paul.h

My car is the same, mostly running out of the left side, I think it is a design feature. I sealed the plastic strip at its back edge across the boot which seemed to reduce the amount of water getting in but has not stopped it. I have noticed the mark 2 C5 plastic strip already fills this gap so maybe it has been designed out. I am not sure how the water gets in but suspect the rubber seal around the top half of the door ends just above the side holes where the water comes out and actually lets the water run in - if it was extended beyond these holes the problem may go. I am reluctant to seal these holes in case water is retained and causes corrosion but may try to extend the channel on the seal.

On our car 2003 1.4 sx petrol, it is a push button on the dash near the radio/heater controls/ air con button.

Welcome to the forum. This is an unusual problem, the air conditioning fan under the bonnet causing road dust to be blown about - I suspect you are not based in the UK where most roads and parking areas are on tarmac or concrete. Our C3 (1.4 SX petrol, 2003) does not have an under engine cover, it may have been removed by a previous owner since the fixing points are there. Solutions may be as you have said and switch off the air conditioning when going over dusty roads which will stop the fan or if you have the under engine cover fixing points then buy a cover. It is worth switching off the air conditioning a mile or so before stopping the car to allow the evaporator to warm up so any condensed water on it will dry quickly and help prevent mould building up giving a musty smell in the car when the air con is used.

If with the air con in use/just after being switched off, is causing the air into the car to smell musty/wet dog then this can be stopped by removing the pollen filter and spraying some Dettol Surface Cleaner on the evaporator to remove the mould that builds up.

The condensor is the radiator at the front of the car, replacement is probably not that difficult, a quick look at it should give you an idea of the work involved. However, you will still need to use a dealer or other company that does air conditioning to remove any refrigerant gas remaining in the system (unless it has all leaked out), then once the new bits are fitted the system has to be vacuumed down to remove any moisture, do a leak test and then refill with fresh refrigerant gas and lubricating oil. You could phone around for alternative quotes and I think Qwik Fit now do air con work. The regassing cost/testing will be about £100 so doing the other bits yourself (if the gas has already leaked out) leaves up to £300 for parts and savings.

I think this may have already been on this site, a search may help. Laser and Sealey, I think sell a socket that has an internal reverse thread that fits over the nut to allow it to be undone - I have not tried one of these so do not know how effective they are. A tyre dealer is likely to have something also. Most car accessory shops sell locking wheel bolts. If yours only have 2 pins (and not 4) in the socket then maybe they are not of Citroen supply.

I have not had to do this job but it may help to crack open the pump outlet connection to let any air out of the pump and fill it with fluid. The pump would not run dry then either which could give it problems. It would be good if an expert like KFK could comment, I noticed he was on the forum earlier.

I have had a few cars where the clutch release bearing has been a bit noisy with the pedal up but then goes when pushed down and not had to do anything about it. Just lightly pushing the pedal until the bearing is just touching the clutch cover has stopped the noise - any different to this and it could be play in the gearbox (too much end float in the input shaft ?). One thought, maybe the bearing is not sliding easily back on its mounting tube when the pedal is released so is always touching the clutch cover and rotating - I had a Saab 900 like this that was very noisy but fortunately the clutch and bearing could be replaced without removing the gearbox. It may also help if the clutch fluid is changed so the slave cylinder is working with clean fluid. However, since the clutch has just been replaced I would go back to the garage and see what they say.

If you can buy them once you have one off the car, you will be able to see the original make which is stamped on the metal backing - I think they are Textar or maybe Ferodo, can not remember which. with any other make you will not know how well they will perform.

When the radio reception goes does it still indicate as if tuned in to the station or does it go to the start (about 89Hz on FM) ready for tuning ? First case may be the aerial wire has come unplugged from the back of the radio, second could be loss of voltage to the radio - a couple of times I have had to retune mine when the battery voltage has dropped due to lack of use of the car.

Welcome, if you are going for the best fuel economy/lowest costs, do you need an automatic and 2.2 ? The 2.0 hdi manual hatchback will use the least amount of fuel and will also be in a few lower road tax brackets. the 2.0 hdi will also not have an exhaust particle filter/eolys fluid which need replacing about every 75k miles depending on model year - the 180k mile car you mention may be due for this expensive replacement.

The exhaust catalyst may not have liked the oil being burnt (assuming the blue smoke mentioned earlier was coming out of the exhaust and not just from spills over the engine). You may only find out at the next MOT when the emissions are checked.

Mark 1 and 2 are in the same place. First you need to remove the horizontal panel above your feet. The pollen filter is then on the right as a black vertical rectangle, could be held in by clips or 2 hard to get at screws. Once unfastened just pull it to the left.

