2005 Clio 182 FF - Occasional track car
Discussion
Krikkit said:
One thing I would say with Mr Clutch is go back through as much as possible of it for finger trouble - the techs are really pressed for time and occasionally slip up with routing of pipework/wiring etc that they had to move to do the job.
If I ever have a Clio again I'll drop the whole front end and engine/box and do the cambelt, clutch, water pump etc etc all in one go to make it easy.
Cam belt was done in Feb! Should have just done the clutch at the time. But that'd have been £900 in total. Seems steep for a car worth £1200!If I ever have a Clio again I'll drop the whole front end and engine/box and do the cambelt, clutch, water pump etc etc all in one go to make it easy.
They don't seem rushed there, the car is in overnight as they didn't finish it in time, I'd rather that than get it out by 5 with finger tight bolts.
Well, got a call at 10, collected all happy. Chap was nice, seemed like he knew his stuff.
Drove to work, fine. Drove home, weird, brake pedal goes to the floor, then works on 2nd push. Get it home, do some checks, wheels seems to move about 20mm back and forth rocking at 12 and 6!
Figured it’s the hub, got a lift to Halfords, chucked a socket on the hub, could do it up with 1 hand
was under 100Nm!
There will be a phone call on Monday morning...
Drove to work, fine. Drove home, weird, brake pedal goes to the floor, then works on 2nd push. Get it home, do some checks, wheels seems to move about 20mm back and forth rocking at 12 and 6!
Figured it’s the hub, got a lift to Halfords, chucked a socket on the hub, could do it up with 1 hand
was under 100Nm! There will be a phone call on Monday morning...
Seems to have been a while, another topic has prompted me to update.
It passed the MOT with flying colours, but not a lot else has happened over summer to the Clio and I've still not had it on track since May last year. Only recently I have had to refurb the gearbox. Initially, I thought it was linked to the clutch being done badly, but it was not in a good way. On my way home the day before a holiday, it started grinding, badly. I limped it home and forgot about it. Following the break, I had it flat bedded to a specialist for the work.
Main shaft bearings, 3rd and 4th gear, diff bearings and syncros all replaced. Just shy of £1000, that's almost the cost of the car. One good thing from this is the chap confirmed the clutch was all ok (see my other thread for a disputed with the company!).
I've been racking up the miles on the Z4 due to the Clio being off the road for almost 3 weeks, but it's great to finally have it back. Taking it easy for now, mainly as I don't want to bin the car with the recent work!
This was the problem causing the grinding noise
Worn gears
Video of the main bearing
https://youtu.be/85wbeAdG0GI
And the rebuild...
I am gagging to get it on track now. Summer comes with increased costs, and I will be careful, but I need to drive it with vigour soon! It just feels like it's required.
Oh, I also picked up a Whiteline ARB at the weekend. £100, when they are £180 new seemed a bargain. To be fitted soon.
It passed the MOT with flying colours, but not a lot else has happened over summer to the Clio and I've still not had it on track since May last year. Only recently I have had to refurb the gearbox. Initially, I thought it was linked to the clutch being done badly, but it was not in a good way. On my way home the day before a holiday, it started grinding, badly. I limped it home and forgot about it. Following the break, I had it flat bedded to a specialist for the work.
Main shaft bearings, 3rd and 4th gear, diff bearings and syncros all replaced. Just shy of £1000, that's almost the cost of the car. One good thing from this is the chap confirmed the clutch was all ok (see my other thread for a disputed with the company!).
I've been racking up the miles on the Z4 due to the Clio being off the road for almost 3 weeks, but it's great to finally have it back. Taking it easy for now, mainly as I don't want to bin the car with the recent work!
This was the problem causing the grinding noise
Worn gears
Video of the main bearing
https://youtu.be/85wbeAdG0GI
And the rebuild...
I am gagging to get it on track now. Summer comes with increased costs, and I will be careful, but I need to drive it with vigour soon! It just feels like it's required.
Oh, I also picked up a Whiteline ARB at the weekend. £100, when they are £180 new seemed a bargain. To be fitted soon.
ARB fitted, I do think it stiffens the car, even on the 'softest' setting. You'll note the cable ties that are on the exhaust mounts, even with the powerflex mounts, it was still popping out.
