BarryK

After getting the front coil springs etc. replaced free of charge (see other post) I spoke to the service manager about the 'violent stalling' fault - she suggested that I book the car in for a complete diagnostic check and examination (apparently the normal diagnostic test only checks and clears any alarms that are flagged, and if they clear OK no further action is taken.......) So I paid my 40 odd quid, figured it was worth that just to try to find the problem. The technician spent a good 90 minutes checking all the electronics and sensors - he found a couple of faults logged. One was not relevant and 2 were gearbox related. When he checked further he found that a plug, that gives engine speed/road speed information to the gearbox, was not connected correctly, but couldn't say for how long this had been the case. Anyway, after the plug had been fitted properly, I drove the car home and couldn't believe the difference, gear change was much smoother and the car felt like a different animal. So far, touch wood, the car has not stalled at all - so if it doesn't happen again in the next few weeks, it would seem that the connector may have been fitted incorrectly from new - thank goodness that the original supplier, Kent Elms Citroen, are now out of business and Kudos to the Citroen service dept at Toomeys of Basildon. If you're reading this, Thanks again Hannah - great job!

When I reported the fault to the local dealer they contacted Citroen who agreed to cover the cost for the full repair. Just collected it this morning and they have Fitted New Springs, modified cups, both upper bearings (why both I don't know), the o/s steering rack track rod end, the o/s tyre and the o/s ABS sensor. Thanks to all who advised in this case. I would never have been able to fund that myself so many thanks to Citroen UK for taking the responsibility (and the expense......).

Can't explain that at all mate............. :huh:

Maybe it is, I'll have look tomorrow, before I get the Car shipped up to the local dealer.......

Paul - Wiki gives the following for year codes (10th digit of vin) 2000=Y - 2001=1 - 2002=2 - 2003=3 - 2004=4 - 2005=5 - 2006=6 - 2007=7 - 2008=8 - 2009=9 - 2010=A - 2011=B - 2012=C or look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_Identification_Number or at any of the many sites that show you how to decode a Vin number. I understand that many cars are now sitting at Calais due to the depression, but in 2004? and a car supplied that could be nearly 3 years older than the dealer claimed. My problem is that if I sell or part exchange the car to a dealer, the price offered will be based on the value of a 2002 vehicle regardless of registration date. John's correct tho' - I don't think Citroen UK will give toss, they'll just blame the dealer, who is no longer around..........

Some of you may have seen my recent postings about steering/suspension problems on my C3 which proved to be a broken coil spring. However, I saw that my vehicle, bought new and 1st registered in Sept 2004, possibly appeared to be made in 2003. When I checked the vin number (10th digit denotes year, see wiki for full explanation of vin numbers) I found that the actual date of manufacture was in 2002, I paid full price for this (around 10K). Have I got any sort of comeback from Citroen, unfortunately the main dealer I purchased from is no longer trading. Any advice would be very welcome........ Thanks Barry

I've just discovered that the offside front coil spring has also broken. (see my thread "C3 1.7 Hdi Steering Problem" in the C3 technical forum) As the car has a bit under 20,000 on the clock - I'm gonna bend my local dealers ear a little.............. Thanks for all the information in this thread. if I hadn't found it I'd have had to paid a lot of dosh to get it fixed.. BTW - looking at the broken end of the spring, it appears that the it has not been proper;y tempered - very poor performance on Citroens part that they have left owners like me to find out the hard way.

Spot on Paul, RH (drivers) side coil spring broken close to the spring cup - and it was was rubbing on the tyre. Anyone know if this is an expensive repair and could it be repaired by the average mobile mechanic? Would it be worth having both font springs replaced? I'd have thought it was very bad luck to have one go at less than 20,00 miles....

Good thought Paul - I'll take a look later Many Thanks

Hi all After not using the car for a couple of weeks, I got it out of the garage on Saturday and found that steering is partially jammed. The steering motor is working OK but something in the suspension has partially seized, there's some very harsh 'graunching' noises. I drove the car around the block, 3-400 yards and by the time I got back I could smell something very hot - I'd guess it's the steering motor being very over worked. My guess is that one of the swivel joints has seized, but it's seems odd that there was no prior warning of anything amiss. I've ordered a Haynes manual and once I've had a good look at the layout I'll probably drop the steering rack ends and try to move each wheel by hand. If anyone has had this fault (or similar) and can point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated. The car is a 2004 C3 hdi (7o bhp) and has only done 20,000 mile - I've had it from new. Many Thanks and Kind Regards Barry

I managed to find a drawing of the offending starter, stripped it down and found that the brushes were almost worn out - also the saddle that engages the starter pinion had one of the pivot pins broken That's why it wasn't engaging properly. I could have got spares from Citroen to repair it but decided to purchase a nice new motor so problems now sorted. Thanks to all for the advice given over the last couple of weeks.

