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Posted

Wanted to post to see if anyone has had a similar problem, and whether it was/has been fixed successfully ...

 

I purchased a 1.8i petrol '00 Bling (~34k on the clock) from a relative last Sept. He was the second owner of the vehicle and ran it as a second car (~8k miles a year) for 2 years without any reported problems. Two months after getting it (and flogging tp & from work every day, completing 50 mile round trip) I noticed that the dash instruments (speedo, gauges, rev counter) were slow to energise on starting, taking upto 10 minutes to become operational. This despite the fact that the lights, indicators, etc worked normally.

 

Having inibtially thought it was something to do with the cold weather, and the fact that the instrument cluster worked when the car interior warmed up (not sure there's any real scientific basis for this concept !!), the problem spread to the indicators and/or heater blower not working, while the dash problem persisted. I kept saying to myself I must get it looked at .....

 

Issues came to a head first day back to work this year. Filled up with fuel on the way to work and couldn't get the car started to clear the station forecourt !!!! Managed to get the car to the local dealer (who at this point shall remain nameless) who diagnosed BSI failure, which I believe to be the main electrical interface unit controlling the four electrical systems on the car. Was also advised to supply a new battery & (re-con alternator). Having waited 10 days to get the BSI from France (!) they replaced it and then diagnosed a dash unit failure. Another 10 days later and they finally said all was well.

 

Picked the car up and immediately noted the battery light stayed illuminated with the engine running. Was told the battery would charge while running so set off only to discover the indicators & heater blower non-functioning (sound familiar). Turned straight round and had the battery diagnosed as providing enough volts (~13.8V static & ~14.3V at idle, suggesting the alternator was OK) but insufficient amps (304A cf. rating of 570A). The technician at the dealer demonstrated that a new battery delivering the correct power was able to stop the battery light illuminating as well as get all the systems working. Set off again and noticed that the fuel temperature gauge wasn't working. Rang the dealer to advise a problem remained, but agreed to drop the car back after changing the battery. The following day the battery light stayed on again after starting. Changed the battery (with an old one I had lying around) and the battery light went out. Used the car very little over the weekend and got to work the following Monday without incident. Come Monday night return home, and Lo, the battery light stayed on again after starting.

 

Am completlely baffled as to why the problems with the battery light & temp gauge persist. Will be returning to the dealer a.s.a.p. to get them to explain/fix the problem. However, any advice/guidance/sympathy would be appreciated. I am not familiar with mulitplex electrical systems and their associated faults & fixes and seek the voice of experience/wisdom to educate me. Apologies for wittering on so much, but the 3+ weeks to get this far is really stating to piss me off !!!!

Posted

Personally I'd look along the lines for a dodgy connection somewhere. It may simply be a poor earth between the engine to the bodywork, take a careful look at the battery and earthing strap connections.

 

With these more complex electrical systems its all too easy to overlook the obvious, more basic faults.

 

"Get back to basic's that's what I say" <_<

 

On a more serious note, poor connections will cause all manner of wierd faults on modrern cars.

Posted
Thanks for that. Am still waiting to hear back from the dealer .... I trust it will be just a simple problem like an earthing fault but am resigned to being provided with some highly convolute & confusing story to justify more major component replacements !! My fear for the future is that the electircs could be prone to further trouble of a similar nature. Only time will tell ....
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Hi dgeezer,

 

Was interested to read your post - am having more or less the same problems with our 2000 Berlingo. The dials seem to have failed completely, yet the external lights and indicators work - we thought it was the cold weather too - am wondering if there are more of us out there and this is a a fault with Citroen Berlingos? We were told that we would need a instrument ccluster at a charge of around £350. Any more info you could give re: your problem would be very much appreciated as ours seems top be heading down the same route as yours!

 

Kind regards

Serena

  • 4 months later...
Posted

Excuse the late joining of this thread but .....

 

I've got a 54 2.0HDi and from new the horn didn't work and some other dashboard thing (can't remember that far back). Turned out it was this BSI unit and it was replaced, was spun a long story about it having to come from France. So I told the dealer it was ilegal to drive on the road without a horn and what were they going to do about it. BSI unit arrived a bit sharpish.

 

IMHO Citroen electrics are dodgy at best, of the two Blings I've had neither have been free of electricial problems both major and minor. A friends C2 was handed back as the dealer couldn't get it ro run for longer than a week. I now have a random beep from the dash that I have nicknamed "Bernard" and whenever the beep sounds, teh family shout "Bernard" as in Norm from Cheers.

Posted
  Quote
a new battery delivering the correct power was able to stop the battery light illuminating as well as get all the systems working.

 

Although my C2's problems were not identical., there were a number of similarities - including intermittent charging. I assumed alternator but it would never show the fault when taken to a dealer (and there were no stored faults in the ECU memory).

 

When it gave out completely (just short of the Blackwall Tunnel :D ), I knew that simply putting in a new battery would give me enough "oomph" to get home so that my local dealer could sort it ( I also felt that £35 for a battery was actually a better option than a breakdown/recovery call at 5pm on a Friday in London).

 

Anway, as soon as the new battery went in the warning light went out and the car seemed to "re-initialise itself" - which might confirm your technician's assessment - except that it only got me halfway home before the warning light came on again.

 

Simply disconnecting and reconnecting the battery reset the system each time and I got another 2o minutes driving each time allowing me to get safely home.

 

The next day, the alternator was replaced (under warranty) - and everything has been fine since.

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