Bloody car, again

Marcel

Marcel

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Marcel
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So I ended up getting the earlier problem fixed. Head gasket replaced...again...I told him he's having 400 quid to do it.
He did it, replaced the water pump at the same time, and also told me there was an exhaust gasket at the manifold side that needed replacing. I can't remember what it was, I think it was something to do with the EGR IIRC, as he said I may end up with exhaust fumes in the cab. Anyway, did that too, 450 quid lighter.

Water level has dropped slightly a couple of times, but I've just bled the system and topped up a couple of hundred ml. Been fine since.

Until the other day, cold start, 4:00am ...driving down the road. Occasional misfire on possibly just one piston, which I felt and heard too. Thought nothing more of it.
Later that day, fine.
That night, my wife goes out, she had to drive somewhere where the roads were cobble-like and uneven too, so I thought she may have banged the underside (she thinks not).
Anyway, she comes home, engine check light on, "Anti Pollution Fault" warning on dash, driving like a bag of spanners (not in limp mode).
I drive to work next morning, does the occasional misfire (and performance crash each time) on the way, judders a bit.
Lou takes the car home, rings me later to say it was kangarooing all the way....then was fine again.

I get home, plugged Peugeot Planet into it, read and clear the fault codes. A couple (unrelated that have always been there) come back, along with a new one

"Diesel pressure signal, short circuit to earth".
And now it's running like a bag of spanners all the time, grrr....
At first I thought it was a heck of a coincidence that the day I took the NSF wheel off and put a new wheel arch lining on (it flew off on the motorway a couple of weeks ago), this happens.
Then I thought "Maybe if it's because we've driven it on too low fuel too many times and the crap from the bottom of the tank has been dredged up".

It shouldn't be the DPF though. Before I got the car a couple of years ago, it was removed, drilled out, replaced and the engine remapped.
 
Don't shoot me down here but could it be dirty fuel? I had these symptoms in a Peugeot several years ago. Lights coming on, misfiring then clearing etc. RAC called out, sampled the fuel and found a high percentage of water mixed in with it.
 
It could be. Something I thought about earlier. I wonder if we've ran it too low and it's dredged some crap up from the bottom of the tank too....
Oh hang on I just said that :p

Just dropped it off at the Engine Centre and they're gonna take a proper look tomorrow. First thoughts upon seeing / hearing it was 'fluffed injector'. Who knows. We'll see what tomorrow brings....
 
Your car won't have a diesel particulate filter, even through the stupid french to english translations for the warning lights like to suggest so. The car was only fitted with a oxidising catalyst and it's that which was removed I suspect.

The anti pollution description comes from the European onboard diagnostic (EOBD) requirements to inform the driver of a defect in the engine management system that could allow an increase in emissions. Hence the tie up with pollution.

Diesel Pressure Signal relates to a fault in the fuel pressure monitoring circuit and you're feeling the effects of the engine being fed the incorrect data. When the fault is occurring it's sending incorrect information of fuel pressure in the high pressure side but as the PCM (power train control module) doesn't really know that the data is false at this point its commanding the inlet metering valve on the fuel pump or the injectors to open for longer or shorter than really required and giving you the kangaroo feel. Then when the monitoring side of the system detects that all isn't quite as it should be in combustion land (usually through monitoring flywheel acceleration on the combustion stroke) it puts the light on.

While a worn or sticking injector could leak back excessive amounts of fuel into the return taking valuable pressure, or simply not atomise the fuel droplets to allow complete combustion / power generation i'd not expect a fault code for the rail pressure sensor being shorted to earth. that suggests a wiring harness concern to me.

Can you datalog on your diagnostic software? When the rail sensor fails it generally defaults the pressure to 2000bar
 
I had a similar problem with my Pug convertible, running like a bag of spanners, engine management light coming on and off etc, turned out to be a loose injector, i pushed it back in so it was seated and locked in properly, and it's been fine since.
 
Im suspecting that was a petrol variant Swissy ? Or are you referring to the electrical connection on the injector?
 
