Tony_T

Wooohoooo! :D Before the car got a near engine replacement for a stall lol I was getting a consistant 54mpg, first mileage check after getting it back from the garage showed a promising 61.6 mpg, yep there was diffo a prob of sorts, running a lot smoother to boot.

Never lost the power steering once Mark. Its a heavy little bugger I noticed when pushing it into the driveway with no power steering

They did something to mine the other week to stop the steering wheel/ column from vibrating/rattling without being asked cee3peeoh, mention it next time its in the garage m8. Its quite a stiff suspension in comparison to others, due to the height probably, so its bound to send more thro the column/steering wheel anyway. Power steering like Pork_Pie says is variable according to speed, light at a crawl and stiffens up the faster you go...........hmm sounds familiar :D Its way too light imho.

Wooohooo! The first call ever came yesterday (Mon) mid morning, "your car is ready for collection"...a full 7 days. Got the train and arrived there 2'ish, I was just going to be handed the keys and waved tata till I asked what had been fitted and to my shock was given these highlights:- New Diesel Injection Pump (no surprise there) Timing Belt uh! Set Of Heating Plugs ? ..to name a few. I never got too techie into things as the conversation quickly went off in a tangent in the poor customer care direction, i wont bore you with the "lip service"offered Any roads the cars running ok, infact its running better as it was helluva jerky at slow speeds akin to kangaroo petrol (diesel in this case), ie: inching along in traffic jams/ slowing at junctions or roundabouts to the point it was forever stalling.................being the first C3 i've had i just put it down to the engine being tight thinking it would ease as time goes on but seems there was a problem after all. Something else got fitted, some rubbers or something to that effect to stop steering wheel/column vibration, I never mentioned anything like that so I guess its a fix that gets done to them all by matter of course as they pass thro the workshop.

It aint Duttons, everything was spot on as far as their concerned, I'm 200 odd miles away from Duttons, its the local Citroen dealer that it was taken in to that seems devoid of any customer care etiquette.

Fridays gone No car, No phone call, no nothing! :D ok theres a chance the pump never appeared but it would be nice to be told/ kept informed...........instead of having to speculate Not one b'stard phone call from this place since it got took away onboard the low loader Monday morn.

More or less Ann, except transported in on the back of a Low Loader. It was through Citroen Assist but they no longer use Green Flag, Its RAC now, never really looked at the Citroen Assist phamplet in any great detail to be honest, having said that you should'nt need to be pro-active. All elementary as the pumps supposed to be there today and the car sorted...but 2pm on a Friday and no call so I wont be holding my breath.

Yep a pair of jeans & shoes Mark Car came from Duttons but like you say should make no odds where it came from. ...had all my new cars since 98 from this local Citroen dealer so he might be a bit miffed, still, cash is king and Duttons know how to drag in customers from afar with the pricing. No call came Thirsday either so I bit the bullet and phoned late afternoon to be told it was awaiting a new Diesel Injection Pump, due in today. Hopefully car will be back today, no doubt It'll be a train journey to collect it. I hope they made a few bob on it as it'll be their last, I'll travel twice as far to get it serviced just out of spite.

Wrong .....Day 4 (or day 5 taking all of Sunday into account) Yesterdays promised phone call from the garage never materialised and if it werent for that telephone call by the wife the other day there would be no contact from them to date.......an ambassador for the Citroen Marque ...not! There will be a call today tho from this end

Got the seatbelt rattle against the sides but no cutting out or squeaky brakes.

Close of day 2 and no call from the Citroen garage, wife phones at 3.30pm and they have'nt even looked at it yet, call US back in an hour was the upshot. Phones back one hour later to be told they dont know what is wrong with it.......... rolls into day 3 :angry:

Just watched the .mpeg, scary stuff and thats a good rating :angry: ..bet that gave the Engine Management System something to think about lol, wouldnt mind seeing the fault log.

Went away today Mark, nothing to report as no contact was made from the local Citroen dealer, as much in the dark now as when I was watching it being winched up onto the low loader........correction I did get a call from the RAC (had a typo earlier with the AA), saying the C3 would be getting taken by low loader to Beeches Service Staion, he'd got the wrong person as it was already away so there is another one out there. IMHO its the car thats telling itself not to start, ie the engine management system, as it was the tamest engine stall ever, no way should that have put a car out of commission and yep I agree stalling seems to be a pre-cursor to a few probs. Till tomorrow adue

