Limp mode & poss de-coke req.

[Anonymous]

My wife's 2014 RCZ 156 went into limp mode around 2 weeks ago, ecu light came on. I managed to limp it to a trust worthy indy garage. Read the codes & cylinder 4 misfire came up. Started with the obvious. Changed the coil on the effected cylinder & new plugs. They then deleted the code. I drove it home, noticed a slight misfire under heavy acceleration & a slight hesitation. No codes stored or any ecu light re-appeared. I took it back to the garage the following day, they checked the breather box, said that was ok. Then had no idea why the issue was still occurring. I took it home changed the other 3 coils myself for a decent set. Put some fuel cleaner in the fuel. 2 weeks on, the cars around the same. I'd say probably a 10-20% loss of power & a slight hesitation under heavy accelerating still. Not that obvious to a none rcz owner or first time driver of the vehicle. The car is still useable, although there seems to be an underlying fault. On tick over there's no obvious misfire. Although it does suffer from an intermittent engine type knock on tick over only. The timing chain was changed when the car was 2.5 years old under warranty for the obvious reasons. Even though it's a mk2.
I'm now thinking about taking it for a terra clean, as the induction valves will be cleaned too (as far as I know). This is obviously important being an direct injection engine. Also considering having it walnut shell blasted at a local mini dealer (same engine), possibly instead dependent on price.
I'm now under the conclusion that it may be a sticky valve issue, after doing a bit of research on this type engine. There's a vast amount of minis that suffer from this issue too.
I'm wanting to stay away from any pug dealers, as I have no faith in them, see me as a cash cow. They don't even offer a shell blasting solution for this well documented & annoying issue on these type engines.
Anyone had experience with Seafoam? Worth a try?
I'll keep you all posted as I go along, decide which action I decide to take.
Any input would be appreciated.
Cheers.

 

[RCZIain]

Re: Limp mode & poss de-coke req.

If it's used for town work and pootling about, it could well be the coking issue.

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[Anonymous]

If it's used for town work and pootling about, it could well be the coking issue.

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Her main commutes are 20 mile one way trips, although she does hit some traffic. It's only covered 38k from new. Serviced regularly with rec oils.
A petrol engine should be suitable for short trips, design flaw with some direct injection engines. As the intake valves are not cleaned prior to the combustion process, unlike a traditional mpi engine. Then there's the egr valve throwing all the muck back in. The engine has always used around 1/4 litre of oil every 2 months or so.
Neither has it ever been the quietest engine.
These two weeks have been slightly wearing LOL. Although I do want to stick with it. Kind of took it under my wing. Looked after like a baby.
I do suffer from "dealerphobia".

 

[neilgsxr69]

Hi sorry to hear of your problems, I believe the terra clean is the cheapest option but heard loads of so called experts knocking it but not actually heard of anyone using the service, the walnut blasting is tried and tested and as you say mini have been doing this for a while now but possibly up to £400 to do. Peugeot’s answer is to remove the cylinder head and clean which I for one would not be happy for them to do.
Hope you get it sorted keep us informed of your progress.

Ps. I’ve just thought long shot but I’ve seen posts on here regarding misfire problems being traced to an under par battery may be worth a punt? :eusa-think:

 

[Anonymous]

Hi sorry to hear of your problems, I believe the terra clean is the cheapest option but heard loads of so called experts knocking it but not actually heard of anyone using the service, the walnut blasting is tried and tested and as you say mini have been doing this for a while now but possibly up to £400 to do. Peugeot’s answer is to remove the cylinder head and clean which I for one would not be happy for them to do.
Hope you get it sorted keep us informed of your progress.

Ps. I’ve just thought long shot but I’ve seen posts on here regarding misfire problems being traced to an under par battery may be worth a punt? :eusa-think:

Thanks for your response.
I've just spoke to my local mobile terra guy. He said that an induction clean would be £80. If it were the valves, it may help, but wouldn't clean them as well as a shell blast. He seemed knowledgeable. Advised I take it to a decent diagnostic garage whom has had experience of these engines. Which he gave me a number for a couple. As he said it may not be a sticky valve causing the issue. He said normally it would be more of an obvious misfire if it was, but not always.
I think the battery is fine, I will check it with my multi meter.
Neither do I really want to be throwing more money at it.
Cheers.

 

[tianorth]

Re: Limp mode & poss de-coke req.

From a post on the Facebook group page.

Hi peeps. Faced with the prospect of a £1000 de-coke, I'm wondering if Terraclean would do as good a job for a fraction of the price?

Don’t do terraclean (I’ve had a bad experience) I’m getting walnut blast on Saturday £200 in Nuneaton

From a citroen technican
TERRA CLEAN DOES NOT DO ANYTHING....dont waste your money
Terra clean is a waste of money...it doesn't clean coked valves...proved that a few weeks ago...did a before and after....didnt clean the valves...only the PSA valve cleaning kit works...only way to check is take off inlet manifold and physically check valves...



