put my 2.1td back on the road last week after having the engine out and all seemed fine

but as i got more confident in it and started to work the engine a fault has appeared

if i floor the accelerator the car will pull at first then the engine management light comes on and the rev counter will drop to zero with loss of power and then when the car comes to a standstill then the engine dies.

car then starts up ok and all is fine if im gentle/moderate with it, although now the engine management light is on all the time

soooooooo need some advice to what it could be

a few things come to mind the lift meter in the injector. tdc sensor, fuel pump ( its got the lucas epic on it )

and

more advice on having the fault codes read out of the ecu,

which to me would seem the next logical thing to do as this would give me more info

but never having gone down this road before

dont want to pay £50 down at a garage to have it read

so can anyone recommend a fault code reader

ta

charlie

Noz wrote a self help file showing how to make and use a simple fault code reader.

See http://club-xm.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=960

Ken

Hi Charlie

Most commercial code readers won't work with anything diesel pre 2004 so its just a question of doing what you have and seeing if anyone can help.

I couldn't see any reference to diesel fault codes in Noz's help file, so it might be a question of trying to find another ECU, or perhaps borrowing one from a known good car. The ultimate solution of course would be to fit a mechanical pump all mine have mechanical pumps and two of them are '96s

Peter.N.

A simple one might be worth checking. Tank filter blocked or waxed up?

right then it looks like a home made job

but what diag. socket has a series ll got and where is it

and where is the tank fillter

ta charlie

Charlie,

Could it be something obvious like the turbocharger not boosting?

My petrol turbo had the actuator arm come adrift from the waste gate (missing spring washer and easily fixed) and that gave loss of power and ecu warning light. I suspect that the mixture was up the creek because of the lack of boost and therefore oxygen.

It is easily seen if you can get the car up high enough to peer up behind the engine at the turbo from below.

If it is that then it is a really easy fix.

John

My 1996 2.1TD (Lucas Epic version) has a brown diagnostic socket way down below the steering wheel behind a hinged plastic cover (just above pedal level). If you do manage to read some codes you will either have to talk sweetly to a Citroen technician for translation or a trawl of Google might turn something up.

Having had the engine out of your car one thing to double check is every last one of the electrical / sensor connections that you broke and remade. One well known potential dodgy connection is the one to the injector needle lift sensor (leftmost one looking at the engine), and that is only one of about 9 or 10 signals that the Epic ECU uses.

There is a section describing the Lucas Epic engine management system (+ the various sensors, etc) in the Haynes Xantia manual (No 3082), unlike the XM manual which has little or nothing to say about it. Suggest you beg or borrow (library?) a copy fo info.

Have you tried a new diesel filter (engine end)?

Ken

Hi Charlie, i had a similar occurrence after adjusting accelerator cable, so re-adjusted the slack back in, no problems since.Obviously many other inputs to the ecu could cause like symptoms, but as you say if it restarts and drives ok as mine did - albeit with the management light on - it may be good starting point.Fingers crossed.

hi all i ve simaler prob on my xantia 2.1 lucas pump but the manage ment light doesnt stay on but cant rev past 3000 . on the diagnostics machaine no codes till the car brakes down then it says fuel shut off valve.

Sounds like an obstruction or air leakage in the fuel system. Have you changed the fuel filter recently? If not it probably needs it, if so you may have a leak around the seal. Does it have a fuel heater on the gearbox end of the head? if so it could well be leaky, they go pourous for a pastime. If not check the fuel primer and any joints in the fuel line for leaks.

Peter.N.

Hi Charlie.

The fact that the rev counter drops away to zero before the car stops running makes me wonder if you have an erratic TDC sensor, or connection to it --- this would also give you the engine management lamp otherwise, if the signal from it doesn't correspond to the other inputs the ECU is reading. (I am assuming here that the EP1C system makes use of such a sensor).

Mike.

Hi Charlie, just a couple of ideas for you.

I had exactly the same symptoms with a Rover I had, could apply to your situation.
Turned out to be air getting into the fuel under heavy load, light throttle all OK. In my case it was just the fuel filter seal allowing ingress of air but not weeping fuel, so appeared normal. Easy to check and fix, but a real pain to find. It could be exacerbated by a partial blockage elsewhere in the system making ingress of air the path of least resistance. Tank filter already mentioned would be a prime candidate.
No idea why my ECU light came on, but it did and went back to normal afterwards with no ill effects.

Worth a look round to see whether it might possibly be something this straightforward once found.

Regards, Rodders