I'd got the car back, maybe done 500 miles commuting in it and spotted some oil on the drive. In this photo, you can see it dripping from 3 places. Obviously it hasn't rolled a wheel since I saw this. The guy who fixed it is collecting it Monday, it'll have been a month since it went for the refurb.
I've been driving about in the Z for a bit, and as lovely as it is, I really miss the 182! So I spashed out £5 on a mod I've done before. I'm hoping the car comes back next week all sorted, I can run it for a few days to ensure everything is good and finally book a track day. It's been 18 months since the last one.
It needs 2 new tyres now too. I was happy with the rainsports, so I think I'll get an other set, so they all match, and just go on a cycle to swap 2 at a time.
I'd got the car back, maybe done 500 miles commuting in it and spotted some oil on the drive. In this photo, you can see it dripping from 3 places. Obviously it hasn't rolled a wheel since I saw this. The guy who fixed it is collecting it Monday, it'll have been a month since it went for the refurb.
I've been driving about in the Z for a bit, and as lovely as it is, I really miss the 182! So I spashed out £5 on a mod I've done before. I'm hoping the car comes back next week all sorted, I can run it for a few days to ensure everything is good and finally book a track day. It's been 18 months since the last one.
It needs 2 new tyres now too. I was happy with the rainsports, so I think I'll get an other set, so they all match, and just go on a cycle to swap 2 at a time.
Krikkit said:
They all trend to leak a little oil, often gearbox oil from the selectors. There's a fix, but tbh I'd just buy the under tray that should be on it, then give it an occasional clean. 
This is wayyyyyyy more than that. I believe it's now dripped dry, as no more is coming out. But when ever I checked previously, it was a drip every 30 seconds. The mechanic said he'd take it back and sort it. I'm not risking driving it with such a leak, after spending £1k on a refurb.
Really good, honest thread covering the highs and lows of ownership. I've just read it from start to finish.
I've recently bought my first 172 and have really been enjoying it. After years of cars with increasing power, but decreasing involvement, the 172 is a lot of fun without getting close to licence and safety threatening speeds...
I've recently bought my first 172 and have really been enjoying it. After years of cars with increasing power, but decreasing involvement, the 172 is a lot of fun without getting close to licence and safety threatening speeds...
Well, the mechanic kept pushing the collection back and back, so I arranged to get it delivered to him, so he had no excuses. 10 days later he tells me it's done. I spend over 2h 30m getting down to him, for him to tell me it's the drive shaft boot, and he didn't want to replace the whole shaft (Renault only sell them as complete items) so has just put some silicon on it. Apparently that's good enough.
Then had the cheeky to try and charge me, saying it wasn't his work that caused it. Well, I know it wasn't leaking when it originally got to you. I drove away with no payment taking place. Also noticed 3 lights on the dash, which were not there when it was collected from me, usual problems are steering wheel angle sensor or ABS.
I've also noticed fresh oil from under the car, so it's either leaking else where, or his bodge didn't work. Guess I'll be ordering a drive shaft and oil then. I have given up with the guy, he takes forever to action stuff, doesn't fix it and passes blame.
On the plus side, it has fresh rubber on the front, the last set of RainSport3's lasted 9k miles...
Then had the cheeky to try and charge me, saying it wasn't his work that caused it. Well, I know it wasn't leaking when it originally got to you. I drove away with no payment taking place. Also noticed 3 lights on the dash, which were not there when it was collected from me, usual problems are steering wheel angle sensor or ABS.
I've also noticed fresh oil from under the car, so it's either leaking else where, or his bodge didn't work. Guess I'll be ordering a drive shaft and oil then. I have given up with the guy, he takes forever to action stuff, doesn't fix it and passes blame.
On the plus side, it has fresh rubber on the front, the last set of RainSport3's lasted 9k miles...
Woah, October was the last update. Stuff's happened...
The gearbox still leaks. I gave up with him. I keep meaning to check/top it up, but I'm in a short term rent between houses so no space. New place has a garage a big drive, so I'll be back under the car shortly!
I tried to take on fixing the warning lights on the dash, so carefully removed the airbag and set to work
Noooooooooooooo! I've removed too much! This took probably 2 hours to get it back in without fouling anything on steering wheel rotation. That was 11th October, I still have the warning lights on the dash!
