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Clio Clio dci bargain daily driver

Its awesome to be honest. It aint no sport but it still has plenty of character. I have already got 3x engine conversions lined up for it if the current dci fails. Keep the stock looks and 400+ hp should be adequate:D
 
Open heart surgery time for the dci this week. A couple of months ago @Sheryl_O was driving it and the wipers wouldnt work. Restarted it and they were working again ! Done a bit of research and its classic symptoms of a faulty UCH another common clio issue...

Fast forward to last week and im having shit loads of issues. Wipers intermittently working, indicators not working, electric windows and a load of relays clicking like feck in the uch ! So i was looking for a replacement as i did not want it to pack in and leave me stranded somewhere - to use a 2nd hand uch you need matching ecu and keys due to the immobiliser and to be fair they arent that cheap when looking. I was concerned that i would get another one on its last legs. I also looked into changing my immobiliser chip into another uch, looked risky but doable. There was also the other option of new unit from renault including coding would be at least £300 (way too hot for me)

Life super busy at the mo so needed it fixing sharpish and least hassle as possible. After a bit of digging you can get them repaired by a few places (Bbreman etc). I seen a company on ebay called Tachosoft who offered a 1 day repair for £35 and after asking about people said they do a good job.

So sunday night 9pm out with the uch 15 mins
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Ready to be posted20160522_214221.webp
Posted monday am and it was back by wednesday this week. Awesome service to be honest highly recommended. Note the 2 year warranty seal.20160526_095209.webpFitted it this morning and working fine again, thank feck as its pissing down and i need the wipers ! New washer pump to fit today as its a bit tired too.

Last total £938
UCH repair £35
New washer pump £5
New total £968...still under a grand..to be continued:D
 
good stuff, the chip swap isnt too hard tbh, though for £35 id send it off to get done unless i was at work with free time and the soldering kit out
 
I was sniffing around on the net looking for a uch fix and seen posts from where you had swapped the immobiliser chip years ago @Adey :D i would have definitely done it if i had been stuck.

I wonder what actually breaks on them ? Is it just dry solder joints ? I reckon i could have fixed it but it would have took me ages testing everything
 
Been a few weeks since last update! No massive issues really, electrics all fine etc.

The suspension up front started knocking more over bumps and the steering was starting to get sloppy and wonder a little. Also the brake wobble from speed was getting worse and the pads were clunking. So spent a few quid on parts mostly picking them up here and there when on offer, new inner tie rods for the steering rack, new track rod ends, new front shocks and new discs and pads for the front.

Had the parts sat there a few weeks and not had chance to fit as i have been snowed under working on other peoples cars. Got a free evening last tuesday so decided to blast them on, armed with my new impact gun to make light work of the strut tops and rusty bolts. I had previously tried to shift the strut top nuts and bust my t40 bit, the impact gun made light work of this and the rear shocker bolts that were rather rusty. Well worth the £130!
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Parts everywhere
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New parts fitted20160705_211250.webp As with most other jobs done on this car i found people had already been there before. The spring on the o/s front was different to the n/s as it had been replaced, somebody had also to my horror totally fucked the thread/bolts that hold the caliper to the hub on the o/s. I luckily managed to retap and salvage the thread in the hub and the caliper bolts torqued up ok but not 100% happy with this so may replace the hub in the future, 2nd hand hub is only £20 ish so not too bad. Still no idea how somebody had managed to fuck them up??

Job jobbed in 2 hours so not to bad. I bought the springs a while back cheap (cheap lows?) apex front springs and raceland rear springs. the rear springs had no adjusters with them and as rather short was not keen on them as the stance was arse down, also springs were loose which is a bit naughty. Initial lowsCollage 2016-07-05 23_47_53.webp Looking at it on the drive and considering my options a mate pulled up outside who is a technician and has owned loads of clio's in the past. He luckily had a spare set of the rear adjusters that sit under the springs and said i could have them which was a winner. Got them fitted and raised the rear to give it some rake, springs are tight in the cups once again. Took it to the local garage to get the toe set up on the hunter alignment as it was miles out due to the new tie rods and springs. The steering wheel was about 45deg out from straight:D
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Looks a lot better with a bit of rake
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Drives knock free now. The suspension is better no more crash bang as the old shockers were dead, its a fair bit harder to be expected nice to be able to drive it without the steering wondering.

Last total £968
Inner tie rods and track rod ends £25
Front shocks £60 for the pair
Front discs and pads £30
Alignment £30
Labour free as usual:D

New total £1113.....still bargain motoring...To be continued....Nordschleife trip in it soon i reckon:D
 
I was sniffing around on the net looking for a uch fix and seen posts from where you had swapped the immobiliser chip years ago @Adey :D i would have definitely done it if i had been stuck.

I wonder what actually breaks on them ? Is it just dry solder joints ? I reckon i could have fixed it but it would have took me ages testing everything
It's normally a dry joint or a track issue.

