cit c3 1.4 hdi 16v exclusive 2002-03

neotheone · Post by **neotheone** » 08 May 2008, 13:26

Hi to all again, just an update ... not done much as the wife has been ill, the car is still messin around. I have just found a garage that has a diagnostic centre and they seem quite helpful - has anyone heared that sometimes the keyfob chip can fail giving you a nonstart just like fuel starvation - just that my friends clio was intermitten with starting problems and this was sorced as the problem - question is do or can dealers check the key is ok?

How is your problems going james .. any joy ..

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 08 May 2008, 13:57

Hi Neo,

I do have sort of an update to the situation... I took the car in this morning for its MOT. It's failed because BOTH front springs have broken. I shouldn't have to pay for new springs on such a young car, I really am fed up with the thing.

I asked them about the fault it's suffering with starting and poor running, and the mechanic immediately said he knew what it was because he's had other C3s with the same problem. He said the injectors would need replacing. This just isn't right on an '03 car. Tomorrow I'll ask if they can confirm for sure it's the injectors.

Relieved that he can get springs in and do the job so quickly - I can pick it up tomorrow afternoon, and need it for work, but still very, very unhappy that it's more money thrown at this young but troublesome car.

nick · Post by **nick** » 08 May 2008, 14:49

neotheone wrote:has anyone heared that sometimes the keyfob chip can fail giving you a nonstart just like fuel starvation - just that my friends clio was intermitten with starting problems and this was sorced as the problem

Yes, a friends Pug 206 1.4 petrol had intermittant starting problems for months. The car was under warranty and the garage changed just about every part of the fuel & ignition systems, until one day she tried starting the car with the spare key and it started and ran perfectly!

neotheone · Post by **neotheone** » 09 May 2008, 07:21

I have had lots of problems - antiroll suspension link bar keeps breaking on mine (I just blamed the wife - maybe it was just the car lol)

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 10 May 2008, 12:22

Car now passed MOT. For a 5 year old car, it's sure cost me ... £488. Needed both springs replacing, top strut mounting, new nearside headlamp unit as original wouldn't adjust beam, and 3 hours labour. So much for economical car. Should have kept the Xantia...

neotheone · Post by **neotheone** » 19 May 2008, 13:11

james sorry to hear about the cost endured just to pass an MOT on a young car --- did they confirm the injectors ? this car and some of the problems is really putting me off citroens ...

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 19 May 2008, 22:53

They didn't do any checks to confirm the injectors, they just said that it was likely.

Last night I had an interersting idea involving the battery and how it might, in theory, cause problems such as those I'm experiencing. What got me thinking of it was that the radio keeps randomly losing all the saved stations (and a post on the internet concerning a C3 with these problems that was cured for 3 to 4 days after a battery change - eventual cure was new ECU). Anyway, to cut it short, if I measure the battery first thing in the morning after car's been standing all night, the voltage is 12.23V, which indicates a duff battery. 12.7V is good, 12.5V is considered poor and partially discharged. 12.2V is considered fully discharged. This evening I cranked the engine while reading the battery voltage and it droped to 10.7V under cranking. So, first step now is to replace battery and see what happens.

Might be worth you measuring your battery voltage with ignition off, and then while cranking? If you've just used the car, either stick headlights on for 30 seconds to remove surface charge, or leave for 6 hours or more before reading the voltage.

neotheone · Post by **neotheone** » 20 May 2008, 06:27

As like you my car loses the stored channels every time you remove the key from the ignition but while I first encountered this problem I change two things the fuel filter and replaced the battery - worked better for a day or so and then back to normal.

wheeler · Post by **wheeler** » 20 May 2008, 11:03

I would say 10.7v under cranking is quite acceptable. Anything upto a 3v drop is fine. can it crank off the battery for at least 15 seconds ?

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 21 May 2008, 22:07

Oh yes, it has to crank for far longer in order to start each morning. But if cranked for a long time when particularly difficult to start, then the stored radio stations disappear. The voltage drop might be acceptable but 12.2V after sitting overnight isn't right, unless there's a fault causing constant discharge at an excessive level - that's considered to be only 50% of normal charge. Alternator's outputting ~ 14.4V which is normal.

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 10 Jun 2008, 23:48

neotheone - any luck getting the codes read or finding a solution to the car's problem?

neotheone · Post by **neotheone** » 12 Jun 2008, 10:43

as of yet no... life up the wall at the moment ... car is not that bad at the moment, still having problems but I wounder if you or someone on the forum can assist in this matter ?? I have noticed that if you turn the key to the second position after about 5 secs sometimes you hear a click from the left front side of the engine compartment. I have noticed that when I do not hear the click the problems are encountered, is this click a solinoid? sorry about the spelling ... and if so could it sticking during prestarting produce a poor if not none start ...

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 12 Jun 2008, 20:16

I'm with wheeler here. Those battery voltage readings looks perfectly normal.
Except you should in fact have some 12.7-12.8V on the battery in the morning.

Try a simple test : remove one of the battery clamps and connect a very low power test bulb in series between the battery clamp and the battery pole.
Must be a very low power intrument or panel backlight bulb.
This bulb should NOT light up when the car and all systems is at rest.

A small panel (instrument) backlight will consume some 100milliAmps at full light. Judging by its glow in above test its possible to predict the approx battery discharge rate. Which of course ideally should be nil.

(any memory storage keep alive current drain is hardly even possible to read with a milliAmp meter - on cars with recent low power electronics )

neotheone · Post by **neotheone** » 24 Jun 2008, 19:54

Driving home from work and plop bang pops my turbo..... slight whilstling from engine for the past week could'nt see a problem and now its gone no power loads of smoke and sounds funny ...

Anyone surgest a place to get a second hand one ??????????

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 01 Aug 2008, 11:16

Well, we've decided to trade in the disappointing bag of bolts known as the C3 and get a real car instead. Trading standards are dragging their heels in replying to me and actually doing anything, and to be honest while all this drags on, it's a horrible vehicle to drive and embarrassing trying to start each morning and when leaving work. Getting tired of cranking for ages and the plumes of white smoke.

We're going to lose thousands getting rid of this car compared to what we paid for it only 2 years ago, but sometimes you have to make a loss in order to get rid of a badly made headache. Citroen has lowered its standards to such a degree that we will never buy one again.

French Car Forum

cit c3 1.4 hdi 16v exclusive 2002-03

Still no joy.....

Re: Still no joy.....

James oh I know

james any reading from the garage

been there done that...

sorry about the late reply

Wee wee wee just gets worse