HDi Troubles..

[Midnightclub]

So..

Received a call from Emma earlier saying that the car wouldn't start, she'd cranked it about 7 times and nothing, then it finally started but with the engine management light on. Got her to turn it off, start it up again and sure enough the light is still on.. She drives it home and it was fine the entire time but with the management light still on.

So managed to just get my disagnostics on it and it's showing a fault code P0906, brief look online showed 'Gate select position circuit low', Any ideas on what's up?

Cheers

[C2K]

That sounds like an auto gearbox code so likely a red herring.

I suspect you have fuel rail pressure issues. Clean the fpr to start with, but probably a lazy lp pump. Could also be a dicky crank sensor but I wouldn't expect so.

[Midnightclub]

Well cleared the code and went out for a drive and it hasn't come back on yet... just going to see how it goes and if it comes back!

[cwspellowe]

Sounds like the woman driver code tbh.

[Poodle]

How good are you diags dude? I will be bringing pp2k to the christmas meet, can always have a look then or at the after party if that's any good to you.

[Midnightclub]

Must be Chris

They aren't amazing, downloaded torque lite because for some reason the pro version just kept crashing, but I needed to get the code cleared, yeah man if you could bring it to the after party that'd be awesome

[Toms306]

This is the code I had on Rowells estate, apparently it happens when theres too low a voltage somewhere (can't remeber exactly where now) - in our case it was cos the battery was left off. In your case it was probably cos the battery was dying after 7 attempts at starting lol. Get in, key to ignition wait for the oil meter to get the top, then start. I found if I tried starting too early it'd just keep cranking over but a bit longer and it's fine, as said seems to be long enough when the oil guage gets to the top. Cleared it once and it never came back.

Also, are you still using the shite standard negative terminal? If so get rid of it, thats the sole reason the china was cranking slowly and seemed like a poor battery....when it was just the fact you couldn't tighten the terminal enough!

[C2K]

That doesn't sound right, that sounds like a lazy LP pump to me as in the time your oil gauge takes to get to the top the tank pump is priming.

I never wait for mine to do anything, the 7 years i've had it you start it just like a petrol. I leave it a bit for the sake of it in the deep dark depths of winter but even if i don't it still starts.

As for the terminal, my original Pug negative is fine on the HDi! Mind you i'm lucky enough to have owned mine since it was just outside of warranty, no idiots have touched mine for almost a decade.

[Toms306]

Look, I know your HDi is perfect C2K...but don't forget ours have had several (more than likely mechanically retarded) owners and been abused long before we got them!

[C2K]

It's not without its niggles at 250K but a bit of TLC can curtail the effects of most retarded owners.

Just because summat works it don't mean it works right. Besides, i'm a mechanical engineer, it'd be rude no to keep her in tip top shape.

[Toms306]

Haha, I can't imagine any car I've owned so far hitting 200k, let alone 250!

I think the main problem (as with everything else) is money though. Hopefully this doesn't sound rude, but you seem to have surplus cash to do almost anything to your car, whereas I, and a lot of other people dont. And the small problems turn to larger problems and just keep mounting up until the cars in such a state it might as well just be scrapped. Well that and the fact some people just dont seem to care at all.

I see it so many times where I buy cars that are over 10 years old, have had 5+ owners and are in a real state, and I do wonder how people can leave certain things, the car didn't get that bad overnight lol. Take my seat in the china for example, not a huge fault but the adjuster was broken so it moved constantly which is horrible to drive with - £5 from a scrappy, 5mins to fit it, and the issue was resloved....now if even I can manage to sort it why do other people just ignore these things!

[Poodle]

BOT...

Will do so fella, can do a run with it plugged in to see what we can find.

[Midnightclub]

Sounds like a plan mate, may be the stage 2 putting strain on the hp side.. then again last time the car had starting issues it was just a dodgy battery

[C2K]

Back on topic - Midnight I didn't realise that the HDi was stage 2, but that shouldn't affect starting as the car will only start once rail pressure is achieved. Unless you have known issues with your HP pump, it's likely to be one of a small number of culprits - FPR, rail pressure sensor or LP pump. Either that, or something dicky like a crank sensor or an earth corroding or something daft.

