C3 Picasso HDi noise (electrical?)

[Rob81]

Hello. It's been a long time since I posted here - after many A series, BX, Xantia, XM etc I have had a couple of very reliable C3 Picassos for years. Until now...

My wife's 2011 C3 Pic HDi has been great. Tonight, I went to move it to the bottom of the hill before the snow turns to ice and noticed a strange noise. I heard a regular clicking/thumping from the nearside front (around the fuses etc). The noise continued after I switched off and restarted again (for a minute or so) when I unlocked the car (without starting it). I didn't investigate any further because it was -4 and snowing! Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Rob

[RichardW]

It's probably the EGR valve, it runs a cycle of the valve after engine shut down and, I think, at key on.

[Rob81]

Thanks Richard

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes, it's a self-check to gauge if there is any 'sticking', so just runs a couple of cycles to help prevent this.

[Rob81]

Embarrassingly, I've "fixed' this by scraping the compacted snow and ice from the scuttle. The wipers were frozen to the screen and the noise was caused by the motor trying to park them!

[Rob81]

It's always done a few musical "sighs" when switched off. I guess that's the egr valve doing it's thing

[GiveMeABreak]

That's a quick way to knacker the wiper motor. In these conditions, it's wise to 'Park' the wiper arms in the vertical position so you can easily get access to lift them off the screen in the morning with a little de-icer. It makes it easier to remove any ice or compacted snow from the scuttle. Some vehicles need the wipers parking vertically before you can lift the arms up (like the C5 X7) as the wiper arms are recessed under the bonnet and lifting them without doing this will scrape all your paint from the bonnet edge or bend the wiper arms.

[Rob81]

Thanks Mark. Hopefully, I've escaped any harm.

[GiveMeABreak]

Hopefully