DS3 155 THP issues :(

[JasDsportthp]

Hi All, looking for some help and advice if possible.

Having Purchased my gorgeous DS3 D sport less than 2 weeks ago she is already giving me a headache.

issues at the moment are,

Rough running at idle, uneven power delivery and occasionally she gives a rattle for 20 seconds on cold start.

Aware the rattle could be timing chain tensioner issues but Citroen claim their is no fault with the vehicle and i'm at my wits end with it. i genuinely adore the car but her faults are tainting my experience with her. any advice would be greatly provided. she's a 64 plate 155 thp with 23k on the clock

Tia

Jasmin

[BenS]

The rattle is fairly normal I think, I've heard many THP owners say theirs rattles on startup. As long as it doesn't sound like a machine gun it might be ok.

The rough idle and uneven power delivery could mean one of two things, either the high pressure fuel pump is dying or you have a lot of carbon buildup on your inlet valves restricting flow (which at 23k miles could very well be the case).

If it's the HPFP - you can check this by monitoring fuel delivery pressures and see if they spike and drop under load. Can't remember how's best to do this so hopefully someone else jumps in here.

If it's the carbonisation of the valves, then good news is this is completely reversible. The bad news is the only place which performs the walnut blasting procedure is SPTuning in Hinckley. It is possible to get the valves cleaned by hand at a garage but that will likely cost a hell of a lot more, and they probably won't give you the before and after pictures that you get from the walnut blast. If you want to check, find a garage who can stick an endoscope camera in to the intake manifold and have a look. Chances are it'll be looking pretty gunky.

Worst case scenario is that it's both, but if you get the above checks done then you'll at least have an idea of where you stand

[lfcrule1972]

I'm with Ben - I'd deffo start with carbon on the valves, if you're anywhere near SW Leicestershire I'd give Jamie a call on 01455 615881 and see if he can help. There are lots of similar cases on here and the results of the walnut clean are awesome. Jamie can also help if there is another issue as he owns DS3's and I would recommend him to any owners, he's also on the forum as well

Good luck

[Oakmere]

The car was only purchased 2 weeks ago deal with the garage you purchased it from. You should not be paying for repairs at this point.

[lfcrule1972]

The OP could see if the dealer who sold her the car will pay for a walnut blast at SP Tuning I agree, however I suspect they won't and might want to bodge it. That said if it's not carbonisation of the valves then the dealer should definitely be paying to rectify these issues.