C3 Nearside Front Coil Spring Replaced... But Whats Going On?

[poxxxy]

Hi guys,

 

A friend of mine had her MOT the other day and needed a coil spring replacing on her 2003 C3, I ordered one from CES for 19.73+vat and proceeded to strip down and replace. However the new spring seems to sit really strange compared to the original. I don't think that the spring is on upside down, and if it were span would it not produce the same offset just mirrored? Have I got the wrong part or put it on upside down?

 

Any help appreciated.

 

New (Nearside)

 

 

 

Old (Off side original)

 

 

Edited November 5, 2013 by poxxxy

[Johndouglas]

It certainly doesn't look right.   Make sure the lower end of the coil is sitting tight up against the 'stopl' in the lower seat.   Are you sure you've got the correct spring.   There seems to be eight different springs listed for variants of the C3.   Also they usually recommend that they are fitted as a matched pair.

[poxxxy]

Looking at part number it looks as though they've supplied a spring for a hdi :(. typical! Back to the drawing board, bet they won't have it back now its been fitted either.

[paul.h]

Citroen use 3 coloured bands on the springs to help identify them, can be a mix of green, blue, white, yellow, red. So if you clean up the old springs you should be able to use this to ensure you have the right one. Ideally you would use your vin on the Citroen parts site to get the correct part no. When one broke on our 2003 C3 the dealer replaced both so they were matched and just as well since it was not quite as before, seemed a little higher and handled a bit differently to start with.

 

Provided you gave CES your car details they should have supplied the correct part and if not then I would expect them to take it back. The top photo definitely looks as if the spring is not seated right and off centre. Did it look like the old spring ? When you have a look, if not seated right it may be possible to use your spring compressors to compress it and reposition it without having to remove it.

 

On the General Discussion section there is a link to Citroen parts prices and it looks as if a spring from Citroen is about £74.