vanko25 Posted August 31, 2015 Posted August 31, 2015 Hello Citroen Club! That is my first post and it is regarding buying an C3 with the 1.4 engine. I went down to look on of the new shape C3s with the 1.4 75ps (I think that's the old engine). Everything was spot on with the car (28k miles) except that it was topped up with water not coolant. On the question now why a 28k will need coolant topped up? I remember them 1.4s have been prone to have issues with head gaskets on the older 206s. Checked the oil seems brand new and looks good no smell of water in it. At the back no signs of whitish(water smoke) or greyish (burning oil). Anyone able to tell me should I avoid that 1.4? Thanks! Quote
paul.h Posted August 31, 2015 Posted August 31, 2015 Welcome to the forum. The antifreeze used in Citroens is a long life OAT type and when new is a pale yellow colour so unless it was clear without any colour then it is likely it is the original anti freeze. If so it should not need replacing for about 10 years or until any work is done that requires the AF to be drained. We had a 2003 1.4 sx C3 with the 75 bhp engine and the AF stayed the pale colour, also the engine oil did not go black between services. We replaced it with a 2010 1.4 petrol 95 bhp car and it is an improvement on the old model. The extra power of the engine makes it better at motorway speeds so is worth considering if your trips involve motorways/dual carriageways. Unless you need a small car, have a look at the C4 since that is a better car than the C3. Quote
vanko25 Posted August 31, 2015 Author Posted August 31, 2015 Welcome to the forum. The antifreeze used in Citroens is a long life OAT type and when new is a pale yellow colour so unless it was clear without any colour then it is likely it is the original anti freeze. If so it should not need replacing for about 10 years or until any work is done that requires the AF to be drained. We had a 2003 1.4 sx C3 with the 75 bhp engine and the AF stayed the pale colour, also the engine oil did not go black between services. We replaced it with a 2010 1.4 petrol 95 bhp car and it is an improvement on the old model. The extra power of the engine makes it better at motorway speeds so is worth considering if your trips involve motorways/dual carriageways.Thanks for the reply Paul. My concern is that it has been topped up with water. Completely white. The seller is saying that they topped it with water because they didn't have anything else. As you are saying is long live anti freeze it wouldn't need to be topped up. My concern is what if that antifreeze is going into oil and mixing up. The car has stood off the road for months so if they changed the oil and left it without running I will not be able to see/smell water in the oil. Quote
paul.h Posted August 31, 2015 Posted August 31, 2015 Did they say how much water was put in, if only half a cup then possibly there is nothing wrong but I have needed to put a slight amount of water in to the AF tank of cars and it has not diluted the colour. Also for the car you looked at, if the rest of the coolant system had AF in, once the engine had been run it would have mixed in and the colour would still be the pale yellow. If the seller is taking short cuts with the AF, it would make you think that there may be other things that have not been maintained properly. Fortunately, there are many other cars for sale so I would not bother with this car. Quote
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