Opened the back gates started the car up and reversed several yards to clear the gates, selected first gear (i thought, was actually 3rd) full lock, released the clutch to move off and car stalled (i wonder why *blush*), reselected first after the mandatory stream of expletives and car wouldnt start, turned over fine just wouldnt start.........left if for a half hour or so and gave it another go, no joy, went to phone the AA 16 mins later after an advisory eta from the AA of 45 mins the AA van drew up (good going), spent a good hour and a half at it checking electrics, fuses, electric fuel pump (under the back seat for them that dont know n/s beneath a big circular black rubber grommet). Scheduled to be uplifted by tow truck 2morro, destination local Citroen dealer. Four weeks old, 11OO miles on the clock :angry: As impressed as I am with the car I think the electrics management is a wee bit ahead of itself. Pi**ed off & soaked

Right with you now Richard, thanks for that highly technical longwinded answer to save my embarrassement ;) I was a bit threw out as the wipers werent on at the front but on reflection I remember that they had been on intermittent when i stopped, when i started back up they werent on as such (switch was tho) but i've noticed its seems to reset itself and you need to switch the wipers off then back on when you have stopped. A enlightened man has now left the building..

Fellow C3'ers plz enlighten Came out of Tesco's the other day, started up, checked me lippy was ok in the vanity mirror :P then looked back as i was selecting reverse gear to pull out, the rear wiper went across, turned to switch it off and it wasnt on, deselected reverse and re-engaged and it did it again, and again, just the one wipe tho...................how come?? I've tried to emulate it since but no joy, ie: select reverse and zilch ;) *edit* near 4got did an mpg check after 323 mile average driving, 54.3 mpg

4 miles :lol: I take it you were in reverse :D Probably not filled ala proper, air pocket or similar........well I hope

Yup new about that one, had to try it out one night :lol: I dont know if its mentioned in the Owners Handbook tho, reason I knew was thro the handover from Duttons Forshaw.

Filled the tank to the brim with the intentions of running it empty or near as, pulled into the filling station yesterday after only 212 mile (curiousity getting the better of me), with the aid of my trusty calculator it panned out to a respectable 54.9 mpg. I was looking for more to be honest as its never been over 3k revs, still, only 600 odd mile tis early days. Had an the 6th oil warning doo dah go out as well.

Quite smart the speed sensitive intermittent wipers, had the right weather today for them, impressed I was...............preferred that to the variable I used to have, thought the wipe versus speed ratio was well set up.

.......and on that intermittent wiper note Had the intermittent rear wiper on when i pulled up at a post box yesterday, got back in and drove off, a bit down the road i realised no clicking from the glovebox area yet the rear wiper switch was still set to on, came back on ok when i turned it off and on. Another one was the no seat belt on warning, same set up, pulled up, both rear and front intermittent wipers and sidelights were on, withdrew the key from ignition got out the car, got back in started up and drove off (no seat belt on, my usual), the red warning light was illuminated for no seat belt but the ol' beep beep beep never came on nor did it flash. answers on a postcard.

It is Alan I'll leave the aircon on then and see how it goes, been trying to keep it off to see what kind of fuel return i get on a full tank, first light went off on the fuel gauge at 92 mile..............5 to go.

I have to agree with you on that one organist, wish our C3 had it, like you say the amount of folk that drive without lights till its pitch black are many. I wonder whats actually missing on the 16 Hdi 16v to enable it, if possible that is, I've a friend in a running club who's going to make some enquiries, theres a member who is a citroen mechanic. You dont know if you dont ask, shot to nothing eh.

Nope you aint on your own Alan, mine sounds a bit rough/thrashy as well on acceleration (doesnt need to be heavy either), the sound reminds me a petrol car i used to have that was bad for "pinking". As to the eccessive oil consumption its only done 400 mile so no comment i'm afraid at the mo this end.

I've no real complaints as such i think its terrific vfm and a nice car overall (early days i know), taking a while to settle into it, well out my comfort zone, still feels like i'm wearing someone elses pants. My top 3 moans (Unlike the pork pie and moose these are trivial) :- 1) the siting of the rear view mirror, what a blind spot that is when your crossing traffic as you pull out of a junction, the norm tends to be slightly above the field of vision not slap bang in the middle. 2) Hotly followed is the windows steaming up (for the wrong reason). ..and on that steamy subject what do folk set the temp controls at to stop the windows from steaming up, i mean when you dont really want cold air nor hot but just to drive normal without chittering? 3) the distortion/ fussiness/ lack of clarity in looking out the rear window via the rear view interior mirror..........if i wanted that i'd drink & drive. ..that finish or "lack of" on the inside of the tailgate where the top of the rear window meets the tailgate leaves a lot to be desired...tut tut Citroen ...and siting the relays elsewhere other than the glove compartment or at least muffling them so you dont have to listen to that constant clicking as the rear wiper cuts in and out ..........still the wife will drown that one out i guess :unsure: Having said that overall I'm well happy with the car, a bit retro looking, xlnt performance, great mpg, a cracking spec for a car under 9k... not forgetting the bottom dollar road tax, does it for me......so far anyway.