Getting a Berlingo - red flags?

[futureberlingo]

Hi folks,

After 20 years we're moving away from our beloved C8 and thinking about getting a second hand Berlingo from an official dealership in Germany.

It's a 2015 "Citroen Berlingo Multispace BlueHDi 100" with 170k kms. Belt and water pump recently replaced. Fresh TÜV upon purchase included in the price as well as one year of warranty. The price: 6500€.

Looks pretty solid and well maintained overall, but during a test drive the engine light turned on, and seconds later the urea warning. The dealer says they will just fill in the ad blue deposit, and clear the code. That it's a normal engine warning that happened because the AdBlue deposit was almost empty. We never had a car with ad blue before: does this sound right to you? We heard the SCR system is something that will fail sooner or later, and we fear, this one is about to break.

And the second issue, a very subtle tremor in the driving wheel, not continuous, but especially noticeable when turning at low speeds. The dealer says the car was parked for long without usage, included during recent heat waves and that there's a dry joint/cylinder near the steering column that needs greasing. They would take care of the fix before handing the car over. Is this a known issue? Our C8 never had many issues, but never something related to the steering so we are a bit lost here.

We're quite hyped to get it asap as "otherwise" everything is in a pretty good condition, and the dealer is a known and trustworthy one around here. But a second opinion on those issues would be extremely welcome!

[Paul-R]

What exactly did the Urea warning say?

[futureberlingo]

What exactly did the Urea warning say?

Hi Paul, thanks. The exact message in German was something like this:

"Warnung Motorfehler: Motor bitte reparieren lassen"

Which translates to,

"Engine fault warning: Please have the engine repaired."

The exact sequence of events was:
1. Engine light turned on
2. The above message
3. The message went away (but engine light remained on)
4. The urea light turned on

[PaulC5]

It is possibly much more than just needing the adblue to be topped up. It needs a diagnostic to check the fault codes and can be expensive to fix. Our Cactus with the 1.6 blue hdi engine recently had a similar message and had fault codes P2201 and P16EA and the tail pipe was white inside. It needed a new NOx sensor, exhaust section where it fits, new injector - total cost was about £1600 at the dealer. Others have needed new urea tanks to fix faults costing over £1000. On our 308 it once came up with a message to say the adblue needed filling but the engine light did not come on.

Once a urea fault is classed as permanent after some miles it will prevent the engine starting.

[Paul-R]

If it had been simply been a matter of the urea level going low then the message would have told you that. There is something else going on here.

[PaulC5]

You need to be aware they might simply delete the fault code and warning message so you buy it thinking it has been fixed. Then after a few miles and everything has warmed up so the urea system begins working, it will come back. When I deleted the Cactus codes they and the warning message went for a while until the car was used for a long run to get it to the dealer. If you do buy it, first check the warranty will cover urea faults as if classed as normal wear and tear it might not, same applies to the steering problem.

You should also check the dpf fluid has been topped up and whether the dpf has been replaced as they may be due at that number of km.

Parking up a car for a while and then it causing steering problems sounds as if they are making it up, same as the urea fault just needing topping up. If you can check if the dealer has a good reputation.

[futureberlingo]

Thank you all for your answers. The dealer is a reputable one, good reviews and got recommended to us. We do not see how they would risk it for a 6k Berlingo.

We got back to them and told them to provide us with the code and a draft of the warranty: we would only keep the car if they sign a warranty where the AdBlue system is covered for the entire year. Even if they would erase the code and topup everything that should be enough time for the same issue to appear - right?

Let's see how this moves forward and if we can start sharing some Berlingo experiences before summer ends.

Have a great weekend.

[shtu]

The Citroen adblue tanks are a common fault, and an expensive one. Bad enough that they have a replacement programme, https://www.stellantis.com/en/contacts/ ... n-platform

I would not treat that as a safety net as it will have 101 get-out clauses, more a warning that this is a very common fault. It will probably not be "just needs a refill mate". Best case the injector needs unblocked or replaced, worst case is new tank and potentially other parts.

Someone also mentioned the EOLYS system (sometimes called PAT or various other terms). Look for a bill for that having been refilled somewhere around the 100-120,000 mile mark. Not expensive or big deal to refill and reset that system though. A kit like this is used, plus a scan tool, https://www.neobrothers.co.uk/car-parts ... fluid-tank

Modern steering joints are not serviceable, so a squirt of aerosol white grease won't fix anything.