With the cold weather, the inside of the windscreen started to freeze, drain holes etc all clear. Changing out the filter did help though...
As per my previous post, I really wanted to get back on track. I found a stonking deal for a saturday at Silverstone, £100! Even to be able to say I've driven around (some) of Silverstone. I came back late friday night from a work trip absolutely knackered, but I wasn't going to miss this! Early December...
We started off well, the ARB and damp track keeping us on our toes with lift off oversteer, but we were having fun. After a few sessions, we decided to check over the brakes and they wern't looking good. Wheel off, pads out...
These were the pads that came with the brembo calipers I bought a few pages back. We started with good meat on them, but clearly not built for track days! So we hopped in my mates car and headed to GSF, they have OE pads in stock, figured even if we burnt through them, we'd get a few sessions each and at £30, there was no question. The longest queue I've ever seen in a GSF, 12 people infront of us, by the time we got back, lunch was over and we'd lost 2 hours.
We pressed on, but things wern't good. Heavy vibration under hard breaking, to a dangerous level. We done a few light sessions to make the most of it, but ultimatly decided to give up. The car is still on the same pads curently and I have no issue road driving, so I'll keep them on for now. Once in the new pad, I'll be doing all brakes and pads, as the rears have seen better days too.
1 Other problem arrised when at Silverstone, it wouldn't start, randomly. So we bumped it whenever we needed to go out. It worked out for the day, but I had to get my Z4 back (from storage) and commute as I couldn't trust the Clio to start. I done some basic testing with bridging the startermotor earth, no help. I replaced the earth strap and it seemed better. But still not 100%, so decided I had to do the starter motor. Guess where it is? (not my pic!)
Yep, behind the exhaust manifold. I read it couldn't be done without removing the manifold, but I having none of it. 1 hour over the car on the street and it was done. I was bleeding for a few places too!
That brings us up to date. I am just commuting in it for now, no other work being done until I get my garage.
The gearbox still leaks. I gave up with him. I keep meaning to check/top it up, but I'm in a short term rent between houses so no space. New place has a garage a big drive, so I'll be back under the car shortly!
I tried to take on fixing the warning lights on the dash, so carefully removed the airbag and set to work
Noooooooooooooo! I've removed too much! This took probably 2 hours to get it back in without fouling anything on steering wheel rotation. That was 11th October, I still have the warning lights on the dash!
With the cold weather, the inside of the windscreen started to freeze, drain holes etc all clear. Changing out the filter did help though...
As per my previous post, I really wanted to get back on track. I found a stonking deal for a saturday at Silverstone, £100! Even to be able to say I've driven around (some) of Silverstone. I came back late friday night from a work trip absolutely knackered, but I wasn't going to miss this! Early December...
We started off well, the ARB and damp track keeping us on our toes with lift off oversteer, but we were having fun. After a few sessions, we decided to check over the brakes and they wern't looking good. Wheel off, pads out...
These were the pads that came with the brembo calipers I bought a few pages back. We started with good meat on them, but clearly not built for track days! So we hopped in my mates car and headed to GSF, they have OE pads in stock, figured even if we burnt through them, we'd get a few sessions each and at £30, there was no question. The longest queue I've ever seen in a GSF, 12 people infront of us, by the time we got back, lunch was over and we'd lost 2 hours.
We pressed on, but things wern't good. Heavy vibration under hard breaking, to a dangerous level. We done a few light sessions to make the most of it, but ultimatly decided to give up. The car is still on the same pads curently and I have no issue road driving, so I'll keep them on for now. Once in the new pad, I'll be doing all brakes and pads, as the rears have seen better days too.
1 Other problem arrised when at Silverstone, it wouldn't start, randomly. So we bumped it whenever we needed to go out. It worked out for the day, but I had to get my Z4 back (from storage) and commute as I couldn't trust the Clio to start. I done some basic testing with bridging the startermotor earth, no help. I replaced the earth strap and it seemed better. But still not 100%, so decided I had to do the starter motor. Guess where it is? (not my pic!)
Yep, behind the exhaust manifold. I read it couldn't be done without removing the manifold, but I having none of it. 1 hour over the car on the street and it was done. I was bleeding for a few places too!
