Plumes of smoke & no power

[Civvic]

Last week, my Peugeot Partner 2.0hdi lost power & started to smoke excessively. It started after a botched job to unblock centre dain just below the windscreen where the controller got loose from the wiper motor - am not sure even if it is related. 

When I took it to the highway, the car was so slow, check engine light came on at some point. When I reached a hilly area, I had to abandon the car at a hotel coz I had gone down to gear one & there was no more power. Coolant level was fine and cooling system showed no sign of distress. Oil level was fine.

So I went back for the car with an electrician, checked it out, did a precautionary oil change as the oil had become too sooty. 

We didn't have Planet & used Launch instead, the codes that came up were for MAF sensor, Accelerator sensor, additional heating. All fuses were fine, so we cleaned the MAF.

Then we checked live data, but the diagnostic machine's limitations meant that we couldn't see everything we ought to, but we saw the rpm data was fine, MAF was fine, fuel was fine, but no data for accelerator or boost sensors.

What could we be looking at?

[cancunia]

Lots of smoke indicate too much fuel / not enough air in the mix, so maybe not enough boost. Has the EML / Check engine light gone out? Maybe disconnect the MAF to see if things improve. IIRC the 2.0 does not actually have a boost sensor, I don't know how the ECU measures boost but the turbo spins up according to the revs and then excess boost is dumped via a valve. Might be worth checking the hoses around the turbo too.

[polar]

As Cancunia says ^^

Will ask if the scuttle full of water when you unblocked the drain hole? If so has some water got into the cab and into the bsi? Long shot but worth it.

[Sherbingo]

Check the injectors. If something is leaking or loose it will have the exact effect you are talking about. It only happened after around a mile or so for me when the engine is hot. Cold it ran fine. Good luck chap.

[Civvic]

Lots of smoke indicate too much fuel / not enough air in the mix, so maybe not enough boost. Has the EML / Check engine light gone out? Maybe disconnect the MAF to see if things improve. IIRC the 2.0 does not actually have a boost sensor, I don't know how the ECU measures boost but the turbo spins up according to the revs and then excess boost is dumped via a valve. Might be worth checking the hoses around the turbo too.

The check engine is intermittent. It comes on after some short distance drive - crawl rather. We cleaned the MAF, it seemed to be performing ok. Thanks for update on boost sensor. Will check hoses.

[Civvic]

As Cancunia says ^^

Will ask if the scuttle full of water when you unblocked the drain hole? If so has some water got into the cab and into the bsi? Long shot but worth it.

I doubt, but will confirm, the unit was dry, should be ok.

[Civvic]

Check the injectors. If something is leaking or loose it will have the exact effect you are talking about. It only happened after around a mile or so for me when the engine is hot. Cold it ran fine. Good luck chap.

Will check. Haven't come around to check on it again.

[Civvic]

I did some googling and saw that there is a rare chance that the connector to throttle position sensor can potentially rust and bring about the kind of mayhem am experiencing. I'll also attend to that - wish me luck.

[GraemeT]

Fingers crossed for you - break a leg

[Civvic]

Fingers crossed for you - break a leg

I left the car with a mechanic coz I had to travel out of town. They say they have probably solved it - the MAF sensor connector was corroded & the vacuum tube for the waste gate solenoid was not properly in place. He promised to test the car comprehensively till tomorrow so he can handover when its good.