Clio 182 exhaust warning light

[freakynessless]

Afternoon peeps,

I've had a warning light pop up on My clio 182 and was wondering if anyone else has had the same experience or knew of any possible causes/remedies? Also, will I cause any damage if I continue to driver her?

Yesterday I was driving along quite happily, doing about 90ish and the exhaust gas monitor warning light popped up on the dash. I Wasnt too sure what the light was about so I dropped down to about 55mph for the reminaing 15 miles of my journey. I've just started her up again this afternoon and let her get up to temperature and the light is still on.
The car has been MOT'd and had the 36K mile service within the last 500 miles and has been running like a dream as always. No exhaust issues with picked up on the service or MOT.
Also, whilst getting her home yesterday once the light came on, I didnt notice any difference in performance and it still seems to be running ok.

Anyone got any ideas before I spend £36 million taking it to Reanult just for them to reset the warning light?

Cheers in advance.

[MrGman]

Have you go a standard exhaust/cat?

I would guess at it being the sensor, usually very common when they've been disturbed.

Think thats what i'd be starting with.

[freakynessless]

Yep, standard exhaust/cat. It did have an exhaust gasket replaced a while ago if that might have something to do with it? It was fitted by Reanult, so it probably wasnt done properly.

[MrGman]

I've never experienced this problem myself but i have heard of it many time and it's usually very close in time to when people have had the exhaust off/replaced.

Have you searched the Renaultsport forum? Might be worth a look.

[John D.]

I've experienced the same issue on my 172. Similar to you I was happily driving along when this strange looking symbol lit up on the dash. Did'nt have a clue what it was and could'nt work out what it was supposed to look like! Car appeared to drive fine still so just backed off and went home.

A mate of mine has an ECU diagnostic box thing which on plugging it in showed a lambda sensor fault (this was the warning light - exhaust emissions!). Used the gismo to cancel the fault and it never came back on. Took the car to kwikfit shortly after to get the exhaust/lambda checked over and it turned out an exhuast mount had broken near the cat, this probably rattled the lambda sensor about and caused the ECU to detect a fault.

I have an aftermarket exhaust and cat on my 172 but I assume even a standard car would be similarly prone to a fault related to the lambda sensor such as this.