That brings us up to date. I am just commuting in it for now, no other work being done until I get my garage.
Cads said:
I really enjoyed reading through this mate. Well done on a nicely written piece.
I’m toying with one of these in the coming months, you do seem to have had a few niggles with it though. I get it’s no garage queen and clearly gets driven as they should.
Have you just been unlucky??
Thanks! Nice to see that people read it. I do it as a 'blog' for myself too, helps me reference when I last done X etc.I’m toying with one of these in the coming months, you do seem to have had a few niggles with it though. I get it’s no garage queen and clearly gets driven as they should.
Have you just been unlucky??
Not sure I'm unluckly, most of this is stuff that just breaks on a 15 year old car (ticked over 118k yesterday). I also drive it everywhere with some spirit shall we say. So the last 19k I've done it in, it's mainly spent above 4k RPM!
Something to shock you, total spend. All this is excluding the car, and I have a detailed list. But headline figures...over the last 3 years.
Trackday £417.00
Fix £2,407.27
Consumable £678.79
Upgrade £1,165.16
Tyres £722.20
Misc £24.98
Brakes £220.67
£5,636.07
It's missing some track days on that too. But that's not running the car.
Cads said:
I really enjoyed reading through this mate. Well done on a nicely written piece.
I’m toying with one of these in the coming months, you do seem to have had a few niggles with it though. I get it’s no garage queen and clearly gets driven as they should.
Have you just been unlucky??
Get one. In total over my 30 month ownership I've probably spent around 1.2k on parts and consumables, and that includes a £400 Scorpion exhaust. Unfortunately the big cambelt and waterpump job is coming up, so that will bump it up a bit.I’m toying with one of these in the coming months, you do seem to have had a few niggles with it though. I get it’s no garage queen and clearly gets driven as they should.
Have you just been unlucky??
Fair bit of free time at the moment, so a little update...
My dash is still like a christmas tree, with the warning lights from 11th October, due to the squib being b
ksed. I can't find one at a reasonable price, or without a whole steering column attached. The car still works, so it'll stay like that for a while! If I'm lucky, I get the added bonus of the airbag light coming on, not sure what the problem with that is...
Only things I've done is fitted an undertray as the gearbox STILL leaks, to protect my drive a bit. Decided to tackle the rear wiper and spray not working. Typically upon fixing the new washer pump I noticed the arms that control the wiper was missing a circlip, causing the metal bracket to rub the glass, I worried it'd put enough pressure on the damage it, so it's all in bits for now, until I can find a circlip. Obviously had to order a vernier caliper to measure my shaft...
I also lost the bolt for the rear wiper arm, luckly had some M8 nyloc nuts at the bottom of my toolbox. There is a cover, so you'd never know.
Finally, it likes a drink, frequently!
My dash is still like a christmas tree, with the warning lights from 11th October, due to the squib being b
ksed. I can't find one at a reasonable price, or without a whole steering column attached. The car still works, so it'll stay like that for a while! If I'm lucky, I get the added bonus of the airbag light coming on, not sure what the problem with that is...Only things I've done is fitted an undertray as the gearbox STILL leaks, to protect my drive a bit. Decided to tackle the rear wiper and spray not working. Typically upon fixing the new washer pump I noticed the arms that control the wiper was missing a circlip, causing the metal bracket to rub the glass, I worried it'd put enough pressure on the damage it, so it's all in bits for now, until I can find a circlip. Obviously had to order a vernier caliper to measure my shaft...
I also lost the bolt for the rear wiper arm, luckly had some M8 nyloc nuts at the bottom of my toolbox. There is a cover, so you'd never know.
Finally, it likes a drink, frequently!
Bloody COVID!
Once the wipers were sorted, I really wanted to get rid of the dash lights. I had an eBay alert setup for the squib & steering angle sensor, after a few months one came along 1/3 of the normal price, so without hesitation I purchased it. But, it turned out to not had cruise control. I barely use it, but it'd annoy me.
So I had to pick between dash lights or cruise
I left it with lights on but cruise working.
