citroen xsara 2.o hdi (110hp) fault

[richie]

hi to all and would like to say hello as this is my first post on here and would really like some help.
i bought the above car second hand around 4 weeks ago and there were no apparent faults that i could see other than the auto transmission was a bit erratic and would hold at certain revs and down shift whilst holding the throttle steady which at the time was not to bad and though it would be sorted when i could get the car serviced and the fluids changed. after a bout a week the fault got worse and very annoying. to add to that the car lost 90% of its power like the turbo wasn't working and i noticed the temp gauge was intermittent (mostly zero) so i put it to the garage for a once over and this is what they found. they told me that the brake switch had gone and that was causing all the issues. the brake switch was replaced three days later and was told to come and collect it but warned it still didnt feel right. i picked it up £90 lighter and straight away realised the car was exactly the same! its friday afternoon so i will call them back on monday to let them know. i do have the read out from the code reader which states the following

CHECK FOR POOR PERFORMANCE AND GEARBOX FAULT
DECODE ECU AND CHECK FOLLOWING FAULT CODES
P0115 TEMPORARY FAULT / COOLANT TEMP SIGNAL RISES TO SLOW
P0571 TEMPORARY FAULT / BRAKE SWITCH SIGNAL COHERENCE OF THE SWITCHES REMOTE FAULT WITH BRAKE SWITCH SIGNAL COMMUNICATION FAULT
P0100 TEMPORARY FAULT / FLOW METER SIGNAL SHORT CIRCUIT TO EARTH OR OPEN CIRCUIT- FLOW TO HIGH
P1112 TEMPORARY FAULT / FUEL HIGH PRESSURE MONITORING PRESSURE BELOW MINIMUM EXPECTED PRESSURE

CLEAR FAULT CODES FROM ECU AND ROAD TEST
P0571 FAULT RETURNS

why has the code returned for the part that was replaced? they suggest maybe MAF next but im not throwing money at a guesstimate which i have been stung with with other cars! i can do that myself and sage £60 an hour labour charges! plus i think MAF sensor would cause the car to stall maybe and doesnt explain temp sensor fault. the gear box does seam some what improved but still have no kick down or boost. please help!!!!!!!!

[myglaren]

While I can't comment on all the problems the MAF would not cause the car to stall but can be responsible for poor performance and doesn't always throw up a fault code.
You might try cleaning the platinum wires with carb cleaner, a good dousing repeated several times. Under no circumstances should you actually touch the wires or drop the MAF while disconnected.

Any improvement may only be temporary but will clue you in to where the fault lies.

Have a look at the Lexia Locations sticky in the Supersticky forum. If you have one of our members with the Lexia diagnostic machine near you they may be willing to run a diagnostic for you and will not expect anything close to the cost that you would normally expect to pay.

[CitroJim]

Hi Ritchie and welcome to the forum

First thing is the brake switch will always show a fault on an automatic unless the brake pedal is operated during the diagnosis. From the fact you see 'P' codes, the garage used a generic code reader rather than a proper Citroen Lexia tool. The Lexia tells you to operate the brake pedal to avoid this error.

The rest of the faults.. HDi engines run very cool anyway and take ages to warm if idling. It may be a duff thermostat though.

The MAF can give all the faults you describe and will not necessarily show up on diagnostics. The only sure way to diagnose, save swapping it for a known good one, is to look at Lexia live data and see the MAF value rise in a linear fashion as the throttle is opened. It starts off at around 500 units on idle and goes up to around 900 at full throttle.. A duff one will give a more or less static reading. A duff MAF can make the car feel as flat as a pancake.

Fuel pressure I can't comment on but normally hard fuel pressure faults will stop the engine or prevent it from starting so I'd not be overly concerned.

