Gordo

Hi Greenhills, Did you get this sorted???? I posted the original solution and actually did both the main key and the spare as they need to both be in sync. The process is a little fiddly but I did get the main key and spare to work once the procedure was completed. G.

Hi all, I had trouble 2 weeks ago with my main key failing to unlock the central locking on my 2002 1.4HDA Exclusive C3. I assumed the battery had gone in the key, so purchased a strip of 5 from ebay. Replaced the battery today and it still didn't work, however, the spare did after I opened the door and started the engine. I did a search on the web and Moon the Loon had posted this on Yahoo: When you lock the drivers door on a C3 and only that door locks that is normal. All C3's are like this. The dealer should know this also. Have you had a new battery fitted to the key? It doesn't cost much to replace and then you'll have eliminated the most common and cheapest fault. You can reprogramme the remote to the car yourself at home. It's very easy- 1. Sit in the car with ALL the accessories turned off (radio, lights etc.) Make sure the doors are shut. 2. Have all the remote keys with you, not on the same key ring. Turn on the ignition with the remote key and hold down the LOCK button on the remote for about 10 seconds. If you have more than one remote key, remove the one you have just done and insert the next one and turn the ignition on and do the same again, hold the lock button down for 10 seconds. 3. When you have done this to all the remotes, remove the key from the ignition and wait 1 minute. DO NOT switch anything on inside the car and DO NOT open any door, especially the drivers one. 4. After the minute is up, open and close the driver's door and try working the remote controls, they should all br now working. Any that aren't may be faulty or have a duff battery. To lock the doors in the event of the remotes failing and you are unable to reprogramme them, open each door (except the one with the lock barrel on it), in the area of the door latch there should be a small black plastic screw head you can insert the key into to turn it (the screw may be hidden underneath a small black sticker approx. 1cm in diameter). Turn the screw on each door and close the door, it is now locked, to re-open it use the inside handle. C3's aren't commonly known for remote key problems, your dealer should be able to test them for signal output, you may have a faulty remote but 9 times out of 10 it's a duff battery causing the problems. Hope this helps. I can confirm to all, that this worked perfectly and can only assume that the old key was now out of sync. I am now a happy bunny again with 2 proper working keys and I didn't even have to go and see the dealer. :unsure: G.

Hi C3 Fan, I have an 02 C3 1.4HDi which I've had for over 4 years, when I first bought it I was getting weird electrical symptoms. These included the radio stations re-setting off station, the alarm setting and un-setting, displays going blank and trouble with the central locking. The thing with diesels, they only need electricity to power the glowplugs to ignite the fuel/air mixture, after that the higher compression ratio ignites the subsequent mixtures. I took it back to the place where I bought it and they said to go to the main local dealer. They traced the fault in mine back to a faulty battery connection. You could start by removing the battery cover and cleaning and coating the terminals with petrolium jelly, also have a look at the other ends of the leads to earth and main fuse panel. No doubt others on here will help as well, hope you get yours fixed quickly as there's nothing worse than an electrical fault.

Just as a bit of a thought on this, my 2002 C3's horn is a nightmare to get it to sound, it's almost as if the airbag centre is fouling slightly on the horn, you could try pressing the horn panels at different areas of the steering wheel to find the correct area for you. It's worse when someone pulls out on you and you need to warn them you are there (foreign truckers for example), the horn never seems to sound at that point but when you calmly try to press it firmly at the correct part - it works.

I have a 2002 1.4 HDi exclusive with over 93K on the clock and am currently getting a weekly average of between 69 and 74.5 and that is using the mileage from last fill up to the next and the actual volume of diesel. The driving is motorway, A roads and town/city work. So am happy with this in light of the consumption shown in the books and this along with the cheap road tax means I'm very reluctant to trade for another car. I even considered a Toyota Prius but can't see me getting the same savings in fuel. It's time they brought a diesel hybrid out.

Hi Spiz, Thanks for that very detailed description of getting to the bolts that hold the headlamp in place. I will have a look at this at weekend (weather permitting). I did have hassle earlier on in the year with misting on the same headlamp. That was ther reason the rear cover was off (I forgot to replace it after the headlamp dried during the summer). I did notice then that the seal had been twisted during the original installation. Gordo

Hi folks, Can anyone help with the location of the clips and bolts/nuts that need to be removed to take the offside headlamp unit out of a 52 plate C3. I have the same issue as a number of people with dampness getting in, I wanted to take the unit out, dry properly and replace it but am unsure where all the bolts are. I did notice in an earlier posting a mention that the bumper has to come off - not good. Hope someone can help. G.

I assume by the dates on these postings that you have solved this issue :D . I have replaced 3 nearside and 2 offside bulbs on my C3 :angry: . The best advise for the nearside is to remove the covers for the battery and fusebox, take the rear cover off to allow you access to the bulbs and then go to the offside, take the cover off this and familiarise yourself (with the benefit of the extra space afforded) with the retaining clip and it's removal and re-fitting. The first time I did the nearside, I cursed the designer with every drop of sweat and spilled blood (there was a lovely sharp edge on the inner wing edge that cuts the arm like a razor - so beware). It took me nearly 45 minutes to get the old bulb out and the new one back in and connected. In the process I ended up dislodging the wire clip that holds the rear cover on (another nightmare finding the holes for that!!!!!!!!!!!!) Now I know where the problems are, I can do a neaside in under 20 minutes from start to finish and the offside in minutes. It just takes a little practise and patience in dealing with the bulb retaining clip. Good luck

I have a 52 plate 92BHP 1.4HDi Exclusive, it's just clocked 79,000 miles. I also checked with Citroen and was advised 150,000 miles. I spoke to the motor engineer who does all my work on our cars and he did state that Citroen cam belts appear to be very reliable but he would recommend a change around 120,000 to be safe. I didn't ask for a price as I'll probably have got rid of the car before then. I notice a number of people have had a lot of trouble with C3's, I bought this second hand and apart from the radio wiping it's saved stations and one or two issues early on with displays and locking (turned out to be a bad battery connection after a service), the hassle of the off-side lamp misting and replacing headlamp bulbs (I have replaced 3 near-side and 2 off-side and can now do either with little fuss or blood loss), all I've done is fill it with diesel, drive it and get it serviced by a mechanic you can trust when you get to the service interval. I bought the C3 for the economy and quirky shape. So far in around 65,000 miles or so of driving, I have had 59MPG at the worst and 79.8 at the best. It's not the quickest or best handling car but it does keep going (so far!!!!!! - touches wood very quickly).

I replaced all 4 at the same time, so did the phone round tyre places thing. Ended up with a local independent tyre place, when I turned up he apologised for not having the adaptor for the balance machine. He ended up calling his maters in other tyre companies but they would not lend the adaptor (turns out they need to pay £1000 for one). Ended up at National and had to pay an extra £40 odd for the same tyres. They used the excuse that they had to recover the cost of the adaptor!!!!!!!! Welcome to ripoff Britain.