ESP/ASR fault.

[conny]

My wife has a Citreon Picasso C4 Grand and whilst driving tonight it suddenly came up with the above warning.
It also said 'Get your car repaired.'
The accelerator became hard to press and it would only move at about 15-20mph. Luckily we were lose to our daughters so she was able to park up in the village hall car park.
Could only find ESC/ACR in the manual and it seems to indicate a loss of control function. Going to call the garage in the morning, (only had it about 6 weeks so still under warranty), and get them to sort it out but just wondering what the fault may be and/or what caused it.
As an aside, the water temperature gauge was very low, even after driving 6 miles. Could this be an indication of something?
It is a 14 reg and the mileage is 29,835. Had a full service done about a month ago to ensure all levels etc were correct for the coming winter.
Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[Burnerman]

There’s a real hotch potch of faults here - the ESP /ASR relates to wheel stability and traction control......most issues come from the ABS sensors going awol.
I’m wondering if the battery voltage is low, as the car has gone into safe mode but I’ve never heard of a heavy accelerator pedal!
Regarding the temperature, did the heater feel cool or were you just relying on the gauge ?
John

 

[conny]

Thanks John. You are correct in that it is ASR, not ACR.
Google seems to point to stability/traction control as well.
Re: heating. My wife says it usually takes to the end of the road, (about 2 miles), before the heat starts to slowly come through but tonight it took a while longer. I've noticed in the past that the temperature indicator, (a line with a sliding indicator), has been just before the halfway mark fairly soon after starting out, but tonight it barely moved from the left-hand side, even when it began to warm up.
Not driven over any significant potholes or hit any kerbs since buying it so can't see where the wheel stability issue comes from.

 

[conny]

@Burnerman, Hi John, just some feedback. RAC have diagnosed it with their machine to be an injector issue. Car now in a garage to be looked at and repaired on Monday/Tuesday. I'll let you know the final outcome when we have it.
Thanks for the info.

 

[Burnerman]

For sure, I can understand how a dud injector or whatever can cause the car to go into limp home mode, but how that affects the ESC is beyond me.
I've never heard of a stiff throttle pedal either......delighted to hear more feedback!
Cheers
John

 

[Avocet]

Some PSA cars have a detent on the throttle pedal. Does the car have a speed limiter function? If so, when you set that, it restricts throttle pedal movement, so you don't go over the selected speed. However, in an emergency, you can overcome it by pressing harder on the pedal, and it will move all the way, with a bit of a jerk, as it overcomes the detent. It's possible that having gone into "limp mode", it restricted speed by using that feature on the throttle pedal.

Like john, I have no idea what a duff injector might have to do with the other faults, though!

 

[conny]

Turns out to be two faulty injectors. Garage suggested changing all four at the same time, (which I would have suggested if they hadn't), so we agreed. Then the dealer we bought it off says they are not covered under the AA 2 year enhanced warranty we took out for £400. So my wife pulls up the warranty on line and sees in the 'Exceptions' it states injectors not covered. So she then checks up what section 'injectors' come under. They come under 'Fuel System'. So she then looks at the 3 month warranty she received from the dealer more closely and guess what. They state that under the enhanced scheme the full fuel system is covered, including injectors!
Call back the dealers, send them screen shots of their warranty showing they cover the FULL FUEL SYSTEM and hey presto, they agree to pay for them to be replaced.
I have a feeling they will only pay for two damaged ones, (around £600 to supply & fit), so if they do I will pay to get the others done at the same time. Waiting for confirmation tomorrow from the garage as to what they have agreed with the dealer.
Watch this space.

 

[Burnerman]

Thanks for the update Conny, we hope the repair goes well.
New injectors though - at 30k miles.....what's going on?
John

 

[conny]

One of the reasons given was the car may have been idle for quite a while and the fuel started to break down.
We know 2 minor services were missed and the mileage is not quite 30k so seems plausible I suppose.

 

[Burnerman]

Hmmm diesel breaking down? We'll see.
I must say, I'm a great one for changing fuel filters yearly and on my vehicles (65 plate Yeti, 67 plate Bipper van, 19 plate Honda HRV) they are all easy to do and cheap enough.
If yours has that oval filter bolted onto the block, whoever invented that one should be certified insane.
Be lucky!
John

 

[conny]

@Burnerman. Got the car back at lunchtime and everything seems ok, runs smoothly, no shakes/bumps etc.
However, there is a warning on the dashboard saying, 'System Deactivated' and a picture of the car between two lane markings. Guy in the garage says it's the lane wander system switched off but he isn't sure how to turn it back on again. His diagnostics box says everything is ok.
Looking on Google/YT my wife can only find instructions to press a button on the fascia, unfortunately, she doesn't have the required button!
Any ideas how to re-activate it or do we need to go to a dealer?

 

[RandomGrinch]

Looking on Google/YT my wife can only find instructions to press a button on the fascia, unfortunately, she doesn't have the required button

If there isn't a fascia button (my C3 has one), then it will be an option from the touchscreen:

...and glad it's going ok...so far!

 

[conny]

Thanks RG. Whats that menu title at the top, the one that I can't read the full wording of, as she has looked through the menus and can't find it.

 

[RandomGrinch]

Sorry, the writing cut off at the top is just - Lane Departure Warning System.
And it should hopefully be listed under the "Driving Assistance" menu of the touchscreen.

 

[conny]

Yes, we found that one in the manual. Problem is, she doesn't have that button on the dashboard so we are thinking it may be in the touchscreen menu, (somewhere!), but we can't find it. May have to go to a dealer and get them to reset it if we can't figure it out.