davidad

They don't on cars with FAP. What a mechanic can do if the filter is clogged is to perform a forced regeneration which is done in the workshop, not on the road.

But you still don't seem to understand what the FAP does or how it works! The whole point of the FAP is that it traps all the soot particles which cause the black smoke emitted from a conventional non-FAP diesel. When the ECU senses that the filter is getting clogged it puts the engine into regeneration mode which increases the exhaust gas temperature to a point where the soot burns and is converted to ash. All this happens inside the filter so there is never any black smoke from the exhaust. Eventually the filter becomes clogged with ash and has to be replaced. Under normal driving conditions all this happens without the driver ever being aware of it. In certain driving conditions (e.g. moving slowly in heavy traffic, stationary with the engine idling for a long period, lots of short journeys) there is a risk of the filter clogging because under those conditions the ECU is unable to put the engine into regeneration mode. When this happens the "Risk of particulate filter clogging" message will appear on the dashboard display or whatever on your particular model. The solution is to drive the car as soon as possible at a steady speed of more than 40mph for at least 5 minutes which will allow the regeneration to take place and unclog the filter. This is not the same as the usual advice for a non-FAP diesel which is to drive the engine at high revs to blast out all the crap. To go back to the original post, if the FAP filter was changed only 4000 miles ago and the car is not just used for short journeys or constantly in heavy traffic then it should not be displaying warning messages. Nor should it EVER give out any black smoke. I would take it back to whoever changed the filter and get it checked out. I presume the eloys fluid was replenished at the same time as the filter was changed?

On an Hdi with FAP you should NEVER see any black smoke or crap from the exhaust. If there is then there is something wrong with the FAP.

As I understand it the particulate filtration system needs the eloys fluid to work properly. Replacing the eloys with something else will surely cause premature clogging of the particulate filter?

It shouldn't be like that. There's definitely something wrong. What is the age and mileage of the car?

My Mk1 04 VTR 2.2hdi has the sport button. I have a little ritual of using sport mode on the bends on the M5 between junctions 1 and 2 in Birmingham, especially if the road is quiet and I'm cracking on a bit :lol: . Other than that I never use it.

Doubt it, mine's being doing that for 3 1/2 years/55k miles. I think the battery would have died well before now if that were the case. Pressing the Traffic Master button shuts it up.

I agree with kfk. That price sounds pretty good, I would just get it done.

To clarify that, the soot burns and is converted to ash and it is this residual ash which eventually builds up and requires the filter to be replaced. The important point is that the soot particles which can be harmful to health are never emitted from the exhaust into the atmosphere. That is very different from cleaning an engine out with the old Italian tune up trick. I notice that Renault now have a particulate filter which they claim never needs to be replaced and will last the lifetime of the engine.

That's not how it works. The soot builds up in the filter and is periodically burnt off at a very high temperature.

You're completely missing the point of the FAP system. What it does is filter soot particles out of the exhaust so you don't get the blasts of black smoke commonly seen when following a VW/Audi/BMW/Merc etc and makes an FAP equipped diesel one of the cleanest on the road. That isn't reflected in the road tax as it has no effect whatsoever on CO2 emissions on which road tax bands are crudely based. As for FAP being a moneypit, I am quite happy to do my environmental bit and pay the £400 or so every 75K (120k on the latest versions I believe) in the knowledge that I'm driving a cleaner car.

All this removing of bumpers, batteries etc is very confusing. My C5 is a 04 2.2Hdi estate and I don't have to do any of that to change the headlamp bulbs. All I have to remove is the plastic cover over the coolant expansion bottle/hydraulic fluid reservoir on the driver's side and the plastic battery cover on the passenger side.

Here's a few more that I know of:BMW diesel turbo failure - a very common problem on some pre-2003 models Jaguar S type gearbox failure - a friend of mine got through 3 auto boxes in 100k miles Audi brake failure - collapsing vacuum pipe = no brakes ;) Vauxhall Zafira diesel oil consumption - 1 litre every 700 miles seems quite common and within manufacturer's tolerance!

