HEEEEEEELP!!!!!

[jumleguf]

I seriously need help with finding this fault, as my mechanic is clueless right now...... :/

I have a 2 periodic faults, that I strongly suspect are connected somehow.

1: Every once in a while, while I'm driving, I suddenly get all at the same time: ABS Fault, airbag fault, aircon dies, radio dies and the engine loses half of its torque and starts shaking, when you try to accelerate in higher gears.... It can go on for any number of minutes, then disappears again and all is back to normal.
The fault code for this was a kind of injector/nozzle fault (I'm from Denmark, dont know the right word in english), so he tried some cleaning stuff, but that didnt help.This time it reads low voltage fault. WTF?

2: If I have been out driving for a while, stop the engine and wait for 10-15 minutes, the car often wont start, very simply. I can take up to maybe an hour and then it starts again without trouble. All the time there is battery on, light in the dashboard, but the starter doesnt turn.
My mechanic suspects that this could just be the starter dying, as it usually does this if it gets too hot (because of old age perhaps) and that fits very well with the car always starting again after cooling off a bit. But maybe it can even be related to the first phenomenon?

Does anyone know anything abut this, especially the first fault (well, actually 5 faults at the same time....), because I'm stumped right now.
Thanks in advance

Best regards from Josef

[jumleguf]

Sorry, forgot to specify the model: 406 st car 2.0 petrol from 2002

[Doggy]

Hello Josef and welcome to the forum.

I am not very good with petrol 406's, but hopefully someone will help shortly.

Does your mechanic have access to Peugeot's Planet2000 diagnostic system? - it will almost certainly give a more detailed diagnosis and often suggestions what to check.

I suppose you could verify the starter motor problem by push or tow starting the engine - just a suggestion.

[PeterN]

As an interim measure try connecting a voltmeter to the cigar lighter socket and monitor it when the fault occurs. You should have around 14.4 volts with the engine running if it drops much below that you could have an alternator problem. The electronics are very sensitive to voltage regulation.

Peter

[jumleguf]

Hi and thanx for the replies, guys

Yes, the mechanic reads out the diagnostics, but it has said different stuff after this fault has occurred. First time something with injection/nozzles, second time a low voltage problem.
But I don't know how it can be an alternator problem, because then it would mean that if it dies temporarily, the battery would become gradually too flat to keep the voltage up for everything to work, but the thing is that its like a button is pushed and everything occurs all at once, boom. And also, it comes back on after a while and everything works again…. Frustrating.
But maybe I'm not thinking about this in the right way?

Josef

[PeterN]

The alternator may not be dying but intermittently giving a low output, the only way to check is with a meter monitoring. The alternator has an electronic regulator which can go faulty.

Peter

[jumleguf]

Ok? Will look into that. Thanx!

[D4B]

Surely a faulty alternator would eventually end up with either a flat battery, or in the case of a faulty regulator an overcharged / cooked battery which
is going to fail also? Just a thought.....

[PeterN]

Depends what the fault is - but yes it probably would, eventually. Easy enough to check though with a voltmeter as original post.

Peter

[jumleguf]

Gulp….. Now my mechanic has thrown in the towel….

He's been driving it for 4 days now and it does nothing wrong…. and if it were the alternator, you'd think that the battery would go flat and then no more driving, but the mystery part is, that it always comes back…..

f*ck….

[teamster1975]

The D9's are renowned for electrical faults, check under the front carpets for a couple of connectors; these can be prone to corrosion, also check the condition of the earth straps in the engine bay.