Citroen Dealer can't diagnose a DS3 1.6THP until we buy a new battery?

[crews control]

My wife’s 2010 1.6THP DSport had to be towed off the motorway to a local Citroen dealer last week.

We haven’t really had any problems with the car previously but it went into limp mode after the “Anti-Pollution” light came on. Eventually it stopped altogether and couldn’t be started because the battery had drained.

Anyway, the main problem now seems to be with the dealer… they say they don’t know what the issue is or diagnose the problem because the battery is flat. They want us to buy a new battery before they can diagnose the problem. Does that sound right? Is there no way to diagnose a Citroen, at a main dealer, with a flat battery?

To make matters worse, they haven’t been able to get a battery for over 24 hours now and we don’t even believe we need one… the battery was fine and working well until the pollution light.

Because of work, I haven’t been able to get to the garage, they’ve been dealing with my wife, but something doesn’t smell right.

Any advice gratefully received.

[Chris_Blue]

Could you ask them to just charge the battery in the first instance, rather than buy a battery that may not be needed

Not really sure you need a decent battery to check for fault codes on the ECU. Possibly- maybe google it?

Dealers always skin you- mine charged me £140ish just to diagnose a fault with my DPF. Then charged me loads more to replace a sensor, and recharge the DPF. Robbery- but thats how they make their money

Your "anti pollution" could be lots things, HP Fuel pump, coked up inlet valves, injectors, Cat converter etc etc etc. They need to read the fault codes in the ECU.

[crews control]

Thanks Chris,

My wife did ask them why they couldn't charge it, or even use one of the jump batteries they often use, but apparently it's too knackered to take a charge... it's odd because it's not that old and was working fine until the warning light came on... she does a 100 mile round trip to work regularly.

Anyway... what I was really surprised at is their inability to even diagnose a problem without us buying a new battery. I'm concerned because I don't want to spend too much on a car that's probably worth less than £1000 now. We've had it from new, but if the repair is going to cost more than a few hundred I might just scrap it. Shame because it still looks great.

All those codes you list sound more expensive than the car!

[Chris_Blue]

Everything is expensive when using Citroen dealers
Some of the things i list arent that expensive to sort at a non dealer garage

Your best bet may be to bite the bullet and let them fit the battery, Ask them for results of the diagnosis, and a list of any fault codes before you agree any repair work. Least then if you take the vehicle away you could sell the new battery and just put a "good used" one in. That should cost more than £150/200ish just for diagnosis. Then decide what to do

It is all a bit of hassle am afraid

[Iktank]

Hi it is possible for battery to give up the ghost, in the past:
- One of my Land Rover in winter kept on throwing up error codes in the winter/cold weather. LR tested battery said it was OK, but I changed it anyway cause LR did not want to change it under warranty put in new battery no more error codes thrown up
- My defender battery at 6yrs gave up on me at Costa drive through
- Range Rover again in colder weather/winter battery just gave up after starting the vehicle, got about 1 mile down the road and Range Rover just stopped. would not restart etc - battery replaced all good.
Generally battery will only last about 4yrs so it it is older than this replace it. Get a price from Dealer and compare the price to battery supplier Tanya