Check Emissions, Check Injection & P0010 on Clio 197

[hwa0725]

Hi all,

My Clio 197 has been running lumpy for quite some time now. Did the following but no luck getting it back on power like it used to be. My issue is the car was running lumpy on low rev, for example, I had to rev it a little while letting the clutch off to prevent the car from dying when the traffic lights turned green. I haven't really noticed anything on high rev as I do loads of city drive mostly start-stop kind of drive on low rev (less than 3.5k RPM).

I got the car diagnosed by a Renault Specialist in Dublin and got a bill of 1.5k euro saying it was the dephaser pulley that was causing the problem and they needed to replace the dephaser, cambelt, water pump, aux belt, coolant etc to get it fix. This is not a small money and I doubted it was the dephaser causing the problem as I hear no noise and the cambelt was changed 10k ago by previous owner (not sure if the dephaser was changed).

Just wondering if anyone has faced the same issue like mine what you did do to fix the issue? Below is what I have done and checked so far but no luck finding the issue.

Things I have replaced so far:
- Crankshaft sensor (old one previously caused a starting issue as it was coated with loads of carbon, took it out cleaned it and the car starts normally but decided to put in a new one now.)
- Camshaft sensor (the resistance of the old one is off by a lot and voltage doesn't drop when a piece of metal is approaching, put in a new one and the voltage drops as metal approaches - I honestly thought this will fix the problem but unfortunately it is not).
- Changed the engine oil (the previous oil ran for less than 1000 km but it smells like petrol, I think it was because the engine is running lean and misfiring as I am hearing pop and bangs outta exhaust!)
- Changed all 4 pencil coils.
- Took the injectors out and cleaned them. Also, poured in a bottle of cleaner to clean the valves, pistons etc.

Things I have checked so far:
- Dephaser solenoid (the one right beside the fourth cylinder counting from flywheel/gearbox) is working ok, took it out, cleaned and tested it, working alright.
- Sprayed brake cleaner around the engine while the car was running and heard no sudden rev so no vacuum leaks.

Many thanks,

Heng

 

[S24nrc]

Have you got any codes stored? Are you able to view the Lambda readings with an OBD reader or an app such as torque?

 

[hwa0725]

Hi mate, yes I have a P0010 code stored with check injections and check emissions on the dashboard. The engine light is on too with the spanner sign.

Yes, I am using Torque Pro and should be able to view the lambda reading, do you know what I need to be looking for? For example, what range of voltage/ fluctuation pattern is healthy?

 

[hwa0725]

Have you got any codes stored? Are you able to view the Lambda readings with an OBD reader or an app such as torque?

Below are 2 snapshots I took while the car was idling at 85deg celsius.
The red graph is O2 sensor 1 before the catalytic converter I believe, fluctuate between 0,1V and 0.7V.
The green is O2 sensor 2 after the converter, fluctuate between 0.1V and 0.8V.
Do they look ok?

 

[aaron-rs197]

I’m led to believe the post o2 sensor should not fluctuate like the pre sensor does. Post should be steady 0.4ish v. If it mirrors the pre sensor, its a sign of failed cat. Most likely due to lots of city driving.

 

[hwa0725]

I’m led to believe the post o2 sensor should not fluctuate like the pre sensor does. Post should be steady 0.4ish v. If it mirrors the pre sensor, its a sign of failed cat. Most likely due to lots of city driving.

Hi Aaron, thanks for that, I have P0010 error (P0010: “A” Camshaft Position Actuator Circuit (Bank 1)) so my guess is something is wrong with the timing/VVT pulley that put too much pressure on the cat and eventually kills it? Cause I have been driving around for some time with this error on now.

 

[hwa0725]

Hi guys, I recently did the dephaser pulley and timing belt and now having a weird issue. I cleared the engine light and hasn't come back up since.

What I am having now is a spanner light with check injection (and P0010 on Torque pro). This light only comes up intermittently when I rev above 3k. The car is quite cold when I did this test (outside -3 deg). Anyone having the same issue?

Link to video here:

Regards,

Heng

 

[Sean197]

Po010 code plus issue over 3k points to vvt system fault. I've read it happen on here before and a new cam sensor cured it.

 

[Albert540]

Not clear to me, you replaced the dephaser pulley and the cambelt again?

