multiple electrical probs on 2017 Spacetourer 1.6 diesel

[Rob hunter]

Folks

I am wondering what to do with my 2017 Citroen Spacetourer 1.6 diesel.
For the past 6 months or so it has shown multiple electrical warnings. Initially these warnings were "battery charging fault" but also other warnings about abs or "engine fault repair needed". When the problems first occurred the waiting time for the car to be inspected at a Citroen dealer was over a month and so I called out an autoelectrician who "cleared" the multiple faults only to have the problems reoccur the following day. I then decided to live with the problem until before Christmas when I ran low on adblue, with the warning "starting impossible in 100 miles" I topped up with 10l of adblue, however, the countdown continued as though I had not added any adblue so next, with a 2/3rd full adblue tank, I got the warning "starting impossible in 50 miles" and then after having driven over the 50 miles to get home the car would not start. There was then a 2 month waiting time to have the car seen at my local dealership in Crawley and so again I called out an autoelectrican who despite 20 years experience could not identify the fault, thereafter I had the car towed to a local garage who "cleared the fault" until the next day I got the message "battery charging fault" and/or "engine fault repair needed". The car is now booked into a citroen dealership in Redhill on 19th Jan and my fear is that they will "clear the fault" only for it to reoccur on the way home or a few days later. My impression is that when the autoelectricains plug in their diagnostic equipment they see a range of faults many of which are thought to be consequential from an initiating fault - the root fault if you like. However, the autoelectricians seem unable to determine the root fault and so they have the strategy of clearing all the faults and waiting to see if one should re-emerge and perhaps for a moment in time one might reemerge but it is soon followed by all the consequential faults. In plain terms the electricians simply don't have the capability to pin point the root fault. Now this is not to cast aspersions on the autoelectrical profession - my impression is that the system design is inscrutable.
Hence, my thoughts at this time are - is it worth spending yet more money at the Citroen dealership? Should I get one of these fault code reading machines myself and carry it around with me to clear faults myself..how much do these machines cost and which one should I get?. The spacetourer is otherwise a brilliant car, is there a similar type of car that is not beset by these electrical issues? Is there a place I could take my car to where the electricians are particularly experienced with this issue and who are more likely to definitively pinpoint the issue?

I would be most grateful to hear your thoughts..

[Rob hunter]

update..
..so the day before the appointment at the dealership, I phoned the Citroen garage and explained my fear that they would "fix" the problem only for it to reoccur on the way home or some days later, I was reassured by the Citroen dealership that whereas the previous electricians may have cleared the fault, in the Citroen garage’s view it was likely that they hadn't actually identified the fault and so it was inevitable that it would reoccur. I took the car into the Citroen garage, they identified the nitrogen oxide sensor as being faulty and called me to discuss, I again said on the phone - are you really sure this is the root problem and not a consequential problem? They felt sure it was a root problem. I went ahead and paid for the sensor to be replaced. Almost immediately on getting the car home a new set of electrical problems have occurred; the cruise control functions are inoperative; I get variable warnings of engine faults and headlight and fog light faults.
My strong impression is that the diagnostic algorithms used by Citroen simply do not allow their mechanics to identify the root fault, this results in customers being charged for diagnostic time which is in effect “misdiagnostic time” and thereafter the misidentification of a root fault and then at the customer's expense a component is replaced only for the electrical problems to reoccur and for the garage to potentially take the position that it was simply bad luck and extraordinary coincidence that new electrical problems have occurred immediately after the ones that they fixed. I think Citroen need to be taken to task on this. I would be interested to hear the views of others.

[Rob hunter]

Folks, just to update you on the issues I've been having. When I last posted in March I'd taken the car to a citroen dealership who had replaced the nitrogen oxide sensor only for the multiple electrical problems to reoccur almost immediately. The citroen dealership refunded my costs but I am still left with the electrical problems. I phoned another dealership today and the earliest that they can "do diagnostics" is 2nd July - my impression is that they don't want to do this type of work. I've phoned around several other auto electricians and heard a consistent story from all of them..that a typical scenario is that owners spend, in some cases, thousands replacing components only for the problem to reoccur. They then ultimately resort to deleting the system which makes the car illegal and that's not an option I wish to take. I think if I am going to solve this I will have to do this myself. Does anyone have any recommendations for an OBD2 reader that might be suited to this task and do you think this is something I am likely to be successful with as I am reasonably technically savvy? - I would normally leave this sort of thing to an expert..but the problem is there are no experts that I can find.

[RichardW]

Best bet is a clone of the official PSA tool, combined with Diagbox. There are lots of the adaptors about, but quality can be variable, have a look at Easy diagnostics, they offer a forum discount ( although there were supply issues recently). At least if you have your own interface you may be able to catch it in the act and narrow down the fault area.

[Rob hunter]

Update on my Spacetourer with multiple electrical problems. I looked at the option suggested by RichardW but ended up thinking I wasn't experienced enough to be trusted using the kit so yesterday I took the car to a 4th auto electrician who after 2 hours could not solve the problem. However, he did Google and youtube search the one message that we couldn't get rid off "electrical circuit system repair needed" and we noted that many folk that had had this message also experienced their battery draining when the car had been left standing for couple of days...I have this symptom too, yet the battery is healthy and when the engine is running it is charging. The autoelectrician ended up feeling that the most likely issue was the battery management and protection unit, he recommended in the first instance removing the unit and cleaning all the terminals showing any sign of corrosion and if that doesn't work to replace the unit. In either case the system will have to be reset afterwards in order to hopefully get rid of the message. For this purpose he recommended I buy one of these -
https://kingbolentool.com/products/laun ... ip-support
I'd be grateful for your thoughts on this latest chapter in my saga.