Clio with 'chuggy-engine' at idle

Hey,

I haven't had much luck solving this pt#roblem to date so thought I'd try here.
I have a 2002 Clio 1.2 petrol ... overall it runs fine but at idle it is very 'chuggy' like it is skipping. You only ever notice it when you first start the engine or are sitting at traffic lights. It is also qutie intermittient, it would run fine for a few days and then start messing around again.
Any ideas are much appreciated.

Reply 1

Sync

Could be a hundred things unfortunately. Might be dodgy ignition electrics (distributor, HT leads, etc), although I doubt it on such a new car. Could be that a spark plug has failed or is very gummed up. It may also be something like a faulty oxygen sensor, which sometimes causes rough running at idle

Reply 2

Ryan

Spark plugs or a sensor.

Reply 3

AT82

I believe coil packs pack up a lot on modern Renults but I am not sure if the Clio suffers from the same problem. Basicaly your car needs a good service :smile:

Edit could it also be the idle valve that needs cleaning? That cured it on my dads car when it was doing this.

Reply 4

Né Stig

When you say 'chuggy', do you mean misfiring?

If its misfiring slightly, then you could be looking at the Lambda.
This could also go further, such as the ECU, injectors etc.

Most likely - it needs a good service, with new oils, general clean through (oxide if you must - or 97/98 Ron fuel for general cheapness).
Try the premium fuel first. Make sure your nearly on empty, then put some premium fuel in (Shell optimax is preferrable). If not succeeding, then put the red oxide through, which will sound a little rough at first, but will clear out a lot of crap and end up sounding good in the long run.

If neither of those work, then you need to look at Lambda sensor and then onto ECU (maybe for a reset), injectors etc.

Reply 5

AT82

If the lamda sensor has gone wouldn't it also burn petrol?

Reply 6

dimexi

AT82

If the lamda sensor has gone wouldn't it also burn petrol?

Do you mean burn oil? because the main purpose of the car IS to burn petrol

Reply 7

AT82

dimexi

Do you mean burn oil? because the main purpose of the car IS to burn petrol

I mean exessive amounts of it, i.e poor MPG. When they have gone in the past I think symptons have included poor MPG, ideling (as the thread starter is experiencing) and a much higher amount of C02 that is legal :biggrin:

When the lamda sensor went on my dads old Punto he was stopped by the police :p:

Reply 8

the_face

could it also be the idle valve

My Ka had a similar problem a few months back and it was the Idle Control Valve being faulty (quite common in Kas). Get it checked out and cleaned and it might do the job.

Reply 9

soilman

the_face

My Ka had a similar problem a few months back and it was the Idle Control Valve being faulty (quite common in Kas). Get it checked out and cleaned and it might do the job.

same problem with corsa b's. cost me 60 quid for a new corsa B.

Reply 10

Sam2005

ISCV very common problem on clios esp older ones, but normally if its dirty/broken your car will simply stall rather than anything else!

Could be miss fire or lambda sensor is definately worth checking.