piston 1 misfiring

[marques]

Hi there

Im new to the forum and im looking for help with my citroen C5 3L V6.

After refueling I started the car and immediately the car started misfiring and gave me a depollution fault which at that point
I thought it was dirty fuel. After draining all the fuel and refueling the car is still misfiring and giving me the depollution fault
and does not have full power. I did a diagnostic check with lexia and after clearing all errors the depollution fault still comes up.
Reading the error on Lexia it says piston one misfiring:Permanent fault.

Can anyone please help with advice.

[Mandrake]

What year C5 is it ?

The ES9J4S engine is a coil over plug system with individual coils per cylinder and is renowned for sudden coil failures. A single cylinder misfire due to bad fuel (especially immediately after refuelling) is extremely unlikely, more likely its just coincidence.

I would be checking for a proper spark from coil number one, and comparing the strength of the spark to an adjacent cylinder. Luckily for you cylinder one is in the front V bank on the LEFT hand side of the car, so you can get to the coil in a few minutes simply by removing the top engine "styling cover". (The one around the oil filler cap)

Another test you could try is to swap coils one and two, (middle front cylinder) clear the fault codes, let the engine run for a minute or so and see if the fault code moves to cylinder two. If it does its definitely a faulty coil, if the fault stays with cylinder one its something else and requires further investigation.

Also be aware that if the coil has completely failed driving the car for any long distance could cause one of the cats to overheat and melt down due to unburnt fuel in the exhaust and they are very expensive to replace. So try to drive the car as gently and as little as possible until the problem is fixed.

[marques]

Hi Mandrake

Thanks for your quick reply, it is a 2009 model new look c5!
looks like you were right. After swopping coil 1 and 2 the fault did appear on cylinder 2.
So tomorrow I'm of to the dealers for a new coil.

Thanks again
Marques
Ps I like this forum!!!

[Mandrake]

Brace yourself for the price! But at least its an easy fix to change over...

[RichardW]

Surprisingly only £36.22 each

[Mandrake]

Is that for an ES9A ? A 2009 C5 is too new to have an ES9J4S I think, although they are still very similar engines.

[bobins]

According to Citroen Service it's part number 597094 and there's genuine ones for under £25 on eBay.

[bobins]

Is that for an ES9A ?

Citroen Service lists it as an ES9A engine.

[Mandrake]

Not bad then! Not like the coil pack for the ES9J4 which is between £140 and £220 for OEM depending on where you buy from.

[marques]

Hi to all.

Yes my car is a 2009 late registered but actually a 2008 and does have a ES9J4S engine. In SA we are behind the rest of the world.

So yesterday I phoned the dealer and got a price on a new coil, the guy said he would order one for me and phone me when it has arrived.
He then phoned me later and I asked my wife to go to the dealer for me, when she got there she phoned me and let me know the part didn't look the same and the dealer said it wouldn't fit. After having a fight with the dealers she brought the part home telling me the dealer doesn't have a clue about any thing(no surprise) It turns out that it is a Delphi coil and not a Sagem as was in the car and because it didn't look the same he told her it wouldn't fit

I put it in and cleared the codes with Lexia. The car now run's beautiful again as C5's do. now I'm wondering if 5 Sagem coils and 1 Delphi coil is going to do any damage? Should I rather change all the coils? They are rather pricey at R 510.00 £ 28.65 at the current Pound to Rand rate.

It's so sad that Citroen dealers in South Afirca are so terrible at service and repairs, there have been a few case's that I know of where the dealer couldn't help people then they end up doing it them self, dealers just don't know how they work. From what I've been reading dealers in the UK aren't any better?

This bring a question how many dealers round the world are reading this forum for answers.

[Mandrake]

There shouldn't be any problem mixing the two brands of coil.

Although I don't have any direct experience of it, from what I've read on other forums the original Sagem coils for that engine are very prone to failing - even replacements ones.

I've read of people replacing several failed Sagem coils in a row over a short period of time with new Sagems only to have the replacement ones fail too after only a year or two. Word from those that have used them is that the Delphi coils are more reliable and don't suffer from the same high failure rate, and are the preferred choice of those who have had multiple coil failures...

I wouldn't bother replacing all the other Sagem coils preventatively due to the cost, but keep in mind that it wouldn't be unusual for one or more of the other Sagem coils to fail in the next few years. For any that do fail replace them with Delphi types...

[DHallworth]

The ES9J4S engine is prone to failing coils. We've had to replace most of then on the 406 Coupe.

On that engine I wouldn't even do any fault finding. If it comes up with an anti pollution fault, stick it on Lexia, find out which cylinder has the miss and change the coil. It's not worth messing around for the cost of a coil

The earlier ones were Sagem coils and they were all that was available from Peugeot at one point. The newer coils are Delphi and are supposed to be better.

At £36 I'd be tempted to keep at least one in the car if you were doing any great distance. At least if it's a front one it's 10 minutes to change and a rear less then an hour. That way you'll never be stranded or having to be recovered home should another one fail.

They've actually gone up, they used to be £29!

David.

[Mandrake]

Thanks for the confirmation David. Did you ever have a replacement coil fail on you, either Sagem or Delphi ?