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Citroen C5 Turbo HDi 2 litre - Turbo or what is it - Iain Scott
Last July after approximately 2-3 hours driving at 135 –140 k/hour ( 75-85 mph) the turbo power cut out –on a hill ie the engine is under load. No unusual noise & no warning lights. The next morning, engine cold – no problem.

The Citroen main dealer said it was ‘either the turbo or the ‘electric valve regulator’ for the turbo & fitted the latter. The problem continued, but after parking the car overnight & re-booting the computer when starting the problem always disappears.

Six monthe in UK including motorway driving – no problems.

On returning to France & on the autoroute South, after 4-5 hours of driving on climbing hills between Lyon & Grenoble the turbo power failed.
After re-booting the computer & driving gently & presumably letting the engine cool a little the turbo re-started! When cold the next morning – no problems with full turbo power.

The dealer has diagnosed – code P2562 which I am told is for a ‘faulty wastegate pressure regulator valve’.

I have been quoted 1,858 euros – approx £1616 which includes the 5 hours labour, to replace the turbo.

I am a retired garage owner (74 yrs old) & out of touch with modernity!
Your advice would be greatly appreciated. I have looked after the car in every respect ie regular servicing at the main dealer etc etc & never driven ‘hard’. I intend to keep it as I cannot afford the new one!

Yours sincerely

Iain Davidson

Citroen C5 Turbo HDi 2 litre - Turbo or what is it - Peter.N.

Hi Ian

I know exactly how you feel, I'm 71 and have always done my own repairs and have stuck to pre 2000 cars so I can continue to do so, but I have just succumbed to a 2.0Hdi 406 but I have also bought a lexia code reader - just in case.

That quote sounds pretty pricy to me, is the pressure regulator actually part of the turbo and not available seperately? I would take it to a diesel specialist, they usually know more about them than the dealer and are usually cheaper. If you could do it yourself a secondhand turbo would be very much cheaper. I can still bend just about enough to take on these jobs - but I don't know for how much longer!

Peter

Citroen C5 Turbo HDi 2 litre - Turbo or what is it - craig-pd130

It may be worth posting this query on a Peugeot / Citroen forum, they are more likely to be able to narrow down the exact meaning of the fault code.

However, from my experience of the 2.0 PSA / Ford TDCI diesel, it can refer to one of a few possibilities.

The turbo doesn't have a conventional wastegate, it has a set of vanes or blades which direct the exhaust gases. The actuator for these vanes is a vacuum-operated device, controlled by a solenoid which applies or diverts vacuum to the actuator.

Either the vac diaphragm can fail (rare); the variable nozzle mechanism in the turbo housing gets soot build-up and starts sticking in the high-boost position, causing overboost and the engine to go into "limp home" mode (more common); the vac solenoid can be faulty; or the boost pressure sensor is faulty.

Just slinging a new turbo at the car, as the dealer recommends, is potentially a huge waste of money without further investigation.

Citroen C5 Turbo HDi 2 litre - Turbo or what is it - Iain Scott
Many thanks for your excellent advice. The dealer is still for fitting a new turbo but a fault every six months cannot justify this expense & no proof it will cure the broblem!
The first time it failed I forgot to mention that the 'electrovan' solenoid? was changed & the pressures tested. No other fault was found.

So, if it is unlikley to be the vac diagram ie rare, is it worth changing the boost pressure sensor? Is this a big job?

I cannot understand why it only happens after a long run, & then a short stop- when the engine presumably heats up or the oil feed to the turbo is restricted & hence when restarting & going up the next hill or several on the motorway it cuts the turbo out?

Is the boost pressure sensor the same as the 'wastegate pressure regulator valve' which the citroen code P2562 diagnoses?

Again many thanks for your help.
Iain Davidson
Citroen C5 Turbo HDi 2 litre - Turbo or what is it - unthrottled
Fault code P2562: Turbo pressure solenoid valve. Valve position too distant in relation to reference value, (repeat value for turbo incorrect)

I think this is a derivitive of the overboost problem. As previously mentioned, once boost pressure exceeds a maximum value, the engine will limit fuelling to a very low level to prevent the turbo from spooling at all. This is inconvenient but protects your turbo from permanent damage. The fact that the fault keeps occuring is an indicator that the boost pressure sensor is working correctly-leave it alone!

If you feel confident, I think it is well worth taking the turbo off the manifold and cleaning the soot out of the vanes (if it's VGT) or the wastegate itself if is conventional. Turbos are mechanically very simple devices; just leave the CHRA (middle bit!) well alone and you'll be fine. You don't want to disturb the spindle which the turbine and compressors wheels are attached to. It can spin to ~200, 000RPM, so balance and clearences are critical.
Citroen C5 Turbo HDi 2 litre - Turbo or what is it - craig-pd130

The 'wastegate pressure regulator valve' will be the solenoid which controls the vacuum supply to the turbo's variable-nozzle mechanism. It could be the solenoid has failed again (it sounds like it has been replaced before), OR it could be a faulty vacuum pipe between the solenoid and VNT mechanism.

As the other poster mentioned, the fact the car goes into limp mode implies the boost pressure sensor is actually doing its job .... although it might be working over-sensitively.

Replacing the above is going to be a LOT cheaper than a turbo ...

Citroen C5 Turbo HDi 2 litre - Turbo or what is it - Citroen c5 2.2 hdi

Hi,

I was wondering what was the fault in your car. I have the same problem and so far paid £190 to the dealer to tell me that the car has a fault. (that I knew already thanks to my friendly mechanic and his diagnostic tool that returned codes P0380 - pre heater circuit and P0245 turbo charger solenoid valve).