Fast forward a month, I decided to tackle the problem properly. Took it all apart and inspected it all. Measuring 'turns' for both bits and playing about, I decided to put my original squib and the new SAS back on the car in the hope it'd work. BINGO! no lights. about bloody time. Seems the ribbon cable (the exploded cable a page or 2 ago) was not 'centered' (it has a min and max limit of turns), so misreading. As I had a new one to compare, it was obvious.
Still no track time, and it'd not be a 182 post without acknowledging a new issue! It seems a front bearing is on it's way out. constant beady rotational noise when moving, speeds up when I go faster. Annoying they need a press, so I think this job will be outsourced. I've also noticed the brake ducts are disintegrating, I can't imagine they help much now. So I need to buy some proper hoses for this.
Brakes still need doing, but it's a £400 purchase and I'm not using it at all.
Once the wipers were sorted, I really wanted to get rid of the dash lights. I had an eBay alert setup for the squib & steering angle sensor, after a few months one came along 1/3 of the normal price, so without hesitation I purchased it. But, it turned out to not had cruise control. I barely use it, but it'd annoy me.
So I had to pick between dash lights or cruise
I left it with lights on but cruise working.Fast forward a month, I decided to tackle the problem properly. Took it all apart and inspected it all. Measuring 'turns' for both bits and playing about, I decided to put my original squib and the new SAS back on the car in the hope it'd work. BINGO! no lights. about bloody time. Seems the ribbon cable (the exploded cable a page or 2 ago) was not 'centered' (it has a min and max limit of turns), so misreading. As I had a new one to compare, it was obvious.
Still no track time, and it'd not be a 182 post without acknowledging a new issue! It seems a front bearing is on it's way out. constant beady rotational noise when moving, speeds up when I go faster. Annoying they need a press, so I think this job will be outsourced. I've also noticed the brake ducts are disintegrating, I can't imagine they help much now. So I need to buy some proper hoses for this.
Brakes still need doing, but it's a £400 purchase and I'm not using it at all.
Bad news 
Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):
Rear Brake pad(s) less than 1.5 mm thick (1.1.13 (a) (ii))
Repair immediately (major defects):
Nearside Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
Offside Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
Repair as soon as possible (minor defects):
Battery insecure but not likely to fall from carrier (4.13 (a) (i))
Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
Central Upper Stop lamp(s) non-obligatory stop lamp not working (4.3.1 (a) (ii))
Rear Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))
Nearside Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
Offside Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
Front Anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Both front D bush's (5.3.4 (a) (i))
But, as I say, I have brakes all round and a bit of polish on the lights and it'll be good to go
Not all bad and give me something to do over the break!
Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):
Rear Brake pad(s) less than 1.5 mm thick (1.1.13 (a) (ii))
Repair immediately (major defects):
Nearside Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
Offside Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
Repair as soon as possible (minor defects):
Battery insecure but not likely to fall from carrier (4.13 (a) (i))
Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
Central Upper Stop lamp(s) non-obligatory stop lamp not working (4.3.1 (a) (ii))
Rear Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))
Nearside Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
Offside Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
Front Anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Both front D bush's (5.3.4 (a) (i))
But, as I say, I have brakes all round and a bit of polish on the lights and it'll be good to go
Not all bad and give me something to do over the break!
It never stops with this car!
After the failure, I ordered new brakes all round and a DA polisher for the lights (I've wanted one for years, it was a good excuse!)
Some logistic issues with the brakes and a lot of chasing they finally turned up from ECP. Went about my merry way of replacing them all. First thing I noticed on the nearside rear was the state of the seal, shagged! So I promptly dispatched the other half to go collect a new caliper. Easy thing to swap over, no issue. But, assembling the brakes, I could not get it to all align. I tried 5+ times, posted on the Clio FB page, and decided it'd sort it self out.
Everything back together, I figured I needed to test the brakes out, so jumped in and went to start the car. Nothing. It's not moved for 4 weeks, so figured the battery, put it on charge and left it overnight. Jumped in the next day and still nothing, so tested the battery and all was fine. Decided I should try to jump it, still nothing. Have you ever tried to bump start a car on your own, on your drive? Don't, it's a massive waste of time... After a lot of checking and faffing I discovered the starter motor 'excite' cable was not connected. (Previously I swapped the starter over on the road, in the rain, at night time) I know how much of an arse it is to get to, it's between the block and the exhaust manifold, so I tried to do it by hand. Amazingly, I was able to, just, get the connector on the terminal and it started no problem. Only with an array of dash lights and a misfire.
