Citroen Saxo 1.5D 1997 - Losing Power Intermittant Fault

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Fri 11 Mar 2011 12:19
Citroen Saxo 1.5D 1997 - Losing Power Intermittant Fault - Taters

I have the above car that’s been running fine until Tuesday on the drive home from work (25 miles) it was fine until about 3 miles from home when it juddered/lost power for split second but the was fine. It happened again after 1000m but was fine then after a further 1500m it lost power a 3 rd time but this time stalled refusing to start.

Engine would turn over but not run.

After about 5 mins tried to start engine ran for approximately 5 seconds before coming to a stop, did this 3 or 4 times before starting and running fine. Drove home with no further problems.

Whilst trying to start the car I noticed the red and green light was lit on the anti theft keypad, and sometimes it wouldn’t allow me to enter the code. Thinking it was the immobiliser going faulty I removed this when I got home. Took the car out for test drive no problems. Drove the car to work and back 3 times and still no problems. Hooray I thought I've fixed it...

…until last night! Again drove 20 odd miles back from work no problem, then suddenly problem returns. This time it was more frequent then first time but had to wait less time in between to restart.

What is happening is I'll have my foot on the accelerator and suddenly I lose power, no warning lights come on just engine revs drop. If I lift off the accelerator and gentle press back on it the engine revs pick up most of the time but sometimes it doesn't and car coast to stop and engine stalls.

Sometimes the engine will fire up and run straight away other times I have to wait a min or so.

Been out with it this morning and its running fine!

I'm guessing its fuel supply related so have checked the following.

1. No obvious air in fuel system when engine running.

2. I took fuel filler cap off no hissing.

3. There is fuel in tank.

4. The fuel filter was changed about 400ish miles ago.

I thought maybe it could be a faulty stop solenoid but I can’t get to that as it's part of the anti theft system on the injection pump and is hidden by a plate and what looks like snapped off security screws that hold it in place. I can’t get these off so cant get to it.

Sorry for long post but felt it important all faults and facts described.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Ian

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 11 Mar 2011 14:52
Citroen Saxo 1.5D 1997 - Losing Power Intermittant Fault - 659FBE

Check very carefully, and preferably by substitution the fuel hose which runs from the output side of the primer bulb to the fuel filter head on the engine. These hoses harden to the extent that the joints (especially the one at the engine end) no longer remain air tight. If the fuel pump sucks air, the engine will stall. I'm assuming your engine is fitted with a Bosch VE fuel pump. Check also the fuel leakoff hoses which are made of the same material.

659.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 11 Mar 2011 21:00
Citroen Saxo 1.5D 1997 - Losing Power Intermittant Fault - Taters

659

Thanks for your comments. Things have moved on before having chance to carry out your recommendations.

Took car out this PM and it lost power again almost straight away and engine stopped this time I couldn't get it started at all so had to call out breakdown as battery had gone flat with the trying.

This time the anti theft keypad green and red light was constantlylkit up and desipte putting in the correct code neither would go out. The handbook states this indicates a faul tin system somewhere.

Once back home I carried out the hard task of removing the anti theft module on the stop solinoid , wired a live feed (ignition fed) to the solenoid and she fired up first time. Trip round the block and no problems. So fingers crossed.

What I will do as a belts and braces job is replace the fuel hoses you suggest as they look like the original ones and as you say have hardened.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Ian

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Our honest used car pricing is a little bit different to all the others. You can get to our values through make or model - you don’t have to follow a prescribed route. Plus, it’s live, which means we can react to changes in the market quicker than any printed price guide.

Honest Used Car Prices

A guide to how much VED you will need to pay on your car.

Road Tax Bands and Rates