Thanks everyone. So we've established Terraclean is a waste of time and there are a number of options for doing a decoke. Now, here's the story. I became aware of two issues with my engine over the last few weeks that led to this question. On starting from cold, the engine was sometimes lumpy and even cut out at times. Once it got going it was fine, ran smoothly and pulled as well as it ever has. It was booked in for a main dealer service anyway (which apparently included a "full health check") so I made them aware of the issue, hoping they would find something and fix it. They couldn't replicate the problem and no faults were indicated. Took the car home and the following day it was the same. A few days later I noticed a noise from the engine on hard acceleration, sort of a regular tapping/knocking noise. It was intermittent, and I couldn't replicate it on demand. I booked it back in for the same dealer to take a look. On the way there I tried again to replicate the problem, but couldn't (there's nothing worse than an intermittent fault for emptying the bank account). Anyhow, I left it with them. The report back from them was that they had been able to replicate the problem and heard the noise. They said the engine is "pinking". Now I've been around a while now and owned, and tinkered with, several cars, and I think I know what "pinking" sounds like, and this ddn't sound like pinking to me. I also think know what causes pinking; timing too advanced, carbon build up in the combustion chamber being the two main culprits.

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[Anonymous]

From a post on the Facebook group page.

Hi peeps. Faced with the prospect of a £1000 de-coke, I'm wondering if Terraclean would do as good a job for a fraction of the price?

Don’t do terraclean (I’ve had a bad experience) I’m getting walnut blast on Saturday £200 in Nuneaton

From a citroen technican
TERRA CLEAN DOES NOT DO ANYTHING....dont waste your money
Terra clean is a waste of money...it doesn't clean coked valves...proved that a few weeks ago...did a before and after....didnt clean the valves...only the PSA valve cleaning kit works...only way to check is take off inlet manifold and physically check valves...



Thanks everyone. So we've established Terraclean is a waste of time and there are a number of options for doing a decoke. Now, here's the story. I became aware of two issues with my engine over the last few weeks that led to this question. On starting from cold, the engine was sometimes lumpy and even cut out at times. Once it got going it was fine, ran smoothly and pulled as well as it ever has. It was booked in for a main dealer service anyway (which apparently included a "full health check") so I made them aware of the issue, hoping they would find something and fix it. They couldn't replicate the problem and no faults were indicated. Took the car home and the following day it was the same. A few days later I noticed a noise from the engine on hard acceleration, sort of a regular tapping/knocking noise. It was intermittent, and I couldn't replicate it on demand. I booked it back in for the same dealer to take a look. On the way there I tried again to replicate the problem, but couldn't (there's nothing worse than an intermittent fault for emptying the bank account). Anyhow, I left it with them. The report back from them was that they had been able to replicate the problem and heard the noise. They said the engine is "pinking". Now I've been around a while now and owned, and tinkered with, several cars, and I think I know what "pinking" sounds like, and this ddn't sound like pinking to me. I also think know what causes pinking; timing too advanced, carbon build up in the combustion chamber being the two main culprits.

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Tianorth,
Thanks for the info. I'm not going down the terra route, I'd probably rather use seafoam down the induction route for £15.
I'm not totally sure the issues are down to sticky intake valves. It's never cut out on tick over. Usually tick over is fine, apart from the occasional nock. That's not obviously there all the time. Although this engine has never been quite. The other morning, prior to this issue I thought it was starting to get noisy again from a cold start. Then thinking timing chain again. Although this does not happen from every cold start, my wife mainly uses the motor. She's understandably beginning to lose confidence with it now.
I'm going to see what this mini guy says when he rings me up about a possible de-coke, if he could diagnose it first. Other option, a decent diagnostic. I've had a couple of garages look at it now, but they're only using standard type diagnostic equipment (snap on etc).
Cheers.

 

[tianorth]

Re: Limp mode & poss de-coke req.

I haven't experienced any running faults yet, as I have the HDi and the RCZ-R and both do long runs.
These comments are from the Facebook group users and one is a Citroen technican with an RCZ!!!!!

So can't help but hopefully the comment may help you or someone else reading this post.

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[Anonymous]

I decided to change the fourth coil again myself, for a decent one to match the other 3 I'd previously fitted (Bosch).
I've run some Sea Foam through the induction side of the valves & through the fuel.
All now seems good.
I'll see how it goes.
Thanks for your input guys.

 

[Anonymous]

Boroboy have you managed to fix the car I have exxactly the same problem thanks

 

[jr4070]

My advice is to look up the symptoms for the HP pump. The pump on mine had very similar issues.. 4 coil packs changed, then the pump. It hasn't returned yet...

 

[RCZ-R]

My advice is to look up the symptoms for the HP pump. The pump on mine had very similar issues.. 4 coil packs changed, then the pump. It hasn't returned yet...

Yep. The high pressure fuel pump is a weak spot on the RCZ. They tend to fail after about 2-3 years of driving or 30-50k miles