Well just had a call. First thoughts are that it's the head gasket again. Thus time from underneath. He thinks combustion gases are leaking from one into another, hence the diesel knock noise and performance etc. looks like it's engine out, apart and stripped all the way down to skim the block. Won't see my car until next week now :(.
Upside is, it's no charge.
As the coolant is still staying pressurised even when cold is suggesting gases are still leaking into the coolant, which ties in with the hg again. It's probably buggered now.
 
Why didn't they check the deck of the block for trueness when they had the head off?
 
Probably they thought the customer would balk at the cost of fixing the block if it needed skimming.
It might be better to consider a complete engine swap - from one that's been crashed or something - this often works out cheaper.
When a head gasket has gone there are various things can happen due to the unusual pressures and stress,
It's not unusual for this to predispose it to happening again and again.
 
This one is clearly a dog of a vehicle or the person that did the gasket didn't do a proper job. Either way I'd get rid of the thing and get something else.

MOT is going to check removed emission control systems so you'd have to put it back in to pass in future anyway.
 
srichards said:
This one is clearly a dog of a vehicle or the person that did the gasket didn't do a proper job. Either way I'd get rid of the thing and get something else.

MOT is going to check removed emission control systems so you'd have to put it back in to pass in future anyway.
Click to expand...
The emission control test on a diesel vehicle is just visual. If the insides have been cleared out, the mot tester will be no wiser and the car shouldn't have any trouble passing the emission test anyway.
 
it strikes me that they did not do the job rite first time around and just slapped the hg down without skimming the head or looking to see if it was warped
 
hoochy1 said:
it strikes me that they did not do the job rite first time around and just slapped the hg down without skimming the head or looking to see if it was warped
Click to expand...
Assuming the original work was done by the Engine Centre, if they are anything to do with the London Engine Centre near Heathrow and their very poor reputation, I'd be keeping well clear. Their reputation is so poor, they have to keep changing the name of the company.
 
Marcel is in/near manchester , so theres a good chance its a completely seperate company - unless its a chain of course
 
digitalfailure said:
Im suspecting that was a petrol variant Swissy ? Or are you referring to the electrical connection on the injector?
Click to expand...

Yeah it was the electrical connection.
 
That was one of my first questions. Apparently they did check and it was within the 2000 tolerance (whatever it's measured in).
It's Bury Engine Centre near me.

If I could afford to trade this car in and use the opportunity to go back to an MPV sized vehicle I would. Just can't afford it this year. (Or next, probably lol)
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.
Car's now done and home, and running fine again.

Turns out it was actually the diesel pressure switch that was at fault, not the HG, hence it being done now instead of at the end of the week.
Running fine it seems now!
 
I feel your pain.....on my way to pick up the wife's car from the garage again..... we have spent a small fortune on it......:(
 
Marcel said:
Thanks for the replies everyone.
Car's now done and home, and running fine again.

Turns out it was actually the diesel pressure switch that was at fault, not the HG, hence it being done now instead of at the end of the week.
Running fine it seems now!
Click to expand...
Cool Nice one :)


archangel said:
I feel your pain.....on my way to pick up the wife's car from the garage again..... we have spent a small fortune on it......:(
Click to expand...
b****r :(

But just think of the money you have saved on (her) shampoo and conditioner though :thumbs:
(not everyone will get that of course ;))
 
I considered a Diesel at one time but we have 2 new Fiat diesel vans at work and it seems that as it's a lot of stop/start stuff and they don't do that much straight driving they have to be kept running at some point and revved high otherwise the filters block and they go into limp mode
Also a friend has a fairly new Ford Diesel 4WD that the engine light keeps coming on for the same reason as she drives less then a mile to work and back each day :(
costs a fortune everytime, to get it sorted
Gla yours is ok now Marcel
 
I'd driven diesels for the last 20 years or so, right from when the fuel was dirt cheap but the engines were pretty rough, until the engines became quite sophisticated but they charged way over the top for the fuel.

