C5 Taxi Woes

[Guest miked]

hi guys

 

hoping you can help, Ive been reading through the threads on here.

 

I have a 2004 2.2D VTR which I use as a private hire taxi.

 

Ive owned the car for about 2 years, and in this time Ive used it as a taxi, main reason I bought it as it was my uncles who was also a taxi driver and he had it for a year or so before me, he let me have it for a good deal. mileage now is just over 100k.

 

 

since Ive had it, its always had the service and engine lights on, no problem as it still runs fine. my uncle just put a bit of black tape over the lights :blink:

 

now and then, we get the ESP/ASR failure and limp home mode as has been mentioned here many times.

 

this is a major headache as Im trying to earn a living and its slowing everything down.

 

sometimes just stopping and restarting gets it off, cant always do that when I have a passenger in!

 

Ive found, and dont know if this is true, that if the front tyres are low it can cause the esp/asr to come on, as when it happens I put some air in the fronts and it goes.

I dont know if that is the cause or just coincidence.

seams to come on when accelerating from about 40mph plus, usually when first getting on a motorway.

 

anyway..

 

over the last few days the esp/asr fault has been on constant, no amount of trye fettling or on off ignition has got rid of it.

 

luckily my dad is a mechanic and mot tester at a independent BMW garage, he's just taken it in this morning to put it on the diagnostics and get the codes, so will report back with those later tonight, it has been on it before but I cant find the piece of paper he did last time :(

 

one thing i remember coming up on the diagnostics last time was throttle postion.

 

we had it on the diagnostics a few months back when we serviced it, one thing we did was change the diesel filter, but yet I still get the "change diesel filter" message on the dash.

 

hope you guys can help, Ill certainly help others with any feedback we get from the diagnostics and faults on mine.

 

either to fix the problems or just bypass the many electronic aids on the car.

 

 

 

I quite like the car, and either way Im stuck with it so want to make it more bearable

but now I will have a little rant and moan about the car in general as a private hire car :)

 

turning circle is awful!

MPG is terrible for a taxi,about 35 according to the computer.

6 speed box, car feels very low geared, quite often on the motorway Ive gone for a 7th gear at about 65mph.

old grannies cant fathom the indoor door handles! :)

every time a passenger gets in the antipolution fault message comes on the dash and lots of people ask and quite frankly its boring explaining it all the time!

glovebox is tiny for such a huge car!

bootspace isnt really big for such a big car.

front pillars seem to be in a blindspot, ie too far forward.

windows put themselves up when you dont want them too when its raining!

 

few other things,mostly small things and tongue in cheak, but all taxi drivers moan anyway :)

 

I havent really had to do a lot to it, apart from a starter motor (theyre tiny btw)

and it likes to eat front tyres and headlamp bulbs but overall its a smart car.

 

 

 

thanks in advance for help with the faults

 

Mike

[Guest woodywoodpecker]

hi guys

 

hoping you can help, Ive been reading through the threads on here.

 

I have a 2004 2.2D VTR which I use as a private hire taxi.

 

Ive owned the car for about 2 years, and in this time Ive used it as a taxi, main reason I bought it as it was my uncles who was also a taxi driver and he had it for a year or so before me, he let me have it for a good deal. mileage now is just over 100k.

 

 

since Ive had it, its always had the service and engine lights on, no problem as it still runs fine. my uncle just put a bit of black tape over the lights :)

 

now and then, we get the ESP/ASR failure and limp home mode as has been mentioned here many times.

 

this is a major headache as Im trying to earn a living and its slowing everything down.

 

sometimes just stopping and restarting gets it off, cant always do that when I have a passenger in!

 

Ive found, and dont know if this is true, that if the front tyres are low it can cause the esp/asr to come on, as when it happens I put some air in the fronts and it goes.

I dont know if that is the cause or just coincidence.

seams to come on when accelerating from about 40mph plus, usually when first getting on a motorway.

 

anyway..

 

over the last few days the esp/asr fault has been on constant, no amount of trye fettling or on off ignition has got rid of it.

 

luckily my dad is a mechanic and mot tester at a independent BMW garage, he's just taken it in this morning to put it on the diagnostics and get the codes, so will report back with those later tonight, it has been on it before but I cant find the piece of paper he did last time :)

 

one thing i remember coming up on the diagnostics last time was throttle postion.

