197 Acceleration Issue?

[RJH_197]

I've had my 197 for 2 weeks today and am now used to the car, however what is baffling me (and a friend who drove it today) noticed that one minute the car feels like it pulls very strongly and a minute later it feels like it has no guts at all, we are talking about the same gear, same roads etc.
Sometimes I also get a slight hesitation around 4K rpm if at partial throttle so I wondered if there could be something wrong with the throttle body or the pedal itself?
Since I've owned it it's only been run on super-unleaded and new OEM spark plugs were fitted today which has made no difference.
Anybody else experienced the same issue or does this sound like a normal characteristic of the car?
Any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading.

 

[link]

Check the MAP sensor on top of the inlet manifold, plenty of threads on here about it kangaroo'ing at low revs... Might be broken or missing o-ring etc.

Other thing to check would be the timing sensor, think I've seen a few failures on here before...

 

[Doogle]

Having come from a more refined car with a throttle by wire system the Renault setup is pretty poor and lacklustre. They do have a flatspot around 2-3k which is what you may be feeling. Mapping would help.

 

[Yiannis197]

Check the cam position sensor, there have been cases where that packs up and the symptoms are the ones you describe.

 

[Benno]

Check the cam position sensor, there have been cases where that packs up and the symptoms are the ones you describe.

+1, my Clio had this. Mine was hesitant and confused the hell out of me, one minute it was sweet then the next absolutely flat. On the rolling road it came out about 166bhp because the cam sensor was throwing everything off..swapped it, 201bhp straight up....

 

[Deer_Dodger]

+1, my Clio had this. Mine was hesitant and confused the hell out of me, one minute it was sweet then the next absolutely flat. On the rolling road it came out about 166bhp because the cam sensor was throwing everything off..swapped it, 201bhp straight up....

Likewise, when I got mine it would sometimes feel woefully underpowered and sometimes fine. Mine would also stall when cold. I just cleaned my TDC sensor (bottom / front of the engine where the engine meets the gearbox) and gave the connections a good dowsing in WD40 as its location means it’s connector is prone to water ingress. It’s been vastly improved ever since.

I’ve also zip tied my cam sensor down as people have suggested on here.

They do have a huge flat spot low down and as stated, mapping can help with this, but I’ve yet to get this done myself.

 

[Antti O]

Cam sensor is easy diy to change, worth to try?

 

[marco197]

Replace the cam sensor. Bit of a pig due to access but cheap and simple fix hopefully