Overheating - 1, Citroen - 0!

[CitroenLover]

My oldest Picasso, the 2000 1.9D has gone and overheated!

It is one of my taxi fleet, so is in almost non-stop use, which isn't a good thing if there is a cooling problem, even worse if there is a cooling problem that isn't apparent until the last minute!

I got a call from the driver who was using the 2000 Picasso, and he told me it started puffing out smoke from the exhaust and engine bay, then almost immediately after, stalled and wouldn't restart.

And yes, when I asked him to check the temperature meter, it was up to the top

I got down there and towed her back to my house, but she doesn't look too good.

Not a drop of coolant in the system, chocolate milkshake oil and no compression when cranking over

I'm quite a good mechanic, but I doubt even I could save this engine, it is a swap job I think, which is bad, because I'm currently having to run my taxi business with only two cars ('02 Picasso & '05 Picasso), which is meaning I'm having to turn down runs!! Argh!

I've changed the oil, filled the coolant up with just tap water, and tried to start it, but she just won't catch on at all...

Looks like I'm on the look out for a 1.9 diesel power plant now, or is there anything else I could try to get her going ?

I know the head gasket has gone, but even the worst head gasket failure wouldn't cause it to fail to start would it ?

Thanks for reading.

[mlkey]

Sounds pretty bad, but think you have nothing to lose by removing the head. If the head gasket has gone, and the head is warped, maybe it is enough to prevent the engine from even firing, that coupled with a possible high mileage (only a guess) which may suggest it was down on compression prior to the failure. I would have the head off, check if it is warped, you can also inspect the pistons and bores then.

At the end of the day, its a diesel.. give it fuel and compression, it should do something.

[CitroJim]

Yep, if the blow is bad enough then she'll not start. It really doesn't take much loss of compression before a diesel will refuse to go.

Tight valve clearances on the old 1.7D was enough for them to throw in the towel on a cold morning....

[CitroenLover]

It has 291,000 miles on the clock, so yes, it probably did have lowered compression prior to the failure.

I took the head off yesterday, and the head is warped beyond repair.

Also, the bores are in a terrible state, probably due to the coolant and oil mixture not lubricating much.

Ah heck

She did get an advisory for undercarriage corrosion on the last MOT, so I guess it is time to scrap her!

I'll head down to the auctions tomorrow to pick up a new Picasso hopefully.

[CitroJim]

She did get an advisory for undercarriage corrosion on the last MOT, so I guess it is time to scrap her!

RIP. She lived a good, long productive and hopefully happy life...

She deserves a rest now...

Going to the big taxi rank in the sky...