C4 Grand Picasso 2014 Engine/Battery light issue

[James409k]

Hello all, I'm new to this forum and to owning a Citroen. The problem relates to my Citroen C4 Grand Picasso 2014 1.6HDI Auto(flappy paddle tiptronic).

I bought the car on 21 Dec 2020 and everything has been running perfectly (getting used to the slow auto gear changes after racing about in previous sporty cars!). My citroen berlingo works van had a flat battery after the holidays so I tried jump starting it with my car (never doing it again) while it was running, which didn't work as I eventually found out thanks to the RAC that a fuse had blown.

Anyway, I drove my Grand Picasso to my job 5 mins down the road after being unsuccessful and was there for 8 hours. I hopped back in the car and it wouldn't start. The dash, head lights and indicators kept flashing on and off and came up with a message saying "Engine Fault - arrange repair" along with an engine & battery light on the dash. It eventually started and ever since has always started, but comes up with the same engine message. Later that day when the RAC came for the van I cheekily asked him to plug his diagnostics into my citroen and search the fault codes. I have pictures of them all and got them cleared afterwards so I know which faults are new, but there were multiple "intermittent" faults relating to "storage battery or voltage retaining device" values invalid or parameters not met and "Stop and start. Electrical network voltage too high". There was also a permanent fault which said the additive injected into DPF exceed maximum threshold and the PDF must be changed, but that's a separate issue I believe.

Today I took the family down to the park 5 mins away, we came back to the car and it wouldn't start with the same characteristics as before and eventually started.

I'm just looking for any advice incase anyone knows what this could be before I take it to a garage. If it just needs a new battery or something simple then I can sort it out myself.

Many thanks in advance!

James

[admiral51]

Hi James
Can you post the pics of the fault codes that you had and also your Vin number ( will be masked ) just so that those much better informed than myself will be able to give a better response.

Oh and welcome to the Forum

Colin

[James409k]

Here are the fault codes which came up. Don't know how old they are or if they were ever sorted.

[James409k]

VIN number is VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]

Thanks for your help!

It also came with a parking sensor fault, are there any common issues with these in the C4 Grand Picasso?

[GiveMeABreak]

My first thoughts without further investigation are that you’ve possibly damaged or affected the electrical system after attempting that donor start. You know never to have the engine running before making connection after that I guess.

You obviously have the Stop Start system and these have a voltage retaining device and special alternators with or without a starter motor depending on system.

Suffice it to say the electrical systems do need special care and attention especially if they have a capacitor system.

I’ll try and see if I have anything on these codes as soon as I can.

[GiveMeABreak]

Ok, so I've had a quick check and unfortunately I don't have all the details on this specific engine ECU, but P1AA2 does imply a fault with the Central Voltage Maintaining Device.

When charging the batteries on these vehicles with the Stop & Start and these devices, the battery needs to be charged SLOWLY to avoid a charging fault message on starting the engine. Testing will involve checking that the ECU software for this device has been updated to the latest version and if it has, a check of the gearbox, body and engine earths. Then the Central Voltage Maintaining Device bolts need to be checked for tightness and finally if this does not sort out the warning, the recommendation form Citroen is to replace the Central Voltage Maintaining Device.

So I suspect that there may of been some damage caused when connecting to the other vehicle whilst the engine was running.

[xantia_v6]

The voltage retaining device is (I beleive) a large capacitor to boost the available current available for starting, so it could well have been overloaded when presented with a flat battery to boost. I don't know if there are any fuses or maxi-fuses associated with this, but it would not hurt to check them all.

[James409k]

Thanks for all the replies, I've spoken to my local citroen specialist and arranged for diagnostics on Wednesday. He said similar as it sounds like there's a problem with the voltage retaining system.

I'll let you know the outcome afterwards, but advice from him was never jump start another car if your car has a start stop button!

[c4 grand picasso]

Hi James, any news about the fault of your citroen has is been fixed?
thank you