JBSpain

Hi Paul Thanks for the reply. All I can say is Citroen and their bloody electrics!!! My first car was an old Ford Escort 1.1 and it had pretty much zero electronics and never gave me a problem. Citreon appear to have 5 wires where other cars have 2 - running off to sensors and ECU etc and even Citroen garages have not got a bloody clue whether it's the part itself failing or a sensor as all the faults seem intermittant. When you start the car you never know what warning light will be on or off. I've noticed these days the baby warning seal light comes on - so you just start ignoring all warning lights. Also on some occassions the power steering does not engage and you have to turn off car and wait a few minutes and re-start or if you are in a real hurry pull the bonnet and disconnent/reconnect battery to allow reset. It would have been a good idea to have an ECU reset switch in the car becuase that seems to cure most problems!! I have spoken to many C3 owners some in the trade and they all curse the electrics.

On occassion my wife's C3 fails to start on first turn of the key and it seems to short out such that the clock/display then flashes and needs to be re-set (ie time/day/month/year etc). It's starts ok the next turn of the key but a bit of a pain then having to re-set the clock. Again to me this is a problem of a car that has a poorly installed and overly electrified controls. If anyone else has experienced this problem or has any solution please advise. many thanks

Looking for comments/reviews on the citroen EGS - electonic gearbox system. Does it work well - change its gear smoothly etc All comments appreciated

I know this is C3 forum but as you have all been so helpful with my C3 I've copied in a post I made to the C4 forum looking for comments on C4s. After saying I would never buy Citroen again due to poor quality of C3 I have been looking at C4s in diesel & automatic. So I'm just wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom. I tend to keep cars a bit so I will take 5 year guarantee so other than being without a car I should not have to worry about repairs bills and I shall encourage citroen during those 5 years to replace the most expensive parts and always when any warning light shows to start with the most expensive part even if unsure and replace it twice for good measure!! The models I'm looking at are HDi 110 FAP CMP HDi 135 FAP CAS An observation from Citroen and other car manufacturers is that automatic is only available in the top of the range models which bumps the price up. Toyota says automatic = leather seats + exec pack. This comment may be relevant only to Spain where autos are less common than UK. All comments as always appreciated.

After saying I would never buy Citroen again due to poor quality of C3 I have been looking at C4s in diesel & automatic. So I'm just wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom. I tend to keep cars a bit so I will take 5 year guarantee so other than being without a car I should not have to worry about repairs bills and I shall encourage citroen during those 5 years to replace the most expensive parts and always when any warning light shows to start with the most expensive part even if unsure and replace it twice for good measure!! The models I'm looking at are HDi 110 FAP CMP HDi 135 FAP CAS An observation from Citroen and other car manufacturers is that automatic is only available in the top of the range models which bumps the price up. Toyota says automatic = leather seats + exec pack. This comment may be relevant only to Spain where autos are less common than UK. All comments as always appreciated.

Hi Paul Thank you for your detailed reply. It's certainly given me something to go on. The car in questions is:- C3 1.4i CAS SX PLUS AUTO Year: 2003 As I live on the coast in the south of Spain I can rule out anything to do with freezing conditions! Any idea where the thermostat and sensor are situated or how to identify them etc?

The cooling fan on my wife’s C3 has developed a fault and apparently does not function all the time. I have yet to experience the fault on the odd time I drive the car. What apparently happens is the dashboard when the engine is running at normal temperature displays 3 yellow/orange bars but on the odd occasion it shoots to the top with all bars on yellow/orange and the top one on red – meaning something is wrong! On various occasions (not at the time of the fault) I have lifted the bonnet and observed the car and the fan seems to cut in and out as normal and I can’t get the problem to repeat itself. Citroen say it must be the cooling fan at fault and want to replace. Admittedly they say it is not normal for the fan to fail but recognise my C3 has developed more faults than most C3s! What’s irionic is the fan failed on it’s first trip out after spending 2 weeks in the citroen garage but they say there were not doing any work on anything that would impact on the fan. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem and if anyone has tests that could be performed to confirm it definitely is the cooling fan. Already tried re-setting ECU by disconnecting battery as that seems to be the first recommendation for any type of electrical fault but problem did repeat itself after that again. The fan has two plugs one with 2 heavier type wires and the other with 3 lighter type wires. It would seem the plug 2 two wires is the power feed and the plug with the 3 wire probably running off to sensor/ECU but I’m no auto electrician. All comments/suggestions as always greatly appreciated.

