My second car saga, it's a long one.
Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 8:26 am
Happy New Year all,
Just though I would share my on going saga of my second car. It's a long one.
I decided to buy a second car last October, to go to the tip, take the dog's out in and more importantly, park up my 1 during the bad weather.
Decided on a people carrier, space of a van but with more comfort. Couldn't decide on anything particular, just keep looking for anything that took my fancy. After hours on Gumtree, Auto trader and ebay, spotted a Citroen C8.
Not far from home, so I went to have a look. It's a 2.2 hdi exclusive, so good solid engine and all the bells and whistles, cruise, 3 electric sun roof's, electric side doors, 6 seater, leather, auto lights, wipers dimming mirror, you get the picture. The car had no MOT but drove ok, sounded like 1 of the front ARB drop links had gone, tyre etc were all good. The only issue was a warning saying the oil additive low. I had done a bit of homework and know this related to the DPF. A lot of the French cars use an oil additive in the DPF system and it needs refilling around 50K miles. I wasn't too bothered about it, so after some haggling, I parted with £1500 and had bought myself a C8. On the drive home, the MIL came on, Anti-pollution fault was displayed and the went into restricted performance. I put it down to low DPF oil.
Now the fun begins,
Got the car on a ramp and replaced both front lower suspension arms, both front ARB links, 1 rear brake caliper, both front wiper blades (£40!!!!) and serviced it.
Booked it into my local Citroen dealer to have the oil refilled and the counter reset. I was quoted £200 for this. They also found that the fuel filler sensor was faulty, another £120 fitted. Collected the car, when the car was driven to the MOT station, the the MIL came on, Anti-pollution fault was displayed and the went into restricted performance again. Recycled the ignition and the light etc went out.Got the car MOT's and taxed, then returned the car to Citroen for them to have a look at again. They said something about the fuel filler sensor not connected properly, done that, cleared the fault. I was advised to fill up with diesel and go for a drive up the motorway, to regen the DPF. Done this. everything ok. Happy again.
Next morning, on the way in to work, the light came on yet again, not happy. Spoke to Citroen, who said they would have another look. They gave me a list of faults, that included a couple of short circuits in the DPF oil system. Having lost faith and not wanting to pay the dealer prices, I took the car to a local independent specialist. (There is very little info on the net regarding the system). They confirmed that there was some electrical issues with the dpf system, so having no choice, I told them to go ahead and do the £560 of work. Picked the car up from them, didn't take long before the light came on again, getting very fed up now. So, back to them, they looked again and said there was a new fault, turbo boost pressure switch, £60, after £560, whats another £60. Fitted that, made it maybe 8 miles and the light came on again. Back to the garage, the guy asked if I could leave the car with them for a few days and they would try and sort it, check the vac system etc. So I made plans to leave it with them for a week. Just before I took it back, we had a look for any split pipes etc ourselves. I have never seen such a complicated breather/DPF system in my life. For a 10 year old car, it looks a nightmare waiting to happen. Couldn't find anything, so dropped the car off and left it with them for about 6 days. Spoke to the garage, they thought it was a vac solenoid, £50. Go for it. When I collected the car, i said if it hadn't fixed it this time, I wouldn't be back. fed up with throwing money at it. Lasted 4 miles this time.
So, after driving and trying to monitor when the light came on, I have found the conditions for it to happen. Road speed or gear doesn't effect it but engine speed does. At somewhere around a constant 1800/1900 rpm for a few seconds, causes the light to come on. You can drive through the revs or over run back down with no effect and as long as you drive around that rpm it's fine. Me and the wife went to York for a long weekend before Christmas, done 600 miles and only had the light come on 3 times. I have bought a cheap OBD code reader, does see any codes but will clear them. Only takes a few seconds but you have to turn off the engine and just have the ignition on, engine not running. I have had to change my driving technique to suit, but it works. It will sit on the motorway at 70 all day and do around 40 mpg (2500 rpm ish)
So, the moral of the story is, don't buy French, Don't buy a car with a DPF.
I will run round in it for a few months, to try and get some use out of it. Reckon I will look at something like a Mondeo estate TDCI next time.
We hope to move house later this year, (some where in Lincolnshire, but that's another long and complicated story) so the 1 might have to find a new home if it happens.
