Berlingo Van 2023 Very Short Service Intervals!

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes, the reset will go back to whatever has been set up in the maintenance schedule for each vehicle Paul.

I think the OP has made a typo with "1800" miles, which led me to think he was on about the Adblue as that's a heck of a drop.

[berlingovan24]

I'm not understanding this - what are you referring to? The Servicing Interval or the Adblue Countdown?

Vehicle servicing is Annual as a minimum and involves more than an oil change. Specific operations are due at each service, i.e. brake fluid must be changed every 2 years - so that would be done on alternate servicing years.

The Adblue countdown is a separate notification and only kicks in when there is approx. 1500 to 1700 mile range remaining.


The vehicle maintenance / servicing counter should countdown gradually and these are pre-set in the BSI for each vehicle's maintenance schedule.

It's the service interval countdown. It's set at 25k miles after service and then displays when you click the service button - tyre pressure monitor, then service interval, then the Adblue countdown if it's anything less than 1700 miles. That is, the Adblue counter always says top up after 1700 miles no matter how full it is until it drops below that. At which point it will show 1650 miles, 1600 miles etc and usually take 10 litres or so to fill up again.

My miles remaining until service displayed was "20500 miles (or so) or 21 months whichever sooner" a few days ago, then in one day went to "1800 miles or 21 months whichever is sooner". It's a hell of a drop as you rightly say but that's exactly what has happened.

The dealers are saying it's become a common issue that the vehicle is calling for a service extremely early due to oil degradation.
All they would do is change the oil and filter and reset the service interval, at which point it's likely to happen again in 5/6k miles time.
If it's left too late, it goes into limp mode which was what happened last time.
At that point, the dealer charges me for diagnostics to tell me something I already know on top of another servicing charge.

They originally blamed it on my driving and are now saying it's a common issue so they seem to be advising they will disable the notification due to oil degradation.
The issue is - is the oil actually degraded or does the ECU just think it is and is sensing incorrectly.
Either way it's a nightmare for me at the moment.

[GiveMeABreak]

Hi, ok, thanks for that clarification, I understand now that we're talking directly about the engine oil and the service counter.

This can be a problem as some of these 1.5 DV5 engines have an adaptive maintenance programme and you vehicle may need an engine ECU update if it is not already up to date.

This is for a C3 Aircross with this engine, but will likely be relevant to your vehicle too.

The service department should check their bulletins under the Lubrication section for the technical document tat deals with this issue. They will need to check the version of the engine management software and update it if it is not already been done, as this cures the adaptive maintenance bug.

The service operations include:

• Engine management ECU downloading.
• Check of the engine oil rate of dilution.
• Engine oil change (if necessary).
• Resetting of the maintenance counter to zero.

However, a more or less rapid increase in the engine oil carbon level and rate of dilution is often linked to vehicle use.

Checks:

Check 1
Note the dilution level in the engine management ECU "engine lubrication" parameters using Diagbox.

• If the result is greater than 3,5: Carry out repair 1
• If the result is less than or equal to 3,5: Carry out check 2

Check 2
Check the time elapsed since the last oil change (or the warranty start date if no oil change):

• If the time is more than 6 months: Carry out repair 1
• If the time is less than 6 months: Carry out check 3

Check 3
Check the mileage travelled since the last oil change:

• If the vehicle’s mileage is more than 6000 km: Carry out repair 1
• If the vehicle’s mileage is less than 6000 km: Carry out repair 2

Repairs

Repair 1

• Drain the engine oil observing the manufacturer’s standards.
• Reset the maintenance counter to zero ; Using the diagnostic tool ("Service" menu ).

Repair 2
N.B. : Do not carry out an oil change

• Reset the maintenance counter to zero using the diagnostic tool ("Service" menu ).

[berlingovan24]

Update - serviced again (Oil and filter and pollen filter) at 20732 miles.
Two days and less than 100 miles later, EML came back on again then randomly went off, then back on again, every few days.
Returned to dealer, checked and suspected DPF failure.
Replaced under warranty and tests run in consultation with Citroen technical over last 2 days to work out why it failed at 21745 miles.
They say manufacturing fault of original DPF is to blame.

Returning in 2 weeks for more warranty work - this time it's a CV gaiter leak and aircon compressor cutting out intermittently.