I rolled the car down the drive and broke, they worked but I could tell they needed to be bled again. Not to mention I needed to sort the misfire. I tried to start it again but it wouldn't, but now the manifold was too hot to do anything near it. My code reader confirmed the misfire on cylinder 3, so I ordered new HT leads and a coil pack. Surprise surprise, only the coilpack turned up, but didn't cure the problem. The order for the leads was just randomly cancelled by ebay, so I called the supplier and re-ordered. Unfortunately, this also did not solve the issue, only thing left was an injector. These cars are very particular about some parts, if it's not a genuine injector, it just isn't going to be happy, so £35 later...
Hurrah, it lives on 4 cylinders, although I was still getting a misfire error code, but from the noise it clearly wasn't missing. I ignored it and went back to the brakes. At this point, I was having to connect the excite cable to the starter every time, it was not tight enough and kept vibrating off. As this was a painful exercise, I set my mind to fixing this issue. The cause of the issue was the crap connector, and lack of slack in the cable, so I decided I needed to extend the cable and put a new end on. Luckily, it was just a fancy spade connector, so I took a trip out and got a variety of connectors and cable. I done some dummy runs and really struggled to get crimps tight enough, had to make adjustment to the cheap crimper to get it to work. Being brave, I snipped the end off the excite cable and set to work. My hand was swollen from all of the tight spaces, and I'd read previously I could drop the manifold to get more space, I'd been reluctant so far, figuring the nuts would be impossible to shift, but gave it a quick go and they all came off with easy. I had so much more space (but still not enough). I made the cable up, crimped it all together and got a good connection to the terminal on the starter, manifold back and sorted.
I decided now was a good time to run it up the road, I was still getting lots of dash lights, which could only be attributed to the brakes and misfire. I left the car get fully up to temp whilst reading the codes and continuously clearing the misfire code. Eventually it stopped coming up. But the dash was still lit up and no other codes were being shown. Research suggests it's a ABS issue, so I figured I'd knocked a sensor or cable. Car back up on stands, I went over everything, checked sensors, connections, even cleaned the ABS rings. Bled the system again as the pedal was a little spongy still. But still the dash lights would come on. Interestingly, when I started it, they didn't I could drive maybe 200m and the traction control would kick in (barely accelerating, but clearing still an issue), but no lights. Then they all appeared. Once again, the car had defeated me, so I gave up for that day.
It was from a post on the Clio FB page I'd made, that a reply came through a week later, mentioning the incorrect ABS rings maybe. I done some research and saw that the Brembo discs I had purchased came with the bearings but NO ABS rings. What a fool I'd been, In a rush, I'd fitted discs with no ring on them! Amazing, this should be an easy fix. Old rings removed from old discs, car up again, new discs off. I bloody knew it, they have rings on them! I was sure they did when I put them on. But upon closer inspection, they were different to the old rings. Not only did they say they came with NO rings, but they did come with rings, just the wrong ones (a clio 172's ABS rings I later found out). I had even messaged a mate saying I was going to be tight and re-use the old rings, but I just never bothered to check when fitting.
I managed to do the offside ring change in less than 30 minutes. Amazing. However, putting the near side back together I still didn't have it all aligned as before. As it was daylight I decided to investigate. Long story short, the hub's thread for the caliper was cross threaded, causing the bolt & caliper to not align correctly, hence the misalignment with the disc/pads. A known problem (one of many...) with the clios is the ABS sensors are a bugger to remove, I tried but failed and quickly decided I'd just buy a new sensor to go with the replacement hub I needed. I found a used hub + sensor on ebay for £30, so took a punt on that, which I will fit next weekend.
I have come close to listing the car for sale over all of this. I've done under 1000 miles in a year in it, and I've spend close to £800. Not to mention the amount of times I've had to re-do stuff. I feel there is a massive unbalance, but probably as I don't need to drive it and can't do a track day. Knowing the misfire is sorted, the abs rings were wrong, and the hub is cross threaded has almost made me see the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope a few hours work at the weekend, followed by a fresh MOT being issued (and being allowed to go out!) will restore my love. Part way through all of this, when I thought it was ok, I did attempt a drive to the MOT station, and even driving it sensibly as I'd not bedded the brakes in, I had a massive smile on my face. I don't want to get rid of it, just yet
Oh, I almost forgot. As I had to change the rear discs, I also had to remove the loctit'd rear stud's I had swapped to. In this process, I managed 2 before I snapped my socket set allen key piece. Luckily it's Halfords pro range, so a replacement has been ordered. Also luckily that I kept the old wheel bolts.
