2.0 HDI desire engine fault

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sarahscribbles
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2.0 HDI desire engine fault

Post by sarahscribbles »

Hi all, had my 03 Citroen xsara picasso 5 weeks, was driving great til about 2 weeks go, intermittent engine fault light but driving fine, strangely though developed a high pitch noise when driving (did not sound like the engine though) similar to when you run a wet finger round top of a wine glass (strange). Light would go on and off. Had the codes read at Kwik Fit, they identified a whole load of fault codes but as driving fine no idea what was what. Taken to my local garage he had it for a day cleared codes and told me to come back if light came on as he could not find anything wrong. By this time I had a couple of episodes where power seemed to drop away, mainly on a hill, then picked up on the flat. My local garage now not veryinterested in fixing it. Taken to diesel specialist. they had it a day and are also not sure what is wrong with it, they are now thinking its electrical? Driving quiet badly now, no power you have put your foot down struggling to get to 30 mph, I have now booked it into a Citroen dealer but at my wits end with why no one can tell me what's wrong with it. Noticed a new noise when I picked it up today, sounds like a whiny hair dryer as well as the earlier noise and was lucky to get home with it. Could it be the turbo or this break sensor issue i keep reading about? Any advice very welcome,
fynnbar
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Re: 2.0 HDI desire engine fault

Post by fynnbar »

Disconnect the MAF sensor plug and see if it goes any better.
Worn turbos do whine, but can go on like that for thousands of miles. Need to get it running right as a priority.
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CitroJim
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Re: 2.0 HDI desire engine fault

Post by CitroJim »

fynnbar wrote:Disconnect the MAF sensor plug and see if it goes any better.
The MAF can certainly cause this and it's understandable that the garages cannot diagnose it as the MAF sensor does not generally pop up a nice, easy fool-proof fault code. The only way to see a duff MAF is to use a pukka Lexia diagnostic and observe the live data from it. A duff one will be more or less static and the measured airflow will not change from idle to max. revs whereas a good MAF will show a linear rise with increasing revs.

Boost leaks can also cause this fault. Look for oil leaks on and around the turbo air pipes as a dead give-away.

Turbo whine is OK so long as it sounds sweet and low. If it makes a noise that reminds you of fingernails on blackboards then it's dying but if you think 'That’s a rather pleasant noise really' then it's OK. That rule of thumb generally applies to all mechanical noises...
Jim

Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
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