My trip to the dark side has started (even if the Scenic won't). In the search for a car that would fit with my scavenger habits to fuel the wood burner I settled on a Scenic, much like the A Class I've had before but bigger and easier to work on (wrong again!) with reasonable MPG and loads of spares. I could carry 4 passengers if needed and it could pull a trailer unlike the Prius so I could put the XM off road for the winter - the XM being my tow car.
The car I picked just needed a steering lock to get it going again - no I didn't believe this but I thought after running hydraulic Citroens and an A Class it should be possible to fix it. The price meant I was able to buy a Clip clone which I thought I'd need sooner or later....
I collected the car, removed the rear seats, emptied the boot board into the bin - yes it was that full of junk and started removing various bits of trim to give access to the areas needed. Putting the card into the slot and pressing start brought up an error message about the steering being locked/unlocked and no signs of life from the starter. I removed the steering lock module and took it apart, somebody had already done that and in the process lost a small magnet and damaged something else on the PCB. A replacement was bought that self codes itself to the vehicle, which is how Renault sell them. Sure enough after fitting it appears to have integrated itself OK, inserting the card and pressing start unlocks the steering and the car goes through what appears to be the normal start cycle except for operating the starter motor.
A Clip session was needed, this revealed a faulty glow plug module but according to it starting is authorised. So thinking it unlikely that the management system would stop the starter function for such a fault I decided to investigate the fuses and relays. The fusebox housing under the hood (UPC) has been cut up to give access to it's fuses - at least I think that's why it was done. I stripped out the battery, battery tray, removed the left front wheel, removed the wheel arch liner and dropped the fusebox (UPC) housing out that way. Stripping the covers off the UPC reveals that there's no obvious water damage, corrosion or burnt out PCB tracks. All the fuse carriers are OK as are the fuses and relays. Whilst I was at it I checked over the Glow plug module, no signs of corrosion there either so it's faulty or there's a wiring fault. The Injection ECU connectors were checked too, all dry and in good visual condition. My next thought because I didn't have a wiring diagram at this stage was to check for power at the starter and the starter solenoid. This proved easier said than done due to the location of the dam thing, jack up the other side of the car, remove under tray, remove FAP bracket then another bracket so I can just about see the main power terminal. A multimeter confirms that there's 12 Volts there however there's never any voltage delivered to the solenoid. A long search on the Internet turned up some diagrams for the Megane 2 which I thought must be almost the same. Using these I identified the starter solenoid wire on the UPC, giving 12 Volts to this wire turns the starter, that must mean the starter's OK and so is the wiring to it, the Scenic didn't start but then it's been stood for a few months and there's air bubbles in the fuel supply so I don't know yet if the engine would run or if it's being inhibited by other problems. I've since checked the wiring to the Glow plug module from the Injection ECU, it's showing 0.3 Ohms on each wire (there's 2) so it looks like the module is faulty.
Does anyone know if a faulty glow plug module would cause a start inhibit condition despite what Clip says? Can UPCs be faulty even if they don't have fault codes?
Any other insights welcome.
Steve.