Yes, the trick is knowing how to undo the clip as you can't see it and have to do it by feel. The first headlamp bulb I changed took ages and left me with skinned knuckles but I can change one in a couple of minutes now :) .

NO NEED TO SHOUT!!! The service interval on my 04 2.2 Hdi is 12,500 miles but I'm not sure whether that has been the case throughout the life of that engine so you may need to be more specific about the age of the car. The recommended mileage for some jobs, e.g. particulate filter, has certainly changed - it's 75,000 on the later ones like mine but I think it was 50,000 on the earlier models. For a service book I would suggest contacting a Citroen dealer or keeping an eye on eBay. A Haynes manual is due for publication at the end of the year.

I've never really been aware of any turbo noise on mine. The turbo obviously works as the car goes well when it's not limping. The battery is an interesting suggestion although I would have thought that once the engine is running the battery would be irrelevant. It's still the original so it's over 4 years old but it's not showing any signs of weakness. One other thing that has occurred to me is that I've only had the problem since the DPF/Eloys was serviced about 6k miles ago. The problem didn't appear immediately after that, probably about 3k miles after that service. I wonder if something is happening when it tries to burn the soot off the filter? Toggling the ESP doesn't clear the ESP/ASR light on mine. The dash message says that the ESP is disabled but the light stays on.

Thanks for the suggestions. Correct me if I'm wrong but as I understand it the wastegate opens when the turbo boost reaches maximum rated pressure to avoid overload. In my case the fault always occurs when the engine is under a light load at which time the turbo boost should be very low. I've had it happen in heavy motorway traffic at a steady 55mph in 6th gear when the engine is running at very low revs and presumably the turbo doing very little. The garage reckon to have checked the wastegate, various sensors and all the pipes. They have suggested that the next time it goes wrong I get the car to them while it's still in limp home mode in case that shows anything else up on the diagnostics.

I've had the anti pollution fault for several months on my 04 2.2hdi. When it first happened the diagnostics reported the swirl chamber control valve as faulty so I had it replaced but the problem came back after about a week. The valve probably was faulty as performance and fuel consumption improved after it was replaced but it wasn't what was causing the anti pollution fault. The fault is quite predictable now. It will happen after about 70 to 80 miles on the motorway and always occurs when it is just cruising steadily with no great load on the engine. The warning lights come on and the engine goes into limp home mode. If I pull in to the next services, switch off for about 5 minutes and restart, the engine warning and service lights will be on but not the ESP/ASR light and the car will run normally for another 50 miles or so before a repeat performance. If I avoid motorways for a few days the lights will go out and the car runs as it should. I suspect that if I never did any long motorway journeys I wouldn't even know there was a problem with the car. The car has now been back into my local Citroen dealer several times The fault is always "turbo overboost" but they can not trace what is causing the problem. Citroen have told them that the most likely cause is a vacuum leak but they have examined all the pipework and can find no leaks. To their credit, they have done a lot of diagnostic work which they have not charged me for but it is all very frustrating. I'm always suspicious of EGR valves and if it wasn't such a pig to get at on the 2.2 I would have removed it myself by now and cleaned it out. I'm contemplating getting it done anyway as it certainly won't do any harm after 74k miles.

Also worth checking that the air filter is clean. IIRC the maximum acceptable figure for a turbo diesel is 3. I always give a diesel a good motorway blast a day or two before the MOT and then do at least 20 miles en route to the test to make sure the engine is properly hot, as Coastline suggests. If the brakes work ok from the foot pedal then it sounds like the problem is with the handbrake cable.

110 bhp or 138bhp? I would expect a 54 plate to be the 138bhp engine with the particulate filter so those figures should be 0 or very nearly so. What mileage has the car done?

My 04 2.2VTR estate has no under seat storage but I bought it secondhand so can't be sure what the original spec was.

The number is also on your V5 registration document.

Mine worked when the tailgate wasn't shut. When the tailgate was shut it clicked but didn't release.

Mine started playing up a while ago and would only work intermittently. I just replaced the lock mechanism which isn't a difficult job.

Mk2's? My Mk1 VTR has 16" wheels :o