C5 1.6Hdi Flat Spot

[Nrog]

Hi, I'm relatively new to the forum but wanted to share my experience....

 

I have a 2009 C5 1.6hdi that I bought with 60k miles on back in August. I bought the car from an Arnold Clark (I know!) Renault dealer because it was such a high spec / nice looking car. It has a service history with 4 stamps and had been serviced the month before I bought it (presumable when it was traded in to them).

 

Within a week of picking it up I had noticed a flat spot / hesitation when accelerating at around 1500rpm. The characteristic was almost like a judder where you would acceleate lightly and the power would come, but then it would drop for a millisecond and then come back in. This would happen a couple of times litterally within a second. I had the car back into Arnold Clark who said there was nothing wrong and gave it me back. I experienced the fault again on the journey home, and it was a daily occurance thereafter. I complained to Arnold Clark who had it in another few times, road tested it over 2 days with their senior technician and service manager driving it but apparantly they could not reproduce the fault. MPG has always been fine at around 47-50mpg around town and much better on a motorway if driven at 65-70mph or under. Anything higher and it drops as you'd expect.

 

Arnold Clark took it into a main Citroen dealer and all they did was plug it in and say no fault found. I was really frustrated with this as the vehicle would constantly show up this flat sput at arpound 1500rpm (crusing at around 40mph in 5th or when changing gears, 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th etc). My finance company even paid for an independant inspection of the vehicle which surprise surprise showed up no fault. I googled the fault and looked for a Citroen specialist in the Lancashire area who I could take it to. I found Savoy Garage near Burnley, Lancs and he had a look and did a full Lexia diagnostics check for me. It didnt show up any faults, but he took the time to chat to me about it and referred me to Rigbye's Citroen (Main Daler) in Chorley. I took it there and they plugged it in (no fault found!!), but the mechanic came out for a drive with me and experienced the fault just once, which was enough.

 

He diagosed the Turbo Vac Solenoid and replaced it for me there and then (about £45 +vat). Ever since, the car has been fine and touch wood I have not experinced the flat spot again since. Bear in mind this was a daily occurance and it's been around 3 weeks now. Arnold Clark agreed to cover the cost of the diagnostics plus the part (£130 in total) and I am now happy. It was so frustrating not to be believed!

 

I just wanted to share my experience incase anybody else had a similar problem and was looking for a solution?

 

[paul.h]

Welcome to the forum and thankyou for your post - looks like a good recommendation for Rigbyes as well.

[Nrog]

Thanks Paul.

 

Yes, Rigbyes were the only ones to actually listen and look out for what I was saying, rather than just plug it in and say all was fine. I'm naturally sceptical about taking any cars into main dealers and some independents as we've had bad experiences of being ripped off, but three weeks on it seems to have solved the problem.

 

Just need to understand where the turbo should kick in now??

[qman3428]

Just a quick note to say I use Rigbeys on my C5 and and previously on a C3 and Xantia and have found them to be exceptionally clued up on fault finding and always looking to minmse the costs (Yes I know, from a main dealer!).

I would strongly recommend them.

[JM53 BEL]

Change your fuel filter, i was having that same issue also sometimes it would come up dpf system failure, when hooked upto lexia fault came back as low fuel pressure and massive leak in fuel line, there was no leak, i changed the fuel filter and had no issues since, for some reason the service doesnt include fuel filter at main dealers, which i think is strange on a diesel as i beleive that on any diesel the fuel filter should be changed atleast every 2nd service or 24k mls. Diesel tends to have a lot of crap in it, eventually fuel filter chokes giving you that hesitation your talking about, takes 15min's to change and my car goes sweet better than when i baught it