C5 | Strange noise from gearbox?

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sifaan
(Donor 2020)
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Joined: 11 Apr 2011, 13:51
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C5 | Strange noise from gearbox?

Post by sifaan »

There's a strange noise (sounds like a relay engaging/disengaging rapidly) emanating from the engine (the nearside - i.e. close to the gearbox) - the noise only appears when the gearbox is in R or D. In P or N the engine noise is normal. I only noticed it this evening cos my wife was coming to pick me up and braked to a stop in front of me and the street was very quiet (no vehicles for at least 100m!) - with the box in P or N there's no unusual noise, and it's not really noticeable against traffic noise (except maybe if listening out for it).

I suspect that the noise is only at low speeds, but that could just be that the general engine noise and wind noise is drowning the vibration noise... hard to say for sure unless I run along the car while it's being driven with the bonnet open :S

Anything I should be looking out for? the only other symptom on the car that I guess could be related is that it's very sluggish picking up from a stop or from a very low speed until the engine has warmed up, but I'd put that down to being related to my cold start issue (crank 2-3 times in the morning), for which I'm trying to track down an ECU update and probably get the injectors cleaned by ultrasonic.

Thanks
/Sifaan
sifaan
(Donor 2020)
Posts: 25
Joined: 11 Apr 2011, 13:51
Location:
My Cars:

Post by sifaan »

Took the car to the (former) Citroen agents in Sri Lanka - only thing we did resolve is that the sound is not related to the brakes (released brakes with bonnet open and a tech guy walked near the car and sound was still present).

their best guess is that the noise is from the hydraulics in the gearbox, and recommend that the gearbox oil be changed as the AL4 is rather infamous and this may prolong it's life.
This might solve the noise problem, or it might not, although they do say I probably do not need to worry about the noise - they say it's like some cars make a noise on the power steering hydraulics which is not actually a problem in the PS pump.

any words of wisdom?
sifaan
(Donor 2020)
Posts: 25
Joined: 11 Apr 2011, 13:51
Location:
My Cars:

Post by sifaan »

Changed the gearbox oil, and while it is certainly making the box shift more smoothly, it hasn't addressed the noise problem. I wonder if it could be the engine mount on the gearbox side (the other 2 mounts were changed late last year) although I'd have expected the garage to have suggested that if it was a possibility.
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