Citroen Dispatch 1.9D 2005 engine pulls in low gear with white smoke

[mcarter]

Hi guys.

I have just bought a second hand Citroen Dispatch 1.9D (2005).
The engine appears to be idling at slightly high revs (there's no rev counter but it sounds higher than I would expect). When I'm driving in a low gear occasionally the engine loses power, then surges and I get a puff of white smoke out the exhaust as it clears.

I noticed that the air intake pipe is loose inside and just tucked inside the front grill beside the radiator. I have very little mechanical knowledge so I'm not sure if this is an issue? Should it not be connected to some kind of duct? There doesn't appear to be anywhere to connect the pipe to. And could this be related to the engine surging / high revs?

Also, the engine temperature never seems to get as high as I'm used to with other vehicles I've driven (it almost always hovers just below 70°).
I've only had the van a couple of months and there's not a lot of service history so I'm not sure how long this has been going on for. The van has just been serviced and had the cam belt and water pump changed. I've put some redex through it but it doesn't appear to have made any difference.

Any thoughts welcome!
Cheers!

[Bick]

Are you sure its a 1.9 and not a 2.0hdi?

[Bick]

When was the air and fuel filter last changed - start here - then maybe EGR valve

[mcarter]

Yes it's definitely a 1.9 and not a HDI.
The air and fuel filter were changed 2 weeks ago during the service. As for EGR valve I'm not sure it has one but I'll check.
Thanks for your help.

[Bick]

The high idling could be the cold start sticking - very common for the vacuum pipe to split.

Low temp running just go for a new stat and see what happens.

[mcarter]

Thanks Bick I'll give that a try!