can anyone help me out with some advice?

[PEG]

Hi bud,,wiring on these and other French vehicles is poor.Inadequate contact area on multi-plugs and track connectors,and small csa cables that can wick moisture 4 meters straight into ECu's. If you get an electronic test lamp (MAC tools do a good one) that can test wiring along its' run,you lessen the risk of damaging any sensitive equipment. Use this and "line-trace" your live TO the relay,and then FROM it,to the light unit.Remember you will be doing this to and from the light stalk as well. Note,or mark cables colour/ID No. and be prepared to loose a day,weight and the will to live...Good luck fella.

 

[fletcher23]

Hi bud,,wiring on these and other French vehicles is poor.Inadequate contact area on multi-plugs and track connectors,and small csa cables that can wick moisture 4 meters straight into ECu's. If you get an electronic test lamp (MAC tools do a good one) that can test wiring along its' run,you lessen the risk of damaging any sensitive equipment. Use this and "line-trace" your live TO the relay,and then FROM it,to the light unit.Remember you will be doing this to and from the light stalk as well. Note,or mark cables colour/ID No. and be prepared to loose a day,weight and the will to live...Good luck fella.

i tested all the relays today, with car battery and multimeter and they all clicked and showed the correct readings, so thats bulbs, and relays out the way. i'm going to try a mates headlight stalk this weekend as i know that definately works on his car, if that fails i give up and will be taking it to an auto electrician because i have absolutely no clue whatsoever on how to test the wires etc, even though you have just described what to do it just confuses me haha.

 

[dan86]

keep us updated

 

[NickD]

i tested all the relays today, with car battery and multimeter and they all clicked and showed the correct readings, so thats bulbs, and relays out the way. i'm going to try a mates headlight stalk this weekend as i know that definately works on his car, if that fails i give up and will be taking it to an auto electrician because i have absolutely no clue whatsoever on how to test the wires etc, even though you have just described what to do it just confuses me haha.

Why are you testing *all* the relays (and how)? I suggest you try what I said - get wiring diagram, put lights onto main beam, work your way back from the bulb until you find the first point with 12V on, your fault is just downstream of that.

 

[vernam616]

Can of petrol and a match is your best bet

Renaults not worth a w**k

 

[fletcher23]

Why are you testing *all* the relays (and how)? I suggest you try what I said - get wiring diagram, put lights onto main beam, work your way back from the bulb until you find the first point with 12V on, your fault is just downstream of that.

why not? i suspected a bad relay so i tested them. what the problem with that? i tested them by connecting them to my battery with croc clips then testing them for resistance/continuity what ever u call it. they would have to be tested at some point anyway so may aswel do it now while i have a multimeter.

and have you tried getting a hold of a wiring diagram for a clio? they are like hens teeth, plus i wouldn't be able to make sense of it.

- - - Updated - - -

Can of petrol and a match is your best bet

Renaults not worth a w**k

thanks for that useful input!

 

[fletcher23]

ok so i have narrowed it down to before the fusebox, high beam fuses are not getting any voltage at all so it has to be the stalk or a broken wire/bad ground somewhere near the stalk right?

how can i actually test the stalk with a multi meter when its plugged in? its strange that the one stalk i picked from the scrappies would have the same fault as the last one. remember all other lights work fine using both original stalk and the one from scrappies, just not high beam.

 

[NickD]

why not? i suspected a bad relay so i tested them.

Because it's not good use of your time and you may do some harm by inexpert testing. You need to know what relay(s) are involved in the fuse circuit

and have you tried getting a hold of a wiring diagram for a clio?

Yeah, I went in to a Renault Dealer once, said "Can I have a wiring diagram for a Clio?", guy said "Yeah, that seems like a fair swap"....

Clios are extremely common cars. Haynes manual? Service manual off eBay? Google? Renault/Clio forums? Then if you can fathom it post pics on here and hopefully people will help.

 

[NickD]

ok so i have narrowed it down to before the fusebox, high beam fuses are not getting any voltage at all so it has to be the stalk or a broken wire/bad ground somewhere near the stalk right?

Dunno. You need to know what sits between the high beam fuses and the battery.

how can i actually test the stalk with a multi meter when its plugged in?

Probably easier to take it out and test but first you'll need to know what terminals of the stalk the high beam switch within the stalk is connected to. Basically you need a pinout or connection diagram for the stalk.

its strange that the one stalk i picked from the scrappies would have the same fault as the last one

Not that strange. Maybe it's a design flaw within the stalk and that's the bit that tends to go. Bit like saying how strange it is that two Mini Metros should both be rusty

 

[Guest111]

can you hear a click when you operate the stalk? if not it's on the switching side,if you can then it's on the power side.The feed goes through the relay then splits to 2 fuses which then go one to each light.Iirc it's the white relay that controls the lights,this is located under the passenger side of the dashboard.

 

[NickD]

can you hear a click when you operate the stalk? if not it's on the switching side

...or it's broken - not hearing a click won't necessarily tell you much. But hearing a click will. When he says hear a click he means hear a click from a relay, not within the stalk. Sorry if that's obvious.

 

[fletcher23]

thanks i will try renault for a diagram, i don't have a haynes manual. i can hear the relay click when i turn the stalk to dipped headlights, but not when i try and activate the full beam.

phil- the relays i have under the dash are 6 small black/grey ones, haven't seen any white relays in there.
the relays under the dash are not labelled for there use and i can't seem to find any info about which one controls what on the internet, thats why i took them all out to test as they are all the same so didn't matter which order they were put back in.

i have the old stalk here so if i find out what controls the full beam how would i test it?

 

[NickD]

thanks i will try renault for a diagram...

i have the old stalk here so if i find out what controls the full beam how would i test it?

Going to Renault will probably take forever. Try forums. There are definitely service manuals on eBay on CD for a couple of quid.

If you can find out what pins on the stalk are for the main beam switch, put your mutleymeter on ohms or continuity setting; in the main-beam-on position the switch should be closed, so continuity or low resistance measured between the pins, and in the off position, no continuity or high resistance.

 

[fletcher23]

ok this is the headlight stalk from underneath, i can see where the full beam terminals are located (pictured) but how do i test them i.e where do i put the test leads? sorry for being so thick but electrics are not my thing.

 

[NickD]

ok this is the headlight stalk from underneath, i can see where the full beam terminals are located (pictured) but how do i test them i.e where do i put the test leads? sorry for being so thick but electrics are not my thing.

No offence but if you don't understand how to use the meter to do this, how did you test the relays?

Meter onto ohms/continuity range. Probes into correct orifices in meter front (if present) for ohm/continuity range. Put stalk into high beam position. Put probes onto those two terminals. Should see continuity / low ohms reading. Probes off. Put stalk into dipped beam position. Put probes onto those two terminals. Should see no continuity / high ohms reading.

There is a big assumption here which is that the high beam switch inside the stalk is a simple on/off across those two terminals, which I have no way of knowing without seeing a circuit diagram for the stalk or the wiring.