306Hdi Sudden Power Drop/regain

[mikeyd 13]

306 hdi--- has a sudden power loss -almost as if you have switched the ignition off /on again and continues on fine for days!

had the problem in october just before my wife had a 180 mile journey. when it did it 3 or 4 times on the way up- while she was there a local pug garage changed the fuel filter which cured it until now!!!

did it once today

also the throttle has always seemed waaay stiffer than on my 1900 d turbo {or my merc 18 tonne axor ! } are they a heavy pedal or is this another issue ?

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

I've had a similar issue that I can't wiegh up, it still drives fine just with less power and the speedo stos working. It's not done it for over a week now though.

Perhaps the vss is breaking down or a wiring fault on it is putting it into a limp mode??

In all honesty I'm very reluctant to lift the bonnet on mine, it's a £300 s*itter and it keeps going......

[jorg 11]

I have the same problem with my HDi, luckily it hasn't happened in a while. I had a quick look around the forums and narrowed it down to the vss but really can't be bothered to change it.

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

The throttle pedal shouldn't be over stiff, the cable only operates a quadrant which in turns moves the throttle switch on the side of the air filter box so there should be minimal resistance but the path routed through the engine bay & around the airbox can add more resistance than you might otherwise expect.

 

Does the engine management light come on & stay on?

 

You need to get your car plugged into a fault code reader or ideally planet to see what stored faults you have before you start shelling out cash for possible causes imo.

 

Allan, it does sound like you are going into limp mode but this should also leave the MIL on. I'm planning to make a visit to Belper fairly soon so I can bring my laptop & planet leads with me if you want it plugging in.

 

g

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

 

Allan, it does sound like you are going into limp mode but this should also leave the MIL on. I'm planning to make a visit to Belper fairly soon so I can bring my laptop & planet leads with me if you want it plugging in.

 

g

Mine threw the light up once when I ran it out of juice but it reset itself overnight. It never comes on when it goes into what seems to be a limp mode.

Cheers for the offer G but to be honest the clutch is on it's way out and that's pretty much signed its death warrant. I'll run it till destruction I think, i've just not got the time to mess with it and the car really isn't worth it.

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

Ok, the MIL will clear if its a soft / temporary fault & only stay on when its something more serious & it'll stay on in limp mode, at least mine did on the few occasions when it did it.

 

g

[lolsteve 0]

Could be the fuel pressure regulator, the thing bolted in the side of the fuel pump. Sometimes they need to be taken out and given a blast of carb cleaner ( remove the rubber rings first) . You could try the same with the rail pressure sensor since it's like a 2 second job to do

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

Could be the fuel pressure regulator, the thing bolted in the side of the fuel pump. Sometimes they need to be taken out and given a blast of carb cleaner ( remove the rubber rings first) . You could try the same with the rail pressure sensor since it's like a 2 second job to do

 

Word of warning, if you decide to try removing the FPR, the two torx bolts holding it into the hp pump are made of toffee & easily chew up so you need to be very careful when trying to undo them.

 

I wouldn't say the rail pressure sensor is easy to get to, its hidden on the underside of the rail behind the filter bowl, it can be done without moving anything but they don't tend to fail very often & are usually a way of a garage fleecing you for some cash in their guessing game fault finding.

 

g.

[mikeyd 13]

update

have had the car checked on diagnostics --showed up a clutch switch [??] fault only--she has had the switch changed and it has behaved ever since [2 weeks + 400 miles]

the garage recons the switch cuts power on gearchanges- faulty switch = sudden power loss

[sickomotorsport 4 2 Cars]

That fault is usually in them but I doubt it's the problem, try the fuel filter housing, have seen this before.

stiff pedal will be the throttle potentiometer.

[mikeyd 13]

just to update ---seems ok still since changing the switch !

[ablister 31]

I've had a similar issue that I can't wiegh up, it still drives fine just with less power and the speedo stos working. It's not done it for over a week now though.

Perhaps the vss is breaking down or a wiring fault on it is putting it into a limp mode??

In all honesty I'm very reluctant to lift the bonnet on mine, it's a £300 s*itter and it keeps going......

I was just talking about this and mine has been doing this very same thing occasionally too: i drive along then the speedo dies and power drops for a few seconds then it corrects itself. Has only done it twice in the past 3 months. Not plugged it in yet to see if any faults are stored

[joe1joe 3]

My girlfriends hdi does this every now and then, loss of power for a few seconds along with no speedo.

 

pluged onto my peugeotplanet with no fault codes