Get it on PP with Poodle and study what the fuel pressure is doing. Though mine had a momentary glitch about 2 years ago where it wouldn't start briefly, despite having just arrived at a friends house, then third time it started and nothing ever has been wrong since. It's French.

Haha, I can't imagine any car I've owned so far hitting 200k, let alone 250!

I think the main problem (as with everything else) is money though. Hopefully this doesn't sound rude, but you seem to have surplus cash to do almost anything to your car, whereas I, and a lot of other people dont. And the small problems turn to larger problems and just keep mounting up until the cars in such a state it might as well just be scrapped. Well that and the fact some people just dont seem to care at all.

I see it so many times where I buy cars that are over 10 years old, have had 5+ owners and are in a real state, and I do wonder how people can leave certain things, the car didn't get that bad overnight lol. Take my seat in the china for example, not a huge fault but the adjuster was broken so it moved constantly which is horrible to drive with - £5 from a scrappy, 5mins to fit it, and the issue was resloved....now if even I can manage to sort it why do other people just ignore these things!

Lol, honestlyno offence taken Tom, but if you knew me you'd realise how far off the mark those kind of comments are. You must apply the shoe to the other foot - i'm older than you, i'm 31 now, but all you see is the product of hard work. I still only buy parts when I need to, and I'm happy to help anybody that needs that kind of help too as i've had to live on the breadline.

I took a loan to buy the HDi many years ago because I needed a reliable car to do lots of miles and my Rover Turbo was costing me a bomb in fuel. I'd just come out of uni and the job market was on its arse - At the time my friends were rolling around in BMWs, R32s, 350zs and there's me shopping for a little French diesel despite having petrol in my veins. I took the decision to live with my now-ex on a very tight budget. Thanks to that and a sticky breakup I've been up to my eyeballs in debt, to the point of actually contemplating topping myself - but i'm lucky to be comfortable now. I've worked hard for a good job and for every penny i've ever earned, nothing has been given to me. How/Why do you think I know so much about cars? Because i've taught myself, because i've had to, because whenever anything broke on any of our cars I couldn't afford to pay anyone to do it let alone a main dealer so I DIY'd it. I used to buy cheap cars to scrap for the parts I needed and small profit, to learn and to keep mine going. When you have a house, two cars, 40k a year household mileage and a girlfriend studying to support on one very average wage, beans on toast is your affordable diet lol - then you'll understand where i'm coming from.

People don't fix little things that break because they may not be able to, either financially or mechanically, or they just don't care as it's only a car. I end up keeping my brothers HDi in good condition because he is completely mechanically inept! When anything makes a noise he calls me. There was stuff I knew was wrong with mine at times but i couldn't afford the parts to solve the issue so I had to live with it whilst I scrimped and saved. I've been there, i've paid my dues, trawling the scrap yards for the cheap £5 parts I need, and I still do as I quite enjoy it. My brothers HDi drivers seat was equally knackered, i had to fix that as most of the bolts had undone and it rocked halfway to the back seat. Frankly, I still get satisfaction from righting those little wrongs you speak of - unless you buy a new car nothing is perfect - even that is no guarantee.

I don't take offence, nor do I intend to be patronising when trying to help people, so i apologise if it sounds like that - i'm only helping out. You must just realise some of us have paid our dues too. Incidentally I chose the HDi over a Mk4 Golf at the time, which was the only other car I had on the shortlist. All I can say is i'm glad I chose the HDi - I made 100% the right choice as my HDi is well behaved.

[Midnightclub]

Sounds like a plan tbh mate, i think that it must be an earth issue.. Either way, as soon as we get it onto PP should give us some useful info! And touch wood so far, management light hasn't come back on and it's been driving fine

[Poodle]

Good stuff, hope it stays that way.