A mystery force - car will start but won't move

[michael8554]

After very heavy rain on Wednesday 20th September, our MIEV brakes started grabbing.

Okay at 30mph, but by the time the speed was reduced to walking pace by the brakes, the brakes came on full.

This was repeatable.

Next morning, on application of the brakes, I could hear the brake pads clearing rust or crud off the disks, and braking was fine.

[mikeyr]

It has been driven since for a couple of miles, wheels seem to be free. Only other thing, and I'm grasping at draws now before deciding whether to get it to a garage or shell out for an OBDlink MX, would be a throttle position sensor. Can't find any evidence that these go wrong on the triplets though?

[kiev]

Most intermittent faults are due to wiring or connector issues, especially in high humidity or wet conditions, rodent damage, etc. First thing to do is check all wiring and connectors, cheapest option (free to do) Keep your 12V battery full charged while it sits waiting.

[MickeyS70]

Recommendations on cheapest way to read a fault code folks?

Sorry to hear about your troubles
HobDrive claims to work with the most basic OBD dongles, try it with your ELM327, setup is a bit tricky and most likely you will need the paid version. The app can read and clear DTCs, I tried it myself but with a more expensive OBD Link LX.
Mickey

[mikeyr]

There is a lot of Mikes, Mickeys and Michaels on here

So update, I THINK I had a couple of issues. One was brakes binding, enough to make car think there was something wrong with the power output. I have no grumbling today from the rear end (make own joke here). I've done a couple of 50mph heavy braking sessions in neutral to clear any rust or residue off of the brakes. I'm going to try leaving the handbrake off whilst it is on our very flat driveway and just have it in park.

Cleaning the shifter seemed to help too, going to give it a proper brush off over weekend. And my C Zero has had the shifter modification to allow the gate to select B and C modes. But it was poorly cut out for these two gears so have quickly filed back a bit more room for stick to nestle in when in B mode. And C mode never really appeared as the shifter hadn't been cut back far enough. Another 4mm sorted that and might help the car if was getting confusing signals about being in B or C mode from shifter moving around on edge of both positions.

Guess we'll see if returns when rains again. At which point might be looking at sensors getting wet. Will update if have more issues.

[mikeyr]

Should add I REALLY like this car when it is doing what it should. The next few days will be pivotal on its chances of remaining part of the family...

[kiev]

O-o-o-h...the cutouts for the gear shifter...likely an important clue in this mystery...

Some cars have two sensors with linkage,

[mikeyr]

Trying to work it why Citroen/Peugeot didn't include B and C modes to start with. But perhaps it was a worry that B mode might not use the brakes enough thus leading to issues like binding? That's purely speculative of course!