51 plate Clio with mayo in oil cap & saturated footwell.

[Dsmc88]

As the tittle says. I went to view a car earlier today that had a few things wrong. It's a 51 plate 1.2 16v Renault Clio.

First off it had thick mayo on & around the cap as well as a thick sludge around the inside. First thought was head gasket failure, although I've been told that the car being on short runs could account for this with condensation etc. The car has less than 50k miles on the clock & has only done around 3k since January when it was mot'd. As well as this problem the car has a water ingress problem that causes the driver footwell to be saturated. Not damp but really saturated. I thought it could be a door seal that's failed letting in water. Can anyone shed any light to these problems or should I give this a miss being more hassle than it's worth? Thanks in advance.

[R1gtr]

Has it got a sunroof? these are notorious on Clios for letting in water, have a look for damp and mould around the sun visors, easy fix if it is.
Regarding the filler cap others with more knowledge will be along shortly.

[B.J.W]

I'd walk....

Plenty of other cars of that age to look at that wouldn't come with a potential engine issues and a swimming pool in the foot well. I'm all for a bit of tinkering, but why run the risk?

[andy-xr]

Depends whether you fancy taking it on to fix and if it's cheap enough

Mayo on it's own, not really a problem, the engines need a good blow out every so often, I'd be looking for bubbling in the expansion tank, or having to top up the water level. Leaving it running for about 15 mins will show anything up. Failing that, a compression test.

The water ingress, could be any of a few places. Sometimes tracking it is 5 times the length of time taken to fixing it. Bit of Sikaflex at the firewall might not be a bad idea, chances are it's a grommit come away or there's a load of leaves and crap in the drain away area by the battery

[valiant]

Heater matrix? Pig of a job if it is.

Move on and find another.

[Chicane-UK]

It could indeed be just down to doing only short runs. Almost all my cars have done the same over the years whenever I'm the winter cycle of driving everywhere (work, shops, etc - all just a few miles from me, usually in traffic!) but a good run always clears it right out again.

I'd walk away and keep looking. A Clio isn't a hard car to find, and there should be better ones out there!

[Dsmc88]

R1gtr said:

Has it got a sunroof? these are notorious on Clios for letting in water, have a look for damp and mould around the sun visors, easy fix if it is.
Regarding the filler cap others with more knowledge will be along shortly.

Yes it has a sunroof with it, the guy did say about the floor being wet right enough but thought it would be damp not soaked .

Purity14 said:

Heater matrix blockage/leak


How much is it?

It's only a few hundred, just a run around I was looking for.

B.J.W said:

I'd walk....

Plenty of other cars of that age to look at that wouldn't come with a potential engine issues and a swimming pool in the foot well. I'm all for a bit of tinkering, but why run the risk?

See I don't mind a bit of tinkering either but it was more the mayo that worried me, the footwell I assumed was a door seal.

[itz_baseline]

First post....this is a bad troll right? Why would you even ask if you should walk? There's got to be 1,000 of these cars out there. Look at the next one 100 yards down the road.

[Dsmc88]

andy-xr said:

Depends whether you fancy taking it on to fix and if it's cheap enough

Mayo on it's own, not really a problem, the engines need a good blow out every so often, I'd be looking for bubbling in the expansion tank, or having to top up the water level. Leaving it running for about 15 mins will show anything up. Failing that, a compression test.

The water ingress, could be any of a few places. Sometimes tracking it is 5 times the length of time taken to fixing it. Bit of Sikaflex at the firewall might not be a bad idea, chances are it's a grommit come away or there's a load of leaves and crap in the drain away area by the battery

I would take it on if it's going to be a few fixes, just the thought f having a head gasket doing on it is off putting. Where could I get a compression test & how much would this be? I just assumed it was a door seal failing that was causing the ingress.

[R1gtr]

If there is damp or water marks around the sun visors I would say it is the sunroof, my ex's clio had wet footwells, wondered where it came from, then noticed water marks around the visors, contacted Renault, they said take it to Autoglass to sort, £60 if I remember. May be something else tho so double check.

[Dsmc88]

Chicane-UK said:

It could indeed be just down to doing only short runs. Almost all my cars have done the same over the years whenever I'm the winter cycle of driving everywhere (work, shops, etc - all just a few miles from me, usually in traffic!) but a good run always clears it right out again.

