Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0 Hdi - Battery warning light

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
Sat 7 Jan 2012 16:39
Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0 Hdi - Battery warning light - cornish_gardener

Driving home this afternoon the battery warning light came on and the car lost all power coming to a stop. I re-started the car OK and drove the remaining half mile home without any warning light or problems. Any ideas?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 8 Jan 2012 14:17
Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0 Hdi - Battery warning light - Peter.N.

Had you driven through any water just prior to this happening? If so the belt may have been slipping.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 8 Jan 2012 16:26
Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0 Hdi - Battery warning light - cornish_gardener

Thanks for your reply Peter.N. but no I hadn't driven through any water and the weather was dry. As I am likely to be only driving locally in the next few weeks I think I will see if the problem re-occurs. My main worry is that I could be driving in the outside lane of the motorway and lose all power - a scary thought.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 8 Jan 2012 16:50
Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0 Hdi - Battery warning light - jc2

A slipping belt would not explain this-it would run for a time on the battery output-more likely to be a loose/intermittent broken connection in the power supply.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 8 Jan 2012 17:57
Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0 Hdi - Battery warning light - cornish_gardener

Thanks jc2. This was my initial thoughts (a loose connection) as the problem has not occured again; yet!. I did a quick scan under the bonnet for any obvious loose connections but to an untrained eye nothing stood out. I don't know if there are any obvious connections I should be checking, and if so, there whereabouts?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 9 Jan 2012 15:18
Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0 Hdi - Battery warning light - dieselnut

Does yours have auxilliary heating to provide a quick warm-up of the interior heater.

These units consist of diesel glow plugs mounted in the cooling system inlet to the interior heater, close to the bulkhead. They take a lot of current & some have overheated their electrical conexions causing electrical short circuits & even fires. Worth a check, think they are on the near side engine compartment close to the bulkhead.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 9 Jan 2012 16:53
Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0 Hdi - Battery warning light - cornish_gardener

No my model does not have this feature.

I have had a reply from one of Honest Johns advisors who says to check the brake light switch (a common problem) and also the battery earth connection.

My brake lights are working fine so I don't know if this means the switch must be OK. Also I am struggling to understand the connection between a faulty brake light switch and the total loss of power I experienced.

Has anyone had any similar experiences or can shed any light on the situation.

Thanks.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link