 

we had it on the diagnostics a few months back when we serviced it, one thing we did was change the diesel filter, but yet I still get the "change diesel filter" message on the dash.

 

hope you guys can help, Ill certainly help others with any feedback we get from the diagnostics and faults on mine.

 

either to fix the problems or just bypass the many electronic aids on the car.

 

 

 

I quite like the car, and either way Im stuck with it so want to make it more bearable

but now I will have a little rant and moan about the car in general as a private hire car :)

 

turning circle is awful!

MPG is terrible for a taxi,about 35 according to the computer.

6 speed box, car feels very low geared, quite often on the motorway Ive gone for a 7th gear at about 65mph.

old grannies cant fathom the indoor door handles! :)

every time a passenger gets in the antipolution fault message comes on the dash and lots of people ask and quite frankly its boring explaining it all the time!

glovebox is tiny for such a huge car!

bootspace isnt really big for such a big car.

front pillars seem to be in a blindspot, ie too far forward.

windows put themselves up when you dont want them too when its raining!

 

few other things,mostly small things and tongue in cheak, but all taxi drivers moan anyway :)

 

I havent really had to do a lot to it, apart from a starter motor (theyre tiny btw)

and it likes to eat front tyres and headlamp bulbs but overall its a smart car.

 

 

 

thanks in advance for help with the faults

 

Mike

 

Mike, the change diesel filter you are seeing is not the fuel filter, Its the dpf filter in the exhaust which is becoming blocked. You have two options you can either take the dpf out and jetwash it clean or you can remove it completely out of the exhaust and then reprogram the ecu so it thinks the car does not have one at all.

[Johndouglas]

Hi and welcome to the forum. We have a couple of other taxi drivers in the membership so Coastline will probably reply to you soon.

 

Meanwhile I'll agree with some of the things you say, Mine also gets through front tyres at a rate of knots. Also with the frequency of bulb changing. Mine has xenons so I haven't needed to change those. But sidelight bulbs go frequently so now I've got LEDs in there. I agree with you about the front pillars; they do obstruct vision. As regards the closing windows - they're supposed to do that, although I think the facility can be switched off. Regarding the diesel filter blocked message. That isn't referring to the fuel filter, it's the FAP filter under the car. Maybe your eolys fluid needs checking and the FAP changing or cleaned.

[Guest miked]

thanks woody, didnt know about that. will get that looked at.

 

main thing to sort is the esp/asr limp home and getting that off, is there any way of actually bypassing the limp home mode? ie any tricks/ways of reprogramming?

 

or is there a list of things which cause the limp home mode to come on.

 

 

last time we had the car on the diagnostics just to reset the service light, we got rid of the light only for it to come back on after a few miles. which my dad predicted would happen as the fault hadnt been fixed.

at the time the esp fault wasnt on so wernt to concerned.

 

I did have the limp home mode come on one time due to low brake fluid because of a leaking front caliper but the message was actually "top up brake fluid" so I dont think that is the problem this time, and which is fair enough that it actually tells you the fault, that is sorted now.

 

cheers

 

Mike

 

 

 

Mike

[Guest miked]

thanks too John

 

yeah I think the pillar position is dangerous, if you approach an island at the right time that a car is on the island it can be totally obscured until the last minute, just have to keep awake :)

 

 

also one of the rear passenger windows was down the other day, when raising it it came up skewiff, needed a couple of goes on the button and holding to get it to come up straight.

 

also had one fault on the suspension, a pipe had split near the end, but my dad simply cut an inch off the pipe and put it back on :)

 

the car would be fine, theres just too many electronics on it, as per most modern cars.

 

Mike

[coastline taxis]

Sorry but i have to disagree with you over the c5. They are the ideal vehicle for a taxi and like any other business you have to put money back into it. And without sounding like im picking fault or trying to have a row your posting shows a serious lack of vehicle maintenance for a taxi driver. If you've had the fault for over 2 years it should of been sorted out before now and not left to get worse. Now believe me when i say i dont like spending money but like myself your in a good position as every penny you spend on the car you get back in tax. And if maintained properly theyl run properly.