I'd walk away and keep looking. A Clio isn't a hard car to find, and there should be better ones out there!

I was going to view another car then my uncle said his friend had this one going cheap & that it only needed the leak sorted, done the usual checks then came across the mayo in the cap. Was just because the amount I seen, had never seen that much before in a car.

[Dsmc88]

itz_baseline said:

First post....this is a bad troll right? Why would you even ask if you should walk? There's got to be 1,000 of these cars out there. Look at the next one 100 yards down the road.

Why would I want to waste my time or anyone else's by trolling? There may be but I was told by my uncle this one was going cheap & it wasn't until I viewed it I found the mayo problem. The one 100 yards down the road unfortunately wasn't for sale I'm afraid.

[Dsmc88]

R1gtr said:

If there is damp or water marks around the sun visors I would say it is the sunroof, my ex's clio had wet footwells, wondered where it came from, then noticed water marks around the visors, contacted Renault, they said take it to Autoglass to sort, £60 if I remember. May be something else tho so double check.

I didn't even check the sunroof for this at the time. If I have a second look at the car will be sure to check the sunroof thanks.

Purity14 said:

Dsmc88 said:

I would take it on if it's going to be a few fixes, just the thought f having a head gasket doing on it is off putting. Where could I get a compression test & how much would this be? I just assumed it was a door seal failing that was causing the ingress.

Buy a compression tester, they are very inexpensive - and you can also diagnose cars in the future.
You basically unscrew each spark plug and replace it with the compression tester pipework, crank the engine and see what the values are.

Just buy this from a motor factors yeah? Thanks

[Private Pile]

Water leaks on Clio sunroofs is very common but is a fairly easy DIY fix. I've done a few and it isn't a difficult job.
There's also a few mobile companies out there that'll come to you if your not confident.

[Dsmc88]

Private Pile said:

Water leaks on Clio sunroofs is very common but is a fairly easy DIY fix. I've done a few and it isn't a difficult job.
There's also a few mobile companies out there that'll come to you if your not confident.

I would give it a go myself, worst case is I mess it up & need to get a pro to do it. It's more the mayo on the cap & inside that's worrying me. The car is in brilliant condition apart from these problems as well.

[ferrariF50lover]

I absolutely guarantee that the leak is the sunroof. No reason to reject the car, because it's a very simple fix (I've done it and I honestly couldn't tell you the difference between a wrench and a spanner) but could be used to leverage plenty off the price.

The engine, well, as above, I know nothing at all about mechanics, so I can't help, sorry.

Simon.

[Shoukie]

Private Pile said:

Water leaks on Clio sunroofs is very common but is a fairly easy DIY fix. I've done a few and it isn't a difficult job.
There's also a few mobile companies out there that'll come to you if your not confident.

Yep, easy fix. I fixed my wife's clio's leaking sunroof, a couple of hours and tube of silicon sealant, it's a bid fiddly but nothing difficult.
It also had mayo under the oil cap all the time, but she did only do about 2 miles a day in it.

[Dsmc88]

Shoukie said:

Private Pile said:

Water leaks on Clio sunroofs is very common but is a fairly easy DIY fix. I've done a few and it isn't a difficult job.
There's also a few mobile companies out there that'll come to you if your not confident.

Yep, easy fix. I fixed my wife's clio's leaking sunroof, a couple of hours and tube of silicon sealant, it's a bid fiddly but nothing difficult.
It also had mayo under the oil cap all the time, but she did only do about 2 miles a day in it.

Was it quite thick? I had never seen as much under a oil cap before. It was about an inch thick under & it had only done 2-3k since January. Just a bit off putting seeing that.

[curlie467]

I really would walk away. Just dont waste your time when there are hundreds of cheap runarounds. If you don't want any aggro then go for a micra or starlet.
The Clio could be a very simple fix or it could be knackered, don't take the risk as it is only a 1.2 clio.

[Private Pile]

A 10mm ( or 12mm ) ratchet spanner makes the job a lot easier. You could also blow out the drain tubes before you start, on the off chance that they are blocked.
My 99 8 valve Clio does 6 miles a day and is a bit mayo'y under the rocker cover. Great wee car tho, perfect at its job.