In the mean time they say front pads need replacing ASAP as only 3mm left but also needs new discs at the same time because they're lipped.
It's just over £600 from them which seems high. I don't think I have to get discs and pads from the dealer to maintain warranty cover do I?

[PaulC5]

You must brake like my daughter in her Cactus, she only gets about 25k miles from brake pads and discs - I have replaced them twice now on her car. The discs have needed replacing as they were down to their wear limit thickness. I seem to get at least twice that distance in our cars. Ignoring the warranty, I prefer to fit parts from Citroen since I have found pattern brake parts are not as good. The last set of pads from Citroen for the Cactus were made in China which upset me a bit but they work ok.

When I serviced it a few months ago I found a CV boot large clips had snapped so replaced it with a large jubilee clip from Halfords after trying a universal clip but could not get it tight enough with a proper tool. It is due the MOT in a few weeks so will see if they pass it, if not they can fit a proper clip.

[GiveMeABreak]

In the mean time they say front pads need replacing ASAP as only 3mm left but also needs new discs at the same time because they're lipped.
It's just over £600 from them which seems high. I don't think I have to get discs and pads from the dealer to maintain warranty cover do I?

No, you don't. Get those done at a cheaper garage, you'll save a fortune.

[Berlinguist]

Very interested in this thread. I drive a 2023 Berlingo 1000 En-Prise ED BHDI and have the exact same problem. Engine management light came on 10 months and 10,000 miles after last service. RAC plugged it in and said oil had degraded. He knew what it was before he arrived. Seen it before. I had the oil changed and the dealer recommended an oil change after a further 6,000 miles which I did today. Old oil very dark again. Just wondering what I should do to make the oil last longer.

[Hell Razor5543]

Very interested in this thread. I drive a 2023 Berlingo 1000 En-Prise ED BHDI and have the exact same problem. Engine management light came on 10 months and 10,000 miles after last service. RAC plugged it in and said oil had degraded. He knew what it was before he arrived. Seen it before. I had the oil changed and the dealer recommended an oil change after a further 6,000 miles which I did today. Old oil very dark again. Just wondering what I should do to make the oil last longer.

It is possible that the specification of oil used does not meet the manufacturer requirements. Many years ago I had a company car, and I found that it had variable service mileage, but this required the use of a very specific oil. I got oil that met these requirements, and was consistently getting a good mileage between services. A colleague got the same car, didn't read about those requirements, and so use generic oil (it did meet the viscosity spec, but not the other requirements), and was then getting service mileages of under 10,000 miles. When I met this colleague (at a company get together) he asked what I thought of the car, as he was disappointed with this low service mileage. I checked the manual for his car (and the 'spec' plate), found it was set up for variable service mileage, and then found he was using the generic oil. I showed him the section of the owners manual where it detailed the oil spec requirements. Several months later I got a call from him, telling me that (as he was no using the correct oil when it needed an occasional top-up) he was getting far better service mileages.

Is it possible that the oil you are using does not meet the specifications required by the manufacturer for your van?

[berlingovan24]

Very interested in this thread. I drive a 2023 Berlingo 1000 En-Prise ED BHDI and have the exact same problem. Engine management light came on 10 months and 10,000 miles after last service. RAC plugged it in and said oil had degraded. He knew what it was before he arrived. Seen it before. I had the oil changed and the dealer recommended an oil change after a further 6,000 miles which I did today. Old oil very dark again. Just wondering what I should do to make the oil last longer.

I have always used Stellantis approved spec oil and it makes no difference to the length of time it lasts.
Mobil 1 ESP Formula P 5w­30 and the last time was Castrol Magnatec 5w30P
PSA Approval B71 2290 PSA Approval B71 2297 STELLANTIS FPW9.55535/03

Unless you can ensure that the DPF has completed successful regens, the oil dilutes. At 12% it's limp mode time and needs oil and filter change and reset.
You will need diagnostic device to tell you what the estimated dilution rate is, and when it last regenerated, the exhaust temperature and whether a regen has been called for etc.
That's every 5,500 miles or so for me.

A quick google will bring up a number of people who have exactly the same problem, especially if doing shorter journeys or 3 hours of start/stop as I do.
Fortunately my lease is up in March and I will never have to deal with it or Citroen again - swapping for an electric vehicle to avoid the DPF problems.