Flat Spot

[Mattb_197]

Mine bugs the **** out of me. It's quite bad for me as I've to pull out onto a 60mph single carriage way from work and I don't like having to rev the car to get it moving when it's not up to temperature. But if I don't give it a bit I can't get up to any sort of speed quick enough before I almost getting run into the back of if I keep the revs below 3k! When I first bought the car I actually thought there was something wrong with it, it literally has ZERO power when it's cold in the flat spot area (~2.5k) and it's quite lumpy, it can be a pig to drive. Once it's warm it's nowhere near as bad. If I've time I'll sometimes sit in the car park for 5-10 minutes to let it warm up a bit and it's not as bad then, but I can't be doing that every day. I do wonder if it's something to do with oil temp/pressure and the VVT system on the inlet cam. Interestingly I've just had all the belts and de-phaser pulley changed on mine and it's smoothed it out slightly but it's still not great.

Mine has a resonated Milltek cat back and a K&N panel, was already on the car when I bought it. I think I'll get it mapped eventually as it is very annoying when town driving. You can learn to drive round it but it's not ideal.

 

[AaronJeff]

I live in Wolverhampton and don't want to go all the way to RST if I can help it. Is there somewhere closer I can go for a good custom map?

No idea about where to get mapped but, i read your thread about the laguna wheels, good thread that bud and i will be doing it myself soon!

 

[AaronJeff]

Mine bugs the **** out of me. It's quite bad for me as I've to pull out onto a 60mph single carriage way from work and I don't like having to rev the car to get it moving when it's not up to temperature. But if I don't give it a bit I can't get up to any sort of speed quick enough before I almost getting run into the back of if I keep the revs below 3k! When I first bought the car I actually thought there was something wrong with it, it literally has ZERO power when it's cold in the flat spot area (~2.5k) and it's quite lumpy, it can be a pig to drive. Once it's warm it's nowhere near as bad. If I've time I'll sometimes sit in the car park for 5-10 minutes to let it warm up a bit and it's not as bad then, but I can't be doing that every day. I do wonder if it's something to do with oil temp/pressure and the VVT system on the inlet cam. Interestingly I've just had all the belts and de-phaser pulley changed on mine and it's smoothed it out slightly but it's still not great.

Mine has a resonated Milltek cat back and a K&N panel, was already on the car when I bought it. I think I'll get it mapped eventually as it is very annoying when town driving. You can learn to drive round it but it's not ideal.

Defiantly gunna leave it till i can affords a map then, my trip from work is the same. Straight out of the car park onto a 70 road, uphil for about 2 mile :mellow:

 

[Tutuur]

Remap will fix this, has nothing to do with vvt or oil pressure, it's an aweful result of things like emissions

 

[welshname]

Has anyone stuck an RS Tuner map on their 197?

It is a massively common thing for the 172/182 and it makes a huge difference. Sorts the cold running out etc.

 

[Warren]

Has anyone stuck an RS Tuner map on their 197?

It is a massively common thing for the 172/182 and it makes a huge difference. Sorts the cold running out etc.

The ones that they buy from a guy called Henk? I'd wondered this too but nothing would beat a live map in my opinion.
Pretty sure this is the company:
https://www.fastchip.nl/shop/clio/clio-3-products
You can buy boxes second hand at about £100-120 and sell on afterwards. I'm almost certain it's just generic though but really cheap, 1*2 guys rate them pretty highly for a generic map so I'd be interested if anyone 197/200 wise has done it as it's 1/6th the price of a live map.

 

[-Eddie-]

Flat spot was terrible with the KTec system on and decat. I have changed to the Akrapovic Evolution system now and it's non existent.

 

[welshname]

Yeah had one on the 172 and it was cracking. However just thought I'd stick this on here as there is currently a group buy for a remap at RS Tuning being organised and because of the fact there are more than 10 people already with their names down the price is £100 less than it should be.

https://turborenault.co.uk/t41433/page-2

I'm ringing up to pay my deposit tomorrow. Full info on that link.

 

[Foxspeed]

when the 197 first came out on 06 the co2 output was a lot higher than the 56 onwards cars that incidentally seem to be poorer when cold...

the mapping when cold is a lot different to when hot and is set to get the cat up to temperature quickly and hence hit emission standards faster and better ie first
5minutes of running

changing the exhaust just upsets the engine mapping as its pushing the gases out differently to when standard and the flat spot is bang on where the mot
test emissions are taken (slight clue there)

only way round it as said is mapped to suit engine mods etc

 

[Kazumz]

when the 197 first came out on 06 the co2 output was a lot higher than the 56 onwards cars that incidentally seem to be poorer when cold...

the mapping when cold is a lot different to when hot and is set to get the cat up to temperature quickly and hence hit emission standards faster and better ie first
5minutes of running

changing the exhaust just upsets the engine mapping as its pushing the gases out differently to when standard and the flat spot is bang on where the mot
test emissions are taken (slight clue there)

only way round it as said is mapped to suit engine mods etc

Thought the test was at 4k?

 

[Foxspeed]

Thought the test was at 4k?

2500rpm - 3 ish iirc

 

[AaronJeff]

So just to check ... is removing the silencer is just as bad as removing the cat?

 

[Jesse James]

It will make the flatspot worse but those mine makes it worth it

 

[AaronJeff]

It will make the flatspot worse but those mine makes it worth it

So is doing a de-cat as bad as just removing the silencer?

 

[Kazumz]

It starts around 2k, ends at 3.1k, to be precise. But you'll only notice it for roughly 500rpm as it's the strongest between 2.5k and 3k. As soon as you pass 3k, it's normal again.

Shouldn't have your foot flat at that point anyway, what's the point? These engines make next to no power down low. Just downshift !

 

[Kazumz]

So is doing a de-cat as bad as just removing the silencer?

Anything that knocks off your ECU will, including backpressure. Funnily enough, the Intake I put on it only had a positive affect on the engine. As soon as I dabbled with the exhaust, that was it.

 

[AaronJeff]

It starts around 2k, ends at 3.1k, to be precise. But you'll only notice it for roughly 500rpm as it's the strongest between 2.5k and 3k. As soon as you pass 3k, it's normal again.

Shouldn't have your foot flat at that point anyway, what's the point? These engines make next to no power down low. Just downshift !

So when driving at a normal pace is the flat spot not annoying?

 

[Jimmy]

So when driving at a normal pace is the flat spot not annoying?

I don't notice it at all in normal driving. Only slightly when I use a bit more throttle than normal, but even then it's only slight. It was more noticeable before I did the tie wrap 'mod'.

 

[Kazumz]

So when driving at a normal pace is the flat spot not annoying?

Nope! You'll hear the engine tone change as it strangles itself if you want to go faster, but that's your que to change down a gear.

Honestly, I don't notice it in day to day driving as I wait until I'm above 3k to plant my foot. I just use a max of half throttle below 3k. When you come to a hill, just keep the revs up as usual.

 

[Legend@wheels]

Kaz in town and normal driving you always above 3k? Wa.. Sounds too much
My normal driving is changing gear at 3-3.5 top
Even 2.8