Paul H - I managed to get on the Citroen site and download an exploded dwg of my starter (which is Bosch 0 001 108 183) but could not identify a Citroen part no, which I believe is a 6 figure number, i.e either 1234.56 or just the straight number with no decimal point) Coastline - you're confused, I'm not surprised - after 3 days of plodding around the internet I'm totally confused. :) There are loads of these starter motors (Bosch 0 001 108 183) out there but all the suppliers say they are for Berlingos/Partners etc. This starter has been on the car since I bought it and hasn't worked properly from the begining, I suspect the previous owner just bunged it on without checking - anyway, the starter pinion is not fully engaging in the flywheel ring, when I removed the motor you can see that its only engaging about 7mm - you can see distinct wear on the pinion and the flywheel ring - it is now such that it will not turn the engine properly and kicks out after less than 1 rotation. It may be that I can put a spacer under the pinion to get better engagement but would rather have the correct starter motor............ addendum: Just been back to the Citroen site and inserted Vin number - it now come up with a pageful of suitable numbers see here: http://service.citroen.com/docapv/recherche.do I now have 25 motors to choose from including the previously mentioned Bosch, but still no Citroen part numbers........... :blink: Aha - think I may have cracked it, at the top of the exploded parts diagram is the number 0600 02 5332 74K - am I right in assuming that the relevant part number is 5332 ?

Thanks to all for the info above, however I think that the motor I have is not the correct one for the HDi 2.2 - I really need the Citroen part number. I'm sure that the quote obtained from eurocarparts is the correct motor - however I'm not prepared to pay £160 + £72 when I can get an apparently identical motor from other suppliers at less than 1/3rd of that price - problem is that all these sellers need the Citroen part number to be sure I have the right motor - I don't think the car is worth much more £200 at the moment......... The 'service.citroen.com' looks to be the answer - however when I try to access that site, it come up with am error message 'javascript needs to be enabled', even though I have javascript enabled in my browser (Firefox) Coastline - I'm in Essex but maybe your supplier would be willing to post? Thanks again Barry

I'm having some problems trying to get a recon starter motor for my HD1 auto can anyone point me towards any website that'll give me the Citroen part number - all relevant details are below: Citroen C5 2003 (reg RA03 DFY) 2.2 HDi SALOON 5dr Automatic The motor I have is obviously a re-con and is stamped on the steel motor housing with the following: Lucas 40245181 DD 3457 673079 000118183 Stamped radially on the alloy end plate (pinion end) with the following: Bosch 25286 1005831048 Pinion has 10 teeth. Thanks and regards to all Barry

Hi Rick - search this forum for 'faps', 'eloys' and 'C5 alarm faults', you're in for a very steep learning curve.....the answers are all here tho'

I have the same unused button on my '04 C3 Senso, I believe that this is used on the higher spec c3's. I did ask at the 'Stealers' if the button could be re-programmed to sound the horn, as the steering wheel horn pad is pretty useless, also has a slight delay when you press it and there is no way to give a little warning 'bleep', just a full blown and very loud 'roar' I was told that it was not possible, even though the button was connected to the main bus - I think that he probably meant 'computer say's noooo..) Just another little niggling fault on an otherwise great little motor. Other niggling faults include: 1. Slow gearchanges (manual or auto) this is only a problem when trying to negotiate a busy roundabout or junction - you pull smartly away in 1st and as soon as the car reaches about 5 mph, the car staggers slowly into 2nd - not much fun when you have a White Van Man bearing down on you...... 2. The fact that whenever you are travelling at about 30 to 40 mph, if you just touch the brakes the ecu forces a gear change down to 2nd. I complained to the dealer about this - he said it was 'to "assist you with braking the car" - I dont need any help thanks, my right foot and the ABS brakes are quite sufficient. There are one or two other things that I can't think of at the mo, but despite this, it's a very nice little car - over the last 2000 miles or so (nearly all short non-motorway use) it still averages 50mpg, on longer Motorway or Daul Carriage way trips it easily gets 65mpg, and on one momentous trip from Basildon to Norwich and back it managed 73mpg. Rant over......... :) Barry

Thanks Random - The problem is not with s/motor speed, but with the solenoid appearing to disengage sfter a couple of revs of the engine. What I don't get is that when the engine is cold it will start 1st time, try it again in an hour and it will only start after many tries (sometimes not at all) There are also many other problems with this vehicle, as I said earlier, I think I'm gonna need a lexia...... Thanks for the interest - much appreciated.

