callin all clio 197 owners or potential buyers.

[rikb]

i am a clio 197 owner & i need help from anyone who owns 1!!!
i am in dispute with my renault dealer since i bought my car 7 months ago,
the story is that since i had it i have had problems with it when you 1st start the car up ( not always from cold though), it kangaroos & splutters for about 5 mins or even longer before the engine is warm enough & then works correctly.
renault uk & france know of this problem because they even had a web page devoted to it , which all of a sudden knowone knows about it now!! how convenient , the sales women who showed me the web page has all of a sudden moved on from the showroom 8 days after i made an official complaint & told them i knew about that page???!!!
renault have had my car 5 times now & witnessed these problems 1st hand now say that this is a charictaristic all 197's & all do it!
so if you can let me know if your 197 does or doesnt do the same then please let me know.

[_Batty_]

didn't Evo car mag have this problem? or was it Autocar?
one of them did, im sure of it, infact im sure it was autocar...

[flattotheboards]

EVO didnt so it must have been Autocar.

[miniandy]

They all do that. Don't worry about it and just warm the car up a bit before ragging it.

[197Kevin]

Mine does this! Shell V power helps Also on the Renault sport forum people have them Remapped

Edited by 197Kevin on Friday 28th March 09:41

Edited by 197Kevin on Friday 28th March 09:46

[CarlT]

rikb said:

i am a clio 197 owner & i need help from anyone who owns 1!!!
i am in dispute with my renault dealer since i bought my car 7 months ago,
the story is that since i had it i have had problems with it when you 1st start the car up ( not always from cold though), it kangaroos & splutters for about 5 mins or even longer before the engine is warm enough & then works correctly.
renault uk & france know of this problem because they even had a web page devoted to it , which all of a sudden knowone knows about it now!! how convenient , the sales women who showed me the web page has all of a sudden moved on from the showroom 8 days after i made an official complaint & told them i knew about that page???!!!
renault have had my car 5 times now & witnessed these problems 1st hand now say that this is a charictaristic all 197's & all do it!
so if you can let me know if your 197 does or doesnt do the same then please let me know.

They are all like this - let the engine warm up before setting off and it is fine.

[xllifts]

As mentioned above already,The only way to sucessfully cure this problem is to re-map it.

[sean19]

If its a common issue why haven't Renault recalled them?

[Catherine197]

sean19 said:

If its a common issue why haven't Renault recalled them?

They say it isn't a problem and to be frank it isn't. It is no different to the TVR we had, that had to be warmed up before driving off. I has similar experiences with an M3 a few years ago.

A remap takes some of the sting out of it, but not all of it and you still benefit from warming it up.

Edited by Catherine197 on Saturday 29th March 16:46

[197Kevin]

Catherine197 said:

sean19 said:

If its a common issue why haven't Renault recalled them?

They say it isn't a problem and to be frank it isn't. It is no different to the TVR we had, that had to be warmed up before driving off. I has similar experiences with an M3 a few years ago.

A remap takes some of the sting out of it, but not all of it and you still benefit from warming it up.




[footnote]Edited by Catherine197 on Saturday 29th March 1

Yes l dont think its a problem

Edited by 197Kevin on Saturday 29th March 18:17

[vino 187]

id be sooo angry. who wants a new car that splutters. you should only really have to warm up turbo cars a bit, i spose thats what u get when u buy a french motor.

[T197]

Might just have been lucky but mine improved with age and stopped spluttering completely just after it's first service.

A diet of V-power, 20-30s of idling before pulling away and no thrashing it when cold.

[Catherine197]

I found it odd that Rikb appeared to have joined for just that one post.

[T197]

One post in one month still beats my average , but it does seem rather odd.

[Catherine197]

197Kevin said:

Another Dipstick thats not got a clue! People make it worse than what it is

Edited by 197Kevin on Thursday 3rd April 19:36

Edited by 197Kevin on Thursday 3rd April 19:37

I had an email from him prior to him posting. What worried me was that he said his car was loosing power and the kangarooing was happening when the engine was hot and cold.

[rikb]

YES it is my 1st post & only post at present & i am still keeping an eye on your comments & paying attention, my general consensus is that most if not all have same problem as me & i have taken notice to all said. thx to everyone, is just that owning several sports models i just found it strange in this day of age that you have to sit & wait in your car for a period of time b4 setting off is a kind of backwards in technology, my mates £47,000 911 doesnt have this warm up procedure, admitidly he cant go straight into race mode,it would be nice however to set of driving without looking like your on your 1st drivin lesson kangarooing about.
Once again cheers to everyone.

[rikb]

so kevin197 from your recent comment what worries you about me saying loss of power & it does it when hot & cold ?

[Catherine197]

rikb said:

YES it is my 1st post & only post at present & i am still keeping an eye on your comments & paying attention, my general consensus is that most if not all have same problem as me & i have taken notice to all said. thx to everyone, is just that owning several sports models i just found it strange in this day of age that you have to sit & wait in your car for a period of time b4 setting off is a kind of backwards in technology, my mates £47,000 911 doesnt have this warm up procedure, admitidly he cant go straight into race mode,it would be nice however to set of driving without looking like your on your 1st drivin lesson kangarooing about.
Once again cheers to everyone.

My old £45,000 M3 used to have a warm up procedure.

[197Kevin]

How about trying another dealer? Sounds like you have more of a problem
Or a good specialist then send renault the bill
Trouble is most dealers have one Master Technician and the rest are old boys paying them peanuts! Being in the trade this goes on mate

Just a thought just try a new set of sparkplugs easy job on a 197 sometimes they forget the simple things worth a try and wont break the bank

I work for a renault specialist

Edited by 197Kevin on Friday 4th April 13:26

[rikb]

i spoke to the dealer after reading several of your comments , about remapping & using shell v-power & was told that my ecu? cannot be remapped as it has all the latest software, which they say they have checked allready? i have done a months trial on super unleaded like i was told to do, which didnt alter it.
I do understand ok the car needs a warm up.... & others need the same .. but there could be a chance that some of us could have it more severe.
anyway the last dealings i had with the dealer the dealer told me to basically they are not prepared to do anything & any other queries i should get a solicitor to deal with them on my behalf.
the spark plugs are ok & have been checked, cheers for you idea.
if the car only operates properly when engine is warm ,how do people in sweden or another cold climate ( where it could be -20 ) places cope with the car or do they not sell this model to them? all hyperthetical of course.lol.