Citroen C8 problems problems

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masterofinsanity
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Citroen C8 problems problems

Post by masterofinsanity »

Hi guys, ive joined this forum in the hope of finding out whats wrong with my C8

we've owned this C8 03 plate SX 2.0HDI for approx 3 months and its broke down twice, the first time we called the AA out they couldn't find anything wrong, car started again and i drove it home.The AA read the fault codes P0380 & P0020 , cleared the codes and the only code that came back was the P0380 Glow plug heater circuit.

Took it into Citroen for Diagnostics, they couldn't find any fault codes, but came up with the filler cap was faulty, inc sensor in the filler neck, loom, DPF filter blocked and needed replacing £1500+ Bill , i was not a happy chap!

Luckily the dealer i bought the car from agreed to have it back into the workshop and sort the problems.A week later i picked the car up, they had apparently regenerated the DPF filter and reset the ecu etc etc, tested the filler cap and advised it was not faulty.On my return journey the car lost power for a few seconds on the motorway.

Then nothing for a few weeks ......until last saturday, coming down the motorway it lost power and stopped, i managed to roll it off the motorway down a carriageway into a parking bay, no power at all but ticking over, switched off left it for a few minutes then switched it back on and all fine and drove it the 5 min journey home.

its been sat on my drive since, i tried to start it this morning and it wouldn't start.It did start later this evening and i took it for a run and it drove like a new car, no power loss, nothing !

I have an ELM 327 bluetooth OBD scanner and android tab and using Torque software got the codes P0380 & P0020 exactly as the AA did.

having spoken to Citroen they advised there is no such P0020 code in the Citroen diagnostics database and the P0380 code is a rogue code thrown up every time!?

so i now have a family car i can't use after 3 months ownership, dealer has said he will do me trade prices if i want to take it over to him which is a 40 min journey, I have no faith in our citroen dealer who i believe just want to rip me off with replacing the DPF filter.

searching through the internet i am feeling :-

if the DPF filter is blocked as Citroen suggest wouldn't i get a warning on the display to suggest this?
as i am getting no warnings or lights on the dash leads me to think its a fuel starvation issue, would i get any errors or warnings to suggest this?
is the P0020 code correct and there is a problem with the camshaft position sensor ? would this give me these problems?


i am really stuck with this car after losing over £2000 trying to fix our espace which i finally dumped and replaced it with the C8 to find i'm in the same boat, i cannot afford to throw any more wasted money at the car although i know i'm going to have to to fix it.

any suggestions????

sorry its long winded!
Last edited by masterofinsanity on 22 Apr 2014, 22:32, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by Peter.N. »

I would assume from the year that it has an 8 valve engine which I didn't think had a DPF mine don't, maybe its an early 16 valve then, that is unlikely to cause it to stop anyway. My C5 is doing a similar thing, just suddenly looses power and stops but only every few hundred miles, after about a minute of trying to start it away it goes for another couple of hundred miles.

I suspect yours has an in tank fuel pump, you should be able to hear it run for a second or two when you turn the ignition on, listen out for it so you know what it sounds like then see if its still there when it won't start, these pumps can fail intermittently and probably won't leave a code.

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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by RichardW »

If you paid retail for it, then onus is on the supplying dealer to fix it under sale of goods act - this fault was clearly present at time of purchase!

If not, then you need to get it on a Lexia so that you can see what the rail pressure is doing, what the DPF pressures are (although you would need to get it run for that) etc etc!

Believe the C8 uses the 16V engine Peter - not sure if it has in tank pump or not.
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by Peter.N. »

OK Richard, didn't think they were out by 03 but obviously wrong.

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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by masterofinsanity »

Peter.N. wrote:I would assume from the year that it has an 8 valve engine which I didn't think had a DPF mine don't, maybe its an early 16 valve then, that is unlikely to cause it to stop anyway. My C5 is doing a similar thing, just suddenly looses power and stops but only every few hundred miles, after about a minute of trying to start it away it goes for another couple of hundred miles.

I suspect yours has an in tank fuel pump, you should be able to hear it run for a second or two when you turn the ignition on, listen out for it so you know what it sounds like then see if its still there when it won't start, these pumps can fail intermittently and probably won't leave a code.

