stimulator

Q:It had a repair to the air-con under warranty about 18 months ago (due to a cracked pipe, so I was told). Obviously now the car is out of warranty and the air-con has packed up again. The switch lights up but the compressor doesn't click in and the air isn't cooled. A: As you say if the compressor doesn't run then it will not cool. reason for not running could again be a cracked pipe, naturally this would allow the gas to escape in an instant. When that happens, a safety circuit prevent engagement o the compressor. You had a cracked pipe before so maybe again. If you have maybe Citroen would look at a ggod will payment, BUT try a different dealer first and see what they diagnose. Q:The dealer immediately said Citroen state that the air-con should be regassed every 18-24 months and that is what I need, but I find that hard to believe. It's a sealed system and the gas shouldn't just "vanish" after a set period of time, surely? This sounds like a cop out statement. My 2yr advisory note arrived for my C3 yesterday. On it says, you may like to have the aircon serviced, if you are having problems with cooling a regas may cure. Cost £105. My aircon is running correctly so I won't be having that done and if i did I'd go to Renault (Rubbish) who will do it for £55. In my C3 the Aircon is automatic type and runs 365 days of the year, which according to the experts prevents it from possible failure. hence the phase use it or loose it. Yes it's sealed but read on in the next para for more gen Q: The a/c system is the same (in principle) as a fridge - and you don't have your fridge regassed every 2 years, do you? The car aircon uses a mechanical compressor, as you know this is driven by the fan belt. As the compressor rotates it requires seals to ensure no gas/liquid leaks out. If the system is left off for long periods the seals can go hard and leak, the refridgerant contains a lubricant for the seals. Also it mounted in a moving vehicle that is subjected to vibration and shocks from road conditions. Your fridge uses an electric compressor which is inside the black tank in the base, the pipes are all silver soldered and the charge pipe is crimped shut, a fridge is static and runs all the time. So your best plan of action would be to find an auto aircon agent in your yellow pages, he will be able to tell if the gas had leaked by fitting his charge kit to the system and looking at the gauges. It is also possible that your engine cooling fan is not coming on, this has to run all the time the a/c is ON to cool the condenser which is co-located with the car rad. if the fan doesn't run then the system will over pressure and shut down. Hope this helps.

I own a C3 SX 1.4HDi 92 BHP diesel. The choice to buy was based purely on the 60+ mpg that is possible from running this car. I commute 21 miles each way to work. I've now owned the car for 2 yeras, covered 20000 miles and have to say that the car is one of the best I've ever owned. Firstly it does return 61.4 mpg on every tank of fuel, sometimes been as high as 65 mpg. Second it's no slouch, good acceleration and I've had 115 mph indicated on the speedo. Third it has auto aircon which works so well that it's set and forgotten about. Fourth it has never gone wrong only been to a garage for a service. Here in UK the annual road tax is £50 yes 50 sheets and my insurance this was £145. All in all the car is great, I liken it to be as much fun to drive as the first VW Golfs were to get all this fun and ecconomy out of a 1.4 is great.

If the car is right hand drive (UK) its in the passenger footwell, RED handle

Kron, further to our previous chat, I took my C3 SX HDi 16V 92BHP to the supplying dealers. They looked up the VIN on the computer and it came back as DOES NOT REQUIRE the mod. Stim

your dealer can extend it for you by changingt he parameters in the car ECU

I bought my C3 from Worthing Motors. They have serviced our PIC and the C3 for us and carried out the recalls. I have had no problem with them. they were very helpful when I required a part to fit to my new PIC radiator even though I hadn't purchased the new rad from them, or in deed the PIC.

I own a C3 54 reg 1.4HDi SX 92BHP 16 Valves. I find this C3 fun to drive and enjoy the heck out of it, it's nippy and very ecconomical to run, even better sinec the budget brought the road tax down to £50. Ok there are better cars but for the money it fine. Would I buy another one too right. If you look at the book figs in all the motor mags the 92BHP C3 never gets a mention. Top gear only tested the 70BHP which is 8V. The 16V has the variable output turbo which certainly gets it going.

To remove the storage tray just insert your hands and apply pressure to the bottom and top and pull. The Haynes manual says to remove the radio and then push it out, but you need the two coat hangers to do that. Now that you have had replies why don't you delete all the other posts you made on the same subject.