The MAF is a good bet but firstly check everywhere for boost leaks. They're normally given away by oily patches on the hoses or intercooler and windy noises heard when driving along with the throttle is well open

Also, and I hate to say this, the garage don't appear to be too wise on these cars from what you say. A different garage who know Citroens may be better or do as Steve suggests and get a Lexia-owning member to conduct a diagnosis for you...

If the engine is not making the right power the gearbox is unlikely to kick down. Electronic gearboxes like the AL4 you have is clever and knows a little about the current engine performance.

Hope that helps a little...

[richie]

hi and thanks to all for your quick posts i live in jersey so the garages over here even the better ones do not seam that good on the diagnostics side of car repair like some in the mainland so i,m never surprised when they come back with the usual "try it and see what you think" this is however the citroen specialist and does have quite a good reputation. i will take the maf off this weekend and give it a clean and see if it makes any difference. they have suggested the maf but at £130 im reluctant to throw that money at it on a whim after just handing out £90 for the test and switch. i will if possible have a look at the boost pipes if i can find them? they must be hidden behind the engine somewhere. any help putting me in the right direction would be great but i would start to have doubts about the garage if they had not had this on their to do list with loss of power, thanks again i will report back later. great site by the way!!

[richie]

hi again to all. i have took the maf off and cleaned it with carb spray but no difference? i suppose all this proves is the maf wasnt caked up and not that its actually failing (if it is) so do i bite the bullet and order a new one at £130 or try one of those at £30 off flea bay. one thing i would like to know is that if there was four codes stored in the ecu, how come there has never been a light on in the dash? (engine fault light)

[myglaren]

The cheap MAFs have been shown to be a poor investment, they underperform or fail in a short time.
Not all faults will throw up an EML.
One stupid one that does, temprarily, is low washer fluid along with the service indicator.

[richie]

ok thanks for that. one major thing happend today whilst my wife was driving the car was that the dash lights all started flashing at her with the word "stop" flashing at her and what she noticed was that the temp gauge in the dash which has been not working since the fault suddenly just prior to the stop sign flashing had the red light above it light up but the car wasnt over heating at all. could the temp gauge not working be a tell tale sign of an electrical fault in that circuit or a faulty switch?

[myglaren]

That would need further investigation but could be due to a faulty sensor or intermittent electrical connection.
If the car was being driven you can't altogether rule out overheating, there could have been air in the system causing a hot spot.
Unlikely but it happens.

Mine sometimes throws up the same thing on startup after standing overnight, so the engine is genuinely cold. Reverts to normal after a couple of minutes.

[richie]

ok back in the garage today for round two! will keep posted cheers rich

[c.morewood]

If I remember correctly, flashing STOP plus the water temp red light means that: if you have the aircion or screen demist selected, one or both of the radiator fans aren't working. they could just be stuck and need a spin (ignition off or you loose fingers) or it could be the are old problem with verdegris on the contacts of the relays (the center one in my case(Xantia)) located in between the fans. You could test this by switching off the aircon and moving the air selector to another setting.
If thats the case its nothing to worry about as the Hdi runs very cool anyway< I've only managed to get my fans on when stuck in London traffic on a very hot day!! and can be fixed when you have some time.
Hope that helps

[richie]

thank you although the temp gauge is mostly not working anyway but every now and then jumps up to normal operation temp then drops again. i will check the fans out though when i get it back. they are going to do a full scan so we will see? to me looks like a def electrical problem more than likely a short some where. cheers anyway and will post back results when i get it back.

[richie]

hi all turns out the egr was faulty so they blanked it off! seems to have sorted it out now but the wife thinks she can here a squeaky noise every second or two from inside the car now when everything else is turned off.

[c.morewood]

I dunno if its the same squeak as I had, but ask her to breath in and out (Seriously) and see if the squeak matches her breathing. I had the most annoying squeak in the drivers seatback every thime I took a breath, but only noticed it when I had everything switched off whilst sitting in the car. I never found a cure as it didn't happen with anyone else and if I moved to try to pinpoint it, it dissapeared!!