Oliver

Can anyone cast their mind back to March in 2003. Just wish to check up on the Citroen deals on offer at that time. What I want to confirm is the price for my C3 1,4 petrol Desire ( I think it was £8400 after the cashback £1000 deal ). I've been checking more thoroughly through the finance documents since I sold my car and realise that I was charged VAT plus road fund licence on top of the £8400. Could this be correct? That makes the OTR figure £9995 after having £1000 off. Checking in Parkers the new price for an 03 Desire was £9495. Ignoring road fund licence and the £1000 cashback (which according to the Citroen letter of confirmation includes VAT) I was charged £10870. I would appreciate some feedback before I contact the dealer for some explanation. Regards, Oliver

Hi, has anyone else had their front seats deteriorating. I've noticed creasing starting on the top surface close to the outer edges alongside the doors and it appears that the covering is delaminating from the foam and that there may be fissures starting in the foam. These areas of the seats obviously need to take a bit more punishment than the rest due to crushing and twisting as you get in and out of the car. Maybe a contributary factor to the problem is the plastic edge of the lower seat being close to the top / sides of the cushion. I'm sure I recall someone else having a problem with cracking of the leatherette sides of the seats, I wonder whether this could be the same type of problem. The car is a 4 year old 03 reg 1.4 Desire with 36,400 miles on the clock. Is this another Citroen design flaw showing itself ? Anyway all the problems I've had over the years with this particular Citroen ( 3 other Citroens previously without any particular problems ) are now history as I've at last changed cars. (Does anyone have any horror stories regarding Zafiras?) All the best to the Forum members and I must say the recent advice in other sections that it would be prudent to get rid of your C3 before the warrantee expires is probably worth listening to. All the best, Oliver

My 03 Desire had similar noise problems, a rattling from the front offside when I went over certain road surfaces and even over the markings at speed cameras. This went after some work was done to the suspension and steering due to another different problem with the power steering rack. I took advantage while the car was being worked on to have the worn front pads replaced and I believe the noises I had suffered for so long were caused by the original brake pads rattling. Check out the pads, it could be the same problem. Best of luck, Oliver

French Connection, I've had similar problems some time ago with my C3. The first was the clicking , clunking as you turned the wheel while parking or starting off from being parked. I had a new power steering rack under warrantee which cured it. Later I had grinding / creaking noises which did seem to come from the driver's side upper shock area and again I had a new power steering rack which so far seems to be allright. As to knocking and rattles going over some types of bumps they disappeared after I had the front brake pads changed when the garage were doing the last steering change, so your noises could be down to rattling pads. Alternatively, some C3s required an engine mounting upgrade to overcome various rattles and clunks. (Unfortunately mine was one of them) I've just thought, with all the problems I've had with this car (break down of mastic joints in roof causing creaking, buzzing from the steering column requiring grommets on the airbag cables in addition to what is detailed above) I must be absolutely stupid to keep it. Hope you get yours sorted. Oliver

MRBLUESKY All these discrepancies are common. Fuel tanks on modern cars ar usually blow moulded plastic and are designed to form to available space within the bodywork so shape changes can be more severe than with the older steel tanks. As a result the area of the top surface of fuel varies down the tank as the fuel is being used so the level can drop differently for similar volumes of fuel being burnt. With regards to the full to empty warning differences, if the level sender unit is set too high within the tank this would give you these incorrect signalling points - not much movement required to knock off the first bar, and the last bar and warning signal being triggered too soon. Hope this makes sense, Oliver

kjn - Think I've had the same steering problem, creaking / 'graunching' noises which came and went intermittently. (C3 1.4 Desire) Recently had the steering gear replaced for the second time which so far seems to have cured it. The first time the steering was replaced was due to 'clicking' / 'backlash' through wear of linkages Oliver

Taking mine to the dealer tomorrow morning for the spring cup addition. Dealer said would take about an hour so I'll stay there and wait for it to be done. Just hope that disturbing the suspension / brake area doesn't re-activate the rattles. Oliver

Probably down to poor build quality, not enough or not strong enough mastic. The problem started on mine on a very hot day, the car had been roadside parked all day and as I pulled away form my kerbside spot the body twist from the road camber change induced the initial cracking noise and then I had the subsequent creaking / clicking. Oliver

iShock, unfortunately, you haven't been able to see all the problems that have occurred with C3's. Back last year there was a problem with the server that handled this site and a tremendous amount of posts were lost. I think that anyone who could see the full history on this forum would think more than twice about buying a C3. Hopefully the problems with the C3 design/ quality/ build have been gradually resolved by Citroen by now but the early models such as mine (03) seemed to have many common faults. Buzzing in the steering wheel - required a grommet on cables to the airbag Clunking / clattering from offside front - (I thought it may have been the petrol pipe rattling in the chassis channel as it felt very mobile)seems there was a faulty or wrongly specified batch of engine mountings ( this took many months to sort ) Creaking from nearside roof / B pillar - mastic joints breaking down - heat and body twist starting it off and additionally on mine - power steering joints slack and clicking - power steering replaced creaking / straining noise on steering (intermittent) - power steering replaced and the clunking that seems to have been related to the pads. Oliver

