Clio automatic keeps going into safety mode

Can anybody help ?, our Clio automatic suddenly within 1 mile of starting up decides to , without warning, go into safety mode, it changes down in gears and the engine management light comes on, but if you stop the car, switch off and start up again it does not do it again on that journey, the problem is made worse if you are in traffic you have to pull over to restart it,

I have had the car checked on a Bosch diagnostics but no fault show up,!

This has happened to me twice - as with you, it happened within a mile of starting the car - I was doing about 60mph on each occasion. Renault have done a full check but there is no record of the events on the inboard computer. My experience is that there was a loud clonk from the engine compartment then the car went into safety mode. Renault advise me to take the car straight to them if it happens again and to keep the engine running so the warning light is still lit for the engineer to see. They say safety mode is max of 40mph. I also had a problem starting the car yesterday. The engine wouldn't turn over as though it had been left in gear when the engine had been switched off. The car had correctly been left in park. Rocking the car freed the problem but, again, Renault can't locate the error. Please let me know if you resolve the problem.

Can anybody help ?, our Clio automatic suddenly within 1 mile of starting up decides to , without warning, go into safety mode, it changes down in gears and the engine management light comes on, but if you stop the car, switch off and start up again it does not do it again on that journey, the problem is made worse if you are in traffic you have to pull over to restart it,

I have had the car checked on a Bosch diagnostics but no fault show up,!

Can anybody help ?, our Clio automatic suddenly within 1 mile of starting up decides to , without warning, go into safety mode, it changes down in gears and the engine management light comes on, but if you stop the car, switch off and start up again it does not do it again on that journey, the problem is made worse if you are in traffic you have to pull over to restart it,

I have had the car checked on a Bosch diagnostics but no fault show up,!

I have the same problem now! Did you get it sorted?

hi had the same problem apparently it means that the gear box is low on oil if u put about a litre in the gear box that should cure it if not have a look around that area and see if theres a leak allso to the not starting try hiting the starter moter its obviyously just stuck hope this helps jay

dear guys
this problem is the worst thing in renault manufacture
i have renault clio2 -2004 1.4L 16V 5doors hatchback and still complainig this problem also i checked everything at renault it was ok and no faults the problem still
exisit
the final solution was to change the solonoid of automatic trnasmission the problem comes from low temprature of gear oil thats why sensor goes
to safemode and when you go up hill or down hill the sensor also will change to safe mood

Hi guys.
It's a relatively common problem with the DPO auto gearbox.
It's not, as mentioned the worst manufacturing in Renault as the box is shared with Citroen, Peugeot and a few Korean cars under different names.
Take the car to a garage that can diagnose the ECU fault codes. Our son's 2003 Clio auto had the same problem. It's a solenoid/pressure regulator in the transmission. A couple of hours labor to change and the part isn't too dear. 2 months out and the Clio here is perfect and drives so much better.
The problem was only there until the car was warmed up too.

Hope this helps.

PM me for further details if needed.

P.S....didn't read all of xerion's post, sorry. Yep, that's exactly correct. Peugeot and Citroen have the same issues. I spoke to the owner of Cobra Trans and he told me the boxes are good and it's all down to maintainence in the end.
I personally recommend 60,000km transmission oil changes too.

Hi all, I have a 1999 1.6 auto that does the same, have read your comments and am going to try topping up or changing the trans oil. Does anyone know the procedure as in my last car the auto trans oil had to be filled up thru the dipstick tube but cannot find the dipstick for the transmission on the clio so I'm assuming u need to do it from underneath some how. Many thanks.

Andy m

Hi!
I am having the same problem with my 2001 Clio.
I had the fault detected and its a pressure control solonoid circuit A malfunction.
Reanult has quoted me £470 to fix this and I was wondering if anybody knows if this seems a bit much? If I carry on driving it like this will it cause me more problems? Any help would be much appreciated.
Carly

i had the same problem! took it into a garage and changed the gearbox oil! turned out that the RenaultMatic oil which is D3 ATF is too thick to get through the gearbox when cold and over pressurising the gearbox throwing up the fault so changed it for D2 ATF and has been fine ever since! changing into gear smoothly and in the right rev range.

make sure you you change the oil as when my Gearbox was emptied there was about a litre of oil inside and it should have 3.5 litres.

also make sure you find the correct fill plug as there are two! one is for the DTENT and if you fill that your box is useless unless you can get another DTENT.

I would definitely be taking this back to the Renault dealership (if this is where you bought the car)?

Is the car still under warranty?

I bought a 2001 Clio here in France last year. All the symptoms described above have been experienced. Also I have the 'escaping fumes' and 'automatic gearbox' captions; the former continually and the latter whenever it drops into 'safety mode'. The local Renault garage topped up the gearbox oil but the problem reoccurred shortly thereafter. Another told me I need a new torque convertor and this would entail dropping the gearbox and probably replacing it as well as the convertor. Clearly I don't want to go down this rout unless necessary. [It would entail obtaining one fro the UK since they are very expensive in France!] Any updated feedback or advice would be welcomed.