punkieys17

My son's C2's clutch failed. After checking prices we were pleasantly surpised to find Freeborn of Godalming to have the best price. We were told a fixed price. Given the timing belt needed to be changed as well we thought it sensible to use a main dealer. Apart from trying to upsell a coolant change (in August!) all appeared well. In the week before I had changed the sparkplugs and one had dropped into the under-engine protective plate - you will understand why i mention this later. At this point you should understand my son is not allowed a car in his first year at uni, so my wife used it. It was parked on a private drive behing gates and used only to go to the stables. In other words it never left our care or sight for long, indeed the longest periods would be at the stables - where there was always somone around.. A few weeks after getting the car back from Freeborn I noticed the front of the inner nearside wheel well was lose and dragging on the tire. I innocently asumed a clip/screw has come undone. When i bought the car the front bumper had been moved so, as usual, I had gone throught the new car in the family and corrected the front bumper fault. On rolling under the car I found the froint dam/wheel well on both sides of the car undone and folded up out of the way - just like a lazy mechanic would do to gain access to the ends of the engine/gearbox assembly. I was even more amazed when I noticed a row of screw holes on the underside of the bumber - and realised the under engine pan was missing. All screws/clips missing - nothing torn - it had been removed. I'm extremly busy so contacted Freeborn by email - three times from different computers - with no response at all. All I was asking was the pan be replaced - basically giving the car back in its entirety as it was sent in. In frustration I used Company House records to identify the overall owner of the Freeborn Group and sent a registered letter to the address - guess what - no reply. Unfortunately three weeks later my son came back, used it twice and it was written of by a Volvo driver! While I cannot state categorically who removed the pan, tucked the wheelwell liner/dams out of the way I will let you draw your own conclusions. To my mind what is worse is that no one at Freeborn or its parent company even bothered to reply to a complaint. I never trust garages and prefer to do my own maintenance/repairs whenever possible, Certainly I will never use Freeborn again.

Hi Porsce340, Yes its a 2 litre 16v petrol model. I relaced the IAT but the fault remains - so slighly puzzled - I'm going to buzz the wires through. Ive got a citroen scanner -will see if it does live data - but it stops so quickly not sure if I can get data - more later. The spark plugs were new last year - but admittedly I haven't checked them, The aire filter was new last year and the car hasn't moved ince - easy way for me to check is temporarily take out the filter completely.

New member being greedy here with a second question. When I replaced the battery on my 2003 C5 HPI after a year off the road the left rear door started making a whirring sound - like a motor turning. I finally took out the fuse for the door lock and it stopped. Can anyone tell me whats going on and help me with what I need to do to make it stop please, Julian

New member trying to get my 2003 C5 HPI back on the road after a year. The battery was replaced and i followed the complex initialisation procedure. Whan I try to start the car the engine kicks but wont start. If I floor the accelerator the engine fires but is very lumpy and fails very quickly (less than 2 seconds). I get no indication on the dash its an immobilser problem, I've replaced the coil pack with no change. I scanned the car and the only thing reporting is the intake air temperature sensor which is out of range. I replaced it but the scan hasnt changed. Surely this woudn't shut the engine down and cause it nit to start? Any ideas on what to check would be gratefully recieved. Julian