Newb - questions already! :)

[Fickinsnickin]

Hi all,
Purchased a 2008 197 a couple of months ago as my daily commute and occasional fun car.
After browsing for seemingly months i ended up winning an ebay auction and collectiong on the way home from a work trip.
All in all i'm pleased with the car, few little niggles to sort and one possible large one.
Car is racing blue, had the original alloys refubished in anthracite which i think is a great colour combo, shame it doesn;t have the cup pack and red calipers but hey ho.

Car as bought had a Powerflex black edition top engine stabiliser - horrid - which i quickly replaced with a standard Febi item.
Has the slight knock coming from the front N/S and a banging boot lid which i hopefully fixed lat weekend.
Has the drivers door dropped which i'm still unsure the best way of solving?
A/c not working - guy at work regasses for £10 so was going to try this first when i get chance.

The big one is I don't think its running at full power, having read through Micah's 200 thread with a belt change and a faulty dephaser pulley i'm thinking it is either that or the timing belt out by a small margin.
Historically the timing belt and aux belt were changed 18months ago when the car was bought from a garage as part of the sale, i have a box of th old bits that were removed, don't think the dephaser was changed but not sure.
It seems to run fine bar a noticable flat spot around 3k at half to 3/4 throttle, but having had a 182 a few years back and an old 206 GTI since i'd expect this to pull my arms off in the lower gears and it just never feels like its getting going.

Struggled to get bits done since buying, due to a change of the main 'family car' the clio ended up doing that job for my wife and 2 young kids!
New family wagon purchased the clio is back to being mine so time permitting i can get things sorted.

I'm in North Yorkshire between Scarborough and York so not sure where would be the best place to take it for a timing check / further belt and dephaser change to get it back to full fitness?
RS Tuning @ Leeds spring to mind but i'm open to suggestions if anyone knows of anyone else relatively local to me?

Anyway, apoliges for the big maiden post.

Cheers
Rob

 

[sevenfourate]

Hi Rob and welcome aboard !

At work so will answer later. But I suspect it will have already been done by then....

Enjoy the forum

 

[Micah]

Hmmm, interesting, and thanks for bringing back horrendous April memories
I think that if you had a faulty dephaser, you'd have had an error message by now. It could well be the timing - who did the belts?
I'm not sure how you check the timing, but it might be a very good idea to take it to RS Tuning and get Paul to map it, as it should drive much better after that. It's a must for all Clio's I reckon, but sort out your breathing mods first, if you will be doing any.

 

[Jimmy]

Hi Rob, and welcome to the forum.

Lovely colour car you've got yourself there! And the anthracite wheels are also a good choice

Hopefully the power issue is nothing too serious, but definitely worth having it looked at. As Micah also asked, who was it that did the belts? These engines are quite timing-sensitive, so it needs to be done by someone who knows the engines well, ideally.

RS Tuning do have a good reputation on the forum and are close(ish) to you. I personally recommend Trevor Milnes at Park Street Motors in Manchester, they did my belts recently and I am very happy with their work.

I am based in Leeds, so if you wanted a ride in my 197 as a means of a comparison, to see if there is an issue with your power, you're more than welcome.

 

[Benno]

Could well be the timing, also worth giving the Cam Sensor a check. Andy at Engine Dynamics told me this can be a common issue and one that doesn't throw up a fault code.

 

[Chris]

Welcome along!

 

[Pav]

welcome and hope you get all the little niggles sorted soon...the black series are known for being very harsh for a daily drive..

 

[Foxspeed]

welcome

 

[Fickinsnickin]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the welcome, no actual evidence who did the belts to be honest. In the history there is a receipt from an independent dealer in Leeds with 'inc timing belt change' as part of the used car invoice, I presumed they did it themselves but who knows.
If I was a guessing man whoever did it won't have used the correct tools, hence my suspicion on the timing.

Regards fault codes, is it worth me buying a code reader of some description to check myself? If so any suggestions on which ones work well and which don't?

Its had all the coil packs replaced along with the sensor at the drivers end of the inlet manifold that is now tie-wrapped on :excited:
Previous owner complained about the rough running when cold and said it had been to a garage to check for fault codes with none recorded, knowing they almost all run a bit rough when cold I wasn't too worried at the time of purchase.

I think a trip to RS Tuning may well be in order, wasn't sure how 'easy' it would be for anyone to check the timing and correct if necessary from what I have read about the timing setup on these engines.

Overall cracking motor though, I had a 1995 Clio 16V back when I was 21 which was a fantastic car, the 182 I had 5 years ago was pretty good too but had a handling issue I never managed to resolve despite complete gen renault suspension renewal.

 

[Pav]

they are known for a cold start issues..let it warm up before setting off...

 

[MIQ]

hello