Persistent Audible Alarm

[Stephanie]

Hi,

 

We have had our 51 plate C5 since the start of September and are really pleased with it, but last Thursday for no apparent reason the battery discharged itself, during the course of the day whilst parked, so it had to be jump started. Since then we are getting an intermittant persistent audible alarm with no warning lights to accompany it.

 

The alarm is the same noise as ocurs when putting it into reverse - a short deep gong noise.

 

The persistent alarm can start at any point after starting off and then comes in ones and twos at no particular interval.

 

The battery has been OK since.

 

Has anyone else ever had anything like this and what did it take to fix it?

 

It is going into a dealership tomorrow to be looked at but I am worried what they might find.

 

Looking forward to hearing from someone, hopefully.

[Randombloke]

Hi,

 

We have had our 51 plate C5 since the start of September and are really pleased with it, but last Thursday for no apparent reason the battery discharged itself, during the course of the day whilst parked, so it had to be jump started. Since then we are getting an intermittant persistent audible alarm with no warning lights to accompany it.

 

Did you forget to lock the car, in which case the suspension pump may have flattened the battery?

 

How old is the battery, if it's old, then a sudden failure is not impossible, and the first step I would take would be to replace the battery, get any fault codes read (and written down for you with their numbers), then the whole thing reset.

 

Iannez or kfk will be along with the correct answer soon, if this is wrong, I hope. Big thanks to them for anything they post.

[Stephanie]

Did you forget to lock the car, in which case the suspension pump may have flattened the battery?

 

How old is the battery, if it's old, then a sudden failure is not impossible, and the first step I would take would be to replace the battery, get any fault codes read (and written down for you with their numbers), then the whole thing reset.

 

Iannez or kfk will be along with the correct answer soon, if this is wrong, I hope. Big thanks to them for anything they post.

 

Hi

 

I do not lock the car during the day - but will start now!

 

It has been in with the dealer twice now (they said they had fixed it but it did it all the way home from the garage the first time and all the next day).

 

After reading the handbook a little more the problem appears to be the parking assistant 'assisting' even when it is not engaged (like when doing 70 in the fast lane on the M6 with no other car within 20 yards in any direction).

 

After the second garage visit yesterday they say they cannot replicate the fault when they take it out but they have replaced a light senor switch (?).

 

They are happy there are no other faults anywhere but the noise is unbearable when it going off.

 

They have said there is no problem with the battery itself.

 

Has anyone heard of or experienced anything like this before?

 

Can anyone recommend a dealer in the Warrington area who I could take it to for a second opinion?

 

Thanks in advance for any help I may get with this!

 

Stephanie

[kfk]

You say it sounds like the parking assistant (reversing sensors).....i just wonder if the reverse light switch is faulty and causing the reverse lights to be activated and the 'bong' noise......obviously you cant see the reverse lights when your driving, however could you get your local garage to disconnect the reverse switch on the gearbox temporarilly to see if the noise dissapears.....if it does than you need a new reverse switch.

[Stephanie]

You say it sounds like the parking assistant (reversing sensors).....i just wonder if the reverse light switch is faulty and causing the reverse lights to be activated and the 'bong' noise......obviously you cant see the reverse lights when your driving, however could you get your local garage to disconnect the reverse switch on the gearbox temporarilly to see if the noise dissapears.....if it does than you need a new reverse switch.

 

Hi - it's been some time but things have moved on from my first note!

 

The first dealership did change the reverse light switch but the problem persisted (we do not have the parking assistant option so it can't be that).

 

I was asked to take it to a different dealer who only suggested it was the overspeed alarm as they could not make the fault occur whilst they had it (but we had not set the overspeed).

 

But after this dealer had it the noise did not occur for 6 days (bliss) but started again 100 miles into a 170 mile journey last Wednesday. It was then intermittant until yesterday (see below).

 

It is now going into the first dealer again tomorrow as the alarm went off nearly every 30 seconds for 120 miles yesterday on our way home from South Wales.

 

After eliminating the reverse lights and the overspeed I am back to the reverse gear sensor. I have told the garage I do not want it back until it is fixed (or they have disabled the sensor!), unles anyone has any better ideas?

 

Your, in hope,

 

Stephanie

[Guest Simon Holmes]

I had something similar with my 2004 2.0 HDi 110 recently.

 

On starting the engine I had the same persistent beeping. Other things I noticed were that I could not turn the radio off, and I could get it to stop momentarily by pressing the trafficmaster button, only for it to return a few seconds later.

 

I drove it to the local citroen dealer, but by the time he came out the noise had stopped (after half an hour or so).

 

If you do have any luck getting it resolved I'd be interested to hear what it was.

 

Best regards

 

Simon

[Randombloke]

I had something similar with my 2004 2.0 HDi 110 recently.

 

On starting the engine I had the same persistent beeping. Other things I noticed were that I could not turn the radio off, and I could get it to stop momentarily by pressing the trafficmaster button, only for it to return a few seconds later.

 

This could either be a VAN bus type problem or maybe even the dreaded COM2000. Trafficmaster mutes the radio, so if it muted the beeping, then it came from the radio.

 

In the last year I had two brief faults (no cruise control, radio powered down on using column stalk to change volume) then a permanent Airbag warning. The brief faults lasted only until the car was stopped, and were not there at next start.

 

At the 87.5k service the COM2000 unit was changed, and the problem of the airbag solved. I'm interested that the COM2000 unit was marked with what looked like a date of manufacture, 2 years newer than the car, so it's on its 3rd COM2000 unit.

[Stephanie]

This could either be a VAN bus type problem or maybe even the dreaded COM2000. Trafficmaster mutes the radio, so if it muted the beeping, then it came from the radio.

 

In the last year I had two brief faults (no cruise control, radio powered down on using column stalk to change volume) then a permanent Airbag warning. The brief faults lasted only until the car was stopped, and were not there at next start.

 

At the 87.5k service the COM2000 unit was changed, and the problem of the airbag solved. I'm interested that the COM2000 unit was marked with what looked like a date of manufacture, 2 years newer than the car, so it's on its 3rd COM2000 unit.

 

Problem solved (after7 days in the workshop and much inconvenience) - all they did in the end was disconnect the reversing lights, I drove it for a week like that, then when they reconnected them the noise had gone, and has not come back. I only get the noise when the reverse gear engages -which is correct.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions and help.

 

Stephanie