Depollution Fault - lost power on motorway !

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hdi_man
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Depollution Fault - lost power on motorway !

Post by hdi_man »

just had my 58 plate C5 exclusive cut out on the outside lane of the motorway at 75mpg....I had to coast into the hard shoulder.

a warning on the dash about "depollution fault" flashed up and the engine cut out !! I restarted the engine and the fault disappeared, the car started and I drove off again....very odd.

car is booked into the dealers tmrw to get it checked out...dealer said that if it was fuel contamination that it was not covered under warranty...no way its fuel contamination though !!

a 1.5 year old car should not be cutting out like this, its dangerous !
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Re: Depollution Fault - lost power on motorway !

Post by myglaren »

hdi_man wrote:just had my 58 plate C5 exclusive cut out on the outside lane of the motorway at 75mpg....I had to coast into the hard shoulder.

a warning on the dash about "depollution fault" flashed up and the engine cut out !! I restarted the engine and the fault disappeared, the car started and I drove off again....very odd.

car is booked into the dealers tmrw to get it checked out...dealer said that if it was fuel contamination that it was not covered under warranty...no way its fuel contamination though !!

a 1.5 year old car should not be cutting out like this, its dangerous !
It is indeed but it isn't uncommon either - not limited to PSA cars either.
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Re: Depollution Fault - lost power on motorway !

Post by cachaciero »

hdi_man wrote:just had my 58 plate C5 exclusive cut out on the outside lane of the motorway at 75mpg....I had to coast into the hard shoulder.

a warning on the dash about "depollution fault" flashed up and the engine cut out !! I restarted the engine and the fault disappeared, the car started and I drove off again....very odd.

car is booked into the dealers tmrw to get it checked out...dealer said that if it was fuel contamination that it was not covered under warranty...no way its fuel contamination though !!

a 1.5 year old car should not be cutting out like this, its dangerous !
Interesting..... Let me guess it's a 2.0 Ltr and when the man gets his Lexia on it it will say Temporary fault: Turbo pressure electro valve short circuit to earth, pressure to high. or something like that....

If it does then based upon something else I have read I would suspect that Citroen have a major problem with a batch (batches of ECU,s).

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Post by Old-Guy »

I don't wish to be unsympathetic, but this is a classic example of why, after 40+ years in computing and electronics, I deliberately run a car with no engine ECU.

The basic problem with electronics in mass production vehicles is that designers get carried away with what CAN be done, while the production engineers are stuck in a 1950s mind-set. Penny-pinching on component materials that corrode at the first sprinkle of salt on the roads. Unplated, unsealed, copper cables with brass terminals onto sensors with plated tags. Then consider the typical earth path (shared with a starter that momentarily takes 5-600 amps): the sensor has a brass body threaded (with sealant) into an aluminium casting that's fastened with (unplated steel bolts to a cast-iron block, to which an earth strap is attached by (if you're lucky) a thinly zinc-plated bolt to a bare 'earthing point' on a painted steel chassis. Then you get the occasional flash of design genius; if we stamp all the connections in the rear light clusters out of plated mild steel, it's so much cheaper than brass and when all the connections rust every winter we will make a fortune out of replacements! It's a wonder it works when new, let alone after a few years in all weathers.

Just maybe the Koreans with their 7-year warranties may yet force other manufacturers to start designing reliability into automotive electronics instead of seeing them as yet another way to milk the customer.
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Post by cachaciero »

Old-Guy wrote:I don't wish to be unsympathetic, but this is a classic example of why, after 40+ years in computing and electronics, I deliberately run a car with no engine ECU.
--snip---
Just maybe the Koreans with their 7-year warranties may yet force other manufacturers to start designing reliability into automotive electronics instead of seeing them as yet another way to milk the customer.
Old-Guy (you and me both!)

While some may think your assessment a bit OTT I agree with you.
It is for this reason that I am, after many years a Citroen addict seriously looking at Toyota's, Hyundai and a few other far Eastern manufacturers who design with 7 year life cycles. Much as I like the C5 as a car the problems I have had and others I see coming down the track in short order has only confirmed my growing opinion that eight year old Cits are nowhere near the excellent value they used to be.

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Post by hdi_man »

well car is in dealers today...they don't fill me with confidence...

dealer "is the warning light still on"

me " no it went off when I restarted the engine after the power cut out"

dealer "well no light then there is nothing we can do" !!! - is this right ??

me " well I want you to look at it as obviously something is wrong "

we will see what happens....
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Post by RichardW »

If the EML came on, it should have recorded a temporary fault which the Lexia should be able to read. Whether the techs can make any sense of it, and will change out any components based on the ECU's say so is another matter!
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Post by cachaciero »

As Richard says there should be an error code recorded, get them to put the Lexia on it and give you a print out of what it says then you can come back here and quote it verbatim.. not that I am saying that anybody will be able to help but.... you never know.

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Post by hdi_man »

well they just called, apparently it was a "faulty fuse box" that was causing the issue. sounds odd to me but time will tell I guess !
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Post by wheeler »

Could well be the fusebox, the under bonnet fusebox is actually an ECU & it also (internally) contains the injection system relay.
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Post by cachaciero »

Go have a read of this thread
http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums/f1 ... x7-151051/
seems very similar.

cachaciero
2006 Toyota Prius T Spirit
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1995 XM 2.1 TD Auto SX died @ 140K
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1981 CX 2.4 Pallas Auto
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