The anti pollution fault will be your fap filter needs cleaning/replacing and the fluid topping up which a dealer or Indy can do for you and if you keep the receipt the tax man will refund you.

The tyres well put Michelin energy savers on youl get 10000 out of them and again keep the receipt.

As for the bulbs put a good quality one in and make sure that the black plastic acsess panel is replaced properly.

take it to the dealers and get a full diagnostics done on the car and then get a maintenance program in place and your mileage will go up and the problems will go down. And with your dad being a mechanic im sure your labour bill could be converted to a beer bill.

Your probably in the same boat as the rest of the taxis in the country and struggling but any faults on your car must be sorted straight away as the penaltys are higher for taxi drivers youl lose your badge and plate for not keeping the vehicle up to scratch

best regards

steve

[paul.h]

On the low mpg, I saw a post some time back and a blocked FAP exhaust filter can cause this, so another reason to sort it. In this case it was jet washed out.

[Guest miked]

brilliant responses, thanks chaps

 

the car is regularly serviced, checked and looked after, good quality oil on oil changes etc.

and the car is mint with regular mini valets.

its not driven hard and ive had good mpg on long motorway journeys.

 

but, with my dad being a mechanic, and money tight, Ive always been warey of dealers, ie lots of cash only for problem to come back straight away.

and a problem which only occured intermitently and was easily fixed by switching ignitition off and on, Ive just lived with it but agree left it far too long to sort.

 

which is why I want to learn about the car, my dad and I have always been the type who like to fix things ourselves, however he's much cleverer than me. but will just say, if its driving drive it, its only a light etc, it just needs the light resetting, wheras I like everything to be spot on.

 

I think Im right in saying the "change diesel filter" is not affecting the esp/asr limp home, the 2 being sepearate?

 

cheers

 

Mike

[coastline taxis]

There is a ongoing topic on here on how to remove the fap filter altogether and inform the ecu that it is no longer there. so what part of the country are you in then

[Guest miked]

hi Steve

 

Liverpool

 

ill do a search for that post and get studying, or rather, get my dad to get reading it :)

or if anyone knows the link could they post it please.

 

cheers

 

Mike

[coastline taxis]

Its under the technical section and has been active today so no need to search just look around. Was the xmas good for you. It was for us and very very unexpected think it was the weather that made the diference

[Guest miked]

great christmas thanks, had lots of snow which I worked in :)

 

my dads just phoned, he only gets to look at my car after work, usually hes not to happy to stay behind but anyway..

 

he's got what he called the particulate filter from the exaust off, he said it has a probe and 2 pipes to it, I take it this is what were talking about?

 

he's got the filter in the brake cleaner tank in the garage with the fluid flushing through it, he said its not really cleaning the crap from it, and he doesnt have a steam cleaner, but said its easy enough to get off and none of the bolts snapped etc so can always be taken off again easlily.

 

he's running the car at the moment with the filter off and its reving ok with no esp/asr light. still got the service light but he hasnt looked at that or put it on the computer yet.

 

 

I told him there should be a fluid to top up in the filter but he cant find anything like that?

 

 

he said also that he's tempted just to smash the innerds of the filter out! told him not to do that yet :)

 

he said they have the same thing on BMW's which he works on and they usually take them for a good low gear thrash on the motorway to blow the crap out.

 

Mike

[Guest miked]

just to add he's saying theres no antipolution fault showing while the car is running with no filter on, he's still flushing it and said its getting cleaner.

 

if the antipolution fault comes back on when he refits it, I think it could be a case for getting rid of the innereds of the filter.

 

Mike

[coastline taxis]

Your geting there some say smash the inside others drill holea and some jetwash it. If your going along the lines of removing it of the ecu then smash or drill the choice is yours.

[Guest miked]

hopefully getting somewhere :)

 

so if the innerds are to be taken out, the sensor would pick it up so it would need the ecu re chipped?

 

 

and also, what and where is the eolys fluid?

 

cheers

 

Mike

[Guest miked]

right, good and bad news.

 

 

he refitted it, said it blew a load of black smoke out in the garage.

 

he got the codes and reset the service light.

