Clio 172 not starting or even cranking

[Salamura]

Hello peeps,

I have a very baffling and inconvenient problem. My Clio 172 has developped a sudden fault which causes the car to not start at all, not even turn over. I haven't been driving it a lot over the last year and the battery did die, so I bought a new one about 7-8 months ago and the car has been starting reliably and without issues in that time.

However, the other day I was driving and stopped at the supermarket. When I returned and tried to start it nothing would happen. There would be a click coming from the engine bay (like a relay), but the starter wouldn't turn. There would also be an array of warning lights staying on (which would normally be off). The symptoms are similar to those in this youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMA0WsQB-X0

And here are the warning lights that stay on when the key is in position 2:



Since then this has happened 2 more times, and now I have no idea as to when I can wake up the car at all, as it does this all the time. My guess is that either the battery is low again as it is cold and the car is not driven a lot, or that the immobiliser is playing up as the immobiliser light is staying on in position 2 instead of turning off.

Any advice or insights would be appreciated, thank you very much!

[Salamura]

I forgot to say that I have tried both keys, and the problem still persists. As it stands, the car is absolutely dead

[Saleen836]

From your description it sounds like the starter motor is sticking (the clicking from engine bay)
Put the car in gear and rock it back and fourth then try to start it, failing that, get someone to tap the starter with a hammer/long bar while you try to start it.

[mickthemechanic]

Hi

If you cycle the ignition does the engine management light illuminate? If not check the relays in the engine bay. I had a similar fault on a friends Clio but can’t remember which relay it was but it was the supply relay for the engine ECU.

[stevieturbo]

Sounds like either starter is knackered or the battery is flat.

Either fairly easy to diagnose.

[Krikkit]

Definitely not mechanical imho - I would guess an immobiliser/ECU issue. Might be worth trying this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sYhHxudt-8

ETA: A bit more info: https://cliosport.net/threads/red-immobiliser-ligh...

I have a spare ECU/UCH/key that you could try if you're prepared to swap yours out, although it'd have to match my ECU and UCH version to be sure it's the right one.

Edited by Krikkit on Wednesday 27th November 23:10

[paintman]

Begin by fully charging your battery with a battery charger.
Then see what happens.

[Stiggolas]

I have had this on our Clio. Went through everything. Turned out to be a bad earth strap between the gearbox and chassis. It looked OK but fell apart when jiggled. Easy fix

[annodomini2]

There's a wireless ring that sits round the ignition barrel for the immobiliser and they tend to fail.

Not a lot of cash and easy to replace.

Easy test, if you turn the key over to crank quickly from 0 position, does it crank briefly and stop?

[Krikkit]

annodomini2 said:

Easy test, if you turn the key over to crank quickly from 0 position, does it crank briefly and stop?

Yes it does - in the video.

I didn't realise the pickup unit wasn't coded to the UCH etc, OP I can send you one for free if you want to try it

[NotBenny]

so many things it could be...

firstly, rule out the battery, try jump starting it off another car. If it's exactly the same, then it's not the battery. Try bump starting it - if it still doesn't work then it's not the starter. At that point, start delving into the depths of immobiliser/auto-electrical type work.

[Salamura]

Thank you to everyone for the replies!

annodomini2 said:

There's a wireless ring that sits round the ignition barrel for the immobiliser and they tend to fail.

Not a lot of cash and easy to replace.

Easy test, if you turn the key over to crank quickly from 0 position, does it crank briefly and stop?

Yes, I tried this this morning, and it does exactly that. It cranks for about 2-3 seconds and then stops. I'm starting to suspect the immobiliser.

Here is one more symptom for all of you to try and decode: I managed to start it last night somehow, and decided to go put some petrol in it. On the way to the petrol station it completely cut out and died suddenly as I was in the middle of a junction (before you all ask, there is enough petrol in the tank as the light wasn't even on). I had to recruit random pedestrians to help me push it away to a nearby Tesco car park, where it's currently sat dead.

If the immobiliser was indeed playing up, would it just cut out and die mid-drive?

[stevieturbo]

Stiggolas said:

I have had this on our Clio. Went through everything. Turned out to be a bad earth strap between the gearbox and chassis. It looked OK but fell apart when jiggled. Easy fix

Very possible given the original description.

Except now the description has changed from doesnt crank....to now it does for a few seconds.

[annodomini2]

It's usually this:
https://www.renaultpartsdirect.co.uk/parts/interio...

[Salamura]

A bit of an update: I managed to start the car eventually after trying maybe 10-15 times to turn the key straight to position 3. Some of the tries resulted in no cranking at all, some in 2-3 seconds of cranking, and finally a successful fire-up. I drove it home, and today it started fine in the morning, and then again 5 minutes ago. In the morning I checked all fuses and couldn't find anything wrong.

One thing that I noticed is that the LH headlight sits right in front of the fuse box and its back touches the thick sheaf of cables coming from the fuse box. What springs to mind is that last week I changed the headlight units (the old ones were too cloudy), and the issues with the starting and cutting out started immediately afterwards. I wonder whether the mechanic doing the job didn't pull on the wires by accident, causing a breakage or loose connection somewhere, which is causing all of my issues.

Do you think that this could be a plausible reason?

[Krikkit]

Salamura said:

Do you think that this could be a plausible reason?

I don't think so - I think it's a dodgy immobiliser pickup ring. The light staying on is a dead giveaway, as it the cranking which then stops if you do it from position 0.

[Salamura]

Thanks, reading the link to Cliosport in your previous post it sounds like it could be it. Although the sudden cutout in the middle of driving still puzzles me...

If it is indeed the ring, would the keys need re-coding after it is swapped out? Would I need to go to a Renault dealership for this?

[Krikkit]

Salamura said:

If it is indeed the ring, would the keys need re-coding after it is swapped out? Would I need to go to a Renault dealership for this?

Shouldn't do by the sounds - swapping the pickup ring just needs a set of (I think) torx T10 screwdrivers/keys and 5 minutes.

[Salamura]

Another update. I bought a replacement immobiliser pick-up ring from a breakers.Replacing it was not difficult, it is literally just 3 torx screws to get the plastic panels off. The trickier part was removing the audio controls, but once I figured out that they just clip off it was a walk in the park. Initially, when I put the new ring on and tried starting the immobiliser light was flashing at 4Hz, suggesting that the key is not recognised. I swapped back to the original part and the car started OK. I then put on the replacement ring back and the car started no problem.

The Clio now starts with the new pick-up ring (but for the last few days it was starting even with the original ring), and it seems to drive OK. I am still terrified that it will cut-out at any time as I'm not convinced that there isn't some intermittent electrical earth fault somewhere. For now the issue seems resolved, but I won't know for sure until I take the car for a long drive and it hopefully doesn't leave me stranded at the side of the road...

[annodomini2]

Salamura said:

Another update. I bought a replacement immobiliser pick-up ring from a breakers.Replacing it was not difficult, it is literally just 3 torx screws to get the plastic panels off. The trickier part was removing the audio controls, but once I figured out that they just clip off it was a walk in the park. Initially, when I put the new ring on and tried starting the immobiliser light was flashing at 4Hz, suggesting that the key is not recognised. I swapped back to the original part and the car started OK. I then put on the replacement ring back and the car started no problem.

The Clio now starts with the new pick-up ring (but for the last few days it was starting even with the original ring), and it seems to drive OK. I am still terrified that it will cut-out at any time as I'm not convinced that there isn't some intermittent electrical earth fault somewhere. For now the issue seems resolved, but I won't know for sure until I take the car for a long drive and it hopefully doesn't leave me stranded at the side of the road...

You getting any flickering lights on the dash?