A new customer brought their Peugeot Partner, with a 1.6 diesel engine, into our garage, Shanahan Auto Services in Gorey, Co. Wexford. This was after a “cheap” service, at some other garage. The customer had been contacted by the garage to let them know the service was done, but the service had brought up some other issues.

When accelerating, the Partner would become sluggish and lost power. The other garage said it needed a mass air flow sensor. The customer gave the go ahead and guess what, no improvement. There was still a lack of power, so they said the van would need a new timing belt and turbocharger.

Obviously, the customer was a bit worried about this. They asked the garage if the van could be driven, as they did not have the funds for this type of repair. They were told “Yes. Just drive very slowly, as the problem only occurs when accelerating”.

The customer contacted us after finding us online, and I questioned the customer when they left the van in. There had been no issues previous to the service at all. When I checked the van, I confirmed the symptom. The Check Engine light was on, and a code relating to the mass air flow sensor was present.

During my initial visual inspection, I could see the mass air flow sensor had been changed. Further inspection revealed a glaringly obvious problem had been overlooked, the air filter. The air filter had indeed been changed during the service, however it was fitted incorrectly. Under acceleration, the foam seal of the air filter blocked the air flow over the actual sensor, making it read incorrectly. The false reading caused the lack of power, and set the fault code. I simply fitted the air filter correctly, cleared the code and confirmed with a road test it was OK.

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