Clio 182 ignition help - maybe generic?

[MrKipling43]

Afternoon chaps

I put this in French Bred initially, but it occured to me that it might be open for general diagnosis too, so I've lobbed it here now - I hope that's ok.

So, I've been having problems with my 182 revving very roughly under load. It's particularly bad when it's cold and worse of all on light/part throttle applications.

I've changed the coil pack, which made not difference whatsoever (and I fart in the general direction of whichever Frenchman designed the mouting bracket for that!). I have an emissions light on, so my thoughts are currently that it's most likely to be one or both of the Lambda sensors that's on the blink. But, the worsening of the problem under light/part throttle (bot not really constant) make me think that it might be an injector.

The engine sounds fine, there's no dephaser noises and once it's into the OMG VTEC JUST KICKED IN zone it runs as normal. I was also not dropped too hard by a Mk 1 Focus RS with a GGR sticker on the back, so I don't think there are any power loss issues.

So, now you have the boring background, could you please help?

What do I look at next? Plugs? Leads?

Is there any fool-proof way of isolating what is causing the problem?

If the plugs and leads are fine, how does one go about checking an injector?

I'd really rather try to sort it myself - I'm pretty mechanically-minded; but because of the nature of the problem I could end up spending a spectacular sum of money chasing the issue. Would I be better off just taking in somewhere?

What do you reckon?

Thanks.

(did try searching for this, but little success - so apologies if glass c*ck)

[k15tox]

does your car run a MAF?

could be that.

doubt its an injector, youd probably get a ticking noise and im guessing it would be worse under WOT

[MrKipling43]

I believe it has a MAP, rather than MAF.

Would love for it to be that! It's a £12 part!

Any idea how I could isolate it? Or is it a 'suck and see, oh it's not worked but at least it was bloody cheap' jobbie?

Thanks again.

[Dixie]

I had a bit of an issue on a 172. The lumpyness problem was at startup and idle though.

The crank position sensor was playing up. Took it out cleaned it up and it never missed a beat again.

The funny thing about this was the local Renault dealer diagnosed a faulty wiring loom. About £2.5k for them to change it!!

Probs not the issue with yours but maybe worth a try??

[MrKipling43]

Dixie said:

Maybe worth a try??

Definitely worth a try. Cheers.

[Ultuous]

Dixie said:

The crank position sensor was playing up. Took it out cleaned it up and it never missed a beat again.

This has bugged my Clio from time to time ever since new (although lumpy at idle rather than under load, with it occasionally being bad enough to stop the engine from starting)... From what I've read/ observed it seems to be the wiring more than the sensor itself that's the weak point - i.e. taking it out and cleaning it can resolve the connection simply as a side effect!..

Mine's just needed a tweak on the wiring from time to time, but I think there's a newer cable design that's meant to resolve this!

[azzzah]

I had a very symilar problem with a 106 GTi, After trying all sorts of potential issues, we narrowed it down the the Fuel Sender Unit, which sits in the fuel tank.

but a give away for me was that it only happened on less than 1/4 of a tank of fuel, Im guessing it still happens for you when youve got a tank in there?

[MrKipling43]

The only thing that seems to affect it is heat. When the engine's warm it's less pronounced, but still noticeable.

Thanks for all the help so far gents. Really appreciate it.

[AlLondon]

Why not get fault codes read rather than just throwing parts at it?

(Sounds like a throttle body to me)

Edited by AlLondon on Monday 30th January 19:35

[Prof Prolapse]

As above. I would suggest you get the fault codes read. You can buy an OBD II reader for £12 on ebay.