France in Focus

This is a call for help from people who might be knowledgeable ..

Recently the Renault garage diagnosed a faulty papillon .. so they replaced it. Clio went well for a month and then, intermittently, starting to have problems.
Suddenly the advisory icon with a zigzag line and what looks like a loom lights up (usually an electrical problem) and the engine loses power almost completely. If I stop, turn off the engine, pause, then restart I can usually get home. But occasionally the engine goes into 'racing mode' and the car starts to judder, which is terrifying.
I have booked an appointment with the garage for tomorrow and also looked up possible problems ..

Faulty ignition coil .. bobine d'allumage
HT lead .. fil d'allumage haute tension
Plug misfiring .. bougie (d'allumage)
Lamda sensor ... sonde lambda

Does anyone have any helpful thoughts ?

@ Suein56, standard procedures with modern cars: read-out of the car-computer using the so called OBDII port. Did they run such a test the last time you visited your garagist? Even the low-cost DIY scanners are rather accurate Showing all kind of error codes, or simply give you the green light. Your Renault garagist will, or should, have a professional scanner going deep down in the memory of your car computer.

They did .. and declared the 'papillon' the problem .. but they don't seem to have delved any deeper at that point. Which is why I hope to ask them to do a more comprehensive search this time.
We used to have a super garage in our village with 2 really good technicians who listened to you and checked all possibilities properly .. they were brilliant.
Unfortunately Covid did for the garage and it closed down after struggling for almost 2 years. They are sorely missed.

RA is right, best to leave it to the garage. Sadly a visit with la valise will probably be 60/80€ before you start. With all the electronics it's difficult to have an idea. I am happy working on all of my cars, but for the moderns it's off to the garage, even for an oil change!

Well, they seem not to have found the cause, so hopefully you won't have to pay for the scanner again (if you did before).

Thanks for replying ..
Yes .. la valise was about 40€ .. which is what makes me think there was more than 1 problem when she was in the garage before, hidden below the 'papillon' heading.

One of the possible problems.

Ah yes .. thanks for that.
I did read about that dreaded box too. I must have a look and see if I have one of those dodgy, corroded box-tops.

About this metal protection/destruction box: Renault's interpretation of cutting-edge technology......

RobertArthur wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:48 pm About this metal protection/destruction box: Renault's interpretation of cutting-edge technology......

I have just looked and I do have one of those boxes with the partially corroded metal lid so I shall mention that tomorrow too.
Mine seems to be well fixed, in no way is it jiggling about. But at speed who knows what effect there might be with the vibration of the engine.