1.6HDi coming our way - Please Help!

[Welly]

In my limited research so far there's talk of a manufacturers modification around 2009 to 'eliminate' issues with the trubot.

Maybe the mesh was deleted at the factory but it was all a bit wishy-washy because: internet forumz

[Welly]

Well the C4 is in next door for an oil change and we've been looking over the thing generally.

The front discs are shot on the inside surfaces, never seen that before but have only 50% contact whereas they're clean on the but you can see through the wheel.

We read the fault codes; only one has ever been stored in the last 5 years, it was when the car was running cruise control and was knocked into Neutral which flagged a fault on the gearbox ECU. We had a nose at the Regen's and it's been doing them every 360KM's and is due another one in the next 50KM's we talked about splicing into the temp sensor to give an indication of a regen in the car but I doubt that'll ever happen knowing me.

The oil came out quite good after getting it as hot as possible; very black but not congealed or anything and the filter element looked good. It's having the correct 'C2' oil filled. As Jasper said there's a peg at the bottom of the filter housing but he managed to fit the new filter ok it seems.

The mechanic told me he's seen two DV6's where the cam chain (for the eggsauce cam) stretches and lets the tensioner push the chain against the cam cover....putting a hole in it eventually bad stuff happens and the owner faces a £2,500.00 bill because you can only buy a complete head.

[steve_earwig]

Eh what? Oh, you mean the top half of the cylinder head, the bit with the chain cover. I'm getting 550 quid exchange, but I guess they won't take one with a hole in it as exchange. 1.800 quid for a new one. That'd be a bastard, probbly write a lot of cars off.

I reckon it would be useful to have some definite indication of a regen, something like a big red light on the dash or a warning buzzer. Or a recording of a US Navy collision alarm - Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Playing at full volume through the stereo.

[Welly]

I think once the chain breaks free of the cover it then jumps a few teeth and knackers the timing/compression. Sounds ridiculous because you'd imagine the engine covered in oil first but the who checks under the bonnet? he was telling me about a couple who used the car in the morning all good and then in the afternoon the eggsauce cam timing went and it broke down £££££££££

[Doggy]

Regarding the regen business and knowing when it's going on, (on 406's at least), the BSI will turn on the hrw, glow plugs, and a few other bits to increase electrical and hence engine load. If you lift off the throttle during a regen, it will abort, then re-try when you put your foot back on.

You pretty soon get to recognise the sound of the relays clicking in and out as you move the loud pedal. (Not to mention trying to avoid lifting off and eventually screaming at all the inconsiderate barstewards that are IN THE WAY FFS)!

I really miss* all that fun*

[steve_earwig]

Reason for accident: My car was trying to regenerate it's particulate filter but the bastard just wouldn't get out of the way, so I rammed them.

Wouldn't it be better for the car to alert you to the fact that a regen is coming up, so the next time you can find a nice clear stretch of the road, tell the car the time has come and let it do it uninterrupted? But no, just like a Google Chrome update, it'll just do it whenever it feels like it, no matter what you're doing at the time.

Fook dat!

[Welly]

Wouldn't it be better for the car to alert you to the fact that a regen is coming up

We were talking about this yesturday, apparently the early Vauxhall DPF cars used to flash the Check Engine Light whist re-genning (which was in the Manual that no-one reads) so as soon as the light started flashing the driver would lift off thinking there's a problem

[OllieNZ]

Welly I've got a dv6 workshop manual if you're interested. The 9HZ is what's fitted to my 307 so should theoretically be the same per'aps with some age related improvements as mine's a 2004.
I had my remap done by obd works and highly recommended them. I did the physical dpf removal myself and that took less than 45 min.

[FarmerPug]

I was talking to an old school peugeot mechanic the other day he knew how to set the ignition timing and carb on the 305 and knew his stuff
Had the place stuffed full of the fish face pugs all of the greatest duds in one place, anyhow i got talking about the dv6 oddly he doesnt seem to mind it (although it may be the business these engines bring) he says one of the problems with the fap additive is it adds the correct amount of fluid for a full tank so if the car gets a lot of £10 top ups its overfilling itself with the additive giving a full tank ratio for £10 of fuel.
He normally takes out the gauze on the turbo and tends to use some cleaner for the fap systems, being more inclined to keep them on, saying its there for a reason and that apparently it helps fuel economy.

I am a bit skeptical over some of that, surely people who have no fap get better fuel economy? Or is a fully functioning fap actually helping? Obviously a clogged one is bad.

[OllieNZ]

I don't see how the car will be more economical keeping the fap, during a regeneration it injects fuel on the exhaust stroke and the additive creates an ash that clogs the filter and the only way to get rid of it is to fit a new filter. Mine is more economical since it's removal but how much is down to the new map vs the removal I couldn't say.

[steve_earwig]

so if the car gets a lot of £10 top ups its overfilling itself with the additive giving a full tank ratio for £10 of fuel.

We had a 2.2 HDi owner on here a couple of years back (Omron?) who was in the habit of sticking a tenner's worth in at a time, she soon found her car wouldn't run on almost neat pigpiss...

[Doggy]

The additive system doesn't add a full tank's worth every time. Even the earliest versions calculated how much to add based on the change in tank level, though there is abundant evidence it doesn't get it right. Maybe not surprising considering how many of us question the accuracy of our fuel gauges.

A FAP equipped car being more economical sounds like complete nonsense to me, after all doing a regen involves:

Loading up the electical system to create more engine load / heat.
Turning on the glow plugs
Altering the injection timing so some fuel escapes into the exhaust + injecting more to compensate

Then there's the extra weight of the additive/tank/controls you're carting about and I suspect diluting the fuel with additive isn't going to improve combustion efficiency.

From personal experience, my cars have recorded these mpg figures in my typical motoring:

Std 2.2 HDi with FAP - 42/3 mpg
same car without FAP + '180' remap - 44/5mpg
present car without FAP + '180' remap - 45/6mpg
present car without FAP/EGR + '200' remap - 48/50mpg
as above + 6-speed 'box - 49/51mpg

[Welly]

The C4's already broke down today

Battery shat itself and wouldn't restart the engine

Also my self-diagnosed replacement Aux Belt and Tensioner before xmas didn't change the squeaky rotary noise on start up so now we're considering a Cambelt change; sounds like one of the idlers/tensioners has a bad bearing at 30K miles

[Doggy]

Not sure about the 1.6, but with a 2.0 / 2.2 HDi you can run it without the aux drive belt as a test to eliminate at least some of the potential causes.
(Guess that would have been more helpful before Xmas).

[jasper5]

The C4's already broke down today

Battery shat itself and wouldn't restart the engine

Also my self-diagnosed replacement Aux Belt and Tensioner before xmas didn't change the squeaky rotary noise on start up so now we're considering a Cambelt change; sounds like one of the idlers/tensioners has a bad bearing at 30K miles

Don't rule out the alternator pulley.

Also try to squirt some WD40 onto the timing belt and see (hear) if the noise goes away.