no power at low revs

hi my wifes c3 2003 hdi 1.4 diesel 130000 has had timing belt and water pump done, it has an issue when driving in low revs it could take an eternity to pick up speed or revs, going up hill is nightmare you can drop it a gear or 2 and she takes off like normal, when you do this theres a lot of smoke from the exhaust... my regular mechanic says it could be egr or airflow meter anyone out there had this and fixed it??? other than this its a cracker wee motor...used to be a rocket ship...

oh also when driving there a 3x long beeps and the temp gauge goes to red while beeping??? then the gauge returns to normal then a few mins later the dreaded beeps return does the same again 3 long beeps and the gauge goes to red then settles again don't have any water problems heater works fine etc etc

any links to cleaning/removal refitting egr ??
or blanking off egr to test this and reprograming???
how to test airflow meter??
whats the 3 long beeps about???

Hello alancarmichael

alancarmichael wrote:it has an issue when driving in low revs it could take an eternity to pick up speed or revs, going up hill is nightmare you can drop it a gear or 2 and she takes off like normal

Could be MAF.

Disconnect the MAF and try driving to see if it improves, if it does, you have found a MAF fault. Check Euro Car Parts for a genuine replacement part.

alancarmichael wrote:when you do this theres a lot of smoke from the exhaust...

Could be a faulty injector. You may find a faulty injector with a diesel injector leakoff test

alancarmichael wrote:my regular mechanic says it could be egr

The test for EGR stuck open is to blank it off, quite a simple job and if the fault disappears while blanking the EGR, you have found your fault and stripping it out and cleaning would be advised.

alancarmichael wrote:oh also when driving there a 3x long beeps and the temp gauge goes to red while beeping???

What is your coolant level like? Have you checked it and what is the level?

alancarmichael wrote:any links to cleaning/removal refitting egr ??

Yes, very similar to https://citroenc3owners.com/diesel-c3-ti ... -t289.html and the blanking plates are very cheap here on ebay.

alancarmichael wrote:or blanking off egr to test this and reprograming???

No reprogramming needed. Just blank it off. You can get some ideas from the EGR post above.

alancarmichael wrote:how to test airflow meter??

Disconnect it and go for a run

thanks for all the ideas I will try them looking for blanking plate for egr is there any picks videos or advice as to where egr plate should be inserted?? do you need gasket??

sorry for taking so long to get back email alerts where going to spam box

checked water level dead on middle of max min....

tried to disconnect what I thought was air flow sensor... no difference unless it wasn't the correct thing...

I sent you pic of the one I disconnected

ps any pics or info on how to blank egr would be really helpful

alancarmichael wrote:I sent you pic of the one I disconnected

You are welcome to attach pictures to your posts, then buttons to attach are down the page slightly.

alancarmichael wrote:ps any pics or info on how to blank egr would be really helpful

I posted a link on the EGR removal, this should give you some help to identify the location of the EGR valve.

C3driver52 wrote:alancarmichael wrote:
any links to cleaning/removal refitting egr ??

Yes, very similar to https://citroenc3owners.com/diesel-c3-ti ... -t289.html

alancarmichael wrote:thanks for all the ideas I will try them looking for blanking plate for egr is there any picks videos or advice as to where egr plate should be inserted?? do you need gasket??

The shim is inserted between the EGR body and the metal it attaches to. You don't need a gasket.

alancarmichael wrote:tried to disconnect what I thought was air flow sensor... no difference unless it wasn't the correct thing...

I sent you pic of the one I disconnected

I didn't see the picture, but disconnect the connector from the box that is part of the big air intake pipe near the air filter.

MAF = Mass Airflow Sensor

Looks a bit like this on the 8v diesel

back again to the c3

bought good oil and filter the other day went to friendly mechanic he changed the oil etc and I talked to him about other no power issue I also ordered blanking plate..for egr

now on futher investigation we found there is no suck from the vacuum line going to the turbo?? I checked local scrap yard for one no joy now on talking to c3 dealer I was told there are 2 of these which are the same 1 for turbo and 1 for egr..

so I was thinking if I use the blank plate to block of egr swap the connections for turbo and egr and the pipes and try using the egr one for the turbo I would kill 2 birds with the one stone and not cost me anything..

ie swap connectors and pipes as I would not need the egr one to operate(as it would be blanked) but it would be plugged in to the turbo one(which doesn't seem to be working) if this was necessary just to see(maybe the egr one is fucked too)

hoping the egr one is working to try this...

PPS while I was there he noticed the engine is vibrating he told me there is a cam chain which has plastic guides that some times break and allow the chain to rattle has anyone ever heard of this and could you explain please as he said if it broke it would destroy the engine... just another we issue to make my day

thanks for the advice above and hope you understand the jist of thee above any info on the ideas about blnking egr and swapping the egr vacuum with turbo one as a test would be great and info on engine vibrating

alancarmichael wrote:now on futher investigation we found there is no suck from the vacuum line going to the turbo?? I checked local scrap yard for one no joy now on talking to c3 dealer I was told there are 2 of these which are the same 1 for turbo and 1 for egr..

This only applies to the 16v Diesel and your 'about my car' doesn't mention that its a 16v, so it an 8v.

The vacuum solenoid found on the 16v C3 diesel controls the variable vane on the turbo, the 8v has a fixed vane and doesn't require any control.

If the car is not generating any vacuum or the supply pipe is damaged then no matter how much swapping you do, it won't work.

If you suspect a vacuum leak, maybe you should investigate this?

Lexia and trigger and test the 2 vacuum solenoids.

PPS while I was there he noticed the engine is vibrating he told me there is a cam chain which has plastic guides that some times break and allow the chain to rattle has anyone ever heard of this and could you explain please as he said if it broke it would destroy the engine... just another we issue to make my day

I think it would be useful to identify your engine correctly as only the 16v has a chain that links the 2 cams and the 8v only has one camshaft.

Any cam timing failure could cause damage to the engine requiring repair. Destroy? Probably not, but uneconomical to repair, quite possibly.

Called into citeon she is 16v electro valve 43+vat and cam timing chain with tensioner 70+vat..now does the 16v bit mean I need todo more on the blanking egr??

alancarmichael wrote:Called into citeon she is 16v electro valve 43+vat and cam timing chain with tensioner 70+vat..now does the 16v bit mean I need todo more on the blanking egr??

No difference for the EGR blanking, but there is a guide in the link above on how to remove and clean and while its off, test it.

You can find the turbo boost electrovalve for £40 inc the vat here on ebay, but it can be an expensive journey just changing parts on the C3 without testing or diagnosing they are actually faulty.