Advice re probs with Clio automatic

travel_freak

Hi there,

I have an automatic Clio which is about 10 years old. Of late, sometimes when I accelerate the car hardly moves - it seems to just get stuck, splutter and eventually picks up speed again. I get some very irate drivers stuck behind me! This seems to happen mostly in the mornings when I drive it from cold. I admit to not servicing it as often as I should as, until now it hasn't been driven all that far/often.

I replaced the air filter and the spark plugs but this hasn't helped. I plan to do an oil change soon too. I'm hoping that it's not the gearbox but would be grateful for any advice/tips anyone can offer re what might be wrong and how I could fix it.

Thanks in advance.

Regards

charlesh

If the plug leads haven't been changed in 10 years, then this may help the general behaviour of the engine, but I wouldn't have thought a problem with these would manifest itself just in the mornings. It could of course be the gearbox. Have you checked the level of the automatic transmission fluid, or had it replaced in the last few years?

If you know the exact year/model of your car then check out the car by car breakdown on the honest john website (https://www.honestjohn.co.uk). This may give you a clue as to what the typical problems are.

An 'Italian' tune up may help - a blast on the motorway at 70ish to blow out the cobwebs, get the oil circulating etc. Then get the oil changed as you're planning to do.

skiddy2k

have you realised that it only happends on wet mornings?

do you recall leaving your car's fuel really low before you last filled up? if so, maybe you should put some fuel cleaner into your fuel tank. you can get these from your local halfords for a few quid, it helps clean out the whole fuel system, because you might have dust and muck stuch in your injectors and therefore they arent blowing out the fuel properely, and in result, is making the car jerk on puck-up.

the gear box may also be nackered, lets hope it doesnt get to that stage! automatic gear boxes come with something called 'gear selecters'. may be the gearbix isnt putting/selecting the gears into the correct gears when needed, and therefore is spluttering.

as recommended, 'honest john' is an excellent website when it comes to problems with cars.

list goes on,

hope this helps,
Skiddy

travel_freak

Dear Charlesh and Skiddy
Thanks for your helpful replies - I'll try the things you've recommended and take a look at the site too. I particularly like the Italian tune up idea and as I have Italian blood think I should definitely try that! Hopefully these will do the trick.

Regards