2013 C4 Picasso diesel 1.6 Hdi not starting

Wig

Hi everyone

I just got a 2013 C4 picasso diesel 1.6 from a trusted source the car has been with them since new and it has never had a problem. And regularly serviced by citroen - FSH.
The car had a major service by citroen just a couple of weeks ago, filled it up this morning from sainsbury's full tank fill up 45 litres. It then drove to work for 40 minutes no problem.

The battery was 100% before this, stop start was functioning as normal. Obviously all the below, has run down the battery significantly, now it has a red battery light, but still enough charge left to continue to turn engine over.

But when I left work at 7PM:
I started the car ok, drove away 10 feet within the car park and it stopped and cut off.

Tried to restart it and it just turned over and over and over for about 15 secs without starting and then stops trying to start. There is also an engine management light "yellow engine" symbol bottom of dash.

I did this procedure again and again and again, usually the car just would not start but a few times it did start, sometimes only for a second before stopping again.
* once I had it started and I left it on idle but it cut out after 10 seconds.
* once I had it started and I revved it high but it cut out after 10 seconds.


And it would not lock the doors or shut down after trying and failing to start. I discon/reconnected the battery and then it allowed me to lock it.

Any ideas? Are these symptoms of DPF failure? or a turbo fail? (to answer the question below I am only asking). Although I just read a different forum that says turbo failure won't happen if regularly serviced.

I am going to try to call the AA out first of all, and if they can't fix it I will have it taken to Citroen.

EDITED to remove unecesary info.

System

Nothing to do with a DPF failure, no idea why you thought it would be.

As for the rest, it needs to be looked at by someone. You're not going to get a satisfactory answer or suggestions on a forum from someone who hasn't seen it.

sevenhills

Wig wrote: »

The battery was 100% before tonight, stop start was functioning as normal. Obviously all the below, has run down the battery significantly, now it has a red battery light top left dash corner just above the green "passing vehicle" thingy. But still enough charge left to continue to turn engine over.

You dont seem to know much about cars. Try to check the connections to the battery, if its over 5 years old, buy a new battery.

arcon5

Could be loads of things. Although definately not typical symptoms of dpf failure.
Although more than anything it sounds like your battery is either knackered and/or alternator knackered.

Have somebody look at it

custardy

Wig wrote: »

Hi everyone

I just got a C4 picasso diesel 1.6 from a trusted source the car has been with them since new and it has never had a problem. Not sure if it is "grand" or not.
The car had a major service by citroen just a couple of weeks ago, filled it up this morning from sainsbury's full tank fill up 45 litres (nothing unusual there) it then drove to work for 40 minutes no problem.

4 days in with no problems, drove to work fine this morning but when I left work at 7PM

The battery was 100% before tonight, stop start was functioning as normal. Obviously all the below, has run down the battery significantly, now it has a red battery light top left dash corner just above the green "passing vehicle" thingy. But still enough charge left to continue to turn engine over.

I started the car ok, drove away 10 feet within the car park and it stopped and cut off.

Tried to restart it and it just turned over and over and over for about 15 secs without starting and then stops trying to start.

At this point it will not let you lock the doors when you get out. The dash is lit up and will not go off, you can press the start button and it will again turn the engine over and over.... but it won't start and I was left in this situation. So, I decided to disconnect the battery -to reset the computer-
when this was done, the dash returned to normal...i.e. "Put foot on brake to start" message appeared
and the hazard lights were flashing.
I was now able to lock the doors - the hazard lights kept flashing
I unlocked the doors - the hazard lights went off

I could now try to start the car again...but the same turnover but no start
There is also an engine management light "yellow engine" symbol bottom of dash.

I did this procedure again and again and again, usually the car just would not start but a few times it did start, sometimes only for a second before stopping again. and
once I had it started and I left it on idle but it cut out after 10 seconds.
once I had it started and I revved it high but it cut out after 10 seconds.

Any ideas? Are these symptoms of DPF failure?

I have now left it in the car park and will go back to deal with it tomorrow.

I am going to try to call the AA out first of all, and if they can't fix it I will have it taken to Citroen.


Some things I'd like to know:
What is difference between grand pic and normal pic?
The grand is the larger 7 seat version
When the car would not let me lock it, I could lock the front doors with the key but the rear doors were still unlocked with no way of locking the rear doors.?
Yes your central locking needs battery power,the key actuates a switch for the motors on the other doors
I could not let the parking brake off, if for example I wanted to push it somehere
Again,electric handbrake. See your manual for the manual procedure
If the battery went flat how would I release the parking brake? I read on google last night for a different model that you can undo parking with the key, but I cannot see any key by the parking brake button.
See your manual
I looked at the battery because all that attempted starting has reduced the battery charge significantly, I thought about taking it off to charge it...but wow, looks difficult...How to remove the battery for charging or for replacement?

You dont say what year it is. With information comes better assistance.
For me it all points to the battery as the first thing to check.
If you have AA cover then get them out to get it jump started and give it check over.

Just to add,our Picasso petrol (AKA the party bus) battery died without warning.
Drove it to the gym,came out the gym and it was dead.
Even after a jump it would run but not take a starting charge.
You could be in the same boat.

poppy12345

custardy wrote: »

You dont say what year it is. With information comes better assistance.
For me it all points to the battery as the first thing to check.
If you have AA cover then get them out to get it jump started and give it check over.

Just to add,our Picasso petrol (AKA the party bus) battery died without warning.
Drove it to the gym,came out the gym and it was dead.
Even after a jump it would run but not take a starting charge.
You could be in the same boat.

It's in the title...

Wig

Subject line says 2013, forgot to put it in the message.

Battery was fine, stop start only works if the battery is fully charged,

And it has good juice power to constantly turn the engine over, it is only after repeatedly turning the engine over that the battery has been drained a lot.

However, so there is no confusion, I was trying to lock the doors with the key when the battery was disconnected.

I doubt it is the battery. But we will soon find out.

n217970

Sounds like a lack of diesel at the rail.

Gloomendoom

Or just a dud battery.

n217970

In my experience dead batteries don't tend to repeatedly turn the engine over again and again. I do realise the starting power draw on a stop/start engine is lower then a conventional however I would have thought that if the battery can turn the engine over multiple times then it would have started on an early attempt and kept running.

If a diesel engine can turn over but not start it would suggest a lack of fuel - diesel or air. The fact after multiple attempts the car started and ran for 10 seconds would suggest fuel pressure.

OP - I have just remembered my dad had a similar problem on a 508 with the 1.6hdi stop/start engine last year (albeit without the wappy electrics but hey it's a Citreon). When it did start it sounded terrible and died after a few seconds. Once I got down and plugged my Peugeot Planet laptop in (dealer software) I quickly found the codes for the rail pressure sensor. You need to get fault codes read on Lexia (Citreon software). The AA might be able to help but the 508 threw out about 20 seperate errors and would be easy to misread.

Wig

I don't know why people are saying "battery" when I have already said the battery is good, you don't get 20 - 30 mins of cranking time out of a dead battery.


The first thing that came to my mind was a fuel problem.


Anyway, the AA man said it was no fuel at the rail, there is a problem with the fuel somewhere from the tank to the fuel rail. Either a blockage or a fuel pump problem, he tried to suck fuel through at the rail end but nothing came through...which he said was not right.


It is now with Citroen.




Thanks everyone.