Renault Espace - 53 1.9dci loss of power when cruising - madhatta78

Hi there I have a slight issue that is steadily getting worse. It started intermittently but is now all the time. When I'm cruising at any speed, I.e foot at constant slight pressure on accelerator peddle, suddenly the engine loses power and seems to drag the car back. No warning lights show up. Even putting foot hard down on accelerator makes no difference. To stop it I have to lift foot from accelerator for couple seconds then put down again. After a second delay I can accelerate back up to speed again. Once cruising again it happens again. Therefore journeys are now a constant speed up slow down routine and it's getting worse.

Any ideas would be appreciative. I have took off the egr and cleaned it and it seems to still operate ok mechanically I.E not sticky but don't have the time or money to go down the route of steadily replacing different items of kit to find out it wasn't that.

Renault Espace - 53 1.9dci loss of power when cruising - RobJP

Fuel filter checked/changed ? Quite often they're not on a standard service list, and the symptoms would fit.

Renault Espace - 53 1.9dci loss of power when cruising - madhatta78

Thanks rob. I haven't checked it but I have got a new filter anyway which I hadn't got round to fitting. Will do it tomorrow and will post up if still occurring. Will also take off the egr and pipes etc and give all another good clean whilst I'm at it. Cheers for info so far.

Renault Espace - 53 1.9dci loss of power when cruising - madhatta78

Update. Changed fuel filter which was black and power got better however power loss problem while cruising still occurred. So unplugged mass air flow meter and power problem disappeared. Replaced mass air flow sensor with new one, plugged it back in however power problem still occurs. Unplugged mass air flow sensor lead again and problem goes. Now I'm scratching my head. Any clues?

Renault Espace - 53 1.9dci loss of power when cruising - dieselnut

When you unplug the MAF the ECU has to make an assumption on the amount of air going into the engine which may mask other problems.

The only way forward is to plug the MAF back in, then get the fault codes cleared from the ECU & re-read after the symptoms return.

Edited by dieselnut on 02/07/2014 at 11:02