- This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 9 months ago by
.
-
Topic
-
Hey y’all. Nooblet here. I sort of accidentally asked this over on the youtube channel. My bad. Won’t happen again.
About the topic: a few years back (three, give or take), the check engine light has come on in the dashboard. Recently, we did a general inspection, and they said all was good. Power and emissions nominal. Now, my prime suspect at the moment is the catalytic converter, so either the guys who did the check-up are pretty lame at what they’re doing, or I’m missing something. And being as I am, with not much in the way of experience, I’m not sure which is more likely.
The engine runs smoothly, and pretty much perfectly, as long as it goes at more than 2.500 RPM constantly. If not, another light comes on, and then I lose power, and it won’t go anywhere over 3000 RPM. But that’s another story. Should I be concerned about the check engine light? I’m at a loss for ideas here…
Edit: forgot to mention, the car has a 1.6 l, 16v engine, running on gasoline. Pretty much the most common engine you’ll see around this neck of the woods.
-
Replies
-
Would help to know the year, make and model of your car as well as what codes are coming up. Crystal ball is down for an overhaul at the moment.
The check engine light isn’t causing your concern, it is letting you know that the ECM is seeing issue and the codes it contains will help pinpoint your diagnosis. You obviously have an issue that needs correction and the codes are the first step to take in diagnosing this.
Is this a euro car sold in the US or a model sold across the pond? If the latter then all the Americans here won’t be able to give specific information as we have no access to the tech info on it and likely have never seen one to know the way it is put together. But we do have members on this forum from other countries who may be familiar with what you drive and be able to lend more specific help.
I have a hard time seeing a professional tech giving this car a pass with an engine light on and obvious driveability issues. Was this some backroad cheapo muffler shop? A place that specializes in driveability is the type of place you would want for this, but they will not be the lowest bidder. Thing is, the cheapest place is rarely the least expensive when all is said and done. If you needed a risky brain surgery would you want the best guy or the cheapest? Basically you get what you pay for and the top guys have a small fortune invested in their equipment, info systems and ongoing training in new systems so they have to charge more just to cover the overhead. But they get it right the first time and do quality work.
You got that right. From what I’ve seen, yeah, pretty much every shop here that does this sort of thing (it’s called a Periodical Technical Inspection, done every year, I have no idea what the regulations are in other countries, tbh)
Anyway, the car is a 2006 Renault Kangoo. I don’t think they did an ODB on it, or they wouldn’t have just let it go out the main door just like that. My parents are the second owners, and it came to us in close to perfect condition.
Hello 🙂
First step must be read codes.. In Europe generic codes come on gasoline cars in 2001 so you could use a generic Reader.
Grrreat. Now I just have to get my hands on one :cheer:
I was wondering, as I was writing and replying here… could it be an electrical problem? Like, some faulty wiring, sending the wrong signals into the ECU?
My first guess with a problem like that (where it seems to run fine until you go over a certain RPM) is the throttle body. Your 06 Renault Kangoo has a Drive By Wire throttle body, and its common for these to have problems.
When it “limits the RPM” it means the engine ECU is putting the engine into “limp mode” where it tries to protect the engine from more damage by a faulty signal/sensor.
PLEASE DO NOT replace the expensive part until you get the CODES SCANNED. You can take it to a shop for them to scan it, or in the states here we can usually go to any auto parts store and have the engine codes scanned for free. I’m not sure if you have that kind of service there.
There are a lot of small specialty shops all over the world that REPAIR these throttle bodies for a fraction of the cost of a new unit.
Well, we’re not exactly what you’d call a wealthy family, so we were very careful about replacing anything on the engine. We had to, at one point, cause the throttle was giving us grief, making the engine spin up to 5-6000 RPM with no reason. After we fixed that (some sensor was literally, physically broken off the engine, so that did that), we found out the gas pedal was acting up. Not revving up the engine, or doing it just sometimes. We discovered the capacitive resistor contact platelets (they run on a brass track and regulate the electrical signal used by the throttle). Got that fixed, and it was all smooth sailing on from there.
So you’re telling me the ECU tries to protect the engine from damage caused by low RPM by not letting it go onto higher ranges? That’s weird 😆
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.