Power Loss

[tallpaul]

I've got a 1900cc 120 Dynamique that is experiencing the well reported 'Service Injection' failure message. I seem to get it either a. randomly, b. if i accelerate hard to over 3000rpm, c. if i try and cruise at 50mph in 6th. I always then have a loss of power above 2500rpm, uphills, changing lanes etc is impossible (i got stuffed by a 1.1 hyundai getz this morn!). I also get a random dramatic loss of power where the car appears to cough, splutter and slow to a ridiculous speed before picking up again (dangerous)!

I took it into my local Renault stealer to have it plugged in to the clip machine. They found a bad repair to the turbo solonoid valve circuit wiring which they made good. (at a cost of £175).

The car was MUCH faster after the repair and I was happy, but only drove it round town, short trips etc. I did my usual work run and I had the error again within 5 miles.

They advised that the car would require a new £77+vat solonoid valve (<-- what is this, what does it do?), further checks (£?) and possibly a replacement £265+vat UPC (<-- what is this?). does this sound like bull? i have a feeling the fault lies either with the fuel system or the electronic throttle?

Could someone help me understand what the turbo solonoid valve and the UPC are??

Thanks

[AlexB]

What codes did they read from the ECU?

[tallpaul]

they didn't seem to be able to convincingly pinpoint the problem, my invoice says as follows:

A LAB
Carried out clip test and found 2 stored fault codes, turbo charging solonoid valve control circuit and turbo charging regulation circuit. Carried out wiring and vacuum checks. Found poorly repaired wiring to turbo control valve.

A LAB
Repaired wiring and tested. If fault re-occurs will require new turbo valve. Further checks to be carried out. Also signs of water in UPC

[AlexB]

Do a simple test. Ask someone to start the engine while you are looking at the turbocharger linkage. It should move within a couple of seconds.

[tallpaul]

thanks for the reply mate, can you point me in the right direction for the linkage...

(sorry for the crap pics!)

[tallpaul]

i was just reading on another thread, my nearside arch light hatch cover is missing, which is going to be the reason the upc is wet.

[onlydiesels]

have a read of my posts,upc+water happened to me. HORRENDOUS . do as i did.

[tallpaul]

thanks onlydiesels, i've read your post, where is the UPC? what is it? how did you manage to dry it out in the end?? did it solve your issues?

my central locking has started randomly locking/unlocking now!

[onlydiesels]

ah yes,just like mine,i would be driving along and suddenly the central door locking would start gently chattering and i knew that it was going to fault,like clockwork, dash lit up,wipers on,heater blower and i was unable to turn the engine off so i had to stall it.
the upc is located (looking from the front of the car,towards the back)between the battery and the air filter assembly,it will have a cover over,remove that and then you will see,it`s a black box thingy with holes in it to access the small fuses which are inside (looks similar to a fusebox)
it will involve removing the battery and various plastic covers to gain access. sounds quite tricky but don`t be put off cos it`s quite simple really (and it will save you a good few quid) but give yourself plenty of time.
the upc (don`t know what it stands for) is otherwise known as a body control module and it does what it says really,controls the electrical function related to the body ie wipers,heater,c/l, lights etc.
if you read through my posts about it (think there may have been a few)it will explain how i did it.
and finally,yes it did work.
any probs just get in touch.
billy.
you have a pm.

[AlexB]

It is a linkage from the vacuum actuator to the turbo itself. It is seen on the left of the first picture here:
https://www.technologie-entwicklung.de/G ... turbo.html

Strange, the actuator in my car looks slightly differently and it is shiny, not black...

thanks for the reply mate, can you point me in the right direction for the linkage...

[tallpaul]

thanks for the help guys

alexb -> i'll have a look when i'm at home in the daylight, and report back

od -> thanks for the pm, i'll have a go on my day off. i've taped up the access hole in my arch liner for now

the 'check inj' and limp mode is so random, its normally either when the engine is under a bit of load accelerating or under no load when cruising in 6th but today it came on when i overtook a truck and i was under 2500rpm!

[tallpaul]

right, old upc out, dead easy, i popped the ecu out for access. upc had a lot of signs of water and looked pretty sorry for itself. thought i may as well ditch it as it was well fubared, new part collected, £175 ouch, fitted just as easy, did some dab handed sealing and...

...the car refuses to start, "electronic fault", on ringing renault apparently the UPC needs configuring with the ECU, £55 please thankufortellingmepartsdeskgrr.

ok i think, i've no real choice, stick the old crumbly UPC back in, car still not having any of it. arse.

pulled a sicky at work, car can't be looked at until thursday, now i've gotta arrange getting the car lifted there. anyone want a nice blue dynamique!?!

[tallpaul]

another update with mine, i think the dealer may be trying to rip me off...

i towed the car there for 9am on thurs, big list of jobs in hand. the car goes doesn't go in til 4pm and alas they had no time to fix it. they look at it today, having left the ignition on all night and running the battery flat. they decide that I must have broken a wire removing something as the car doesn't think it has a injection computer attached. they want to do a full strip down of the wiring, ok i say. 6hrs later they decide the wirings fine and i must have somehow 'spiked' the fuel injection computer (i am a trained computer technician, i know how to handle electrostatic sensitive devices and i'm not a complete prat) i took the battery off carefully and handled it like it was glass, there was no chance of 'spiking' it. the car now needs to stay there until the garage can arrange for an approved renault sparky to come and look at it, on monday. sounds like a bunch of monkeys if you ask me!

the bill? 6hrs labour, £77+vat solonoid valve, +fitting of UPC, +coding, +a possible £700+vat for the computer, +fitting, +testing!!!!!

can i have a courtesy car for whats gonna turn out to be the thick end of £2000? no sorry, they're all booked out for the next 2 weeks, you'll have to get the bus to work, 35 miles away! ffs

also, they never mentioned the hatch cover being missing causing the water ingress! its in my kitchen!

[AlexB]

Communication to ECU is lost -- it's in p.133 here:
https://meganedoksi.uw.hu/MEGANE_II/MR366MEGANE1.PDF

The original problem was likely caused by ingress of salt water when the left hatch went missing. It caused corrosion and/or short circuits. Sensors started playing up (analogue circuits are most sensitive to leakage), the power was lost, eventually the on-board network stopped working and communication was lost. I believe there is a chance that washing and cleaning all relevant contacts (inc. grounding!) may solve the problem, as these Bosch ECUs are well designed. As salt was there for a while, then a soldering iron may be needed. An OBD2 reader may also help, they are cheap if built DIY, e.g. see
https://www.obddiag.net/projects.html
This is of course if you did not "spike" the ECU, as they said, by for example not connecting ground...

The garage, on the other hand, is likely to start replacing everything at your expense. This might involve the ECU, loom, fuse box and various sensors -- sounds expensive.

[tallpaul]

right. I now have, 1x new UPC, 1x new Fuel Injection Computer (ECU), the whole front loom checked and its STILL faulting, albeit not quite as regularly. its back in soon to have the turbo solenoid replaced as well.

I couldn't find any pics about removing the UPC so I made my own little guide in case anyone searches in the future: https://tallpaul.ucoz.co.uk/megane/