Just to help us confirm it is not a wheel bearing, is it an auto or manual gearbox, does the noise occur in all gears at just 2000 rpm or any gear at 35 mph or just one gear, does it jump out of gear, does it occur more when going round a bend - left or right which may indicate a wheel bearing, what model is the car and how many miles has it done ? I have replaced the gearbox output shaft berings on a couple of high (150k) mileage Saabs. On these there was a whine, louder on acceleration, more noticeable in 5th gear. On the first car I lived with it for maybe 15k miles until it eventually started jumping out of gear - the bearing face was that worn the shaft was moving a few mm.

You do not have to choose either of them. First decide what you want/need (eg auto gearbox) and how much you want to pay. There are lots of C3s on the market. A dealer will also give a warranty in case some thing goes wrong and you should expect a private sale to be cheaper than a dealer. Parkers.co.uk gives a good idea of prices as well as autotrader.co.uk. On our C5 we have the auto wipers which in reality means the intermittent wipe frequency varies on the amount of rain at the sensor point on the screen - sometimes it is ok but I would prefer a normal intermittent wipe. Black cars look nice but show the dirt although not as bad as a white car we once had. The auto climate we tend to have switched off most of the time.

If you have power to the pump and a signal from the ecu, then is the earth point ok (I think this is located above the pump) ?

Welcome to the forum, the Haynes workshop manual for the C3 contains wiring diagrams. There is also a French workshop manual from ETAI which can be obtained from the ETAI website or Amazon's French site. I am not aware of any on-line wiring diagrams.

Probably too late to help here but may help others - before jacking up the C5 you should raise the suspension to maximum (mentioned in the handbook). Stops the car trying to squash you , etc, as the car will try to level itself otherwise - this could be what made the NSR wheel lift off the floor. Still need to use axle stands though in case you are underneath and the suspension lowers.

Blackadder, you may have a problem here. Citroens go into economy mode after the engine is switched off if something electrical is still on such as an internal light or the radio or a door is open. The power is automatically turned off after 15 to 30 minutes to stop the battery going flat. Simply starting the engine resets this, you should not have to do anything with the battery.

It could be a fuel injector problem, was it raining on the day ? 2 of the injectors on our C3 1.4 petrol failed and that only just ran enough to get it to the dealer where they could diagnose the problem. The engine light also came on. This is a common problem and there are posts on this on the C3 forum.

'I am short-shifting through the gears tho - Town, typically 2k revs, and open road, 2.5k - overtake not much point above 3k, as it runs out of steam. Even at these changes, I'm often pulling quicker than others on the road so thats ok!' Ah, this seems to be your problem, you are enjoying your driving. Try changing up at 1.5 to 2k revs then may get a few more mpg. The diesel engine torque peaks about 1800rpm so should pull quite happily at this. Our 2.2 hdi runs ok 1.1 to 1.5k rpm for round town use.

The overheating could be the engine thermostat is stuck closed (is the cabin heater hotter than before, putting this on full heat and blower speed may stop it overheating. Is the hose to the top of the radiator not getting hot ?) or the cooling fan in front of the engine is not working (check wiring connectors/wiring earth point/check fuse) or an electrical fault (temperature sensors/control unit) - once on our 1.4 petrol suddenly the overtemperature light came on and the fan started , I stopped the engine to let it cool and it has not happened since or during testing so must have been a one off electrical fault.

Access to the pollen filter is in the right side of the front passenger footwell - not too difficult to replace. If the air con is used a lot/all the time, the musty smell is more likely from the air con heat exchanger (evaporator) which is in the same compartment as the pollen filter. With the air con in use there is condensation of water on the matrix since it is cold - if the air con is not switched off say a mile before stopping, this water does not quickly dry and mould forms. You will notice the smell most just after switching the air con off but with the blower still on. If you go on the Picasso forum, there is lots of info on this. You can buy aerosol sprays to remove the mould but Dettox spray surface cleaner (none bleach type) is very effective and cheap and does not replace the smell with such as apple smells. You need to spray a fine mist into the filter compartment and onto the matrix (pollen filter removed), preferably with it cold. If you can get a flexible pipe with a spray on the end this will help access. You may need to do this more than once then say once a year. I have used Dettox on a Saab 9-5, C3 and C5 and it has worked each time.

Dervman, it is worth resetting the trip computer now and again (if not already done), just hold in the button on the end of the stalk. Then say if done on one journey you should find what fuel use you get for that type of journey. If you have had a trip of heavy fuel use such as towing a caravan, it takes many miles before the average mpg gets up to a more normal value unless it is reset.

Just tried a google search on fault code p2202 and it came back with NOx sensor low input so this would be something on the exhaust if it applies in this case.