2.2hdi Power Loss And Low Mpg

[Guest vincethornton]

Hi Guys, new to the club as just bought my first citroen. Love the car but had multiple warning lights within a day of buying it. Garage has now sorted all those by fixing Particulate filter, replacing fuel filter and refilling eolys fluid. However what that hasnt sorted is the general lack of power I would expect from 136 HP and an average of 19 mpg over the week I have had it including both town and motorway work. I have just taken engine covers off and I can see that the swirl chamber? rod from back of engine on RHS as you look in is not connected to its arm as the socket is missing. The rod doesnt seem to move up or down as you start or rev the engine so I assume I need a new diaphragm kit. Is this alone likely to account for performance and fuel consumption probs? Even in low gears it wheezes up to about 3800 rpm and runs out of steam entirely by 4000. Anyone any ideas?

[coastline taxis]

Youve answered your own question .you can get the bits you need quite cheaply from the dealers

[Guest vincethornton]

Thanks for the reassurance, Ive got the diaphragm on order and pick it up this afternoon. Has anyone had my symptoms and replaced this part and found it has cured the problems or am I likely to be looking for something else? Can anyone give me any tips for replacing this part as I hear its tricky! Also how do I check that the electronic valve is working so that the diaphragm is subjected to vacuum when Ive replaced it?

Thanks for any help

Cheers

[paul.h]

I did a post on replacing this a few months ago, should find with a search. You will need a long thin torx screwdriver before starting the job and at least one spare set of the 3 screws to replace the ones you will lose or even damage. If a dealer will do it for 30 mins cost it may be worth letting them. If you start the engine you will see the rod has moved from the engine not running position which shows the electronic valve is working.

Oddly just before I found mine needed replacing, I had just been getting around 60 mpg on a couple of M62 trips from home to Hull (110 miles each way, total 440) but these were slow due to roadworks, the weather was good, no wind, and I had put some Shell expensive diesel in. Now back to about 50 mpg for the same trips but roadworks gone, Sainsburys fuel and weather not so good. Do not know when the diaphragm socket broke and there were no symptoms.

[Guest vincethornton]

Thanks Paul, Ive been to citroen dealer now and bought a kit for £20 Thought I would have a go at fitting it just for the satisfaction of doing it myself. It took me 3 hours instead of the half hour that citroen do it in, (god knows how). It now works fine, performance has improved and MPG up to 30 around town. Ive still got one remaining fault showing up though which is the Eolys fluid pump not working. Its had the fluid replenished but pump still not working. It means that my particle filter will just start clogging up again and ut the engine management light on again. So ive got to get the pump working. Garage say they have no idea how much this will cost cos it could be anything from the pump itself to a minor wiring fault. Does anyone know the common reasons for this pump to fail?

[paul.h]

Have a look on here for posts on the fuel filler cap. They have a magnet or something in them which is sensed by a switch in the body. This may or not be relevant.

[PICASSOCONVERT]

I did a post on replacing this a few months ago, should find with a search. You will need a long thin torx screwdriver before starting the job and at least one spare set of the 3 screws to replace the ones you will lose or even damage. If a dealer will do it for 30 mins cost it may be worth letting them. If you start the engine you will see the rod has moved from the engine not running position which shows the electronic valve is working.

Oddly just before I found mine needed replacing, I had just been getting around 60 mpg on a couple of M62 trips from home to Hull (110 miles each way, total 440) but these were slow due to roadworks, the weather was good, no wind, and I had put some Shell expensive diesel in. Now back to about 50 mpg for the same trips but roadworks gone, Sainsburys fuel and weather not so good. Do not know when the diaphragm socket broke and there were no symptoms.

 

Every cloud has a silver lining. My independent garage (Finneys near Coningsby in Lincolnshire - highly recommended based on our families cars being serviced/MOT'd there - C5 2.2HDi, diesel Clio, petrol Zafira, diesel C-Max, diesel Hyundai i30) did my MOT. Car got through with no problems but when I picked it up Mr Finney showed me that the plastic clip on the end of the pushrod from the diaphragm was broken. "get one when you next pass a Citroen dealer and fit it yourself" he said. I was quite impressed that he picked that up on an MOT.

 

Like paul.h, quoted above, my MPG had got better (around 50mpg measured full to full with not much motorway driving) and there were no apparent problems.

 

So, as I have quite a bit on at the moment I booked the car into a Citroen dealer, thinking £20ish for the part and 1/2hr labour (as quoted on the forum) would get the job done without hassle and no swearing on my part. Turned up at the dealer as requested to be asked "Er what was the problem?". The service booking-in operation is now a call centre! After explaining what was required they hadn't got the part to do the job, which would take 2 hours. My quick mental calculation was ahead of the young man's calculator in working out this "little job" would cost £216 inc VAT!

 

So, the silver lining was:

 

Firstly the next Citroen garage down the road had the part in stock (and the first garage was very helpful getting this reserved for me to collect)

 

Secondly I avoided almost £200 in labour cost.

 

Now do I have a long Torkx screwdriver...........................................................

 

Or should I ust leave it all alone and onjoy the improved MPG............................................

[PICASSOCONVERT]

I can now update you on how I got on fitting the diaphragm and maybe offer you a quick fix.

 

Now I am not an engineer or mechanic so my skills are limited. Consequently the thought of peering down the back of the engine, losing screws and taking the skin off my fingers did not appeal (and I haven't got a long Torx screwdriver).

 

When I looked at the new diaphragm, rod and ball coupling my accountant's brain said - "Just  unclip the new ball coupling from the rod and fit it in place of the broken one whilst leaving the old rod and diaphragm in situ."

 

So that's what I did. The job took 10 minutes including opening and closing the bonnet and getting the wife to start and rev the engine to check the diaphragm was working.

 

My observations are that the new ball coupling unclips from the rod more easily than the old broken one comes off - partly because it's more difficult to get at the old one and also because the older plastic is more rigid/brittle (presumably why the wretched things break in the first place).

 

So, if your diaphragm appears to be working, try just replacing the broken ball coupling.

 

Now wouldn't it be nice if Citroen sold just the ball coupling, or even nicer if they said "Ah, broken ball coupling. If you have 10 minutes we can fit a new one for you......no charge, of course." That would get them lots of brownie points and I, for one, might just buy another one.

 

I am now going to take the bits to a friend of mine who is a retired Va****ll engineer and ask him to make a ball coupling, just for the hell of it...............

 

David

[Johndouglas]

Congratulations on solving your problem so easily and getting your car back on the top line.