Hope I haven't bored you all too much,
Just though I would share my on going saga of my second car. It's a long one.
I decided to buy a second car last October, to go to the tip, take the dog's out in and more importantly, park up my 1 during the bad weather.
Decided on a people carrier, space of a van but with more comfort. Couldn't decide on anything particular, just keep looking for anything that took my fancy. After hours on Gumtree, Auto trader and ebay, spotted a Citroen C8.
Not far from home, so I went to have a look. It's a 2.2 hdi exclusive, so good solid engine and all the bells and whistles, cruise, 3 electric sun roof's, electric side doors, 6 seater, leather, auto lights, wipers dimming mirror, you get the picture. The car had no MOT but drove ok, sounded like 1 of the front ARB drop links had gone, tyre etc were all good. The only issue was a warning saying the oil additive low. I had done a bit of homework and know this related to the DPF. A lot of the French cars use an oil additive in the DPF system and it needs refilling around 50K miles. I wasn't too bothered about it, so after some haggling, I parted with £1500 and had bought myself a C8. On the drive home, the MIL came on, Anti-pollution fault was displayed and the went into restricted performance. I put it down to low DPF oil.
Now the fun begins,
Got the car on a ramp and replaced both front lower suspension arms, both front ARB links, 1 rear brake caliper, both front wiper blades (£40!!!!) and serviced it.
Booked it into my local Citroen dealer to have the oil refilled and the counter reset. I was quoted £200 for this. They also found that the fuel filler sensor was faulty, another £120 fitted. Collected the car, when the car was driven to the MOT station, the the MIL came on, Anti-pollution fault was displayed and the went into restricted performance again. Recycled the ignition and the light etc went out.Got the car MOT's and taxed, then returned the car to Citroen for them to have a look at again. They said something about the fuel filler sensor not connected properly, done that, cleared the fault. I was advised to fill up with diesel and go for a drive up the motorway, to regen the DPF. Done this. everything ok. Happy again.
Next morning, on the way in to work, the light came on yet again, not happy. Spoke to Citroen, who said they would have another look. They gave me a list of faults, that included a couple of short circuits in the DPF oil system. Having lost faith and not wanting to pay the dealer prices, I took the car to a local independent specialist. (There is very little info on the net regarding the system). They confirmed that there was some electrical issues with the dpf system, so having no choice, I told them to go ahead and do the £560 of work. Picked the car up from them, didn't take long before the light came on again, getting very fed up now. So, back to them, they looked again and said there was a new fault, turbo boost pressure switch, £60, after £560, whats another £60. Fitted that, made it maybe 8 miles and the light came on again. Back to the garage, the guy asked if I could leave the car with them for a few days and they would try and sort it, check the vac system etc. So I made plans to leave it with them for a week. Just before I took it back, we had a look for any split pipes etc ourselves. I have never seen such a complicated breather/DPF system in my life. For a 10 year old car, it looks a nightmare waiting to happen. Couldn't find anything, so dropped the car off and left it with them for about 6 days. Spoke to the garage, they thought it was a vac solenoid, £50. Go for it. When I collected the car, i said if it hadn't fixed it this time, I wouldn't be back. fed up with throwing money at it. Lasted 4 miles this time.
So, after driving and trying to monitor when the light came on, I have found the conditions for it to happen. Road speed or gear doesn't effect it but engine speed does. At somewhere around a constant 1800/1900 rpm for a few seconds, causes the light to come on. You can drive through the revs or over run back down with no effect and as long as you drive around that rpm it's fine. Me and the wife went to York for a long weekend before Christmas, done 600 miles and only had the light come on 3 times. I have bought a cheap OBD code reader, does see any codes but will clear them. Only takes a few seconds but you have to turn off the engine and just have the ignition on, engine not running. I have had to change my driving technique to suit, but it works. It will sit on the motorway at 70 all day and do around 40 mpg (2500 rpm ish)
So, the moral of the story is, don't buy French, Don't buy a car with a DPF.
I will run round in it for a few months, to try and get some use out of it. Reckon I will look at something like a Mondeo estate TDCI next time.
We hope to move house later this year, (some where in Lincolnshire, but that's another long and complicated story) so the 1 might have to find a new home if it happens.
Hope I haven't bored you all too much,