Cold weather problems

[alistair1234]

My GF has a 206cc 2.0. When the weather gets colder it has some problems.

The car always starts fine but as the revs start to drop down to normal levels, the car starts to chug as if it's struggling, the whole car shakes and white smoke comes out of the exhaust, I have no clue about these things but it sounds like it's not running on all cylinders. If it's really cold the engine warning light comes on and something like "catalytic converter fault" appears on the dash.

Once warmed up it runs fine.

Her dad took it in to his local garage last winter and he replaced the plugs and said it wasn't running on all cylinders/mis-firing but it didn't really get better.

Now it's got colder it's started to chug and shake in the morning and when it gets below 0c it will really struggle and white smoke will come out.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

[Lawbags]

The wife had one for a couple of years and it similar problems.

When real cold, the management light would come on and it'd run like st. Every time, it had to go to the garage to clear the fault and it'd be fine again.
Luckily, we have a French car garage at the end of the road, so wedding ring off, cleavage out and a bit of a flirt and they'd do it for free.

We got rid in the end as no-one could find out what it was.

[Garvin]

Apart from the obvious fault of it being French it sounds like a classic problem with a faulty engine temperature sensor. It will be telling the ECU that the engine is warmer than it actually is so there will be no over-fuelling in cold weather to help it run better until properly warmed up.

[Dog Star]

Garvin said:

Apart from the obvious fault of it being French

What those cars that are more reliable than German ones?

(Oh - not forgetting the )

[Garvin]

Dog Star said:

Garvin said:

Apart from the obvious fault of it being French

What those cars that are more reliable than German ones?

(Oh - not forgetting the )

On another thread someone said:

Someone said:

. . . . . .I like the way it breaks constantly.... i tell my self its character, in reality its just french.

I rest my case . . . . . with a and not forgetting the

[Cerbieherts]

Those have a common issue with the Hydraulic lifters, which causes the exact problem you describe.Once the oil has warmed up a bit they begin to work properly and it runs fine again. It's more noticeable in cold weather as the oil is a bit thicker. Often, it will be misdiagnosed as coil/plugs etc. as common misfire codes will be present in the engine's control unit. Fitting the lifters from a 1.8 litre 307 cures it..

[Dog Star]

Garvin said:

I rest my case . . . . . with a and not forgetting the

Well tell you what - instead of quoting one persons post or some general PH opinion on French cars you go off and peruse some actual hard facts - such as JD Power or What Car? reliability surveys. Then come back and tell me how unreliable they are.

Try developing some opinions of your own - not just parroting what you read on here.

(I have no axe to grind, I think most of the (eg) Pug range is minging, and I've spent the last decade with myself and the OH having Mercs and Audis - they are most definitely not more reliable than French stuff. Much less so in fact).

[Garvin]

Dog Star said:

Garvin said:

I rest my case . . . . . with a and not forgetting the

Well tell you what - instead of quoting one persons post or some general PH opinion on French cars you go off and peruse some actual hard facts - such as JD Power or What Car? reliability surveys. Then come back and tell me how unreliable they are.

Try developing some opinions of your own - not just parroting what you read on here.

(I have no axe to grind, I think most of the (eg) Pug range is minging, and I've spent the last decade with myself and the OH having Mercs and Audis - they are most definitely not more reliable than French stuff. Much less so in fact).

Oooh, touchy, touchy. Having a bad day are we?

[Dog Star]

Haha - no; it's a general PH gripe of mine, nothing personal. There's this myth perpetuated about French cars on here and it's just not borne out in reality.