After the failure, I ordered new brakes all round and a DA polisher for the lights (I've wanted one for years, it was a good excuse!)
Some logistic issues with the brakes and a lot of chasing they finally turned up from ECP. Went about my merry way of replacing them all. First thing I noticed on the nearside rear was the state of the seal, shagged! So I promptly dispatched the other half to go collect a new caliper. Easy thing to swap over, no issue. But, assembling the brakes, I could not get it to all align. I tried 5+ times, posted on the Clio FB page, and decided it'd sort it self out.
Everything back together, I figured I needed to test the brakes out, so jumped in and went to start the car. Nothing. It's not moved for 4 weeks, so figured the battery, put it on charge and left it overnight. Jumped in the next day and still nothing, so tested the battery and all was fine. Decided I should try to jump it, still nothing. Have you ever tried to bump start a car on your own, on your drive? Don't, it's a massive waste of time... After a lot of checking and faffing I discovered the starter motor 'excite' cable was not connected. (Previously I swapped the starter over on the road, in the rain, at night time) I know how much of an arse it is to get to, it's between the block and the exhaust manifold, so I tried to do it by hand. Amazingly, I was able to, just, get the connector on the terminal and it started no problem. Only with an array of dash lights and a misfire.
I rolled the car down the drive and broke, they worked but I could tell they needed to be bled again. Not to mention I needed to sort the misfire. I tried to start it again but it wouldn't, but now the manifold was too hot to do anything near it. My code reader confirmed the misfire on cylinder 3, so I ordered new HT leads and a coil pack. Surprise surprise, only the coilpack turned up, but didn't cure the problem. The order for the leads was just randomly cancelled by ebay, so I called the supplier and re-ordered. Unfortunately, this also did not solve the issue, only thing left was an injector. These cars are very particular about some parts, if it's not a genuine injector, it just isn't going to be happy, so £35 later...
Hurrah, it lives on 4 cylinders, although I was still getting a misfire error code, but from the noise it clearly wasn't missing. I ignored it and went back to the brakes. At this point, I was having to connect the excite cable to the starter every time, it was not tight enough and kept vibrating off. As this was a painful exercise, I set my mind to fixing this issue. The cause of the issue was the crap connector, and lack of slack in the cable, so I decided I needed to extend the cable and put a new end on. Luckily, it was just a fancy spade connector, so I took a trip out and got a variety of connectors and cable. I done some dummy runs and really struggled to get crimps tight enough, had to make adjustment to the cheap crimper to get it to work. Being brave, I snipped the end off the excite cable and set to work. My hand was swollen from all of the tight spaces, and I'd read previously I could drop the manifold to get more space, I'd been reluctant so far, figuring the nuts would be impossible to shift, but gave it a quick go and they all came off with easy. I had so much more space (but still not enough). I made the cable up, crimped it all together and got a good connection to the terminal on the starter, manifold back and sorted.
I decided now was a good time to run it up the road, I was still getting lots of dash lights, which could only be attributed to the brakes and misfire. I left the car get fully up to temp whilst reading the codes and continuously clearing the misfire code. Eventually it stopped coming up. But the dash was still lit up and no other codes were being shown. Research suggests it's a ABS issue, so I figured I'd knocked a sensor or cable. Car back up on stands, I went over everything, checked sensors, connections, even cleaned the ABS rings. Bled the system again as the pedal was a little spongy still. But still the dash lights would come on. Interestingly, when I started it, they didn't I could drive maybe 200m and the traction control would kick in (barely accelerating, but clearing still an issue), but no lights. Then they all appeared. Once again, the car had defeated me, so I gave up for that day.
