fishears

It's your head gasket - get it done quickly

for number 3 you can wait for dry weather, take the cover off the back and drive around with your lights on. Or do it in a garage at any time (you can have your high beams on as well then). The heat from the lights will dry the unit pretty quickly. Then replace the cover and hope it was not caused by a leak but by a careless previous owner...

Thanks for the reply. It's still happening so I've had the alarm switched off - now I don't anger my neighbours. I haven't got a spare key for the car which has never been a problem for me. I'm reluctant to go to the expense of a spare unless I know it WILL cure the problem. Interference (as you say) is at the top of my list of suspects. I can understand an external signal being able to block the key from remotely unlocking the car (if it was present at the same time) but how would that prevent the car from recognizing the key's transponder when in the ignition? Does anyone know if the key has an active, semi-active or a passive transponder in it?

I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what's happening... Every now and then (and getting more regular) when I go to unlock my car in the morning, it won't respond to the unlock button. So, I unlock it with the key and open the door. The alarm sounds. I put the key in the ignition but the alarm continues to sound. Holding the lock button for ten seconds etc does not re-sync the key. I have to pop the bonnet & disconnect the battery then when I reconnect it the key is recognised (I can start the car) and the re-sync procedure works for the remote lock/unlock. I've had it hooked up to Lexia and there are no faults logged. Any ideas? Also, I was just on holiday for a week in Scotland and it didn't do it once up there but the morning after I got home it started doing it again. Could something near my house possibly be affecting it?

Today I tried to unlock my C3 and... no dice. This has happened many times before so I wasn't too worried - just open the door with the key and when you put the key in the ignition it should stop the alarm and let you re-sync as detailed above. At least, that's what SHOULD happen. Not today. Not for me. The alarm kept going and the immobilizer stayed active. Clearly the car wasn't recognizing the transponder in the key. After an emergency visit from my genius mechanic, I have this tip to add for anyone who gets the same problem: 1) unlock the driver's door with the key and LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN THROUGHOUT THIS PROCEDURE (alarm will sound as soon as you open the door) 2) reach over and pop the bonnet 3) disconnect the battery negative (nice and easy as there's a clip on it) 4) leave it off and wait 30 seconds 5) with the negative still disconnected, put the key in the ignition and switch to the ON position 6) reconnect the battery negative After this you should have a car with the alarm and immobilizer turned off again and the key should now be recognized by the car (allowing you to start it). I just drove to my nearest Maplin to replace the remote battery and after re-syncing it everything was back to normal.

Well, I finally got round to replacing the rear passenger lock today. It was going like a dream and I was just thinking "20 minutes isn't too bad for a job like that" when the spring popped out as I was refitting the exterior handle! Had to drill out my rivets and remove the whole thing again to refit it... All done now though so I thought I'd return with what's different on the rear doors: 1. The window winder - it just pulls off in a straight line. 2. The glass guide - when you have the door panel off and have gone through the foam membrane you need to remove the glass guide. It's right in front of the lock (photo of where the torx screws are, photo of guide removed) - Do remember to refit this :D 3. Getting the lock and handle innards in and out is more of a squeeze than the front door so take care that you don't pull anything off when refitting!! I decided to crack the old lock open to see if I could find the fault (and when I say "crack" I mean just that). There are two rotary solenoids in there which to my surprise operate on both metal AND plastic parts. There are a few pretty flimsy looking bits of plastic in there being used as levers to switch microswitches etc. Lots of small plastic shavings fell out when I opened it - I'm amazed they last more than a year. Photo 1 of inside lock Photo 2 of inside lock Photo of a solenoid I was hoping the new lock would also fix my "stuck on" child lock on that door - it did until I tried pressing the child lock button on the dash. That turned the child lock on and now it's stuck on again!!! I take it that's not a lock related fault?

Nice tip. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the thought - I'd always assumed the noise was caused by the motor running on after locking, say, if the bit that stops this had broken - but if it's a solenoid doing the work then I must be wrong... Never looked inside though because they are a "B"-word to open up. I've already bought a replacement now (only £30 delivered) but I might try cracking the old one open or spraying some WD40 in it before I bin it - it could be saleable!!!

Glad the thread helped you Bobster - welcome to the forum. My n/s/r lock has started making the noise now so I'll be replacing that this week. I don't expect much difference apart from the window winder (but that probably just pops off with a split-ring or something). If I come across anything special I'll post it here!

