Central Locking Problem

[vlikeabossv]

Hi everyone hope someone can help, I have a 56 plate C3 with locking problems my mother-in-law bought the car from new and few months after the warranty ran out the central locking just stopped working.

She took it into citroen where they did loads of tests, reprogrammed the keys and still couldnt sort it or find the problem. I've now have the car over a year and its starting to annoy me i can lock the car by getting really close to the dash from outside of the car to lock it.

 i have changed the batterys in both fobs and no luck. There is a aftermarket headunit in the car but the problem was there when the standard one was still in there. i've seen a few people with this problem but no outcome can someone help ?

 

KR

Adam

[paul.h]

There is a post on this on the C3owners.com forum under tips for any C3, central locking, where if the radio is not wired correctly the bsi does not shut down properly and causes a battery drain that affects the locking. A test is to disconnect the radio and see if it now works. Copied here:

 

Thanks for the tip,

The problem crops up often here, an after market radio is installed without the correct wiring alterations causing draining of the battery and putting the BSI into 'deep sleep' to conserve battery power. Trouble is 'deep-sleep mode' makes the central locking unresponsive because the BSI computer is sleeping.

There is a post here for people wishing to discover what wiring alterations are required to avoid the central locking problem along with the radio not remembering its stations or the radio not powering down.
 

[vlikeabossv]

thanks for responding but this problem has been there before i installed the aftermarket radio. any other ideas ?

 

KR

Adam

[paul.h]

On the occasions our C3 central locking has not worked with the key remote control I have thought it was due to radio interference from such as a mobile phone, mobile phone mast or amateur radio mast (there is one not too far from us). It has later worked though without problem.

 

You could try to resynchronise a key by putting it in the ignition switch and turning to ignition on (position before engine starter), then within 10 seconds of the ignition + appearing, push one of the key buttons.

 

I am not sure about this but I think the receiver from the key remote (not the immobiliser aerial which is on the ignition switch) is in the steering wheel module and it could be the fault is with this and I vaguely remember a fault cured by replacing this module in a recent post.

[vlikeabossv]

thanks again paul, tried resycning the keys before. i know before when my mother-in-law had it looked at a garage said theres a box behind the dash that might it, would this be the one your on about ?

[paul.h]

It is the steering wheel module which includes the lighting and wiper stalks. Before buying one though, I would check with the dealer/parts since they are likely to be £100 to £200.

[Bobster]

Hi,

 

My wife's C3 had some problems about 18 months ago. Initially a couple of times it would not lock with the remote and we had to do the manual key in the door edge process. I know things such as garage door remotes can block the signals (seen it demonstrated at Thatcham) and apparently it is thought that a short wave radio ham can do the same,

 

However, it then went on to refuse to unlock remotely, so we opened it with the key in the driver's door lock and once inside, the other doors opened anyway; but the car would not then fire up! The solution was to disconnect the battery for 10 seconds, reconnect and it all came back to life. My wife got quite adept at doing it!

 

Not ideal though and when it persisted, I took it to a Citroen dealer who did a diagnostic, connected to the main Citroen computer and downloaded a software update; no fault was found. It was OK for a couple of weeks, then started again, so back to Citroen who checked it again for no charge. Fortunately the car 'played up' and they found that there was an intermitant fault in the comms unit which is set behind the lights stalk. They fitted a new one (£291 all in) and the car has been great for the last year. I have since heard of folk buying a secondhand unit from a breaker & fitting it themselves.

 

Incidentally, since the software update, the beeps when you leave the lights on etc have a slightly different sound. I was a bit worried though about keep disconnecting the battery as it could have upset the BSI.

 

Best wishes,  Bob.