Front Spring Tale Of Woe

[Guest Carnige]

In April 2010, I set off one evening to our weekly quiz night, in my 53 plate C3 (Exclusive) and noticed a knocking coming from the suspension.

 

The next day I took it to my local garage (non Citroën) more for convenience and that I don't trust or like my local Citroën dealer, I am not alone in these feelings. However, later that day the garage phoned me up to tell me that there was a broken front spring. They recommended that I had both springs replaced. As they already had the car and that they had previously assured me that they were competent preparing Citroën's I told them to go ahead with the repair.

 

Everything seemed fine for a few days, but I started to hear a knock again. This time it was when I set off and sometimes when I turned the steering wheel. So I took the car back, and they had a look at it and said they could find nothing wrong.

 

Another week went by, and the ride seemed to be getting harder and the steering would stiffen up and not self centre. Back to the garage again. They took the springs off and refitted them. A couple of days later, back came the hard ride, knocking and stiff steering. So, it was back to the garage. Again they said they could find nothing wrong, but refitted the springs again. It was this time the garage admitted that they had fitted generic springs from a local motor factors, simply for convenience, not genuine Citroën springs and admitted that if there was no improvement this time they would have to try fitting Citroën springs.

 

Of course, no improvement, and by now I was getting very fed-up with a car that was once nice to drive, feeling like a big van with no power steering and a knock every time I set off and hard suspension that made you feel every bump in the road, and wandered as if there was toe-out.

 

Returning the car to the garage again, they finally ordered Citroën springs, and discovered that there were two different spring rates. The genuine springs were fitted, but it still did not feel right. I looked under the bonnet and where the springs mount. I was sure that the little peg was in the wrong hole and the top of the spring looked to be in the wrong position. It still did not feel right.

 

I returned to the garage and queried the positioning of the springs and they assured me the were correct. I had now lost complete confidence and contacted a local independent Citroën garage. They did a full diagnostic to check the power steering, due to the wandering, but they also noticed the spring mounting and corrected them, for a modest cost.

 

What a difference. It was my old car again. What I had also not noticed with the 'wrong' springs was that the front did not lift on acceleration or dipped on braking.

 

As broken spring are not unknown with a C3, just make sure if one brakes that the garage knows what they are doing.

 

P.S. Just made the trip from Paris to the north-west of England on three-quarters of a tank, with cruise-control set on the legal limits all the way, and only paid 97p a litre to fill up. that works out at about £17-18 each for the trip back. I can't complain about that.

[paul.h]

If you do a search on this forum you will see that many of us have had springs break. However, by going to Citroen dealers they were replaced with Citroen paying for the repairs.

[Guest Carnige]

If you do a search on this forum you will see that many of us have had springs break. However, by going to Citroen dealers they were replaced with Citroen paying for the repairs.

 

Unfortunately, the local Citroën dealer does not have a very good track record, as I took my C3 in for a fault some time ago and they checked the guarantee and I was assured that the Citroën guarantee covered the repair. Then only to be told that I had to pay £170 to get my car back and they made an excuse that the repair was not covered. Fortunately, Citroën after hearing how I had been treated, reimbursed the bill. I am not the only Citroën owner who has had a bad deal from them, as our local website had a thread on them, and not one good word was written about them.

 

As I said in my post, I had already taken my car to my local non-Citroën garage, so it would have been difficult to then take it to the dealer. I tried to get the repair cost covered by contacting Citroën themselves without success. Also I only discovered the posts on broken springs on this site, after the repair. C'est la vie!

 

Thanks for replying.

Nigel.

[Guest Stephen345]

If you do a search on this forum you will see that many of us have had springs break. However, by going to Citroen dealers they were replaced with Citroen paying for the repairs.

 

I've had three front springs break so far. IIRC the first time they failed as a pair under warranty so the dealer changed them. The next time just one failed and the warranty had expired so it went to an independent garage. The dealer recommended they should be changed as a pair; the independent said I only needed to change the one that was broken. Who was right? I only had the one changed but didn't notice any problem.

 

I was interested in your comments that Citroen pay for the repairs. Is that only under warranty or are they paying for out-of-warranty repairs because this is a known issue? Are springs unreliable in c3s? I was told this by the company that recovered me first time round but the second time I mentioned this to the recovery man and he said he sees broken springs every week but didn't think that citroens were any worse than any other make.

[paul.h]

I think our C3 was about 5 years old when the springs were replaced without cost to ourselves and any warranties had long expired.

[Guest Stephen345]

I think our C3 was about 5 years old when the springs were replaced without cost to ourselves and any warranties had long expired.

 

I phoned my local dealer today about something else (another post) and asked about this at the same time but they said they would only repair under warranty and that if anyone had had springs changed after four or five years, it must have been under an extended warranty. So if some Citroen dealers are changing springs out of warranty, the word has not got round all the dealers yet. You are very lucky to live near one that does. What county is it in, may I ask?

[paul.h]

My dealer contacted Citroen without even me asking to see if they would pay for the work and was given the go ahead - if not I would have paid anyway (we did not have a warranty at that time). We have bought 4 cars from them and have them serviced there also so this may have helped and we have no problems in going back there. I would recommend them to anyone - Barclays, Warrington.

[johnl]

Hi Paul

 

Yes you have guessed it broken o/s/f spring. I have an 02 plate do you think barclays would entertain a free fix?

 

Thanks

john

Edited December 18, 2012 by johnl

[paul.h]

johnl,

I would give Barclays, now Bentleys, a call and see what they say. Anthony Quinn is the Service Advisor you need to speak to, he is incredibly helpful. Their no. (if you do not already have it) is 01925 819401. It is about this time of year when the spring broke on our car, probably due to the colder weather and happened a few yards after the first start of the day. Since the spring was caught in the cup it was still possible to drive the mile to Barclays - without the cup and on other car makes I have read stories of brake hose/tyre/wheel damages from the broken spring end. If you can not get anyone else to pay it is not too difficult a job to do which I did later to replace a top strut bearing, but better weather would help. It still took a day though, official time to replace both front springs is about 2½ hours. The difficult bit was getting the lower end of the strut out of the suspension arm, I used a 2 leg puller to push it out.

[johnl]

Hi Paul

 

Very similar circumstances to yourself, cold few yards and crack. It does have the cups fitted and due to lack of time I took it to my local garage who replaced the spring and the damaged bearing. Cost was reasonable at 175, due to weather and time of year I went this route and had it back the same day. Its a pity that no one manufactures up rated springs, had one go on a picasso a few years ago. Thanks for the info I shall contact Anthony just to see what he says and yes the car was just about drivable and the brakes etc did not get damaged,which makes me think this is not the original spring

 

Thanks

 

John

[john h]

Broken springs, why ? is it a manufacturing fault or does the blame need shifting to our Local Councils who have allowed road to deteriorate to such an extent that suspension has to work beyond  its 'designed' function, not helped by the Traffic Calming road plateau rash that suddenly propels the vehicle 4" into the air. Who get the blame, Citroen or the Council ? one thing is for sure, we pay.