Dead Synergie

[CitroenPete]

Hi
First posting this, so let's see what happens.
Had a 1999 Synergie 1.9TD for 9 1/2 years now, taking it from 65k to the present 173k, various issues along the way but nothing major... until now.

Running around town the other day the fuel light came on, pulled into a local station and filled up with £30 of diesel, definitely diesel. Drove home, about a mile, an hour later went out to go to work and nothing. The engine turns over fine it just wont start.

Tried to manually syphon tank without sucess ( believe me it's something you only do once, never again), couldn't seem to get to bottom of tank.

Changed the fuel filter on the right side of engine and topped up with fresh fuel prior to refitting the cap.

Is there a more comprehensive procedure for purging / bleeding the system. Are there vents or a manual lift pump?

The vehicle was running fine, can anyone think of anything else that can fail so quickly.

Come on lads, I'm having to get the blasted bus to work!!!

Here's hoping for a quick fix or it's the knackers yard, the vehicles not worth spending money on.

Pete W

[citronut]

hi and welcome

did you get a receipt from the gas station, as it will state what type of fuel you purchased,

lets hope its not the cam belt failed

were are you located

[CitroenPete]

Hi Malcolm
Based in Stockport. No receipt for fuel but been back to station and I'm 99% sure it was diesel I put in. As for the cambelt, it just seems strange that it's outside the house.

[citronut]

a cam belt is not choosy were it decides to reap havoc,

it can fail as you switch the engine off or on start up/cranking to start up

[CitroenPete]

Any idea of the procedure for bleeding the system after filter change. I think I've found the priming bulb, a black squeezy thing to the left of the engine, but do I need to undo something prior to pumping? Had a look on the past postings page but couldn't find anything.

[CitroenPete]

OK. Just been and had another play. With filter drain open, when I squeeze the priming bulb I get a good flow of fuel. When I turn the engine over with it open I still get a small amount of fuel. I've traced the fuel line off the top of the filter housing to the pump and undone the banjo connection and got fuel there. I re-tightened the banjo as I was pumping fuel, so hopefully no air.
Am I doing it all in the correct sequence or have I missed something completely?

[Xaccers]

Assuming it's a Bosch pump with the "UFO" on top then yes you're doing it right, you actually just need to pump the bulb until it goes hard.
If you turn the ignition to get the glow plug light on and leave it there for about 30 seconds after the light goes out, do you hear the relay click off? If so try it then.
When were the glow plugs replaced?

To start these engines just need to be hot enough (glow plugs in good working order) and have fuel getting to the injectors.
So it could be glow plugs have died or it could be something is stopping the fuel getting to the injectors, which could be stop solenoid, or air ingress from the leak off pipes between the injectors being so bad that they're sucking in more air than fuel (but then I'd expect the ECU light to be on).
Might be worth cracking off one of the injector pipe nuts and turning the engine over to ensure you've got flow through the pump.

[citronut]

these diesels are one of the easiest to prime up after a filter change, just pimp the bulb till its firm and no need to open any bleed valves or banjo unions,

undoing the filter housing drain valve will not help in filling the filter housing up, as the fuel will go back out of this point

[RichardW]

Does it have an immobiliser? Is it still working - does the key symbol go out.
Does it sound 'normal' when you crank it?
Is there grey smoke coming out of the exhaust during cranking?

[Richard_C]

Does the synergie have a stop solenoid? My 140k mile one is away at the moment so can't go and look. My admittedly much earlier BX19TD did and that stopped me dead on a French campsite until a local mechanic turned up. I spent so long fault finding the fuel side I forgot the electric bits.

Essentially the stop solenoid cuts off fuel to the high pressure injector pump when you switch off the ignition, on very old diesels trucks you had to pull a wire which shut off a valve. Only way to stop a diesel, as there is no real ignition system. I think the current holds the solenoid open. In my incident the wire insulation had worn and shorted out where it went through the bulkhead, no current to solenoid, no fuel into injectors. easy fix.

You should find a single wire going to a device on the injector pump, might look a bit like a spark plug top. My French manual calls it an electrovanne de stop. With ignition on there should be a 12v supply to it. If not, maybe run a wire from battery to the connection and see if it starts when you turn it over, in which case it will no longer stop when you turn the key off so you need to disconnect manually. If it is that then it's a matter of tracing the circuit, fuse perhaps, and look for a fault.

Sudden Failure of glow plugs seems unlikely, if you crank long enough it will start without them, dead rough but life. Cam belt a possibility but I would expect nasty noises to accompany cranking. No idea how the ecu and anti theft works, sorry.

[Xaccers]

The immobiliser basically cuts off power to the stop solenoid completely. Being a '99 model the pump is likely to be armoured so you'd have to remove it to get at the solenoid.

[Richard_C]

Useful to know, thanks. I wonder, do you need to get to the solenoid, or just to the wire that leads to it? (There I no certainty that the stop solenoid is the problem, just one of many "might be")

[citronut]

Useful to know, thanks. I wonder, do you need to get to the solenoid, or just to the wire that leads to it? (There I no certainty that the stop solenoid is the problem, just one of many "might be")

definitely to the solenoid as the immobaliser brain is inside the armour on the back of the pump

[CitroenPete]

Would there be any mileage getting the car on an analyzer.

[citronut]

check out our DIS-LEXIA location map Pete

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... 19&t=29178" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

see which member is local'ish to you, them pm. them to ask irf they would shuve there DIS-LEXIA up your diagnostic socket, ooooh la la