C3 1.4 Diesel, 16v Hdi 92

[AlanFC]

You are going to love this, If your C3 happens to be working ok at the moment get rid of it now before it turns into a croc....you have been warned.

 

Citroen UK are 99% certain that starting problems are ecu related (symptons like trying to start a petrol car with no choke from cold, eventually starts in a cloud of white smoke sounding like a bag of nails)

 

Cost? £852 inc vat, car is 3yrs 10mths old 55k miles, shell diesel only serviced etc etc, looked after.

 

In one month, Coil spring snaps with almighty racket whilst driving along normal dual carriageway and the ECU goes. In 30 years of driving old sheds, this has never happened to me. And in a 4yr old car both occur in a month!

 

The car has been off road now for a week,

 

It just has to be a Toyota I guess and you will be pleased to know that Citroen have no mechanical input into the Aygo/C1 model

 

I am well unimpressed, anyone had a premature failing of the ecu? Dont be shy!

 

After my protestations,Citroen Uk have offered a 33% goodwill discount on parts and labour, I'm not happy with this as they are still looking to make a profit after supplying me a duff part in the first place!

 

Anyone had better results?

 

Ta

[kfk]

Cars dont last forever:

- if you use them they wear out

- it you dont use them they rust away

 

Personally, i dont consider it unreasonable that a vehicle is going to have items that require replacement, especially when it has covered reasonable mileage.

 

In this day and age everyone expects things to last forever, it begs the question as to how long you do expect it to operate without fault?

 

With regard to the Spring failures these were subject to recall, and whilst the experience is unnerving to say the least, the manufacturer has accepted responsibilty and will pay for replacement.

 

In my opinion...and your entitled to yours, 3 years is an adequate amount of time to prove if a part is subject to a manufacturing defect. The fact that the manufacturer has offered to contribute towards the repairs should be considered positively, i know of customers that have problems and are offered nothing.

 

Seems to me that during your 60 odd posts you have spent time encouraging people to speak to trading standards and take other such action to right the wrongs of the world.......seems its your turn if you intend to get anywhere......good luck!

[AlanFC]

Cars dont last forever:

- if you use them they wear out

- it you dont use them they rust away

 

Personally, i dont consider it unreasonable that a vehicle is going to have items that require replacement, especially when it has covered reasonable mileage.

 

In this day and age everyone expects things to last forever, it begs the question as to how long you do expect it to operate without fault?

 

With regard to the Spring failures these were subject to recall, and whilst the experience is unnerving to say the least, the manufacturer has accepted responsibilty and will pay for replacement.

 

In my opinion...and your entitled to yours, 3 years is an adequate amount of time to prove if a part is subject to a manufacturing defect. The fact that the manufacturer has offered to contribute towards the repairs should be considered positively, i know of customers that have problems and are offered nothing.

 

Seems to me that during your 60 odd posts you have spent time encouraging people to speak to trading standards and take other such action to right the wrongs of the world.......seems its your turn if you intend to get anywhere......good luck!

 

Thanks for your reply kfk and for the fact that Citroen will pay for replacement. My point is that in nearly 30 years of motoring, in various bangers, I've never had to replace the said items in any car let alone having them both go on the same car within a month. I don't expect things to last forever but from my research I can tell you that the C3 is a particular flimsy car. There are several independent motoring surveys that support this. What car? and JD Power to name 2. and speaking to other C3 owners and by comparing it to my Picasso (In America, some new marques have a 10 year warranty! Hyundai springs to mind....now that is unreasonable, I think)

 

It is a great, well designed practical car when it is working, but one buys these for budget motoring and to have a failure of a major component at 55K miles defeats the object. It is the flimsy build quality, body and mechanicals which make it a hard car to live with.

 

My Picasso 2.0 Hdi has 90K miles on it and by and large it is ok. If the ecu went on that, whilst being cheesed off I could accept that on that mileage you would expect things to go wrong (Fingers crossed!)

 

If you read my other 60 posts closely (I do feel honoured by the way), you will find that I am not actually trying to right all the wrongs in the world. However if you feel it is acceptable to pay £10K for a new car which ends up having to be returned to the dealer at least 6 times for a squeaky roof!?, Has been to the dealer 3 times for this existing fault that is a £850 job. Has its coil springs snapping And have to put up with the level of service, less than would be expected, from most citroen dealers ( I must make it clear that I am content with the level of service I am getting refernce this current problem....but I would never take it to the dealer from where it was bought)!. I would suggest that you are in a minority. Thats not why people spend their hard earned on new cars over second hand.

[Guest CE05LDB]

Thats bad mate. If that has happend to your C3 god help my brothers when its over 3 years old. His has been playing up since week 1.

