Can anyone diagnose this fault?

[Swissbarry]

I have a four year old Citroen C5 which has developed the following problem.  On a lengthy drive - an hour or more - I get a message saying 'ASB Not Functioning', followed immediately by a message saying 'ESP Not Functioning', followed immediately by a message saying 'Antipollution Fault', followed by a significant loss of engine power which lasts usually for the rest of the day.  Then the car recovers and behaves perfectly until the next lengthy drive.

I've had the car in to four different Citroen garages, all of whom are puzzled, and all of whom have had a go at repairing the fault (costing me quite a lot of money) but to no avail.  Now my local garage say they think the car needs a new turbo, at a cost of 1200€.  Trouble is, I might be throwing good money after bad, if the fault turns out to be something else. 

Anyone got any ideas, please?

[Russethouse]

Might be worth asking here: http://citroenpicasso.org.uk/citroen/

[Weedon]

Initially I thought it could be a wheel/brake sensor fault but the "Antipollution Fault" has me puzzled as this could be something to do with the Lambda sensor which is fitted in the Catalytic Converter.  The loss of power could be that the car goes into what is called "limp home mode" because the computer thinks/knows there is a problem.  This is normal with a fault and is not neccesarily an engine power problem.

I would have thought that a good main dealer could "interrogate" the fault history with their box of tricks.

If you are experiencing this trouble in France and have difficulty with the language, try speaking to a friendly garage in the UK on the telephone which may help when you next visit your French garage.

 

Edited......Having  posted and can now see that Russethouse beat me to it, her? link looks a more helpful way to go.

[Bob T]

C5 diesels have a particle filter in the exhaust system that needs to be serviced and replenished every few years. This might be causing the anti pollution problem.

[BJSLIV]

If you look here, http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/C5-L/, you will find lots of advice from fellow C5 victims, sorry, owners.

 

[Dick Smith]

No idea of an answer for you (so no change there) but it's good to see you back!

[Anton Redman]

<< Now my local garage say they think the car needs a new turbo, at a cost of 1200€.  >> This is guess work.

It sounds more likely to me that you have a wiring problem. As the car warms up so one of the plug and sockets on the wiring loom on the car loosens off. This in turn mimics the polution fault and causes the car to turn off the turbo to prevent further damage.

If the car were mine I would try the following. Clean any connects on the wiring loom and cable tie or wedge the plugs back together. See if that cures it.

Get the emmisons checked at a CT station to see if the turbo is damaged. Also if it is under bonnet heat it will happen far quicker if the let the car run on their brake tester / rolling road for 10 minutes.

Try the Daily Telegraph 'Honest Jon'  section

[Tim_Quincaillerie]

I agree I reckon its a Wheel Abs Sensor that has gone iffy. and the anti pollution filter may just be a French car Glitch.

I would disconnect the battery for 30 minutes to see if the ECU can reset itself, and see what error messages come up afterwards.

The ECU should have all faults logged in it  so the garage should of connected to it via the OBD port.

[Swissbarry]

Thanks a lot for those suggestions (and for the kind welcome back).  I'll try to work through them in ascending order of difficulty and expense, and let you know if I have any success.  Incidentally, if anyone misses the swissbarry articles I now have a regular column in French News.

Thanks again.  Seven rapid responses on such a particular subject shows that the forum is still a goldmine of information.

[DavyH]

I have a five year old C5 which has shown numerous problems especially in the early years of ownereship.

I agree with the poster who suggested disconnecting the battery for 30 minutes - It does work 90% of the time - hope you are one of the lucky 90%!

I currently (bad pun!) have intermitent problems with a passenger door not working on central locking, fan blower and a brake warning light - time for another disconnection I think.

[bixy]

Sorry that this is not at all helpful but I had an XM, the predecessor to the C5, and it had numerous electrical faults and spurious warnings. My nerves became extremely frazzled thinking it was going to conk out any minute. It seems that Citroen's electronics have not improved. My advice to anyone thinking of buying a Citroen - DON'T.

Patrick

[Russethouse]

We have had several Citroens ranging from an Ami 8 , way back when, 2 BX saloons a BX estate automatic, a ZX and now a Citroen Picasso.

We have found them to be problem free and therefore rarely look at another make, the exception being the Renault Espace , a great car but very expensive in its later years (and when we bought it Citroen didn't have a people carrier)

 

[Frederick]

Davy H .....I am so glad you posted here .....My C5 Estate at the moment has a offside rear door and the tail gate that unlocks when it feels like it ....and the LED stop lights above the rear window  have not worked for ages . I have also  variious warnings such as the STOP warning light come on and the temperature guage shoot up for about 30 seconds then drop to normal. I also had the audio system play up and could not get it to read a CD.......I went to help jump lead  start another car and accidently touched the cables to the wrong battery terminal ( denoted by the flash ) it must have rebooted the comp 2000 . as ...audio system has  worked perfectly ever since  BUT I DONT RECOMMEND TO ANYBODY YOU TRY IT ...... It confirms the computerised electrics on the C5 are a pain.......I am now off to disconnect the battery for an hour or so ...  fingers crossed it remembers how to switch everything on when I power it back up...... 