Thanks Lee, I'll pull the old one apart first tho' - I'd rather spend some time on it it rather than spending some money....... If I can't get to the botton of it I'll be looking at Ebay - loads on there around 50 to 60 quid, need to identify the exact model though.

Thanks Paul I did wonder about the revs, although it does seem to tickover at a reasonable speed - about 8-900 rpm, IIRC. Come to think about it, you have to press the pedal quite a way before the clutch starts to bite (crappo senso gearbox!!!) so speeding up the tickover may be the way forward - I s'pose the only way to get that done is to take to the stealers......... Think I'll have to get me a Lexia 3, I also have a C5 hdi with about 110,000 on the clock - that shows all the classic C5 faults so the lex will help me to get that sorted too. Cheers Barry

Ooops - Header should read "2004 C3 1.4 Hdi Senso" I've had this problem on my '04 C3 senso 1.4 HDi intermittantly from brand new - I posted this problem in another topic, with no reaction from anyone, I'd really like to know if anyone has had this fault, Citroen dealer claims never to have heard of it and also claims that no alarms are generated. The problem usually happens in cold weather, when the engine is first started. (and very occasionally when the engine is hot) Car starts OK but as soon as I select reverse and press the accelerator, the engine starts to falter and after a second or so the car stalls violently, and I do mean VIOLENTLY, the whole car really shakes - it feels like the transmission has taken a terrific beating. Very occasionally the faltering engine note is accompanied by a ratcheting sound, as if maybe the gear has not fully selected. This started happening within the 1st month of ownership (Sepember 04) and repeated checks by the dealer have failed to find any fault - after 5 years I stopped reporting the problem, it still happens but I now have almost a sixth sense about it and when it's about to happen, I quickly turn the ignition off, wait a couple of seconds and it always re-starts OK - still catches me out occasionally tho'...still scares the s###t out of me. The most annoying thing about this whole episode is that the dealer didn't appear to believe it was happening ( "......it doesn't show up on the computer mate, so it must be your imagination.........." ) The car doesn't get used very much (still under 20,000 on the clock after nearly 7 years) but I'd dearly love to find a solution to this problem. :blink: ............... :)

Finally I got around to taking some meter readings. Battery Voltage with ignition off - 12.4 volts -------"---------------"------ on - 12.4 volts -------"------- with engine idling - 14.4 volts -------"------- engine revving about 3000rpm - 14.7 volts So, I'd say that Battery is a bit low but not a problem - and the Alternator seems to be working OK. That leaves just the starter motor - when I started the car today, the engine kicked into life straight away - on trying to restart (after the meter checks) the original fault returned i.e. approximately 2 revs and the starter kicked out. I noticed that sometimes, after the starter dog kicks out, and before you release the key, you can hear what seems to be the starter motor turning quite quickly. Think I need to pull the starter motor out and check the engagement mechanism, don't really want to spend a hundred quid or so on a new starter motor that may or may not be the problem............... When I get the starting sorted out I'll need to take a look at some of the other problems - odd EM alarms, the usual crop of carp that you seem to get with elderly C5's. If I can get the starting sorted I may invest in a lexia to sort the other faults.

Sounds like it could be the Clutch release bearing on it's way out........

Yepp - engaging every time, but only for a couple of revolutions - if the battery is fully charged it turns enough to fire the engine..........

Just an update to this problem - I fully charged the battery overnight and the car started on the second try. This suggests to me that either the battery is faulty, OR the alternator is not charging properly.......... Gonna do some tests with a multimeter later.

Hi all Lately my C5 has become very difficult to start - on turning the key to the start position, the starter motor makes a couple of turns and then kicks out. If I continue to try to start it, eventually it manages to stagger into life. Any suggestiona gratefully received. Thanks Barry