Hello all,
I have a January 03 espace the race 2.2dci.
It has an intermittent problem,thus
very rarely it will lose the ability to accelerate as it should.The car is quite sharp away from the lights usually,just when this happens it is like a slug moving away,then gradually it will get up to 30 mph and it is fine above this.
Am I correct in thinking this car has fly by wire link up to the diesel pump?
If so I am thinking the problem could be a loose connection at the diesel pump or the tracks on the potentiometer unit need cleaning,just guessing.
Anyone else had this problem.
Thankyou Gazzah
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Gazzah
No injection pump; this is a common-rail. Forget everything you know about diesels - it doesn't apply anymore, this is totally ECU controlled.
It sounds like it's going into limp-home - does the glowplug [or any other] dash light come on?
Getting the fault-codes read is your first move. Don't be tempted to fiddle.
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Thanks Screwloose
Nothing changes on the dash just the performance drops off.That happened yesterday,today the car is fine. It has only happened twice in the last couple of months,but I fear with what I have read about these disaster on wheels,it might get worse.
I will see about get the fault codes read.
Thanks again gazzah.
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In that case, I'd start wondering about a stuck EGR valve.
Not a fault to leave, as turbo failure, a runaway on the spewing oil and a rod through the side of the block often follow.
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Come to think of it the car has already been plugged in to a diagnostic machine and all it showed up was low diesel pressure,I shall explain......
Mid August this year we used the car to tow our caravan 700 miles down to Brittany,it ran ok just that economy was crap at averaging 21mpg !
On the return journey as we where coming through the midlands (M6) I noticed in the car headlights to the rear of us that we where leaving a mist in our wake,a cloud like a white mist quite a trail,when we got home the front of the caravan was covered in a film of what looked to be oil,also covering the back of the car.
For a couple of weeks after I tried to suss the problem out,changing air filter and diesel filter,no joy it would give out a trail of mist when given hard acceleration from 60mph and above.A friend has a mate with a motor repair garage with diagnostic equipment,I took the car down,when I turned up at the garage the lad told me immediately that the car had a diesel leak,he could smell it.He said if I left the car with him for the day he would find the leak,hoist the car up power wash all the diesel from the underside and plug it in to the diagnostics for £40 sounded to good to refuse,I let him have the car the next day.
It turned out the three mechanics couldn't find the leak,they had tried to look up the rear of the engine but couldn't see much due to a shield blocking their view,the three of them got their heads together and decided the only way to find the leak was to "pull the engine forward" oh my goodness I thought what a pain in the !!! ,So reluctantly the following day I got the nose of the car in my garage to set about pulling the engine forward ugh!
I removed the windscreen wiper mechanism because it was in the way,removed the rubber cover from the top of the engine,disconnecting the plugs to the injectors as I went,once I had room to get my hand through the gap under the bulk head,I got a small mirror and rigged up a headlamp bulb off a battery,looking down through the mirror I could see no1 injector feed from the common rail outlet was wet,I cut short a 17mm spanner and tightened the nut that secures the injector feed pipe to the common rail feed.
I replace the tight rubber cover plugging in all the injector feeds and took the car for a good blast up the nearby M6,I thrashed the car for a good few miles and to my relief I had fixed the leak.
The mist must have been the leaking diesel spraying fuel over the hot exhaust manifold.
crap fuel economy sorted.
The mechanic told me he had put the car on the diagnostics(the previous day) and all it showed was low diesel pressure.
Looks like someone has been working on the injectors and hadn't tightened the feed pipes properly,I have only had this car a couple of months,so its all new to me.
So you think it might be a egr valve stuck,is that the thing at the front of the engine,under the mass of black plastic air ducting?
By the way the intermittent acceleration problem happened before I did the above.
Thanks gazzah
Edited by Webmaster on 01/11/2008 at 21:48
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I cut short a 17mm spanner and tightened the nut that secures the injector feed pipe to the common rail feed.
By the way the intermittent acceleration problem happened before I did the above.
So it's sorted now? It was fiddling like that I was concerned about - a bit of bad luck and you could easily have died; there was no way of knowing which way that leak was going.
Any common-rail pipe is never retightened; once loosened it must be replaced - they're crush seals and the consequences of a leak are, potentially, far too serious to take any risks. You wouldn't have got me within 20 yards of a common-rail diesel leak.
If inexpert attention has been paid to the injectors; all sorts of possibilities enter the frame. The wiring plugs have been known to give connexion problems and the cabling itself is very short life.
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Thanks for your reply Screwloose
From what I can gather the connection I tightened had not loosened it just hadn't been tightened sufficiently in the first place.
Anyway it's running sweet as a nut now so I will see how it goes for the near future.
We will probably sell it sooner rather than later,my wife and kids don't like the ride,it's quite bumpy compared to the many Citroen xms we have had,probably just been spoilt with the Citroen ride all these years.
Thanks again gazzah
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Try the accelerator Pedal, apparently it has an electronic link to the motor. It has two tracks that act as a potentiometer and they can get broken which causes the voltage to cut or surge, hence dead or alive acceleration.
Hope this is of help.
Had the prob 7 months ago. Not Nice!!!!
woodbodger.
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