Baodur11 Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 Hi All, I apologise if this has been posted somewhere before, I'm new to the Forum. My partner and I have recently bought a 2004 Citroen C3 Sensodrive and there have been 3 occasions now where the car has made 3 quite audible beeps and turns itself off, once this has happened we are unable to start the car again (not for a good while anyway) - happened approximately 6 weeks ago The first time this happened my partner was on a hill with her brakes engaged. The Car beeped 3 times, turned off and the brakes failed causing her car to roll into her parents car behind her. The second time, we were coming off an offramp on a busy highway and as we were turning the corner it beeped 3 times and stopped and turned off on the offramp which is quite dangerous - This happened one month ago The third time was today, my partner was driving down our street on her way to work and as she turned the corner the car beeped 3 times and switched off in the middle of the road. On the first two occasions we took it to our car dealership who had Citroen look at it and do a remapping of the computer for the transmission which we thought resolved the issue. If any of you have had this issue before and have had it resolved. Please let me know how it was fixed. This is becoming increasingly dangerous and I don't want the car to switch off again on a busy highway for us to die in a car accident. Quote
paul.h Posted February 10, 2016 Posted February 10, 2016 Welcome to the forum. The 3 beeps on the C3 cover a few warnings and they will be listed in the handbook somewhere but from memory are things like the battery voltage is low (I used to get this on our 2003 C3) or the fuel tank level is low but in your case it may just be because the engine has stalled. If the Citroen garage did a diagnostic check and did not find any fault codes stored then a possibility could be the crankshaft sensor is failing. These often start to fail when warmed up and stop the engine, but once cooled down again will let the engine start. Eventually they may prevent the engine starting. A new one is only about £20 so is worth a try and it will probably be located on top of the bell housing (depending on the engine size/petrol or diesel). If it always happens when the steering is turned then you could try to see if this happens with the car stationary and turning the steering wheel. If it is a petrol engine then sometimes the ignition coil pack/cassette can fail which could also give the fault. If you replace this then also replace the spark plugs. The loss of brakes I assume you mean with the engine stalled the servo assistance was lost requiring a strong push on the brake pedal for the brakes to work - if so this is normal but there should have been 1 or 2 uses of the brake pedal before it went hard after the engine stopped. Quote
Baodur11 Posted February 10, 2016 Author Posted February 10, 2016 It did feel like a stall however after it has happened the car hasn't been able to turn on, it doesn't even start to turn over. I've been making a few calls and some people have been saying it could be the gearbox/clutch actuator or an ECU problem. We have had the computer remapped in the gearbox due to our dealership mechanics disconnecting the battery incorrectly and causing the issue in the first place. They replaced the battery and I also checked the battery upon the car stopping and it was showing that it was fine. If this was an Actuator/ECU problem, how much are they normally to fix (unfortunately I'm not in the UK I actually live in Australia so I will have to convert the currency haha) Quote
paul.h Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 If it does not turn over then it is not a crankshaft sensor or an ignition coil since these would let the engine turn over but just not let it start. A search on 'sensodrive fault preventing starting' comes up with lots of topics including this one which was fixed by a new clutch actuator for £660 for a Citroen C2. http://www.c2club.co.uk/showthread.php?14788-2004-VTR-SensoDrive-problem-Beeps-Snowflake-and-Auto-flash-non-responsive-gearbox There is also lots of info here http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39741 Quote
Baodur11 Posted February 11, 2016 Author Posted February 11, 2016 Wow, thanks Paul. 660 pound in Australian dollars is $1352.... My god that is a lot of money. Quote
paul.h Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 This could be why the previous owner sold the car. Quote
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