My wife's C3 is by far the worst car I have ever come across. Nothing but expensive repair bills. Car would appear to have a lot of known faults. Also all the clip on plastic trim falls off. On the whole it's too expensive to take a gamble and see if another citroen would be any better. My advice to anyone comtemplating a C3/Citroen would be to make sure you either purchase under a full maintenance lease or have the full extended warranty and that way who cares if the car spends time in the garage and then they can replace all the expensive parts they want! This is my honest assessment of a Citroen C3.

Buy Japanese/German/Swedish eg Toyota, Honda, SAAB etc Citroen cars are full of little plastic clips that all fall off in time. Electronics that do not work and spare parts that are incredibly expensive. I can buy Citroen cars very cheaply with family/staff discount but even still it's not worth it because the car will fall apart and hefty repairs bills all the way and constant aurguments over what's included under the warranty. Anyone foolish enough to buy citroen should take all extended warranty options and never keep the car a day longer. Also see if they will replace all the plastic that falls off as you drive along!! I didn't see a C3 listed in your fleet. Why don't you buy a C3 and then come back in a couple of years and see if you say the same. The car has so many known faults they should do a total recall. Now don't be a complete plonker!!

Faulty steering racks in C3 is a very common fault but that said the whole car is a fault and very expensive to repair if you keep the car out of warranty. Is your car noisy going over bumps or when turning etc? I will never buy another citroen car!

Car: C3 1.4i CAS SX PLUS AUTO Year: 2003 All automatic cars I have had in the past have had a dip stick for checking ATF levels and always had fluid changes at certain mileage or after certain number of years according to manufacturer guidelines. But C3 does not appear to have a dip stick and when I asked at the garage I was told it was a sealed unit and the fluids don't need checking or changing. Is that correct? User manual says nothing on the topic? Also anyone wish to comment on how good/bad Citroen C3 automatic gear boxes are and what mileage I could expect to get out of it. The car has done 100,000 miles so I'm starting to worry and maybe I should get rid of car whilst it's still working ....

The part is as Iannez said located on a RHD car in the driver’s footwell on the side (towards the back) of the heater blower box. The part varies depending on whether the car has air conditioning or indeed full climate control. So best to remove and identify the part before buying! Ignore the little motorised units on the side of the heater blower box (about 3) which are closer to the dashboard. They control temperature and open/close directional flow shutters etc. If you’re at those you need to go further back. My car has full climate control so the resister has two plugs which go into green socket holders set into the resister. The part is removed with a torx 20 and then pulls straight out. The Valeo part number for my car was F657165W/M. You can see this part on www aepdirect com their part number is AEP 509355. The Citroen part number is 6441L2 for the resistor on cars with climate control and for other models I believe 6441Q8 and possibly other number depending on model/make/features etc. Sometimes these parts appear on ebay and you can also see pictures there. It would help if you could cross reference the Valeo part number with the Citroen part number but failing that check images. Also online parts suppliers seem to use their own numbering system and not cross reference to Valeo or Citroen. The Valeo parts are used on other cars (Peugeot/Renault etc) so I guess that’s part of the problem with having a unique numbering system! I bought the replacement part from Citroen for approx GBP50.00. You might find it cheaper on ebay or from some discount online parts supplier.

Hi Iannez My car is LHD so I'm working in passenger footwell which is where all the regulators appear to be housed. I thought I was getting somewhere but no joy. I found 3 little motorised regulators but they all function and appear to control various flaps for temperature or air circulation. But I am still struggling to find any unit that regulates fan speed. Any more throught on how to identify or find the part?

Model: Citroen C3 1.4 Automatic Age: 5 years Problem: When you start the car the air or heat blower comes on full blast. The control panel illuminates as it should and it shows the fan speed being increased or decreased etc but it has no effect and the blower continues to operate at full speed with no way to turn it off. I have tried the usual ie remove fuse and disconnect battery but all to no avail. Possible solution: Having search various forums problem does seem to appear quite frequently on Citroen cars but no one seems to come back and say for sure what was the solution and cost etc. The common answer seems to be a faulty fan speed regulator. Question: Any other thoughts on what the problem might be and anyone know where the fan speed regulator is located or how to identify the part etc and most importanntly how I might go about testing before rushing out to buy the part etc. All comments appreciated and when I do get this fault repaired I will update my posting for the benefit of other forum members.

Hi All My wife's C3 has the exact same problem in that once you start the car the air blower operates at full blast. I have also tried the usual remove fuse and disconnect battery to see if that would reset any components but no luck. If any of previous posters got to the bottom of the problem I would appreciate hearing etc Many thanks John