New Citroen C4 Grand Picasso Exclusive+ : Feedback/questions

[Muppetboy]

Well done, not only for resolving the issue, but for explaining it clearly for anybody else who might have the same problem.

No worries.

Thought I'd encountered a new problem last week. My car went in for it's first service which passed without any issues. However, Eco Stop and Start hadn't kicked in since. I had turned off the fans and air conditioning which didn't make any different whatsoever. So booked car in to get it checked out...

However, the day before it was due to get checked, I had driven 100 miles to a friend and then around 3/4 on the way back, Eco Stop and Start kicked in. It seems that this system has to meet a particular level of parameters before this kicks in. One of them being the battery needs to be at a certain level as we all know, Stop/ Start constantly draws from this.

Ok, it's not the be all and end of everything but my argument is that it's a new car and it get's used every day. Could be 10 miles,. Could be hundreds. Therefore the battery should be constantly topped up. Would make sense if the car hadn't been used for a week. When it's working effectively and taking an average of 100 miles, stop / start could total about 15mins.

So next time Stop / Start appear to "stop working" for you (ECO light flashes 3 times) don't panic. Here's a quote from Wiki about Stop Start system:

Start-stop systems are heavily reliant on the battery. Testing indicates that AGM batteries diminish in their ability to support start-stop functionality over time.

Factors like having the air conditioning on impacts on the battery too.

[momag46]

I know what you mean about the stop/start system.

I do a lot of short (less then 3 miles) trips and therefore the S/S system does not work. It gets going again if I do a 20 mile plus run but the engine will still sometimes start if standing for over a minute, after a long run the system works okay for a few weeks of short trips. The system is de-activated to protect the battery but if you feel it's not working properly you can always get the battery checked (or trickled charged over night to top it up).

Maurice

[Muppetboy]

Sorry to read you're having the same experience. So while stop start is great when it works, technology still has some catching up to do especially with all this global eco business. Maybe it's just me but i would had thought that given how much more power is drawn from the car battery because of all the electronic gadgets, etc. Car manufacturers would substitue this with maybe a separate battery eliminating the need for battery top up at least. In my case, the car is only just over a year old.

[vborovic]

This happens on most cars I've tried driving with this feature ... so I can't really see where the promised fuel savings appear, when the S/S system won't work 1 out of 3 times the car runs ... I'd rather listen to the engine running the entire time, and know the car is alive, then be left stranded on a traffic light when the S/S decides to bail on me and not restart the car .. but that's just my opinion

[Richard_C]

I'm thinking of a Picasso to replace the C5 and Synergie combined - this thread has convinced me that the 1.6 will be enough and the much more expensive 2.0 unnecessary.

Does anyone reading this have the 120bhp petrol one and if so what do you think? It is only available up to VTR+ spec but options can get it close to Exclusive gadgetry. We are 100% diesel at the moment and have been for years, I keep cars a long time and with some European cities (perhaps including London) moving to ban diesels altogether soon it might be time to change tack.

[tak]

Hi All,

Sorry for jumping in the middle, but I am facing some tough challenges to start my C4 Picasso 2007 HDI VTR plus, 2.0.

It was hit from the front and since then it is not starting. The hit was slight and not a major and repaired. However the car has gone into economy mode and through a diagnostic tool below errors were identified:

C1118: CAN line > confort network
C2001: ECU remote activation

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks
TAK

[fcolacino]

Blimey. There's me cursing the sat-nav for "not allowing postcodes" when in fact you can! Thought I had digested the whole of the C4GP owners handbook! I've just gone out to my car and tried it (entering postcode in the "City" field) entering my old postcode in Essex and whilst it came with the correct information in the "City" field (Postcode and town), it didn't display the name of the road in "Road" field or allow me to enter door number though. Ngh! Unless it does automatically enter road name with other postcodes, I don't know. Hoping it does as I do a lot of pickups and rely on Google navigation on my mobile when the Citroen satnav can't pick up an address.

Once you enter the postcode in the City field, press 'Confirm' and it will actually point you to where the place is...

[cmjklein]

I have a 2012 Grand Picasso purchased when it was 18 months old. It has stop/start technology which has never worked except for a few minutes occasionally. I have asked for it to be fixed at every service, even when it was still under warranty but they have never been able to fix it, so I swore I will never buy another Citroen even though I am happy with it in every other way. I recently noticed via posts though that most other makes seem to also have the same problem. Having read that it could be the battery I purchased a Ctek intelligent battery charger and recharged it for 15 hours when the charger stopped automatically . Stop/start seems to be working consistently now. It is 26 degrees today so I will monitor how it works at other outside temperatures. It has been working with the radio and climate control on. It is a 1.6 ehdi engine with electronic gear box.

[GiveMeABreak]

Have a look at this thread:
https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... rt#p538823
There are lots of possible reasons why the system won't engage. Remember it is just a manual gearbox and clutch, that is operated by electro hydraulic actuators. Poor quality / discharges batteries can often be the casues of a lot of problems, given all the vehicle electronics in use on modern cars, not forgetting that there are systems that stay 'on' all the time, so you will always be using a small amount of juice.

[renagade]

Hi Guy's
I have the c5 x7 with the stop start system on board and I am reliably told that the stop start system has one normal battery and on top of the nearside wing it has an accumulator that fires the alternator to start the engine that is why it is so quick/instant.
The is a topic on the net if you look for it that tell you all about the Citroen stop start system.