It was from a post on the Clio FB page I'd made, that a reply came through a week later, mentioning the incorrect ABS rings maybe. I done some research and saw that the Brembo discs I had purchased came with the bearings but NO ABS rings. What a fool I'd been, In a rush, I'd fitted discs with no ring on them! Amazing, this should be an easy fix. Old rings removed from old discs, car up again, new discs off. I bloody knew it, they have rings on them! I was sure they did when I put them on. But upon closer inspection, they were different to the old rings. Not only did they say they came with NO rings, but they did come with rings, just the wrong ones (a clio 172's ABS rings I later found out). I had even messaged a mate saying I was going to be tight and re-use the old rings, but I just never bothered to check when fitting.
I managed to do the offside ring change in less than 30 minutes. Amazing. However, putting the near side back together I still didn't have it all aligned as before. As it was daylight I decided to investigate. Long story short, the hub's thread for the caliper was cross threaded, causing the bolt & caliper to not align correctly, hence the misalignment with the disc/pads. A known problem (one of many...) with the clios is the ABS sensors are a bugger to remove, I tried but failed and quickly decided I'd just buy a new sensor to go with the replacement hub I needed. I found a used hub + sensor on ebay for £30, so took a punt on that, which I will fit next weekend.
I have come close to listing the car for sale over all of this. I've done under 1000 miles in a year in it, and I've spend close to £800. Not to mention the amount of times I've had to re-do stuff. I feel there is a massive unbalance, but probably as I don't need to drive it and can't do a track day. Knowing the misfire is sorted, the abs rings were wrong, and the hub is cross threaded has almost made me see the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope a few hours work at the weekend, followed by a fresh MOT being issued (and being allowed to go out!) will restore my love. Part way through all of this, when I thought it was ok, I did attempt a drive to the MOT station, and even driving it sensibly as I'd not bedded the brakes in, I had a massive smile on my face. I don't want to get rid of it, just yet
Oh, I almost forgot. As I had to change the rear discs, I also had to remove the loctit'd rear stud's I had swapped to. In this process, I managed 2 before I snapped my socket set allen key piece. Luckily it's Halfords pro range, so a replacement has been ordered. Also luckily that I kept the old wheel bolts.
The replacement hub arrived. Looking a bit sorry for itself. It came with 2 of the bolts, and a damaged spacer. All of which I didn't need, but had to grind one of the bolts out as it was so rusted up. But it was only £30 with the sensor...
As the thread was stripped, I thought it best to replace the bolts also, just incase. £15 later and an hours round trip, I get to work and find out this. Given these were direct from Renault and confirmed the correct parts, I figured my old bolts were wrong!
Luckily, they were long enough to go most of the way in, had a good fixing.
As the car was in the air, I decided to fit the studs to this side. I had my replacement hex socket bit, whipped the heat gun thing out and set to work. It lasted all of 1/2 a turn before snapping. So reverted to an allen key and a bar. Easy. 'Borrowed' some acetone from the missus' nail kit, cleaned them up and fitted.
I also bled that caliper again, a lot of air. Last time I done 3 full depresses on the pedal and no air. Now all of a sudden, air. Maybe air is getting into the system? I've purchased a better bleed bottle, as I was using one of those cheap £5 Halford ones. Will do all corners again...
Oh, I still have the same error on the code reader. P0500, Vehicle Speed Sensor. Apparently ABS ring related. Need to get a proper code reader on it.
As the thread was stripped, I thought it best to replace the bolts also, just incase. £15 later and an hours round trip, I get to work and find out this. Given these were direct from Renault and confirmed the correct parts, I figured my old bolts were wrong!
Luckily, they were long enough to go most of the way in, had a good fixing.
As the car was in the air, I decided to fit the studs to this side. I had my replacement hex socket bit, whipped the heat gun thing out and set to work. It lasted all of 1/2 a turn before snapping. So reverted to an allen key and a bar. Easy. 'Borrowed' some acetone from the missus' nail kit, cleaned them up and fitted.
I also bled that caliper again, a lot of air. Last time I done 3 full depresses on the pedal and no air. Now all of a sudden, air. Maybe air is getting into the system? I've purchased a better bleed bottle, as I was using one of those cheap £5 Halford ones. Will do all corners again...
Oh, I still have the same error on the code reader. P0500, Vehicle Speed Sensor. Apparently ABS ring related. Need to get a proper code reader on it.
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