Gremlin pretty much sums it up. They're good (in fact brilliant) for high mileage and long distance work but fairly awful just for stop/start local short distance use. I found this out when I retired, as my driving pattern changed tremendously. I eventually changed from a 3 litre V6 diesel which since leaving work was always going wrong (at great expense) to a little 1.6 petrol Kia Soul 2. What a difference! OK I don't have the same "Oomph" and I have to change down more on a hill, but it's just plain reliable with none of the limp mode or engine management lights rubbish costing me a fortune.

I guess it's "horses for courses" really. In lots of ways I prefer diesel but petrol seems to be far better for me now.

Maybe it's something you should consider Marcel?
 
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Ingrid, your friend with the Ford Diesel really needs to drive that car at least once a week down a bypass for while, it needs to be above 1800rpm, hot engine and light load after a few minutes under those conditions the system with automatically regenerate the diesel particulate filter and she'll have no other issues, same applies for the Fiats

Your friend was sold the wrong vehicle if she does such little mileage as an average journey a switched on sales rep would have asked about drive cycles and sold her a more suitable vehicle.
 
She's been told that by the service manager last time it went in Brian (y)
Sj=he decided he wanted that vehicle and was going to buy it regardless, TBH I reall can't understand anyone who drives to dowk when they have to walk almost
as far from the carpark.
No one really understands what it was with the Fiats, we have a fleet of vauxhall and peugeot diesels with now problems, only seems to be these newer ones
 
@Marcel
ive just had a similar issue on my clio but mines petrol, had a horrible midfire in cylinder 1 that nobody could diagnose. i changed the injectors and its running fine now.
With new diesels, they need to be given a good strong run out every once in a while with high(ish) revs to clean out all the build up.
My local mechanic was saying that the biggest issue they have with diesels is people driving them at low revs everywhere and clogging everything up
 
Gremlin said:
I considered a Diesel at one time but we have 2 new Fiat diesel vans at work and it seems that as it's a lot of stop/start stuff and they don't do that much straight driving they have to be kept running at some point and revved high otherwise the filters block and they go into limp mode
Also a friend has a fairly new Ford Diesel 4WD that the engine light keeps coming on for the same reason as she drives less then a mile to work and back each day :(
costs a fortune everytime, to get it sorted
Gla yours is ok now Marcel
Click to expand...
Why on earth did your friend buy a diesel? A petrol engine won't even be properly warmed up after a 1 mile run and a diesel will take at least 5-6 miles to warm up in cold weather. With only covering 1 mile on a journey, I'd be wanting to do an oil change every couple of months, dpf would be the least of my worries, the rest of the engine is more expensive.
Even the "granny test" Ford do during development work warms the engines up a bit better than that. Run for 6 minutes at various revs, switch off for 6 hrs then repeat.
If I only had a mile commute to work I'd run, walk or get a bike.
 
For a one mile commute a Nissan leaf is probably the best answer if the route isn't practical for walking or cycling.
 
I must admit I'm guilty of alot of short trips. The trip to work is roughly 10 minutes away on 30-40mph roads, so it doesn't get chance to get really warm on a regular basis.

Like I said bri, my DPF has had the ceramics drilled out and it disabled in the ECU (Before I bought the car), so the regeneration isn't necessary for me.
Unless it might be of benefit? I don't like high revs in any car...the noise makes me think it's about to blow up lol
I read that for my 307 HDI 110 (2.0) (2004), it's 3000 revs for at least 5 mins above 50 mph on a motorway/dual carriageway.
 
Your car isn't a stage 4 or 5 emission category though is it? So it won't have had a Dpf to start with. It will have only had the oxidising catalyst.

Dpf regeneration requires certain engine conditions to be met before it's attempted. And when it does happen it needs the addition of an external additive like adblue or diesel to increase the temperature within the filter to above 500 degrees to burn the captured soot. The introduction of diesel can take various forms from injection into the down pipe on to a glow plug or actuating the diesel injectors on the exhaust stroke.
 
The joys of owning a French car, and a diesel one at that. :)
 
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