up and run a diagnosis it should tell you exactly what's wrong.

 

[maclements]

I had a Honda mechanic pop up to my place of work and have a look at it, he said the battery was OK, not great but its not that, the alternator is fine. He heard the exhaust blowing a bit where its recently been done, so I took that down the day after to get sealed but nothing changed really. After driving it he said the clutch is bad, it could go at the end of the week, it could go at christmas, you cant tell but it will go soon! He felt it jumping and juddering when he drove it and said its probably that. He got a quote going through Honda, put his discount on it and the clutch was £350 all in! I know I can get it cheaper somewhere else but does this sound like it could be the problem?

How much would a lambda sensor be if that was the fault?

 

[Pedro]

£70 i believe.

My bet is Coilpack related though.

 

[maclements]

They easy to replace a home? DIY job? Roughly £50 on ebay I make it? Cheers mate!

 

[hilldawg172]

i wouldnt of said it was the clutch personally my old 1.2 used to do that ocasionally, its something electrical without doubt, if that square box with the squiggly line thru it is on id say it was either coil pack, plugs or lambda

 

[maclements]

Well that was the light that was on! I wasn't expecting a clutch problem either! Im going to replace the sparks, if thats no good, replace the coil pack, if not, look at the lambda I suppose!

 

[hilldawg172]

id say more likely to be the coil pack than sparks, thats just a guess tho. have you had it put on diagnostics computer yet? if not could be worth it, i had endless random little sensors changed when i owned a 1.2 everytime making the car run like a bag of s**t. my cam timing sensor went before and made the exhaust spit like a machine gun lol

 

[maclements]

I haven't had it on a diagnostic computer yet because i imagine tit will cost quite a bit to get it on a decent one? I may do the coil pack at the same time as the spaks, save the hassle of doing it twice!

 

[hilldawg172]

should cost between 30 and 40 quid for a diagnostics check, imo thats what you should do save all this guessing could end up been a £5 sensors and your spending £90ish quid on sparks and coilpack which might not even be the problem taking you back to square 1 90 quid lighter

 

[maclements]

That's true, but if it is the sparks/coil i could save myself 30-40 quid lol, tricky circle! If its not the spark plugs/coil ill get it diagnosed i think.

 

[lucasv1987]

I had this same problem a couple of years back on my 1.4 clio, struggling to get past anything from 20 to 30mph esp up hill and had the same light on the dash as you. It was the coil pack and had it replaced at a renault service garage.

 

[maclements]

The light isn't on all the time, it hasn't been on for some time now! I still think its lacking some power, i might get it diagnosed, thatll show the fault right? I changed the sparks yesterday but nothing changed dramatically.

 

[ClioPetrolHead]

i got the same problem someone help me what could be the problem

 

[l4rks9]

Hi all, sorry to jump on an old thread but i'm going round the different forums to let people know how i fixed my issue with the electrical light for FREE! in the hope that at least 1 person may benefit. I've had the car about 3 years now and in that time I've had the electrical fault light appear at various random times and it never caused me an issue (apart from the fact it becomes un-driveable) in that i could fix it quickly by turning the key in the ignition one notch anti-clockwise (think that's to turn electric off) then 1 notch clockwise (back on) the light then goes away and the car runs ok for however long until it decides to come back again and repeat the same process. Only this winter it got really bad! the car was jerking down the road as soon as i got over 3000 revs and the light was coming on continuously and was very dangerous, specially when on the motorway with kids in the car....Anyway to cut a long story short, i did some Googling and saw a comment about the black steel box that covers the plugs at the back of the engine (see pics) and how its a design flaw and rubs through the wires it's meant to cover. This causes the car to short out hence why the electrical light comes on. So, i removed this steel box and low and behold bare wire. My fix...................... electrical tape over the exposed wires chuck the black steel box in the garage and give the car a test. Well, what a difference a bit of tape can make, it's been a week now and i have had no electrical light appear, the car runs and drives superb! so smooth and idles lovely. I hope this helps someone else in the future. probably not many of these cars left though .