Much Deadness. Possible UCH Death

[Chet]

My 2002 172 has died and it seems to be the UCH.

Symptoms:

Won't turn over, serv light flashing
No lights except brake and rear fog.
No wipers, only squirters
No interior lights
Plip not working

The rs tuner can't connect and a bluetooth obd dongle isn't getting any power via the port

Seems like a completely dead UCH? Is it unusual for it to fail completely or could it be a power supply issue?

 

[Chet]

Just a fuse gone

 

[172lover]

Lucky fecker!!

 

[MicKPM]

Was it that stupid 2A or the 5A "UCH" fuse Chet?

 

[Chet]

5A marked as a car with the doors open. All the UCH fuses were fine.

 

[MicKPM]

I know someone that binned off a car because of this problem as apparently no-one could fix it - Always check the fuses.

You still got the old 19?

 

[Chet]

I was optimistic that it was a fuse somewhere with it dying completely. You would think it would be one of the ones marked UCH though...

I still have a 19, a 94 cabrio 16v that has done about 50 miles in 4 years - paying for an education has put cars down the priority list :/

 

[MicKPM]

Yeah the 5A in F21 with the door open markers isn't the clearest on its purpose at first glance but its the main low voltage supply to vehicles interior powering the UCH, Diag socket, Central locking and the Instrument panel so when it blows s**t gets real and people assume the worst without checking the simple stuff which at least you did... Owning Renault's of old teaches you fast and I don't think the owners manual is of any real use on these cars either (they just want it in a dealers workshop for everything).

Is that the Cabby that you drove to FCS in? Can't be many of those things left now!

 

[Chet]

Yeah same cabby. I think i've done about 1.5k in it since getting it and half of those were from the FCS trip. I do intend to get another tin top (my last one disappeared into APD) at some stage but at the minute the 172 is perfect. We only bought it as a temporary runaround for the wife after she broke up the cupra r but before i had managed to get it tested and on the road we came across a mildly modded octavia vrs which suited us perfectly so the 172 came surplus to requirements. I decided to sell my 1.4 astra commuter and use the clio instead

 

[MicKPM]

I bet your daughter is growing now, how old is she? I miss using my 172 as a daily and went Meg III but the Clio has become more of a trailer queen these days. Kids huh!?!

 

[Chet]

Number 1 will be four in January, the second is six weeks old! The clio is an absolute ballache for trying to get the car seat in, nevermind then getting the child into it so i never bother. The skoda is for family duty and it does it will but its taken a good few months for it to grow on me. Is your megane an RS? Do they even do a non RS 2.0T?

 

[MicKPM]

You've had another!!!! Fek, one's enough for me but hat off to you for daring. Yeah I didn't even bother with the car seat in the rear and just used the front seat with the airbag switched off.

Mines not an RS no its the 2.0 tCE which they now call the GT Line. Same 2.0T/VVC engine as the RS250 but smaller injectors and a 225 blower but still pretty swift with a bit less than 200hp, 300Nm. Looks like every other boring Megane III except it can move without running out of puff like the diesels do. I really wanted the Coupe but space wise it was shockingly shite. RS Tuning are tempting me to have it remapped but I don't want the extra bills it is sure to bring like DMF failure, Gearbox failure, faster emptying fuel tank (It's still a Renault after all) and I've got the Clio for fun times.

 

[sortedcossie]

The UCH has just failed on mine, it's causing a right headache.

 

[sortedcossie]

I can see why folk strip or scrap cars with this problem, sent mine away to be repaired, should be back tomorrow or early next week.