Ballykine43

My 1.4 petrol manual was bought a year ago with 34,000 on the clock. Loved it, then saw some of the threads on this forum and almost sold it. But it has been brilliant. Fast approaching the 50k mark. Had a crunchy experience with the gearbox and feared the worst. Dealer changed gear box oil for a semi-synthetic. No one seems to know why it does the trick but it does. And the dealer kept ringing to check it was really cured before he billed me. The plastic can rattle a bit but its easy to cure with a dab of mastic here and there. Only thing to watch in early days with the car is the huge blind spots the massive A (front) pillars create when turning sharp corners in traffic.

Thanks Flitwick. The difference between petrol and diesel linkages is at the gearbox end so I now know not to be looking for something plastic in the gearstick end. We changed the gearbox oil for a fully synthetic gear oil and the problem seems to have disappeared. Advice came from another dealer who had similar good results with a Picasso.

car is a 2003 C3 1.4 SX PETROL Manual Problem. Difficult gearchange, esp three to four, and also engaging reverse. Not stiff, no rasping, just as if there was not enough travel in the mechanism to allow the gears to engage. Local Citroen garage very helpful but unable to locate obvious problem area. Problems on the HDi linkage are documented in the Service Instructions, but it is different to the Petrol one. Other postings on this forum seem to relate to the HDi which has a different linkage, but possibly the same gear lever mechanism/housing. Was the plastic piece others have referred to at the gearstick end or the gearbox end ? Help appreciated. Brian