[Tim_Quincaillerie]

French car electrics are hopeless and should be treated with caution lol

[Val_2]

Swiss Barry I have a Picasso which is doing the same thing amongst other faults currently including when the motor is running there is an awful strong smell of petrol and it had a new pump exactly one year ago. I also get the ABS and anti-pollution warning come up on the screen for a split second and had trouble with the central locking working one day and not the next. When I can afford it I will go tothe main dealer in town and get a diagnostic done but I expect to end up with a huge bill UNLESS it is the battery going but no one I speak to seems to know anything about these batteries which you sit on and what their life span is. My car is 6 years old and has done less than 90000km from new. As Tim says, Citroën are good for the engines but rubbish on electrics - bring back the Morris Moggie for simplicity.

[Daktari]

Val, re battery lifespan - if you still have the original battery after 6 years it has certainly given you service over & beyond the normal call of duty! With all the electrics in modern cars the average life-span of a car battery from new is probably 3 - 5 years, anything more is a bonus!

[Jc]

My Ford battery is still starting my diesel 7 years after purchase despite only being used every couple of weeks.

[Anton Redman]

Still on first Battery in 306 HDI - 166,000 miles and six years. I remember when two years was good going.

Daft as it sounds it might be worth at least talking to local Peugeot dealer, if they look more switched on. Unsually for a Pug the 307 has a poor reputaion for reliability and most of the problems were electrcical. The two cars share large proportion of eveything except bodywork. I remember when platform sharing was called badge engineering.

[Salty Sam]

Just prior to leaving for France, the heater motor on my Renault Scenic stopped working. A quick visit to a Renault dealer and a cheque for £50.00 diagnosed the problem as "a corroded heater motor which has also caused the resistor to blow".

Estimated parts cost - £250.00. Added to which I requested an estimate for a service and new cam belt, which came to - £500.01.

Upon arrival in France, I booked the car in for the service, cam belt change, and repair as required to the heater motor / resistor. Converted to £ Sterling the bill came to a grand total of £420.00 which also included extra parts, and I even got a 10% discount off the bill.

The "corroded heater motor" and "failed resistor" amounted to a loose connection and fixed at no charge. The work was carried out by a main Renault dealer and I will have no qualms about entrusting future servicing to Renault France as I strongly suspect I have been seriously ripped off by so called main dealers in the UK in the past.

Incidentally, the battery on my car is 5 years old and the garage noted I may wish to consider changing it. I'll see how it performs over the winter as this is usually the time of the year when weaknesses come to light.

[Chancer]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]

Incidentally, the battery on my car is 5 years old and the garage noted I may wish to consider changing it. I'll see how it performs over the winter as this is usually the time of the year when weaknesses come to light.

[/quote]

I would have agreed with you but for the newer generation of batteries, my last three have lasted much longer and given their all before failing quickly and dramatically always on the hottest days of summer.

These were all on different cars but manufacturers original batteries and all failed at between 5 and 7 years.

[Tim_Quincaillerie]

Most lead acid batteries like to be worked.

[KenB]

I just had to replace the original battery in my 6-year-old Peugeot 206. I went to the U.S. for the entire month of October and left the car in the garage during that time. It was not started at all for more that four weeks. When I came back to France I was just barely able to start the car, but I figured driving around for 20 or 30 miles would charge it back up. No luck. It gave up the ghost a few days later, after being parked outside for 2 days and not started. The mechanic who replaced it said it often happens that an old battery that sits unused for an extended period of time will just quit working. Now I have a new battery and all is well.

[Anton Redman]

[quote user="Anton Redman"]

Still on first Battery in 306 HDI - 166,000 miles and six years. I remember when two years was good going.

[/quote]

Nemsis follows Hubris. 182,000 miles 300,000 kilometres and seven years and I finally put the new battery i this morning.

[AnOther]

My 2000 Golf Tdi which I recently chopped in for a left hooker had 215k miles on the clock and was still on it's original battery with absolutely no hint of any problem.

I agree that batteries do like to work and also, even when turned off, immobilisers and all the other electronic bit's and bobs on most modern cars can drain a battery over a surprisingly short space of time and this can sometimes be enough to spell death to what was seemingly a goodjun.

[Sunday Driver]

Anton

Did you have to resurrect this year old thread just to tell us that?

I read through all three pages until I came to your post.....[6]