Have I Bought A Total Dud

[lmbridgen]

My suspension went at 26t miles fortunately It was still under warranty and was fixed free of charge.

2 months later I have put it in for its MOT ( the car is just 4 years old) and it failed on a CV gaiter split, same side as suspension went but ' apparently ' unrelated. I told citroen dealer that i feel like I have bought a piece of #### as this was the first car in my life that had ever failed its MOT and I had had some old bangers over the years The dealer kindly reminded me that after the major fault my car had jusr been repaired for this was a very minor MOT fail and that in his experience the cars that he has seen with the sae fault as mine have huge lists of faults when it come to MOT time ( reasuring for next year then !! )

Ok here is my concern and I must admit I have lost totla confidence in the car but would appreciate anyones oppinion:

It is a C3 diesel sensodrive it never put itself into 4th gear unless Im driving at over 40 miles per hour o mostly it drives in 3rd, Is this normal ?

also when I park the sensodeive doe not have a P for park it is parked in N and if I dont remember to put the handbrake on it will and has rolled backwards !

Please help with these two problems are they me being nervous or something to worry about?

Thank in advance

[raveydavey]

The CV gaiter is a very common item to need replacement - if that is all a 4 year old car needed to pass an MOT, I wouldn't worry about it at all.

 

I've never driven a sensodrive, but to be honest it doesn't sound a major concern either. Are they 4 or 5 speed boxes? To be honest, in a manual (small) engined car you'd probably be in 3rd until 30-35mph anyway to avoid labouring the engine, so essentially the box isn't doing too much differently. If the revs are between 1500 and 2500 (ish) then it's probably fine.

 

Others may know better, but it sounds like maybe the suspension failure has shaken your confidence in the car and you are now looking for things to go wrong?

[lmbridgen]

The CV gaiter is a very common item to need replacement - if that is all a 4 year old car needed to pass an MOT, I wouldn't worry about it at all.

 

I've never driven a sensodrive, but to be honest it doesn't sound a major concern either. Are they 4 or 5 speed boxes? To be honest, in a manual (small) engined car you'd probably be in 3rd until 30-35mph anyway to avoid labouring the engine, so essentially the box isn't doing too much differently. If the revs are between 1500 and 2500 (ish) then it's probably fine.

 

Others may know better, but it sounds like maybe the suspension failure has shaken your confidence in the car and you are now looking for things to go wrong?

 

Thanks thats exactly what I needed to hear. I totally agree that my confidence in the car has been shaken to the point where If Im driving and smell an unusual smell I automatically think its coming from the car rather than outside. I will check the revs tomorrow and if they are where they should be I will try to be more positive about the car.

Oh the speed box is 5 gears, and do you think the roll without the handbrake on is normal as well ?

Thanks for your replies I think this is the second time you have helped me.

Linda

[raveydavey]

Happy to help!

 

I checked the revs on my C3 today and in third at about 35mph it was showing about 2300rpm.

 

Sorry I can't help more about the "P" problem, but I'm sure someone else will answer that question for you.

[smokescreen]

Hi Imbridgen,

I have a 55reg 1.4HDI Sensodrive so can fully relate to your predicament. This is not an automatic car as such but a computer controlled clutch and gearbox machine. So when you come to a halt with engine running the computer disengages the clutch as if you have your foot on the 'missing pedal'.

So when you wish to park if you leave the car in gear - the computer should have changed down to 1st gear - and switch off the engine the clutch is then released and the car will not move as it's still in gear. If you wish to start and move off, you have 2 options. 1 is to select N with the gear stick, put foot on brake and start engine. If you release the foot brake, the car will roll if on an incline so the handbrake needs to be applied to stop this happening. Or 2, with the car in gear with ignition on and foot on the brake pedal, when you turn the key to start the computer will automatically kick the gearbox into neutral N, so the handbrake will again need to be applied if you're on an incline.

 

My car changes into 4th about 33ish and 5th about 43ish when on a flat piece of road with light accelerator applied. You can always force the car to change gear early by flipping the up paddle on the R of the steering wheel or pushing the gear stick forward once, even if auto is selected at the base of the gear stick. You will have noticed that the car does have engine braking when slowing down but that will be lost below about 7-8 mph when the computer disengages the clutch as it knows you are coming to a halt.

 

Hope this makes sense - any questions please ask. I've covered 76000 since new Oct 2005 so have had plenty of practice with this setup.

 

Regards

Smokescreen

55reg 1.4 HDI Sensodrive

[lmbridgen]

Thanks for replies,

I looked at my rev today and they are always around 2000 so no probs there, i have noticed that its in third gear until I reach around 43 mph then it changes to forth and around 53 mph before it hits fifth.

I dont actually like the gear system on this although i am getting used to it, I hate the fact that it rolls backwards on even very small inclines if I have stopped in traffic and on acceleration it can be very jumpy at times like it hasnt quite found the correct gear and yet at the same time I find it really tricky to drive it as if its a manual car with a missing pedal.

Thanks so much for the parking advice, I will leave the car in 1 in future, strange though because I could have sworn the dealer told me to never leave the car in 1 when I bought it. Im really glad its not a fault on my car though and I will spend some time cleaning it over the weekend and loving it again, I might even name it ....

Thanks again

Linda

[smokescreen]

Smooth gear changing comes with practice - lifting off the accelerator slightly when the computer selects the next gear helps. Use of handbrake essential at all times when coming to a halt in case there is the slightest incline. Manoeuvring into parking spaces takes quite a bit of practice, especially if its parallel parking on a hill - handbrake again makes life easier.

 

Have fun

Regards

Smokescreen

55reg C3 1.4 HDI SX Sensodrive