 

Ive drove it round for about 10 miles, only thing to come on when I first got in was the "unblock diesel filter" however the antipolution didnt come on, neither did the service lights, until just now, everything has came back on again :)

can only think that the filter is blocked and needs the innereds hacked out?

 

 

here are the codes too,

 

p1448 undocumented code

p0380 pre heat relay circuit

p0400 EGR solenoid valve

p2002 particle filter

 

 

cheers

 

Mike

[Guest miked]

quick google search for the codes tells us that p1448 undocumented code is the particle filter

 

"ELC system 2 fault

EDC15C2 PEF: Particulate emission filter overloaded."

 

http://www.pikit.co.uk/peugeotmt/psa%20eobd%20p%20codes.html

 

Mike

[paul.h]

The eolys fluid is in a white plastic tank under the car near the fuel tank. A small amount is injected into the fuel tank every time it is filled. It gets a signal from the filler cap which has a magnet in it which is sensed by something in the bodywork near to the filling nozzle. I would think your tank is probably empty unless is has been topped up during servicing. The fluid is supposed to help the soot burn off in the exhaust particle filter so it does not block up.

 

Haynes do a manual for the C5 if you do not have one. Haynes manuals can sometimes be found in libraries.

[Guest miked]

thanks Paul

 

now that we knew where to look my dad could see the tank now :)

 

he has taken most not all of the innerds of the filter out, he said there is a small bit which the pipes from the eolys tank go to which he has left in.

 

reset the car on the diagnostics comp, still has the same codes although they are stored.

 

ive not driven it yet, will be going out in it soon, only sat in it and revved it up, sounds a little bit more noisy than before, ie a little blowey, but nothing drastic, just hope it all goes ok, with no more limp home

 

cheers

 

Mike

[coastline taxis]

Techbod told me of this a couple of years ago. What your getting is called the domino effect when one system goes down (in your case the fap side) other system have to work outside there preset limits and show up faults that will disapear once the original fault has been sorted. maybe worth taking your egr valve off and cleaning it out. Dealers recomend changing it but weve cleaned a few with good results. Another known fault on the 2.2 is the plastic rod breaking on the swirl pot on the right hand side of the engine

[Guest miked]

thanks Steve

 

have been out taxying in it for a few hours, slight blow I mentioned earlier has gone, was probably when it was cold

 

drives great, however after an hour or so, the service light and antipolution message has come on again, no egr/asr failed however ie no limp home, and Ive give it a good caining on the motorway and around town and it seems more responsive and a bit quicker.

 

I think it may need to have the ecu reprogrammed to tell it it has no eloys/filter, would need to find somewhere that does that.

 

and the service light may now be for the glow plugs and EGR?

 

cheers

 

Mike

[coastline taxis]

You dont need to get the ecu reprogramed you just need to go in and disable the dpf side, a lexia would be best (i doubt a dealer would do this for you) or you can get the lead you need for £25 quid of ebay and theres a user on here with info on how to do it using the lead and a laptop. Dont want to put his name up hear without asking first so when your ready pm me a phone number and il txt it to you. Youl still get the anti pollution fault up as it covers a host of issue i think the what might be giving you problems is the eloys tank being empty (just put some diesel in it and block the pipes off) wich will put the lights on and give you a anti pollution fault. So before you go anyfurther id do the ecu and switch that side of it off then run it for a few days before doing anything else

[Guest miked]

thanks again Steve

 

the idea of filling the tank and blocking the pipes sounds good, ill get him to do it although it may not be tommorrow as he's got other things on and is sick of looking at it, as long as the limp home isnt on thats the main thing for now, although id like to get the service and antipolution lights off.

 

how tricky a job is getting the EGR off?

 

cheers

 

Mike

[Guest miked]

also whilst giving it a bit of a thrash.

 

ive never noticed before how stiff the steering goes, doing 4000 revs in second gear it goes very tight until you press the clutch in, just something Ive never noticed as ive never drove it like that on purpose, I was trying to see if the esp fault would kick in

 

cheers

 

Mike

[coastline taxis]

If you look up limp mode in the search bar theres a discusion telling you wich wire to cut to permentley disable the limp mode. (whilst not recomended because if you get a serious fault it could cost you a engine) its there for you to read and make your oen choice