The car is completely dead. Charged the battery up a bit as car lying in the cold for over a week. Lights, igniton etc came on before but wouldnt start so the AA told me I needed a new fusebox. Bought a new one and replace it now the car is dead, no light, ignition, nothing. Can anyone help diagnose the problem?|||You have run foul of a very common problem these days, so listen carefully.
Modern cars DO NOT have conventional electrics controlling them, instead they have a MUCH more complicated multiplexed digital electrical network controlling them. This is not unique to french cars either, you will find it in almost all European cars, this is why European cars have so much more technology on them. In fact the electrics on your car are mostly German! (Bosch)
However, most people (like your mechanic friend, the AA man and all the other answerers of this question [except Steve J]) are blissfully unaware that cars underwent such a radical change almost 10 YEARS AGO! And so these people continue to offer horrendously inaccurate advice (the AA man%26#039;s ignorance cost you 拢240) (if you listen to another answerer it will cost you almost 拢100 for a new battery)
Unfortunately because most people know even less about their car than the man offering the bad advice then they make the mistake of listening to him and it costs them a lot of money.
Now for the helpful bit. I specialise in modern car electrical problems and have been fully trained by Citroen, and have spent years successfully solving problems like yours day in-day out.
Firstly, your car has 2 fuse boxes, one is under the bonnet (PSF1) and one is under the dash behind the glovebox (BSI).
The PSF1 is the one that supplies power to the fuel pump, so i will assume that this is the fusebox the AA man said wasn%26#039;t working. He was very probably wrong (the AA have a few very simple checks they do that cover most common problems, and this is one of them. Unfortunately in this case the check verifies nothing as the system does not work the way they think it does. AA men are not usually skilled at %26#039;proper%26#039; diagnostic work)
On your car the various computers have to decide to turn the fuel pump on, if they decide that the immobiliser should still be armed then they will supply power to lights, wipers etc but they will not supply power to the fuel pump or engine etc. So a simple check can reveal the fusebox is not powering up the pump, but this does not mean the fusebox is faulty, it means %26quot;why is the fusebox not AUTHORISING power to the pump?%26quot; The fault will lie deeper within the computers, if i was able to plug a Citroen diagnostic tool into your car and interrogate it then i would be able to read hundreds of different parameters and from that information i could tell you where the fault lies (it will be something simple and fairly cheap, it usually is) Since i can%26#039;t do that you will have to bite the bullet and get the car to a GOOD Citroen dealership somehow.
The reason that your car is worse since you replaced the fusebox is because the fusebox is a computer that needs to be configured and programmed by Citroen%26#039;s diagnostic tool. Once this is done the fusebox will work correctly (although i suspect you will still have your original problem as the fusebox wasn%26#039;t at fault).
My advice is to swap the old fusebox back onto the car (much easier and cheaper than going to Citroen)
Remember, the only people that REALLY know about your car electrics are Citroen Consultant/Senior technicians, even a master tech for another manufacturer will not know the details about your Citroen. So it is always better in the long run to just take it to a Citroen dealer in the first place, at least then you will not waste hundreds of pounds on parts that will not fix it. If the dealer makes a mistake and replaces the wrong part you do not have to pay as it is their fault and they should know better. I know the dealer is usually more expensive, but with problems like this they will be a lot cheaper than allowing ignorant people the opportunity to compound your problems!
I hope this is helpful to anyone that reads this and has some sort of electrical issues with their car.|||just make sure your battery has life . but sounds like it could be ur start motor or maybe the coil |||You shouldn%26#039;t buy cars off the French. There not very good. Stick to BMWs or Audi. They are far better cars|||Sounds like you have a completely flat battery. Sounds as if you are in the AA, you pay them the money,why not get them out. Try and borrow a battery to put on your car or charge it up if it will take the charge. Very often when a battery is dead dead dead, it will not take the charge. If this is the case you can put a low wattage bulb in between the charger and battery. This will drop the rate of charge going into the battery and once you have about 12 hours charge at low rate it will then take a heavier rate.|||First you need a %26quot;Car Manual%26quot; for your car(for the electric circuits), 2nd you need a Voltmeter/tester to read %26quot;12 volts%26quot;,
Start from your %26quot;Battery%26quot; and check 12v then at fusebox on the bigger wires.
Hope this helps.|||Get your battery load tested,you have a main ignition feed fault---make certain that you have not failed to reconnect a wire to your battery live terminal after charging the battery and check your starter motor and starter solenoid connections|||There might be a crazy situation in the Computer Module..look for a RESET Button in your Owners Manual..I believe in some American Cars the electrical system is in a ALWAYS ON STATE...at least by some standard..a circuit always functions..if you KILLED the whole CAR--you may have SHUT a embedded SWITCH-down..//..you may need a special TUNE-UP Analyzer to find the BREAK..useing that Connector Module INSIDE the CAR..I think you shut down a RELAY-switch in the dashboard..//maybe//you broke a connection without knowing it..get a good light and search the wiring.|||you will need to get the unit programed in at Citroen cause by the sounds of it you have changed the bsi unit which is under the dash with the little fuses and a few square plugs
