THP 155 power issue? Anymore else had these issues before?

[Saintsteve]

Phew! Long may it last!

I hope so, it's good to get Him back... my Edition 30 was being used too much for my liking lol

[mercurystorm]

Hi All

I know this is a UK owners forum, but I have learnt alot from the forum and wanted to post my experience with my DS3 (actually 2 of them)

I live in South Africa, and I have now owned 2 x DS3 THP 155 Sport cars

The first one was a 2013 DS3 THP 155 Sport, and it experienced the power loss issues that is known to happen with the DS3. The dealership replaced the timing chain and the clutch kit as they had found something funny with the dual wheel system and thought it might be related. The issues remained and I traded in the car, thinking I had a Friday car and just a dodgy engine. This was all in the range of around 20-25k km (sorry we don't use miles)

It was traded in for a DS3 Cabrio 1.6 THP Sport and this car had only 6000km on the click. The car performed perfectly until it also got to the 20000km mark

Since reaching the 20000km mark, the car started to have the power loss issue. The dealership first did the decarbonizing, and within 9km of driving home, the car spluttered and lost power

I then went on vacation for a week, and left the car with the dealership. During the week they found the timing chain needed to be replaced due to the oil pressure issue it has, and they replaced the timing chain and all related parts

The car behave this time.. for a whopping 20km.. however this time it had a new issue.. it would alternate between a power loss, and a loud "tuck tuck tuck tuck" sound under acceleration, and the sound would stop if you took your foot off the accelerator (only happen in 3rd or 4th gear)

The car was left at the dealership while I had a business trip to the US, and this time they checked the timing chain (again) and reset the timing, and did the decarbonization again. This time I didnt even get 2km from the dealership and going up the first hill, accelerating in 3rd and the car lost power. I phoned the dealer and notified them.

They requested the car come back to the dealership the following Monday and have its tapet cover replaced (I am still not sure how a cover could cause power loss and the mechanic isn't either.. but they where following instructions from Citroen South Africa)

After getting the car back, the power loss and noise continued to happen, and I was fortunate enough to get the noise recorded on the Dash Cam, conclusive proof!

Citroen South Africa requested I took the car back to the dealer, and it would remain there until fixed (they did supply me a loan car). Today has been 4 weeks that the car has been at the dealership.

The dealer has been working directly with France with an open ticket, and was requested to do many measurements. They re-measured the timing chain,checked the car timing, checked for oil in placed it shouldn't have been. the Car was stripped entirely (well almost)





So.. after 3 weeks of them having the car, Citroen France FINALLY think they found the issue. They believe the Turbo Wastegate was causing a vibration that
was outside of tolerances, and that this was causing the ECU to think it was having a superknock, and retarding the power. The decision was made to replace the
turbo charger unit

This is the update email I received "Kindly be advised that Citroën Rivonia has advised that the waste gate on the turbo is rattling and the new turbo will be needed, and they will now pull the pistons out to check if the oil by-passing the pistons and not causing the knock."

When they pulled the pistons, they found unexpected and unusual wear on one of the pistons, and a decision was made to replace the entire engine and the turbo

Kindly be advised that Citroën Rivonia has advised that after pulling out the pistons on your vehicle, they were advised by Citroën in France to send some photos of all the
pistons to them. Citroën Rivonia has sent photos to France Technical and they are now awaiting for the response.


and then the following day I received this update from head office

Kindly be advised Citroën Rivonia has been advised to replace the engine and the turbo on your vehicle, therefore the dealer will be ordering parts today.


The engine was shipped overnight and has now been installed in my car



The engine is currently having data dot applied (security feature) and being re-registered with the licensing department with the new VIN Number

Hopefully tomorrow I will get my car back and hopefully this is the end of the faults!

[Chris_Blue]

wow mercurystorm. That certainly is a story to tell
hope the new engine sorts the problems

[Saintsteve]

My update is two days on, cold starts are now lovely and quiet, no rattles at all, and no signs of any misfires or juddering under load on the motorway..

Hope you finally get yours sorted Mercurystorm...Sounds like you've been the creak with your car.. Any clips on video of the noise you complain of??

[Chris_Blue]

Hope it lasts steve- oil change every 3 months will help

[Gazski66]

Hi All

I know this is a UK owners forum, but I have learnt alot from the forum and wanted to post my experience with my DS3 (actually 2 of them)

I live in South Africa, and I have now owned 2 x DS3 THP 155 Sport cars

The first one was a 2013 DS3 THP 155 Sport, and it experienced the power loss issues that is known to happen with the DS3. The dealership replaced the timing chain and the clutch kit as they had found something funny with the dual wheel system and thought it might be related. The issues remained and I traded in the car, thinking I had a Friday car and just a dodgy engine. This was all in the range of around 20-25k km (sorry we don't use miles)

It was traded in for a DS3 Cabrio 1.6 THP Sport and this car had only 6000km on the click. The car performed perfectly until it also got to the 20000km mark

Since reaching the 20000km mark, the car started to have the power loss issue. The dealership first did the decarbonizing, and within 9km of driving home, the car spluttered and lost power

I then went on vacation for a week, and left the car with the dealership. During the week they found the timing chain needed to be replaced due to the oil pressure issue it has, and they replaced the timing chain and all related parts

The car behave this time.. for a whopping 20km.. however this time it had a new issue.. it would alternate between a power loss, and a loud "tuck tuck tuck tuck" sound under acceleration, and the sound would stop if you took your foot off the accelerator (only happen in 3rd or 4th gear)

The car was left at the dealership while I had a business trip to the US, and this time they checked the timing chain (again) and reset the timing, and did the decarbonization again. This time I didnt even get 2km from the dealership and going up the first hill, accelerating in 3rd and the car lost power. I phoned the dealer and notified them.

