RS200 temperature gauge

[Baguette]

Afternoon all,

I have only had my clio RS for a few days and I have noticed the fuel consumption is terrible(28mpg on a 70mph cruise according to the obc) but the temp gauge needle doesn't move much above the first line. Putting 2+2 together, I am guessing the thermostat is knackered?
How much of a pain in the arse is it to change if so or is that mpg figure to be expected...?

 

[tomislavp4]

Both me and @Antti O (and probably a few others) have had the thermostat issue. It isn't hard to replace it just remove the intake duct that goes above the thermostat housing to be able to access the screws. Then unscrew, pull the old one out, put the new one in and screw everything together again. Really simple. Just be sure to have coolant around to refill after you're done, some of it will come out when you unscrew the housing.

Around 30 mpg combined is about what you should be getting if you don't drive like a madman.

 

[Deer_Dodger]

That sounds normal, they have a low opening thermostat to improve power.

There are a lot of posts on here, mine only ever touches the second mark when such in traffic or after a very hard without.

Fuel wise, I'm afraid that's normal too, I usually drive like I'm driving miss daisy and and mine averages 27 mpg.

My car had a full water pump, coolant and thermostat service last year and my overall fuel consumption / engine temp never changed. So unless I got a dodgy new thermostat and my old one was also dud, I'm assuming it's running correctly. My OBD app does show it opening when it should.

If you get an OBD scanning dongle and an appropriate app, you'll soon see exactly what temps it's opening at, it should open at 75 degrees I believe, whereas the 1*2 opened at 82 degrees.

When buying an OBD dongle, is worth noting that if you're an iPhone user, you'll need a WiFi dongle as the Bluetooth dongles only work with android phones.


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[Baguette]

Cheers for the responses, I do have an OBD reader so can check it out later. Seems simple enough to change if it does need it doing. I have read the OBC is as optimistic as the robot from hitchhikers guide, so if its showing 28mpg and 130 miles to 1/4 tank its actually more like low 30's...

 

[Deer_Dodger]

Marvin. LOL


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[Antti O]

Yep, i bought my clio 197 with faulty thermosthat.
When i took my OBD bluetooth dongle, and check livedata from smartphone.. coolant temp was approx 52celsius. Outside temp -18celsius.

I replaced it with aftermarket , it was BEHR if i remember correct.
With this coolant is something like 80-90c.

 

[petercronin]

That does sound like the thermostat is broken. It should reach the third line (almost at the 12 o clock position) and then drop back down as it opens and cools. It should keep doing it hovering between the second and third lines. Maybe occasionally going just over the third line sat static or under heavy use.


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[Baguette]

Definitely think the thermostat is broken, I have been out in it on the motorway for a sustained period and it never got above the second line, except when stopped in traffic when it actually hit the third line on the gauge and sat there until I got moving.

Odd symptoms but will get my obd2 reader on it tomorrow and confirm either way. Then its onto getting the cambelt sorted...

 

[turkie172]

It's time to stop talking about it and change the thermostat the genuine one is a 75Degree one buy it or a good known make remember nearly all online and motor factors that look up part numbers especially for Renault Clio sports and are normally wrong so get the right part number for it and get them to look up the part number not the vehicle or you will be standing with coolant running out and find the part you have does not fit and the cars out of action and you need to go back and change it. I've had this thermostat problem and if it does not go above the second line then the thermostat is not doing its job and the fuelling will be out the fuel consumption will be higher. If you use a hotter thermostat the fan will come on too early and you will find the fan running all the time and you will burn it out as far as I know the fan is programed to come on around 80Deg or not much over that.

 

[Antti O]

I disagree. I have hotter aftermarket thermosthat and i dont remember fans running from last summer..
Needle stays at 3rd bar as in picture beginning of this thread.
I dont drive my car at wintertime anymore, so i am planning to replace thermosthat with genuine later this year.

 

[turkie172]

But the following maybe general as it talks about 2 fan assemblies and not pacific to the Clio 197 or 200 which we all know runs cooler temperatures so the fans operate at 2 speeds I know my fans run at the 3rd line while in slow traffic. So if the fans generally operate at around 99 Deg the end of opening point on the thermostats above we can assume that the 197 cooling fans come on at around 87 Deg the point the thermostat ends opening on that engine.