faulty earth strap? Citroen Relay

[rooster63]

Quite often even with a fully charged battery the engine is sluggish turning over and doesn't fire up for 10+ seconds. Sometimes it is very lively and fires up straight away, doesn't seem to be any pattern to it. Recently after driving 100 miles on the motorway we stopped for coffee and when I went to start the engine it barely turned over as if the battery was completely flat. (it wasn't). Luckily I carry a jump start battery connected it to the terminals under the bonnet and the engine started first time. For the rest of the week the starting varied, sometimes turning over vigorously and firing up, sometimes a bit sluggish. I'm wondering whether it could be a corroded earth strap? Have searched the internet but can't get a definite answer to where it is located. Have read on some forums that a simple solution is to add an extra earth strap near the top of the engine bay for easy access. As long as one end is connected to the engine and the other to the body will that work?

Battery is only 2 years old and I know the alternator is charging OK.

[John52]

same as the Ducato discussed here;

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/X290-earth-strap/52994/

Could also be any of the other connections between the battery and starter motor, like the battery or solenoid terminals

[Derek Uzzell]

Rooster63’s Citroen relay is 2007-vintage.

 

As far as I aware the factory-fitted gearbox-to-chassis braided earth strap would have had the same specification for Citroen Relays, Fiat Ducatos and Peugeot Boxers in 2007, and it’s quite possible that the same strap (or nothing better!) continues to be used today. (Certainly my 2015 Ducato has te same strap as a 2007 Ducato.)

 

There was nothing intrinsically ‘wrong’ with the strap originally fitted; the trouble began when that strap began to corrode as described here

 

http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/earth-strap-problems.php

 

As it’s not visually possible to diagnose whether an original strap has become problematical, if there are symptoms that suggest that the strap MIGHT be suspect, the choice is either (A) to fit a brand-new identical replacement strap (which ought to be the simplest approach, or (B) to fit a better strap, or © to leave the original strap in place and fit a supplementary strap, or (A) or (B) plus a supplementary strap if one is feeling paranoid.

 

But - at least from mid-2006 (when ‘X250 Boxers/Ducatos/Relays began to be produced) until 2015 - the ‘problem’ was never specifically addressed by Citroen, Fiat or Peugeot.

[gghollinger]

Hi all have been scouring the internet to find out the solution to a problem whith my Peugeot boxer based motor home the dash has stopped functioning ie died nothing works and everyone points me towards earth straps , I tried putting jump lead’s into engine no change, tried putting jump leads onto engine and jump point an the dash came alive but that doesn’t fix the problem, has anyone got any ideas how to fix . HELP

[Keithl]

38 minutes ago, gghollinger said:

Hi all have been scouring the internet to find out the solution to a problem with my Peugeot boxer based motor home the dash has stopped functioning ie died nothing works and everyone points me towards earth straps , I tried putting jump lead’s into engine no change, tried putting jump leads onto engine and jump point an the dash came alive but that doesn’t fix the problem, has anyone got any ideas how to fix . HELP

Exactly what problem? Does the engine turn over but not run or not even turn over?

Keith.

[Labby]

If you mean that the dash works when you connect jump leads to the under bonnet connections and your Peugeot is a X250/290 series with the starter battery under the cab floor it would be worth checking the midi fuses on the positive battery connection on the starter battery.