Peter
good idea i'll have a listen for the fuel pump, i think its a fuel problem and wondered if the fuel filter was blocked, any ideas where it is?

if it is the DPF filter and blocked soo much to cause the problems why would switching off and starting it again clear it? surely if its blocked enough to cause it to breakdown then it would still be blocked when i fired it back up?

which leads me to think a filter blockage which when the ignition is off releases the fuel and any sediment with it til next time?
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by masterofinsanity »

RichardW wrote:If you paid retail for it, then onus is on the supplying dealer to fix it under sale of goods act - this fault was clearly present at time of purchase!

If not, then you need to get it on a Lexia so that you can see what the rail pressure is doing, what the DPF pressures are (although you would need to get it run for that) etc etc!

Believe the C8 uses the 16V engine Peter - not sure if it has in tank pump or not.
I did checkout the adviceguide website and feel the same way but the dealer seems to think its not a new car, he has been helpful but now saying if any work needs doing will charge me trade prices

how much better are the lexia to the elm327 readers? i'm interested in checking the dpf pressure if i can and if i need a lexia to do this then i'll get one.
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by masterofinsanity »

oh and i got it started this morning and took it to work, it ran perfectly as it should
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by demag »

I had a Grand Scenic 1.5dci with similar problems, it would stutter on the motorway and came up with an injector error. Talking to someone after the event they said a blocked fuel filter would throw that fault on a Renault due to fuel starvation.
Regarding the dealer, I am having problems with my Berlingo and Citroen not honouring the warranty. I got in touch with Citizens Advice. No-one answered the phones so I filled out the form on their website and they got back within three working days (two actually). They were very precise about where I stood regarding the warranty and also my statutory rights. I would definitely get in touch with them you will be amazed at the information they give you! And it's all on your side as well. I am still prepared to use it if necessary. If you want more info pm me.
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by Lighty »

Ok, the car will definitely have a DPF, but if this is blocked, it is very unlikely that it would cause the car to stop, but still be able to tick over.
It is imperative that you get the dpf pressure readings checked, because if this is blocked, you will destroy the turbo with continued use.
Personally I would expect the original seller to sort this problem, as you could run up some large costs finding this fault.
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by masterofinsanity »

i'm interested in how Citroen diagnosed a blocked DPF when they couldnt find anything wrong with the car on diagnostics and no fault codes? they are adamant its the DPF tho? :?
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by Mandrake »

The Lexia can measure upstream and downstream exhaust pressure of the DPF - using the parameters measurement section.

If you run the engine at a certain RPM and load, and the pressure differential is greater than a known acceptable limit, you know its getting blocked. That's how the ECU itself knows when the DPF is getting blocked.

There's more to diagnosis than relying on fault codes...many engine problems don't set fault codes (even though theoretically they should) but can still be diagnosed by a human looking at and evaluating the live sensor data of a running engine, combined with other factors.

Not saying they're right in this instance, just that fault codes aren't the be all and end all. I chased an intermittent severe loss of power on my car for months which never ever set any fault codes, although to be fair that was on an older engine whose ECU isn't as smart as more modern ones.
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by Lighty »

I have an 2.0 hdi 807 (identical to your C8) for sale currently, having rebuilt the top end of the engine since a timing belt failure, we removed the DPF using ECU safe on the software. It drives like a different car , these buses are so much better without the filter.
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by masterofinsanity »

still not got round to sorting this out due to funds but misses is getting well peed off with it, gotta get a lexia without a doubt but just been looking at this DPF removal processs, doesn't this cause an mot failure nowadays? i read that if the car is fitted with one it should still be there but how will the mot tester know the internals have been removed?
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by masterofinsanity »

well finally got a Lexia last week and have had a play, the amount of faults that came up are unreal, everything from dashboard to dpf so gonna be a long learnig process for this vehicle, I'm reluctant to get shot of the car due to the amount of money we've lost over the last couple of years so determined to clear all these faults.

Sooo any help, pointers, starters greatly appreciated.
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Re: Citroen C8 losing power

Post by Peter.N. »

You can probably ignore most of them, clear the faults and see which ones come up again, they are the ones to pursue.

Peter.
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