The garage changed my power steering last week and while the car was stripped down under warranty I asked them to change the front pads as these had been noted as needing changing soon at the 20k service (now on 27k). Over £70 (inc VAT) just for the 4 pads!!! Had the car back now for 3 days and haven't yet heard the steering noises, although these were intermittent anyway. One bonus seems to be that I no longer have the clonking noise when going over slight bumps such as speed camera grid lines or rough abraded tarmac. The noises I had thought may be from the shock absorber may have been down to loose pads. Fingers crossed that the first more or less rattle free ride that this car has given in 2 1/2 years is not a fluke and continues. Oliver

Well, the garage had a look and guess what!! the noises didn't happen this time while they had the car. However, the next plan is to replace the power steering again and then see what happens. Seems to me that if the original was changed because it had worn and the second is being changed because it can be heard to be labouring against some resistance then there must be something that's causing overloading of the power steering. When the noise was witnessed by the mechanics there was also a grinding and creaking noise not only the sound of the steering struggling. I can't see that changing the power steering will rectify anything. Have to wait 2 weeks now to find out if this is the solution. Oliver

Taking my car to the garage once more tomorrow for 'investigation' for a day. I've had some strange noises from the steering recently, a 'graunching' noise when turning the steering when parking. It's like a creaking and grinding noise and you can also hear the power steering straining at the same time. This only happens imtermittently but fortunately occured very noisily when I took it along for advice a couple of weeks ago so the mechanics were able to hear it for themselves. Has anybody else had similar problems ? Perhaps its a faulty suspension leg and shock absorber. I've allready had a new steering rack fitted due to wear and still have 'clunking' when going over certain surfaces such as speed camera marker stripes. Since Ive had this car (2 and a half years now) I don't think I've had what I would class as a smooth riding vehicle. The first year the bumping and banging due to a faulty or wrongly specified engine mounting and since that was replaced,this 'clunking' (this may have been there anyway but was masked by the engine mounting problem). I'll see what the ride is like in the courtesy car tomorrow as that is usually a C3 as well. Keep you informed. Oliver

A copy of part of my message in C3 \ PROBLEMS AND FIXES \ SENSODRIVE CLUTCH JUDDER - PAGE 2 'Has anyone tried to change a headlamp bulb yet? Offside is just about manageable with a torch and mirror to see in reverse what you are trying to do and I'm thankfull that I didn't have to change the nearside bulb.(looks like you need to remove other things to get at the rear of the headlamp) For those old enough to remember the childrens' programme, you need arms like Twizzle (and a lot of patience with the clipping)' Looks like this is a common DIY repair problem. It all fits very nicely if you are assembling the vehicle in sequence in the factory, but to access certain areas afterwards for maintenance is almost impossible. It should be obvious to Citroen that certain jobs like replacing bulbs are done by the owner so why do they make it so difficult. Soon after I had my car I had to replace a stop / tail bulb - this was easy enough compared to the headlight bulb but, as an aside, the plastic clip in cover that you have to take out to access the screws is manufactured out of ABS (probably) which is totally the wrong material for a removeable / replaceable click-in cap. The clip legs distort and break as you try to prise it out. The cost to manufacture the cap out of an appropriate material would probably be insignificant. Someone somewhere in this site said that to be fair to Citroen they've only been designing and making cars for 100 years !! Regards, Oliver

Was quoted £165 for 20000 service, and actually paid £152.50. Don't know if there is a different service for 1600's but I don't think my plugs were changed, have to check. Was advised that front tyres close to needing changing, pads had approx 3000 miles left and that wiper blade were split. Has anyone tried to change a headlamp bulb yet? Offside is just about manageable with a torch and mirror to see in reverse what you are trying to do and I'm thankfull that I didn't have to change the nearside bulb.(looks like you need to remove other things to get at the rear of the headlamp) For those old enough to remember the childrens' programme, you need arms like Twizzle (and a lot of patience with the clipping) Oliver

OSF rattles - I think there was a problem with some C3 s. I had the rattle for 7 months together with the roof creak. The roof was fixed by upgrading the mastic (I think)and the OSF rattle required an engine mounting replacement. I believe there was a batch of cars either fitted with wrong spec or faulty mountings as this fault was also on courtesy cars I had while mine was in being fixed. Don't think it was a recall but perhaps it should have been. Probably only being sorted if someone complains, same as the buzzing air bag cables in the steering column which should have been fitted with an insulating grommet. Hope you can get the problem fixed as it really annoys. I've had a letter from Citroen to the effect that they acknowledge the fact that the car was used for at least 7000 miles with a faulty mounting and that this could be taken into account in the event of something going wrong that may be related to this fact (only because I asked whether I could expect that) Oliver (2 yer old 1.4 Desire, 22000 miles, 1st major service and also replacement steering rack at 18000 miles due to linkage wear)