I had the same with the abs pump , on the laguna ,they get condensation inside them and causes the track or joint to go faulty .
I re soldered the joint and it worked bbreman make alot of money from dry joints lol
 
Been a while since last update

No major issues - original rear shocks popped after 2 days of lowering and the passenger side rear was making a ha-hoo noise when going over bumps which was pretty funny to be fair:D

To rectify this i bought a pair of mint nearly new 172 cup rear shockers and fitted them yesterday - no pics as they took me 15mins max ! When comparing the 172 cup shocker to the dci one i noted the cup shock was approx 30mm shorter than the original dci which is nice. They are a lot harder too.

Also seen some hydrodipped dci badges for sale cheap so got them boshed on20160728_185643.webp
As seen the exterior needs a good clean up as i have neglected it a little bit this month, the front wheels are absolutely black from brake dust so will do it in the next few days and another coat of wax.

Last total £1113

172 cup rear shockers £20 delivered
Hydrodipped dci badges £20

New total £1153 to be continued..
 
Not much to report - Still ploughing on. Fill with diesel occasionally as it doesn't use much - says 60.3mpg all the time now normal driving been everywhere in it (tenner usually says 180miles range lol)

Clutch is starting to judder a bit when pulling away especially on hills etc - I suspect its almost down to the rivets at 126k so will need to do this eventually - hopefully last the winter or at least until the new garage is finished

Been keeping it clean (well as clean as you can with the lovely rain recently)

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Bought this boot storage tray off gumtree - Genuine renault and cheap/local so went for it. Not a bad bit of kit holds the eggs ok under fast cornering:D
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The black paint is flaking off the lower sills so got some POR15 to tidy it up with and make it last years. Im considering filling the insides of rear arches and sills with cavity wax or maybe even old oil to keep it in fine health. Will do that before winter sets in

Last total £1153

Gumtree storage tray £7

New total £1160:D to be continued
 
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Cleaned up the sills and painted the inner wings, jackingpoints, chassis rails, drums, brakepipes etc on the clio. The chassis rails had a fair bit of surface rust on the underside so cleaned them up well with the por15 rust converter. Also flakey paint on the sills due to careless jacking up by dodgy garages in the past! well protected for winter. Only takes a couple of hours to do this and should last years. I have seen rust left untreated like this result in a fair bit of welding after a couple of years..

Before
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After
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Bought some new garlands from Trax:D
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Parked up with the gtt20160924_102938.webp
Mpg still in the 60s consistently (runs on fresh air :D)
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However the drive is starting to get a few drips of oil on, had a look when in the air and the inner cv boot on the passenger side is wet - bearing is leaking oil so got that to do. Boot is on order genuine renault

Last total £1160

Garlands £3:D
Cv boot £25 (got it online a tenner cheaper than renault for o.e after cross referencing part numbers)

New total £1188...to be continued
 
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Give the old dci a flog out the other night and glow plug light/limp mode once again at 80mph full boost:D lift off and all is fine. A quick check with clip reveals overboost - 18lbs boost and DF115 so need to free the actuator off, A repeat of the old turbo as it done the same. I thought it felt quicker through the gears !20161005_221913.webp 20161005_222328_001.webp
Every time i have clip on the DF037 code is logged on a cold engine. From a bit of research it says immobiliser ?? @Red21 any advice on this ? Pic below..20161005_222449.webp
 
DF037 is as it says, stop light circuit & 1.DEF is inconsistency.
This can be caused by a faulty switch, incorrectly adjusted switch, rear light interference caused by a bad earth on the rear light connector, LED rear bulbs or poor quality bulbs or left foot braking.
Basicly the injection ECU is seeing some form of brake "on" information when it shouldn't be or not getting the information when it should be (intermittent 12v feed or signal to ecu).
What I listed above is the most common problems for DF037, but be mindful that when the actual fault occurs it can cut power and place the engine in to limp mode so can also bring up other fault codes which can lead you up the garden path....

DF115 5.DEF again is inconsistency in boost pressure, causes range from boost leaks, blocked air pipes from intake to engine, wastegate control system or a straight forward dodgy sensor(s).
 
Had a look at the actuator last night and it seems to move free. I think this turbo may be off a dci80 so possibly needs the preload winding off the actuator slightly.

Another fault has appeared twice now - when reversing onto the drive at home the glowplug light is flashing on and off with a rise in idle speed indicating its going into limp. Df071 has come up - throttle pedal - i think this is a wiring issue rather than pedal fault ? drives fine when going forwards lol

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At the bottom of the engine bay junction box there is a white multi plug with coloured sections. Check the condition of the pin terminals, if they show any signs of corrosion technically both looms are scrap.

Also as suggested before check the rear lights and brake switch.
 
I will check the loom @Red21 thanks for the advice i hear renault sell a replacement loom to chop and solder the plug for the accelerator pedal. I will check the brake switch and plugs first though. I noticed somebody has been at the passenger rear light plug before so may need to chop it off and fit a new one.
 
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