 

I find New cars don't last as long as the older cars. My brother still says now his 1997 Saxo 1.6i SX Auto was the best car he ever had. Not a single problem at all.

 

3 of us have Citroens in the family and my Sisters 2002 Saxo Desire is the best out of the 3. She is planning on replacing it soon with a Picasso 2.0HDi and if that car will be good as the Saxo well she will be happy.

 

Like me and a friend of mine were talking the other day and he said this C3 1.4HDi Desire ain't a scratch on the old cars he had years ago.

[AlanFC]

CE, your right it is bad, I notice a few C3's in your line up, you might want to seriously consider getting shot of them before the warranty runs out or buy extended warranties if you wish to keep them.

 

Just to set the record straight, I have nothing against Citroens in general, I had a ZX 1.9 diesel with over 250,000 miles on the clock when I sold it on in tip top nick. I own a Picasso that I'm reasonably content with.

 

It's just rubbish cars in general that I have a problem with.

[Guest CE05LDB]

I will admit I am a big Citroen fan I got posters up in my room I got 70 Citroen model cars but I will admit they are getting worse mechanical wise.

 

They are lovely looking cars but Citroen needs to sort the mechanics of the car.

 

Well my C3 and my brothers and my mates are Motability cars so they go back when they reach 3 years old.

 

I got to admit mine has been running well and its coming up to 2 years old now and it has just over 16,000 miles on it. If I could afford to keep it at the end of the 3 years and take extended warranty out I would but obviously I can't afford to buy it so it will have to go back. I do get another new car then but to be honest im not bothered im used to this one.

 

But I do know where you are coming from.

 

Like my mate have had 4 Motability cars over te last 11 years and he said the best one had to be the S Reg 1999 Skoda Felicia. He wasn't all that happy with the last Saxo and he just says this C3 is ok. I helped him get both the Saxo and C3 so I don't think he tells me alot so not to hurt my feelings.

 

Apparantly the C2s are having their fair share of faults aswell. The Citroen that seems to have alot of faults is the C5.

 

The Sales rep in the Citroen Dealer I know said there are too many computers in these cars.

[hertsnminds]

Maybe it's time to go for a Kia Ceed with it's not quite 7 year warranty...

 

The warranty includes:

3 years/ unlimited mileage full manufacturers warranty

3 -5 years / 100,000 miles full manufacturers warranty

5 - 7 years / 100,000 miles powertrain warranty

10 years / unlimited mileage manufacturers anti-perforation warranty*

3 years roadside assistance covering the UK and mainland Europe

 

 

Ian

Black 55 VTR+

[AlanFC]

My C3, engine wise was fine for all the 55K miles until this happened, everything seems to point to a capacitor which supplies the injectors, probably on costs a few quid to solder a new one in, but no, it has to be a complete new unit costing close to £900.

 

I sometimes feel we are being taken for a ride, I used to solder bits and pieces together when I was a kid to make my own transistor radios. It really isn't very hard! Is it really beyond the scope of a trained technician to do this especially with the thousands of pounds of diagnostic equipment they have to hand?

 

I'd be happy to be educated by anyone with inside info on this one.

 

Ta

[kfk]

I suggest you blame messrs, Bosch & Siemens for this.......they dont provide equipment to test the computor, only equipment to tell you its faulty. Even if you do look inside most of them are sealed with resin so you wouldnt see the circuit board.

 

Incidently, last time i sent an ECU to be repaired i told the repairer exactly what was wrong and and the pins affected.......ecu was returned, still didnt work, rechecked car thinking we must hav got it wrong and subsequently returned the ECU for re checking.

 

Phone call from the Repairer......we cant test that part of the computer because its part of the immobilizet circuit!

 

The repairer concerned was Delphi, previously known as Lucas!

[AlanFC]

Brilliant! Thanks for that insight kfk, seems like you guys get just as frustrated as us punters!

[Guest CE05LDB]

I am not sticking up for Citroen but I know some things arn't their fault. Like since I had the car When I want to indicate left on a roundabout for example I got to hold the the indicator stalk down as it won't click in. I remember telling KFK this before and took his advice and I mentioned it to my dealer. Well I did that a few months ago and he dealer said it has to fail totally first before it can get replaced. I said well its clear its faulty and they said we beleave you buts its not us. Its the company who makes that part for Citroen and Peugeot. If mine went back and they found it worked fine they would send it back to Citroen and it would go back on my car. So I just live with it. I say it happens 75% of the time.

 

Now my brothers new C3 had a recall at 1,000 miles it needed a new indicator stalk replacing even though his worked better than mine. Well the new he had when indicator right well when it selfs cancel then it indicates left 90% of the time. Dosen't make sense.

 

Like I said im not sticking up for Citroen though.