Renaul Clio 1.2 petrol 2000 electrical fault

[helfadoofer]

Hello Everyone,

I hope someone can help. I've had my Clio about 4 years. The engine warning light has come on before, causing the car to go into limp mode. I was advised that the "coil" needed changing and was a common fault on Clios. This was changed and it continued to run fine for several years.
Recently the problem has returned, causing the car to go into limp mode again, sometimes whilst driving, most often when going up hills?! I've taken it to a garage who have had the car for 5 weeks and are still unable to diagnose the problem due to the car not giving them a reading.
They have taken the car to be read elsewhere (Jensens?) who have given them 2 codes:
DF045 (which they have said that they have cleared)
and
CIA0F or C1A0F (or any other variations you can get from I,1,O and 0?!?!?), which they can't interpret. They're also not sure if this is even causing the problems.

They have already spent time taking off the housing of the electrics (which is apparently welded to the engine) to work on the wires, as he said that it can often cut through them. He has also changed a part due to concerns that it was letting in too much air. I've paid him for these 2 misdiagnosies already, but he's now reluctant to give me a costing for the work he's done on-top. He said he's reluctant to change the ECU as this may not solve the problem. I'm just concerned that he's had my car for a long time and the costs are going to escalate.

Sorry to write so much but, CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP............

Helen

	ECU Electronic Control Unit In automotive electronics, an electronic control unit (ECU) is an embedded system that controls one or more of the electrical subsystems in a vehicle. Some modern cars have up to 70 ECUs.

	Ignition Coils Ignition Coils An ignition coil (also called a spark coil) is an induction coil in an automobile's ignition system which transforms a storage battery's 12 volts to the thousands of volts needed to spark the spark plugs. This specific form of the autotransformer, together with the contact breaker, converts low voltage from a battery into the high voltage required by spark plugs in an internal combustion engine. In older vehicles a single (large) coil would serve all the spark plugs via the ignition distributor. In modern systems, the distributor is omitted and ignition is instead electronically controlled. Much smaller coils are used with one coil for each spark plug or one coil serving two spark plugs (so two coils in a four-cylinder car). These coils may be remote-mounted or they may be placed on top of the spark plug (coil-on-plug or Direct Ignition). Where one coil serves two spark plugs (in two cylinders), it is through the "wasted spark" system. In this arrangement the coil generates two sparks per cycle to both the cylinders. The fuel in the cylinder that is nearing the end of its compression stroke is ignited, whereas the spark in its companion that is nearing the end of its exhaust stroke has no effect. The wasted spark system is more reliable than a single coil system with a distributor and cheaper than coil-on-plug. Where the coils are remote mounted they may all be contained in a single moulded block with multiple high-tension terminals. This is commonly called a coil-pack.

[Hopless]

Hi,
I don,t recognise any of the codes.

Is the car a sport ie 1.2 16v or the 8v
It makes a difference. The former ecu is on the back of the engine while the latter is near the battery.

The ecu's are totaly different.

	ECU Electronic Control Unit In automotive electronics, an electronic control unit (ECU) is an embedded system that controls one or more of the electrical subsystems in a vehicle. Some modern cars have up to 70 ECUs.

[helfadoofer]

Hi there,

Sorry taken me so long to respond. Thank you so much for trying with this one! I thought it was a 16v, but I've seen the ECU and it's definately on the back of the engine so I guess it must be the 8v.

Since I posted I've actually got the car back and it seems to be running ok, although the mechanic isn't hopeful the problems fixed. Before he gave it back he cleaned out the throttle and did a pin2pin test of the ECU?

I'm still concerned that the problem will persist so if you can throw any light on the cause I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

Helen

	ECU Electronic Control Unit In automotive electronics, an electronic control unit (ECU) is an embedded system that controls one or more of the electrical subsystems in a vehicle. Some modern cars have up to 70 ECUs.

[Hopless]

Hi,
your car is a 16v 1.2 probably a sport unless you have the wrong year.
the ecu will be a marelli magneti hybred iaw5nr ce1 married up to an older BMT uch.

If the problem comes and goes its unlikelyto be the ecu.
The most common problems lie in the fuse box under the bonnet. Corroded relay/fuse sockets and the big white plug in the bottom.

The wires on the ecu can chaff through, the terminals can look good but actualy give a bad contact, this being the case the loom will need replacing. Strip some of the insulation back and if the copper wire has gone black its a bad sign.

Good luck

	ECU Electronic Control Unit In automotive electronics, an electronic control unit (ECU) is an embedded system that controls one or more of the electrical subsystems in a vehicle. Some modern cars have up to 70 ECUs.

	UCH UCH The UCH (Unite Centrale Habitacle) is an electronic control module that is fitted to many late model Renaults (early 2000's onwards.) It is responsible for controlling many of the non-engine related functions of the car, such as central locking, electric windows, and even some of the lights (e.g. indicators.) A brand new UCH is supplied with a blank memory. This must be coded (using the Renault Clip computer) to match the serial number of the ECU and key/card before it will work with the car. The memory can only be written once, so a used UCH cannot be taken from a donor vehicle to be used in another unless the ECU and keyfobs/cards are also transferred.