2001 Primastar/Vivaro/Trafic - coil light +no power problem | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

Tue 26 Mar 2019 22:14

2001 Primastar/Vivaro/Trafic - coil light +no power problem - Henry Kasch

Hi i have an issue with my van, where it has very little power below 2200rpm, after that it gets better (for example in first gear its a very sudden burst of power after 2200rpm). Also quite often the yellow coil light in the dash comes on and then sometimes (not always) when this light comes on, the van goes into limp mode.

What i've done so far, is that i cleaned the MAF sensor and cleaned the EGR valve which was very dirty and clunked up. At first i thought t kind of helped, but the problem is still there.

I also read that if you disconnect the MAF sensor, start the engine and problems disappear, then the MAF is faulty. The internet is full of instances, when people disconnect their MAF and then suddenly their engine runs better. Well, funnily enough for me it was the complete opposite. when i disconnected the MAF, the motor started ok, seemed to rev fine and then when i started to drive, it lost all power. It was ok to start moving from 0 but after getting moving it couldnt accelerate at all, and i barely got over a hill in second gear. It wasnt coughing or running rough, just no power at all.

When i reconnected the MAF, then all was the same as before disconnecting.

Does anyone have any suggestions i could try or check, before going to a garage? Dont really have the resources to do that at this moment.

Any help really appreciated

Best

Henry

Edited by Henry Kasch on 26/03/2019 at 22:16

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Wed 27 Mar 2019 22:33

2001 Primastar/Vivaro/Trafic - coil light +no power problem - Graham567

I had the same symptoms as you.The first call would to be to replace the maf sensor.DO NOT BUY a cheap £30 Ebay one.They don't work on these vans.You need a genuine Siemens/Bosch which will cost around £120.
The next thing to check is the boost pipes.There is a small black pipe that connects round the back near the EGR valve.Remove the pipe and insert a small drill bit into the hole to clear.It's usually blocked.I would also turn your egr valve 180 degrees around effectively blocking off the egr.This makes the van run better and doesn't block the turbo pipes again.I also put Miller's diesel additive in the van and it runs alot better with it.If the van goes into limp mode when driving up hills then it's the turbo boost pressure valve on the right hand bulk head that needs replacing.

Hope all that helps.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Mon 1 Apr 2019 15:46

2001 Primastar/Vivaro/Trafic - coil light +no power problem - Henry Kasch

I had the same symptoms as you.The first call would to be to replace the maf sensor.DO NOT BUY a cheap £30 Ebay one.They don't work on these vans.You need a genuine Siemens/Bosch which will cost around £120. The next thing to check is the boost pipes.There is a small black pipe that connects round the back near the EGR valve.Remove the pipe and insert a small drill bit into the hole to clear.It's usually blocked.I would also turn your egr valve 180 degrees around effectively blocking off the egr.This makes the van run better and doesn't block the turbo pipes again.I also put Miller's diesel additive in the van and it runs alot better with it.If the van goes into limp mode when driving up hills then it's the turbo boost pressure valve on the right hand bulk head that needs replacing. Hope all that helps.

Thank you Graham for this information, it was really helpful. I did all the things except replacement of maf. The egr was almost completely blocked, the boost sensor was full of gunk and that little pipe behind the egr (which actrually leads to the boost sensor was also blocked. As a result of this cleaning there is a lot more power on lower revs and for now it seems that the coil light isn't coming on either.

What still persists though is a momentary loss of power that is most prominent at 2800-3000rpm, where it suddenly loses power for a split second and then accelerates really well from 3000.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 9 Apr 2019 13:02

2001 Primastar/Vivaro/Trafic - coil light +no power problem - Henry Kasch

*UPDATE*

After seeing that cleaning the pressure sensor and that little pipe behind the EGR valve helped a bit, i did one more thing. The pressure sensor is directly connected to this little pipe behind the EGR via a hose. I realised that i cleaned the pipe and the sensor, but not the hose connecting them. Turned out the hose was full of black stuff too, it was in liquid state by the way. After cleaning that hose the van now runs perfectly (atleast compared to how it ran before). So if you clean these bits, do not forget to clean the hose also.

Mind you it wasn't *instantly fixed* after cleaning the hose and starting the engine. The computer had to adapt to the new conditions for like 2 days (i drove around for about an hour both days). It progressively got better during this time and now runs great. I realised i never really audibly heard the turbo on this van before, now i can hear it spool up.

Edited by Henry Kasch on 09/04/2019 at 13:04

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 9 Apr 2019 22:28

2001 Primastar/Vivaro/Trafic - coil light +no power problem - Graham567

Glad you got it fixed.Thanks for coming back and letting us know.
It is still worth rotating the egr valve around as this stops the black stuff getting back into the pipes etc.It also runs a bit better.My van has been through it's MOT 3 times since rotating the EGR and has passed all emissions tests.

Edited by Graham567 on 09/04/2019 at 22:30

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Ask Honest John

Sell Your Car

Real MPG

Fuel Calculator