Anyway,

Took the injectors out and cleaned them.

probably this is not the cause of your issue, but keep in mind that a proper clean of the injectors requires a specialized machine that repeatedly opens/closes them while the cleaning solution is flowing. Also, they could appear to be clean, but an accurate testing (again with specific equipment) is needed to be sure that the amount of injected fuel and the spray pattern are as expected. A garage quoted me about 100 € for this job - definitely more expensive than a diy clean, but the only way to be sure the injectors are in good shape.

Sprayed brake cleaner around the engine while the car was running and heard no sudden rev so no vacuum leaks.

keep in mind that brake cleaner can degrade rubber parts, so not wise to spray it everywhere.

 

[hwa0725]

Po010 code plus issue over 3k points to vvt system fault. I've read it happen on here before and a new cam sensor cured it.

Hi Sean, the cam sensor is new, will check if the wiring is causing the problem, thanks!

Not clear to me, you replaced the dephaser pulley and the cambelt again?

Hi Albert, no I only replaced it once because what I did previously (as posted early on this thread) didn't fix anything. I got rid of the engine light yes but the spanner light is coming back intermittently on high rev and when engine is cold and I think the reappearance of the engine light is inevitable.

A garage quoted me about 100 € for this job - definitely more expensive than a diy clean, but the only way to be sure the injectors are in good shape.

Thanks for this, if the job is at that price I think might as well get them replaced with new ones since they are old and cleaning probably won't fix the damage from mechanical ageing.

 

[hwa0725]

Hi all,

My car just failed the emission test on high idle (2.6k ish), the car still has P0010 error with check injection and emission on the dash.

I looked back at the O2 graph I logged a while ago, both sensors are fluctuating up and down which I think is normal, however when I tried to look at it again. The below is what I found. Only Senson 1 is fluctuating, Sensor 2 is flat on 0.455 V ish. Does it means the post o2 sensor is bad? Will I still receiving signal at all if it is bad?

Suspecting it was probably the timing but the car only has 14 misfires max when I checked with the Torque app. Would be expecting more misfires if it has something to do with the timing I presume?

Crank, cam position sensors, coils, dephaser, and belt are around 1 year old. Not driving the car much so very new I would say.

Thanks very much for any guidance.



Regards,

Heng

 

[Kanazir]

Hi all,

My car just failed the emission test on high idle (2.6k ish), the car still has P0010 error with check injection and emission on the dash.

I looked back at the O2 graph I logged a while ago, both sensors are fluctuating up and down which I think is normal, however when I tried to look at it again. The below is what I found. Only Senson 1 is fluctuating, Sensor 2 is flat on 0.455 V ish. Does it means the post o2 sensor is bad? Will I still receiving signal at all if it is bad?

Suspecting it was probably the timing but the car only has 14 misfires max when I checked with the Torque app. Would be expecting more misfires if it has something to do with the timing I presume?

Crank, cam position sensors, coils, dephaser, and belt are around 1 year old. Not driving the car much so very new I would say.

Thanks very much for any guidance.

View attachment 159658

Regards,

Heng

As far as I know o2 sensor after cat has nothing to do with fuel to air ratio that is a job of first o2 sensor so even if second one failed it would not cause engine to overfuel and make problem with emissions

 

[RSRowe]

^ correct

Second sensor just checks for the efficiency of the cat.

 

[hwa0725]

Thanks guys,

Could a flat signal mean something is wrong with my cat, causing the emission test to fail? On my emission test report, the CO and lambda exceed allowable limits.

 

[VeiRoNv2]

A not working O2 sensor could easily make it fail on CO emissions,that doesn't mean the cat is bad,were you able to actually inspect the inside of the catalyst to see the condition of the "mesh"? What's the air fuel ratio figure on the paper work? Should be below 1,03, doesn't sound good if it's misfiring.

 

[hwa0725]

I am getting 1.09 on AFR, higher than the upper limit of 1.03. The car also pops on high revs when upshifting.

 

[VeiRoNv2]

So it's running quite rich,and CO values?

 

[hwa0725]

Yes, used to be worst but since I replaced the dephaser and timing belt, it got better but still have some misfires, especially when engine is cold.

CO is 0.87 vol% above the 0.2% required to pass.