Evans Halshaw > Reviews (91)

Evans Halshaw does Highway robbery still exist

Far from being one to whinge……….

Does highway robbery still exist? I will explain then allow you to make your own minds up.

A little background

I purchased a Peugeot 406 executive 2.2 HDI (diesel) recently and discovered a fault that I was not aware of when it was bought, the so called FAP filter. Now this to anybody not in the picture sounds simple and cheap right?
How wrong can you be?

After doing research on the internet for quiet some time I discovered that is not at all simple or cheap. This is how it works on the Peugeot diesel HDI (common rail diesel) series of engines from about the year 2000.
I guess we have the government to blame for most of it with the global warming scare mongering the are at presently encompassed in as it is all down to reduced emissions, not co2 as you might think but soot emissions.

The FAP filter is there to reduce soot emissions by the following method, it is a kind of loop system it has a filter with sensors to check when it needs unblocking, it has a tank at the back of the vehicle near the diesel tank with an additive in it, this is supposed to last between forty to sixty thousand miles depending on the kind of driving you do, the tank also has sensors inside it to check the level of additive in the tank before it can go any further with the process. It also has an ECU to control the amount of additive it needs to inject in order to what the professionals call Forced Regeneration of the filter, this process happens at about every 300 to 400 kilometres again depending on the type of mileage you are doing.

When this is done the exhaust gasses heat up to a higher temperature than normal in order to incinerate (burn off) the collected soot particles giving almost zero emission of soot, at least in theory.

If for some reason the filter cannot be regenerated the engine ECU kicks in and puts the engine into “LIMP mode” quoting the manual, so you lose power it will not go over 2000 revs per minute. This is a reasonably accurate picture of how the system works.
The basic fault on mine was the onboard computer was coming up with the error “minimum level gasoil” which means not enough additive in the tank and the warning light on the dashboard was coming on and staying on, it could not regenerate so the Limp mode came into being.

Now for the problems

After reading this I decided it would have to go into the Peugeot dealers in order to have a “top up” as they are the only people that can do it with the necessary tools I.e. computers to do the job etc. It was duly booked in when I had available time to get it done they said it would take around two hours.

I was advised to change the filter as well as a top up of fluid as after some use they need to be sent away to be cleaned professionally in Europe somewhere I think, so they do an exchange unit and top up at a cost of £562.36 inc vat, I won’t bore you with the details of each item just the total cost of the job. They advised that the ECU that controls it was faulty and would have to be replaced at a cost of £ 276.

99 fitted Inc vat I had this done the following week.
After all this it had exactly the same fault it went in for the computer error “minimum level gasoil” and it was going into limp mode on a regular basis. I got in touch with Evans Halshaw service manager and said to bring it in and well have a look again.
This time it was diagnosed that the fuel tank sensor (harness) at a cost of £152.23 Inc vat, drive out, same fault arggggggggggg.

Back in again a week later this time on the bill it was “system closed down due to a faulty electrics strip - checked harness and found wire broken” repaired at a cost of £ 246.75 Inc vat. Drive out, faulty again, rebook in a week or so later for the same fault.

This time it was fault found with “additive level always reading low checked wiring all ok, suspect additive tank with internal sensors- replaced tank and additive top up” at a cost of £368.12 fitted and inc vat. Also they said the ECU they had fitted was faulty so changed under the warranty on new parts. Hmmm ok.

Drive out of garage 30 seconds and same fault again the only difference is the engine management is not going into limp mode any longer, thank heaven for small mercies.
So ladies and gents if you want a job well done at a cost of £1600 and taking two months plus loss of time (and earnings) at work you know where not to go.

The strange thing is after every time it went in and on the Bill/Report it said all checked out OK after the job had been done, but 30 seconds down the road it was exactly the same so I had not only wasted my money I had wasted my time as well,. there was never a mention of a free of charge look "at” seeing they has been well paid tofix it but never quiet managed it, a fantastic customer service I say!

So people the next time you have a leak coming through the ceiling don’t forget to pay the plumber to do the same job on several different occasions and expect the leak to be found and cured - it is not going to happen you will have to put up with water pissing through the ceiling and your bank account getting much smaller than it used to be, just be happy he looked at it for you and you had the privilege of paying him for doing nothing!!!

The thing is in this modern technological world we presently live in, with computers being the modern diagnostic doctor for cars why is it still guesswork? Could it be so they can charge £84 an hour before they do any work? Who said highway robbery does not take place in a modern world…