hdi 1.4 8v year 52 (98000 miles) Lacks Power

Took it to citroen dealers ,
They said no fault codes.
They said injectors seem ok on there machine but they think i should replace them anyway because they might not be ok.
they also said the turbo is spining but it might not be working.
im bald from ripping my hair out lol.
theres probebly a tiny hole somewere what do you think ,it runs fine starts first time
its just got no guts in it.
help.

Can anyone give me a list sensors citroen c3 hdi 8v engine has please .

Can anyone give me a list sensors citroen c3 hdi 8v engine has please .

I will have a go for you, but you should be aware that faulty sensors will be showing up an error code and you say in your previous post that citroen don't get any codes.

Crank Sensor a picture of its location is here diesel-c3-tips/c3-1-4-hdi-engine-occasi ... -t332.html

Cam sensor

Air Mass Sensor (MAF)] has in integrated IAT

Coolant Temperature Sensor

Accelerator Pedal

Fuel Pressure Sensor


The vehicle speed sensor, the clutch sensor and the brake pedal switch signals are fed to the Engine ECU.


The 16v engine has more sensors as this lists only the sensors found on the 8v 1.4 HDi 2002 shape cars, and I bet I have missed out one obvious one


Well there is one sensor that I forgot, the 'atmospheric pressure sensor'. Its not one you can change as its part of the engine ECU.

There is also an actuator (not a sensor), but worth a mention (only because it doesn't get mentioned elsewhere much) that is the 'fuel flow actuator' mounted on the injection pump. The delphi (16v) system has a roughly equivalent 'deactivator of the 3rd piston of the high pressure fuel pump'.

Where is the cam sensor on 8v engine.
i know the crank sensor is behind the wheel.
help welcome

my revs are at about 400 when idel ,they should be around 1000 what would cause this,
and the lack of power.
and were is the cam sensor because i dont have any codes but im trying all sensors now.
please help .
how can i get revs back to normal .

groundhog2378 wrote:Where is the cam sensor on 8v engine.

Its going to be at the top of the engine, on the same side as the cam belt. Look near the big EGR pipe.
You will probably have to remove the top part of the cam belt cover to get to the cam position sensor.

my revs are at about 400 when idel ,they should be around 1000 what would cause this,

The idle speed is controlled by the engine ecu. Cam and crank position sensors feed engine speed and position to the engine ecu which then enables the fuel to flow from each injector when required to keep the idle speed constant.

Faulty sensors normally bring up some sort of error as they are monitored electronically and checked against other sensors and 'expected readings' in the ECU.

Its a guess, but sightly educated? that it could be something mechanical, like a damaged valve or piston.
You could try a compression test to show those sort of problems as poorly sealing valves, worn piston rings, damaged pistons and bent con rods. A burnt or broken valve probably won't show and error code, and may not even make a noise, but you will get a loss or power and it could affect the idle because the ECU can't compensate the injector fuel flow enough to make up for the lack of compression (its way out of an expected condition to the ecu).

Thank you for your help C3driver52,
my problems started after i had a mobile mechanic fit timing belt crank pully,engine mount,and cleaned all the injectors and replace seals.
my car passed mot on smoke test ,i dont have any smoke from exhaust only white puff on cold start up.
my revs are at around 300-400 ,
i had lack of power as soon as car was returned to me after work done.
the clutch is high and i have to rev the hell out of it to prevent it from staling in first gear.
some times in 3rd gear i get very bad judder,and 4 is a no no unless going down hill.
the mechanic must have hit the crankshaft sensor when fitting the new crank pully because he has put it on with a cable tie.
i will take a look at it when i get a spare day.
it is like driving a 1.cc engine gutless slow build up of power on hills.
i cant take it back to the mechanic,so if you could narrow down the things it might be that would be helpful.
i diognosis man told me i have a vacuum loss,
is the compression test a different thing i need to have done and will this help to find one of the faults you mentioned.
im guessing we are talking a lot of repair bills for the bent valves or the other things you mentioned.
thanks for your help,im not giving up so please come back with any more info you have that might help.
if you need any more info about my car to help get answer just ask.
thanks again

Hi groundhog2378

There is lost of information in your previous post, I will try and explain what it means and hopefully give you some ideas on where to go next.

my problems started after i had a mobile mechanic fit timing belt crank pully,engine mount,and cleaned all the injectors and replace seals.

I think this is a good starting point. The problem occurred only after the work, so it could be due to the work reportedly carried out. Its going to be worth checking all the things that got touched in the list above, and all the things that are affected by the things above.

A mistake in fitting the new timing belt can damage valves and pistons which reduces the power of the engine.

Cleaning injectors incorrectly can damage them and reduce power from the engine.

the mechanic must have hit the crankshaft sensor when fitting the new crank pully because he has put it on with a cable tie.
i will take a look at it when i get a spare day.

The crank pulley was changed and the crank sensor got damaged, this needs fixing before you can do much more diagnosing of the idle speed and smooth running of the engine. Its not too tricky to change the crank position sensor, slacken the belt, remove the pulley nut and pulley, replace the sensor.

some times in 3rd gear i get very bad judder,and 4 is a no no unless going down hill.

A wobbly crank sensor won't help smooth engine running. But neither will damaged valves or poor functioning injectors.

the clutch is high and i have to rev the hell out of it to prevent it from staling in first gear.

The stalling is probably due to the idle, the clutches are high on the C3, but if its very high, the clutch may need replacing soon.

i diognosis man told me i have a vacuum loss,

The vacuum system consists of a vacuum pump run by the engine which delivers 'vacuum' to the EGR valve (some older models) Brake Servo, (on 16 valve 1.4 diesel engines the turbo charger electro valve is vacuum driven), So vacuum loss will affect EGR and Braking on yours.
Blank off the EGR to temporarily diagnose EGR problems or use a stethoscope or length of hose pipe to listen out for vacuum leaks for the vacuum pipes.

is the compression test a different thing i need to have done and will this help to find one of the faults you mentioned.

The compression test the state of the valves and can tell you if the valves etc are ok. It can show that valves are ok or leaking, this helps to prove or eliminate candidates. This is not a particularly common test to do on a diesel, but under normal circumstances cars don't come back from the repairer worse than before they went in. Injectors tend to play up more than valves on the C3, but that's without someone changing the cam belt.

im guessing we are talking a lot of repair bills for the bent valves or the other things you mentioned.

I don't know the cost, its time consuming rather than expensive parts. Last time I had to change valves (not a C3), I took the head off myself and refitted it after a workshop skimmed the head and replaced valves for me. This saved time and therefore cost. If I had done the valves myself, I would have saved even more money. A complete head is about £125, plus a head gasket and cylinder head bolts (plus time).


The vacuum system is cheap to repair, it just takes time to track down the hole that is causing the problem.

The crank sensor and the vacuum loss are the first to do. Then take it from there.

Thank you so much for all your help.
its the most help i have had so far.
i will up date when i have had these things looked into.
thanks again.