The discs and brakes on my C3 1.4HDi are now 14500 miles and are stille xcellent and give no problems. Sometimes squeals in reverse are due to dust bulid up int he rear drums. Rear drum brakes consist of a leading and trailing shoe, the difference being which way round the shoes are fitted in the slave cylinder. On one the lining material starts almost at the slave and the other there is a gap. As the wheel rotates forward then the leading shoe is pushed into contact with the drum first and does the majority of the rear wheel braking. When going in reverse the original trailing shoe becomes the leading shoe and does all the hard work. If you remove the drums you will find that the leading shoe will have done alot more work than the trailing and will be worn more. Dust collects on the trailing shoe and will squeal when it come sin contact. Sometime to allievate this problem filing a bevel on the end of the lining materials may help.

The actual distance set on the KM or miles to go is a function of the ECU and all that your dealer does is reset the indicator. The read out is generated in the ECU (computer). If your running on KMs then 20000 miles equal 32000KM. Yours indiactor at 29900 isn't therefore that far as it equals 18000 miles. Waht does your service book say. car service disatnces in UK are PETROL 20000 miles DIESEL 12500 miles teh ECU knows whether the car is petrol or diesel and set the distance accordingly. try changing your dash display to MILES. using the right hand button on the central pod and see what it reads then.

The 54SX HDi 92 has these bells and whistles. They are activated by pressing the radio station change stalk in the centre, it has an O on it. The display cycles between Miles since last reset/fillup: Miles till next refill require: Average MPG since last reset/fill: current instantaneous MPG. The display also has 3 lines of info available whereas some cars only had 2 lines. Also the display in the speedo centre is different. The one I have shows trip miles or total mile when engine running changed by pressing black button. When key put in ignition and turned on it shows Miles to service then oil level.

If it's any help the 16V 1.4HDi SX has a hydraulic clutch, not sure about your but will look in the manual. If the fluid is OLD try having it changed a sthis helped my PICASSO clutch.

had my C3 HDi 92 in for a warranty paint job yesterday at Worthing Motors. loaner was a C2 1.1. In simple terms the car from the drivers seat forward is a C3 but boy how do you live with a 1.1 petrol engine 60BHP after a 1.4HDi 92. needed lots of revs to get speed up and it rewally appeared to be a variable noise constant speed machine. I missed the auto headlights, auto wipers, climate control, seat height adjuster and the performance. one thing was better and that was the gear change mechanism much smoother, so next week my C3 will have that looked at. just shows what a long way diesels have come over the years. The paint shop at Worthing motors did a great job on the body work reapair, a blemish in the paint.

had my C3 HDi 92 in for a warranty paint job yesterday at Worthing Motors. loaner was a C2 1.1. In simple terms the car from the drivers seat forward is a C3 but boy how do you live with a 1.1 petrol engine 60BHP after a 1.4HDi 92. needed lots of revs to get speed up and it rewally appeared to be a variable noise constant speed machine. I missed the auto headlights, auto wipers, climate control, seat height adjuster and the performance. one thing was better and that was the gear change mechanism much smoother, so next week my C3 will have that looked at. just shows what a long way diesels have come over the years. The paint shop at Worthing motors did a great job on the body work reapair, a blemish in the paint.

The C3 Haynes manual is now available, my copy arrived this week after a 3 day wait. i ordered it from Haynes themselves total cost with P & P and a free French to Englsh translation booklet. Book was £15.99 and £2 PP. I found it was a better deal than Amazon etc. have had a loom,through it and it's of the usual standerd for modern Haynes. As usual some areas are skimped on and lack meaty info. BUT still worth the pennies./

Try disconnecting the car battery and then reconnecting it after a few minutes. this will reboot the computer see what happens. The C3s big brother the Picasso also suffers from this malady which the reboot seems to fix.

Whot no electric adjustable mirrors, what a penny pincher.

I too am perplexed by this decissison to put a 1.6HDi in the C3. Upto now you could buy a 1.4HDi 8V 70BHP model and the 1.4HDi 16V 92BHP model. the difference between those was significant and the 92BHP one goes extremely well. It's to all intense and purposes the same engine as the 1.6HDI but 200cc smaller. It has the variable vane turbo and intercooler. So is the new 1.6HDi going to be the 110BHP model as per the Picasso or is the intercooler going to be dropped so it only develops 98BHP. If that is the case, why are they changing the engine. If the 110BHP is being fitted then is it to allow it compete with the Fiesta S whatever.

There is a delay on the C3 autolights that take the going under bridges effect out of the equation. The autolights are excellent and coupled with the auto wipers are a good extra.

Have been looking at the C3 as a second car. At present it cost what a Daewoo Matiz SE+ with A/C cost 3.5 years ago. haven't tried one anyone got one?