They requested the car come back to the dealership the following Monday and have its tapet cover replaced (I am still not sure how a cover could cause power loss and the mechanic isn't either.. but they where following instructions from Citroen South Africa)

After getting the car back, the power loss and noise continued to happen, and I was fortunate enough to get the noise recorded on the Dash Cam, conclusive proof!

Citroen South Africa requested I took the car back to the dealer, and it would remain there until fixed (they did supply me a loan car). Today has been 4 weeks that the car has been at the dealership.

The dealer has been working directly with France with an open ticket, and was requested to do many measurements. They re-measured the timing chain,checked the car timing, checked for oil in placed it shouldn't have been. the Car was stripped entirely (well almost)





So.. after 3 weeks of them having the car, Citroen France FINALLY think they found the issue. They believe the Turbo Wastegate was causing a vibration that
was outside of tolerances, and that this was causing the ECU to think it was having a superknock, and retarding the power. The decision was made to replace the
turbo charger unit

This is the update email I received "Kindly be advised that Citroën Rivonia has advised that the waste gate on the turbo is rattling and the new turbo will be needed, and they will now pull the pistons out to check if the oil by-passing the pistons and not causing the knock."

When they pulled the pistons, they found unexpected and unusual wear on one of the pistons, and a decision was made to replace the entire engine and the turbo

Kindly be advised that Citroën Rivonia has advised that after pulling out the pistons on your vehicle, they were advised by Citroën in France to send some photos of all the
pistons to them. Citroën Rivonia has sent photos to France Technical and they are now awaiting for the response.


and then the following day I received this update from head office

Kindly be advised Citroën Rivonia has been advised to replace the engine and the turbo on your vehicle, therefore the dealer will be ordering parts today.


The engine was shipped overnight and has now been installed in my car



The engine is currently having data dot applied (security feature) and being re-registered with the licensing department with the new VIN Number

Hopefully tomorrow I will get my car back and hopefully this is the end of the faults!

Welcome,hope this is the end to your issues, oh and you are more than welcome on this forum, it is not just a UK site it is for all DS3 owners wherever you may live

[FLP]

More good news from me too! Picked up my car this morning and it's running smooth again (from what I can tell from my short drive to work) Immediately noticed the absence of rattling noises on start up. It sounds like a petrol again.
They changed/fiddled with the timing chain tensioner again, that's where it was leaking oil. They also did a long test run to reproduce the stutter under acceleration, but it didn't occur. So hopefully that's gone too?
Best part of this all: I didn't have to pay a thing! The car is out of warranty since April, but since the tensioner already had been replaced before, and I reported the stutter and rattle on multiple occasions before, the dealer won't charge me and is going to contact Citroen for their expenses.

[Superfly Guy]

, the dealer won't charge me and is going to contact Citroen for their expenses.

That will be interesting

[FLP]

Indeed. But that's not my problem..
(Unless they somehow try to make me pay for it later, if they don't succeed to convince Citroen )

[SCJK 1989]

I had my car in for it's first MOT yesterday and obviously knowing my luck... it failed. Luckily only on a couple of tyres with peculiar wear but hey ho.
While it was in though the dealer asked me straight away "have you had any judders with your THP?". I know this is a common fault but it would appear they are now asking everyone as once I'd said yes (mentioned it every time I've been in), he booked it in for an inspection that day and is now booked in for 4 days worth of work. I already knew it needed it doing after visiting Jamie at SPTuning for my remap (which they never discovered) but it was surprising when he mentioned that it is a £1500 repair! After asking "if this is so common why do buyers never get made aware", his response was simply "it's not quite all of them". Luckily for me I still have 3 weeks of warranty or they could have the bugger back. I asked whether this was something that would be a recurring thing every 25,000 and his response was no as long as you put good fuel in it and you "blast it in 4th for about 6/7 miles". Anyway hopefully it gets sorted and it's free which is good, then it'll be a solid 190/195 bhp - thanks Jamie btw!

[FLP]

I wish I had a Jamie over here, so he could blast his nuts in my car when it needs it..

[BeefMasta]

I wish I had a Jamie over here, so he could blast his nuts in my car when it needs it..

Waheey!

[Mike_]

i wish i had a jamie over here, so he could blast his nuts in my car when it needs it..

lol...

[Superfly Guy]

but it was surprising when he mentioned that it is a £1500 repair!

No idea how they came to that figure, Jamie charges a fraction of that to get his nuts under your bonnet.

[lfcrule1972]

If you pay Jamie enough I'm pretty sure he'll bring his nuts to you Oh wait, you didn't mean his actual nuts ?