Can anyone help with our C8 please?

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bristolexile
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Can anyone help with our C8 please?

Post by bristolexile »

Hi,

We have a 2006 Citroen C8 Exclusive HDi 16v AUTO 2.0 73k miles. It's had a good history apart from the fact that we are on our 4th gearbox - long and painful story.

Since the last gearbox only 4k miles ago we have been getting an intermittant fault. As soon as you select "Drive or Reverse" the revs drop to about 600 then back up to 900 then back down to 600 then back up and so on. Go back into nuetral and the idle returns to normal. When driving, every time my foot comes off the accelerator the revs drop and it feels like it is trying to stall. As long as I am on the pedal it seems to drive OK. Stop at a junction with my foot on the brake and it repeats the 600/900/600/900 revs - pop it into nuetral and the revs return to a steady 800.

We bought the car from new, serviced regularly by the same dealer who now are no longer a Citroen dealer and aren't much help. They must be pretty good at fitting gearboxes though given the practice they have had :(

Can anyone make any suggestions as to what might be causing this and put me in the right direction please?

Thank you,

Paul
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Re: Can anyone help with our C8 please?

Post by oneday »

4 boxes in 73k miles thats bad. you need to get it hooked up to a lexia to see whats happening. look in the supersticky to find someone near you
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Re: Can anyone help with our C8 please?

Post by myglaren »

oneday wrote:4 boxes in 73k miles thats bad. you need to get it hooked up to a lexia to see whats happening. look in the supersticky to find someone near you
Bad? It's absolutely diabolical!

Have a look here for a Lexia owner near you and PM them to arrange a diagnostic session.


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Re: Can anyone help with our C8 please?

Post by oneday »

what happened to the other 3 boxes to have the need to change them ?
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Re: Can anyone help with our C8 please?

Post by bristolexile »

oneday wrote:what happened to the other 3 boxes to have the need to change them ?
Well - I did say it was a long story but....

The original one decided not to change down after 17k miles so the main dealer said "You need a new one under warranty".

Second one was a good one and lasted 34k miles but then started throwing us into limp mode at regular intervals so they said "Needs a new gearbox under warranty".

The third one lasted a mere 14k miles before the changing down problem popped up again. This time the dealer said "You need a new valve chest and you might need a new gearbox but we won't know whether you need the gearbox until we fit the valve chest - this time it's out of warranty and you need to pay £5000" .We kicked up a hell of a fuss, went to Trading Standards (who were brilliant) and the dealer agreed to fit foc and Citroen ultimately agreed to supply the gearbox foc. By the way, Citroen only caved in because we bought the car using Citroen Finance - although the loan had been cleared they still retained some responsibility.

On the day my wife picked up the car with gearbox number 4 the idling and performance problems started. She drove straight back to the dealer (by that time the car had returned to normal) and the mechanic hooked it up to the Lexia and it showed no faults - apart from some ghost faults? His advice was to bring it over as soon as the car started misbehaving. Easier said that done when the problem is so intermittent and twice we've been and the car seems to know the dealer and starts to behave itself! Also the dealer is no longer Citroen so they don't get supported by the manufacturer.

The 4th gearbox has now done a creditable 4k miles and still changes gear regularly, but once or twice a month the car has a day when drive is engaged the idle revs jockey between 600 and 900 and every time you take your foot off the throttle the revs tumble as if it is about to stall.

I don't mind changing the oil, plugs, airfilter and stuff but anything clever is way beyond me like wastegates, injectors, idle air control valves etc etc. If anyone has any ideas I'd be very grateful for any help,

Thanks in anticipation,

Paul
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Re: Can anyone help with our C8 please?

Post by Lighty »

1st off, I would sell it immediately. Secondly, the throttle settings may need readapting, you really need someone who is good with Lexia. Sounds like you should avoid your dealers.
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