Dear RCZers,
since October 2018 I drive a lovely RCZ 200 THP with GT-Line package. I am new to this forum and are very pleased that there is a community that cares about RCZs
. Since August last year my car developed a couple of quirks that I have been trying to fix. It is an engine problem. The Peugeot garage thinks it is a problem regarding the High-Pressure-Fuel-Pump (HPFP) but I start to doubt that. Since I have seen that problems regarding the HPFP seem to be common I hope that some of you can give some hints or compare the issues of my car with theirs, so I might figure out what the car really has.
It all started in August 2023 on my daily route from work. It involves some inner-city travel and some bits of ring roads and Autobahn, so speeds are comparably low from 30 to 100 km/h and the revs never go beyond 3000 rpm. The car had about 137.000 km on the clock back then:
Best regards from Germany
since October 2018 I drive a lovely RCZ 200 THP with GT-Line package. I am new to this forum and are very pleased that there is a community that cares about RCZs
. Since August last year my car developed a couple of quirks that I have been trying to fix. It is an engine problem. The Peugeot garage thinks it is a problem regarding the High-Pressure-Fuel-Pump (HPFP) but I start to doubt that. Since I have seen that problems regarding the HPFP seem to be common I hope that some of you can give some hints or compare the issues of my car with theirs, so I might figure out what the car really has.It all started in August 2023 on my daily route from work. It involves some inner-city travel and some bits of ring roads and Autobahn, so speeds are comparably low from 30 to 100 km/h and the revs never go beyond 3000 rpm. The car had about 137.000 km on the clock back then:
- August 2023
- First thing I noticed was that the car had power cuts while going through longer swept corners. The cuts came while staying on the throttle on corner entry and especially when accelerating out of the bend. The cuts were not smooth and had a frequency of about 1 Hz. This only occurred from time to time and only while cornering.
- End of September 2023
- Second thing I noticed during September was that the car showed the above-mentioned symptoms when accelerating under load, especially on slopes. The cuts kicked in at about 1800 to 2000 rpm and stayed till 3500 rpm. I usually drive in higher gears to keep the revs down. Once I downshifted and raised the revs the cuts disappeared.
- Third thing that showed up at the end of September was the engine warning lamp and the information on the display that read “Engine Failure. Get engine repaired” (“Motorfehler. Motor Instandsetzen lassen.”). The warning light sometimes showed up while the engine had seemingly not the above-mentioned issues. Sometimes the issue and the warning light showed up simultaneously. If only the lamp turned on the engine was still driveable like normal.
- Early October 2023
- I got immediately in touch with the Peugeot Garage. They meant, that this failure-warning is not unusual and that there is no severe problem. We arranged an appointment for a couple of days later.
- In the meantime, the engine worsened. When starting the engine was shaking in the bay wildly. It seemed that it did not run on all four cylinders and a strong scent of unburnt petrol was noticeable at the exhaust. I took the car immediately to the Peugeot Garage. They read the Onboard-Diagnostics (OBD) found some failures but said it is alright to drive it and that they would look into it and we keep the appointment
- In the next days the engine issues came and went. Sometimes it helped to restart the engine. At this time, I wondered what kind of issue it might be, because it appears and disappears out of nowhere. I also could not find any similarities between the times the issue occurred, whether it was the temperature (engine, outside), humidity, travelled number of miles etc.
- At the appointment the Peugeot Garage said they think to have found the issue. The HPFP is failing, and it needs to be changed. I left the car at the Garage. It took about two weeks for them to get hold of a new HPFP.
- The new HPFP was installed at the end of October. Everything seemed fine.
- November 2023
- About three weeks later the whole story started again. The only difference was that the succession of the point was quicker. It only took a week to unfold all of the above-mentioned issues. Luckily, I was on vacation and showed up at a random garage. They looked into the OBD and found multiple issues. Unfortunately, I do not remember the codes. I remember that there were 5 codes. One addressed the fuel pressure rail and one the addressed the overall CAN-Bus communication of the car. They said unless the engine is not in fail-safe mode I could go on driving and that I should show up at the Peugeot Garage because the HPFP might have some guarantee.
- The issues came and went as before.
- December 2023
- I showed up at the Peugeot Garage mid-December, they assumed that the HPFP was faulty again and that it will be repaired under guarantee. This time it took them till now to get hold of a new HPFP. Because I was irritated by the long waiting times, I asked whether they use new pumps. They admitted that they use refurbished pumps instead of new ones.
- The car currently has about 141.000 km on the clock
- Information on the HPFP
- I was able to get some more information from Peugeot. It seems that these HPFP fail quite commonly with the 1.6 litre 200 bhp motor. Peugeot has a sheet that shows the guarantee and goodwill service regarding the HPFP. I noticed that time is more critical than covered miles. That indicates for me that it might be an issue of age not of mileage. I also got the information that the HPFP-issue is related to minimal oil-loss at the flange between the cylinder head and the HPFP-housing.
- How can a possible mechanical failure of the HPFP come and go? – Usually mechanical failures occurred, worsen and then the concerned part eventually fails. This does not fit for me.
- Which parts of the HPFP are refurbished? I know that some guy was mentioned in this forum who refurbished the pumps. Is there any information on it how the refurbishment is done?
- Which kind of pump is the HPFP actually? From the way its housing is designed I assume it has to be a gear pump.
- Does anyone of you have more information on the design and the operation of the pump (e.g. how is it controlled)?
- Does anyone of you have the same issues? If so, how did you fix it?
- I personally doubt it really is the HPFP. First, why should the refurbished pump fail straight away. I start wondering whether the issue is related to the ignition or the engine management. Secondly, how can the failure appear and disappear within moments? For me this does not fit to a mechanical problem.
Best regards from Germany