Despite my attempts citroen bolton insisted on replacing glow plugs at a cost of £220 without the guarantee that this will resolve the issue. I saw no suggestions of doing that in replies in here but glow plugs based on the main service engineer from citroen bolton are operating most of the time even when engine is running. What a bunch of nonsense. I am Polish but contrary to the popular belief I am not an idiot. So I decided to thank citroen for nothing and try the net to find solutions that will not involve gambling my money away for citroen to practise their poor mechanic skills. Its worth to mention that if I went to my Polish mechanic I would not be charged for information that I brought to them myself. Also my mechanic had a university degree and has common sense and not just greed to skim people out of hard earnd £££. Rant over.

Now I would appreciate if you could let me know what part have you replaced. My car goes in to limp mode when up hill or under slight load. On the dash board error message is completely different from the diagnostic and it rereads (ESP/ASR not functioning followed by antipolutant fault) ESP don’t work in limp mode apparently. Antipolutant fault suppresses even me as FAP was replaced 3 months ago and 3 L of ELOYS was purred in to special tank. Diagnostic does not show any problems with this but the dashboard has other ideas.

I like Citroen C5 but I do not like the fact that unlike in VW, skoda or Audi where once you connect diagnostic tool you know what part is faulty even if its some insignificant controller buried in other part. With Citroen it seems those fault codes mean nothing other than a punter comes in with a fault in his car - lets get all his money by replacing random parts and hope that the problem will go away. It is PATHETIC that even main delaer can't fix and guarantee that what was replaced will solve the problem.

Citroen C5 Turbo HDi 2 litre - Turbo or what is it - madf

I understand these have variable turbo vanes which alter angle under load. In time these get jammed with crud and stick.. usually when very hot. A dismantle and clean does work I believe (VAG have the same on some cars)

Citroen C5 Turbo HDi 2 litre - Turbo or what is it - dieselnut

I had a C5 a few years ago & had the same symptoms you describe. It was caused by the FAP being clogged. I removed it & pressure washed it & had no further problems during the next year that I owned the car.

As you have recently had the FAP renewed I think the FAP is probably not regenerating.

Suggest the EOLYS fluid is not being injected into the fuel tank when you fill up.

Could be the EOLYS pump not working or the fuel cap detector magnet could have dropped off.

I would suggest you manually add some EOLYS to the fuel tank then go for a good run with a few revs to regen the FAP & see if that cures it.

Citroen C5 Turbo HDi 2 litre - Turbo or what is it - Citroen c5 2.2 hdi

Thanks for your reply.

It sounds reasonable to assume that ELOYS is not pumped in but I would have thought it would show on the diagnostic tool we've used. Some codes were there so we have reset them all and then I took the car for a spin and I got the limp. The diagnostic showed: P0380 - pre heater circuit and P0245 turbo charger solenoid valve.

Today I took the control pipe off the EGR plugged it with a pin not to cause a fault code and will see if the problem occurs again.

Also I've discovered spray leak from the intercooler that concerns me and may (I think) have something to do with this issue. I read that most intercoolers can be a bit oily but I put up a piece of A4 paper and went a mile. Took the paper out and it looked like black spray splash on the bottom. This might mean that when the engine is under stress more pressure is in the turbo system and the difference in pressure between in and out might be too much and that's why the error. But I hope not. New intercooler £200.

In other news: Good News. If your car lags in response when you touch the throttle it might be:

1) blocked injectors - Just flashed it with 10x dose.
2) your MAF sensor is dirty.

The result? I have never seen my old Citroen C5 so responsive and I got 54miles out of 7.3l diesel as to previous 44miles to 7.3l. At least one result.

Cleaning the MAF sensor - helps a lot. Here is how I have done it.
IN C5 2.2 HDI it’s a whole unit unlike in Audi or VW so it is a bit more awkward if you using domestic tools. I have used Lidl brand Sonic Cleaner bath, like jewellers use to clean jewellery, deionised water, isopropanol in a can.

1 remove the unit from the air filter top
2 with isopropanol spray inside of the unit to get rid of oil
3 poor the deionised water into the sonic cleaner place the unit in the Sonic Cleaner for 2-3 minutes. Make sure that the deionised water touches all the elements inside. (Do not worry about the metal plate in the inner groove)
3 After removing it from the sonic cleaner, spray isopropanol again
4 dry with air jet but gently with the sensor

you can repeat the cleaning process, I did.

Citroen C5 Turbo HDi 2 litre - Turbo or what is it - Citroen c5 2.2 hdi

This did not solve the Antipolutant Fault.

Also found that one of the fuses marked Batery+ in the handbook was missing from fuse box. After replacing I could hear the whirling at the back. Presumably EOLYS being pomped in or something but it was doing it for a very long time. Not sure who removed that fuse but after replacing it I took it for a ride. Service light and Engine light went off few yards up but when I took the car on a road to see if the error comes back - it did.

On some foreign forums I've found that some membrain near the turbo may have bursted. Symptoms are very similar. Car sometimes has bags of power, some other times it feels tired and other times just goes into limp.

Has any of you had any similar experience that resulted in replacing some membrain? I have a very dirty intercooler. Probably leaks but shouldn't be full of oil. Is this connected? Burst membrain - oil in the intercooler. ?

I will clean the FAP over the weekend and see if I can establish if there is any EOLYS in the tank as I have found the tank and the 2 white button cup and I know how to refill it.

Looking forward for any suggestions and experiences.