Lacking torque power going up hills...

[Jeff]

Hi all,

I have a 51 plate C5 2Lt HDI Saloon Diesel on just over 100K miles.

Going up hills sometimes it can stay in 3rd gear and provides sufficient torque to quietly keep chugging away other times on the same hill I need to change down as there's hardly any torque and the speed drops away quickly meaning I have to change down and give it some wellie, there's something wrong as a 2lt diesel should have more power?

Any idea's folks?

[Peter.N.]

Sounds as though you have intermittent turbo operation. I'm new to C5s so you will have to wait for one of the experts.

Peter

[Lighty]

If your car has a problem, you will nit hit upon the cure easily, best idea is to get a regular user of C5's to give it a run, and probably hook it up to Lexia.

[Gibbo2286]

Mine's doing that too, I have found that the turbo actuator diaphragm is punctured so the servo can't work. I'm going to replace it if it ever stops raining. Where it is located means it's a take the turbo off job.

If it's the actuator faulty on yours you'll find that Citroen don't list it as a separate item they only supply the complete turbo so it's a long hunt around the breakers yards or the turbo reconditioners to find the part.

There are other possibilities such as the pipe from the electrovalve to the servo actuator being split or the electorvalve failing but only a close up check will give you the answer.

[myglaren]

The common problem giving rise to this symptom is a failing MAF.
When I swapped my estate for the current hatch, it was also very down on power so swapped MAFs with no improvement.

A week ago, for no apparent reason it improved and is now going almost as well as one can expect and I have done nothing to it at all.

On previous encounters with this problem a new MAF cured it dramatically.

Diagnostics with a Lexia would be to preferred than replacing the MAF, however, as a new one costs around £130 and there is no guarantee that it will cure it.

[Gibbo2286]

I had a new MAF for mine for around £30 through Ebay, a MAF fault usually puts on the engine management light though doesn't it?

[DickieG]

I had a new MAF for mine for around £30 through Ebay, a MAF fault usually puts on the engine management light though doesn't it?

The light doesn't always come on, it depends upon what software version the ECU is running and the nature of the fault.