Citroen Relay van black smoke, no power

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pogo001
Posts: 53
Joined: 07 Feb 2016, 11:42
Location: France
My Cars: Citroen C3
Renault Scenic 1.6 petrol 2012
Citroen Relay 2008
Alfa Romeo 147
Morris Minor Sidevalve convertible
VW beetle Karmann Convertible
Citroen 2CV
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Re: Citroen Relay van black smoke, no power

Post by pogo001 »

For some reason, in a monent of clrity, I just remembered it hs had a brand new exhaust system. I know this doesnt rule it out, but more unlikely.
I wouldnt think the timing chain is at fault as the van got proressively worse over 30 or 40 kilometers.

Like I said, its just tipping it down here, frustrating, as thanks to the replies, I have a good list of things to check.
Luckily, my old ducato still soldiers on, best vehicle I ever owned, and I have a few months to sort the problem.
pogo001
Posts: 53
Joined: 07 Feb 2016, 11:42
Location: France
My Cars: Citroen C3
Renault Scenic 1.6 petrol 2012
Citroen Relay 2008
Alfa Romeo 147
Morris Minor Sidevalve convertible
VW beetle Karmann Convertible
Citroen 2CV
x 1

Re: Citroen Relay van black smoke, no power

Post by pogo001 »

Hi.
Here is the update.
I took off the exhaust, thanks to helpful advice on here, and its cured! It runs fine, and revs well. Ive split it down, section by section, and found the cat is absolutely stuffed with 'soot'. Under the advice of a friendly mechanic, who came and cleared all fault codes, I have blasted it out with air, reverse direction, and then jetwashed it.
I can now see daylight clearly, so will remount it tomorrow, as long as its not snowing, which is forecast.

Thanks for so much helpful advice, and hope this will help someone else with the same problem.

I obviously have to see if the problem arises again, and cross that bridge if it happens, as the van has no fault codes.

Paul
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white exec
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Re: Citroen Relay van black smoke, no power

Post by white exec »

Glad you got a result. The same thing happened a few years back to our RAV4 D4D: front (oxidation cat) box ceramic honeycomb almost 90% blocked with soot, despite being run on best diesel and regular fast motorway runs. Engine power strangled. Blockage cleared (and I mean cleared :roll: ) and everything fine.
Chris
pogo001
Posts: 53
Joined: 07 Feb 2016, 11:42
Location: France
My Cars: Citroen C3
Renault Scenic 1.6 petrol 2012
Citroen Relay 2008
Alfa Romeo 147
Morris Minor Sidevalve convertible
VW beetle Karmann Convertible
Citroen 2CV
x 1

Re: Citroen Relay van black smoke, no power

Post by pogo001 »

Further to my Citroen van problems, here is an update.
The van played up after a short period, it lost power, and wouldnt rev cleanly, although it would idle fine. Under accelleration, it soulded like a strangled screeching from the turbo, and there was some white smoke. After diagnostics, with nothing conclusive, I removed the turbo, a relatively easy job suprisingly, and had it checked out. It was ok. I refitted it, and with some advise from the turbo specialists, I took apart every pipe. One of these was a small plastic housing with the air pressure sensor. It was completely gummed up, the sort of grease that has to be scraped out with a screwdriver. The sensor was covered too, so I cleaned it all up, and once assembled, the van seems to be running and pulling well. Time will tell, but hopefully tht is the end of my problems.
The sensor and housing would appear to me to be the sort of area that will always get gummed up in an iolder van, so worth always removing it to clean. Its very easy to remove the sensor by itself, just one screw. Its on the left front of the engine bay, and is connected between the intercooler and egr valve.
Hope this will help someone else with problems.
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