I DID IT!!!! Thanks entirely to your instructions - there's no way I would have had the confidence without them... I've upped some photos of the inside (hard to get at) part of the door handle mechanism which might help anyone else trying to do this job. 1. Outside with handle off 2. View of mechanism in situ 3. Overview of mechanism (removed) 4. Another angle The only problem I had was when trying to get the white plastic bit back into position to refit the handle, I couldn't do it. Eventually I pushed the large cylindrical black bit with a metal centre (see pic 2 & 3) above it and that worked great. It might be easier to pull this instead of the white plastic bit when removing the handle... Oh, and the rivets were 4mm. Thanks again, iannez :lol:

Fantastic. Thanks for that. As soon as my pop riveter arrives from eBay I'll get stuck in and report success or failure.

Yeah, that's a no go. I fiddled about for a long time without success. I feel like I could pull it off but then I would never get it back on because I can't see what I'm doing in there. Can you tell me how to get to the pop rivets so that I can drill them out? I'm assuming part of the external handle can be prised off for this.... Many thanks for sticking with this/me

Thanks for the helpful reply. So it IS possible to do it in situ? When you say "metal bar", is that the metal bar at the end of the lock cable? Is the bit on the external handle that takes the lock cable end anything like the bit doing the same job on the interior handle?

Hi My front passenger side door lock started to make one hell of a noise when being locked so I bought a replacemnt from eBay. I've disassembled all the necessary parts on the door but I'm being held up by one problem: How do you remove/replace the cable that connects to the outside door handle? Access to this is severely hampered by the metal of the door itself and the handle is pop-riveted in place (please don't say the handle has to come off) :rolleyes: Any practical advice would be greatly welcomed. I just don't want to fiddle the old one off and not be able to get the new one connected because I don't know how the old one came off.... Thanks

i had the same thing after changing my bulbs once. The likely cause is that some significant amount of moisture got into the headlamp unit either while you changed the bulbs or due to a poorly fitted cover after you changed the bulbs. If you get moisture (or ice at this time of year) on the bulbs when you switch them on they're likely to blow. Check the cover is fitted correctly - its a b*gg*r on the nearside. Look for any signs of moisture in the headlamp unit. If there is any then pick a dry day to drive around with the cover off and your bulbs on to dry it out.

The n/s bulbs are frustrating but surely this is a job we should all figure out how to do. What if your bulb goes while you're driving at night somewhere remote? Better to get familiar with it as soon as you can - unless you want to wait for the RAC/AA in that situation. The hardest bit for me is pressing on the dipped bulb spring to get it off (and back on) - I have grooves in my fingertips for about an hour after.... plus the usual scrapes to the back of my hand

Typical "island" mentality, eh? I always assume I'm addressing another Brit... Will try to widen my horizons in future. Thanks for the correction. BTW is there no fog in Norway? I'm curious now.

Thank you for that

Are you sure about that? UK legislation states they are only to be used in conditions where visibility is serious impaired – generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). Got that from a friend on the force.

Hello Can anyone tell me if my C3 Exclusive 1.4HDi 8v '52 plate has a particle filter? The maintenance guide says certain oils can't be used on HDi engines with a particle filter but I can't see anywhere that tells me which HDi engines have one... Thanks

Looks like that's true. It is described in this official memorandum. I'm surprised it isn't more widely known under the current climate... Even so, my mechanic told me not to (and I trust him).

my advice is - don't do it apart from the risk of damaging your engine there's all the paperwork you have to do declaring the fuel duty, in the end you don't save much. Plus it would never run on 100% cooking oil so the hassle factor just goes up and up. Better of shopping for groceries wherever they're offering a fuel discount to shoppers...

I'd been scratching my head about this for ages... Thanks for the help. On mine the sequence was actually: open flap twist cap disconnect wire connector fiddle with spring clip for a long time replace bulb

Just got back from my dealers. It took two technicians to eventually tell me that they don't believe the C3 has a manual option for child locks - despite the handbook saying it does. Honestly, every time I have asked the dealers a question it's like I just showed them a car they have never ever seen before. Is it just me?! They went on to quote me £150 for fitting a replacement lock. I politely declined.

Had the same thing myself. Opened the fob to check the battery but it had plenty of voltage so I tried pressing the tiny buttons directly on the circuit board - it worked. I reassembled it all and it hasn't failed since. It could be all sorts of things like the battery needing reseating, dirt under a microswitch, the button on the casing getting out of alignment with the button on the circuit board..... Definitely have the thing apart though and try it like that.