Gear box problems

[elma]

They cannot lawfully refuse, it isn't their car.
The worst they can do is charge for ramp time but I've never seen or heard of that happening.

If they are being honest it's in their interest anyway.

[RichardW]

Taking the actuator off won't disable it - it could still be towed off the ramp.

[van ordinaire]

Sorry if I was being a bit oblique/obtuse but Paul-R's got it. Stop-start & DMF's are both examples of new technology that shorten the working life of components &/or make a job far more expensive & therefore are only of benefit to main dealers.

Around Christmas I picked up a trade rag at my local factors & there was an item urging garages to be prepared for the vast increase in demand for alternator/starter replacements - thanks to the advent of stop-start! So obvious when you think about it - but it hadn't occurred to me.

Now I understand that DMF's are (to be) routinely replaced with new clutches, &, sometimes the other way round - because the DMF fails first!

[GiveMeABreak]

Got it, quite true. When I had 'clutch slip' at roughly 46k, I he the DMF and clutch replaced. When they showed me the DMF, it was really loose and wouldn't have lasted much longer. The clutch was pretty well worn down, so it'll be interesting to see how long these will last.

[renagade]

Hi Guy's
I have looked around Doncaster and spoken to a few garages and they all come back with If it is a gearbox problem . (piloted system ) they don't want to touch it Citroen only. I am screwed.

[GiveMeABreak]

Renegade - why not give these a call - 'Gearbox Nottingham' - they say they offer a nationwide service and also have a branch under 50 miles away in Bingham. They seem to know about the actuator and bearing issues:
http://www.gearboxnottingham.co.uk/gearbox-dsg-repair
Might be worth a call if nothing else...

[van ordinaire]

Gearboxes are one of those areas where the appropriate expert beats the main dealer every time because they actually know what goes on inside, whereas a main dealer only knows how to remove one & fit a new one, assuming, of course, they've ever had to do it before.

Sound like sound advice from Marc - he's even done most of the donkey work for you!

[GiveMeABreak]

I really feel for Renegade at the moment Van - totally gutted and I think a lot of us have been in that situation before. To see your pride and joy just lying there must be so disheartening. Let's hope there is a way to get it to a specialist who can fix it up whilst saving some moolah.

[daviemck2006]

This sounds like a similar tale of woe that i had with a c2 sensodrive and citroen main dealer. It eventually took more money than the car was worth to get it going and returned to me, I had no confidence in the car after that and sold it. It was advertised for sale for spares/repairs 9 months and 6000 miles later with gearbox problems. I feel for the op, and I will never buy one of these semi auto robotised clutch gearboxes again, whatever its called or whoever made it. Full torque converter auto or manual for me.

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[renagade]

Hi Guy's
Well got a call from Citroen to say the actuators are due in on Tuesday so I will know by Thursday what is what. I know that I have exhausted all my funds now so if they come back with another idea it will be towed back home and sit on the drive till I can save up some more money.
Thank's for the heads up on the garage at Knottingham I wish I had found them earlier. Hey and a big thanks to you all for reading my post and coming back with a great discusion on my poorly C5.

[van ordinaire]

If it can be towed home, it can be got to Nottingham.

[renagade]

Well Guy's got car back today all good I am glad to say and 2100.00 quid lighter. They replaced the whole gear control module. There was the pump motor, accumulator, actuators, tank oil, new pipes, ecu and wiring. 1340 quid +fitting and the water pump. They also fitted free of charge a new timing belt and pulleys . Any ways I was going to post on the the gear control unit to the guy on here that wanted to have a look at it but it is dam heavy it would cost a kings ransom to post. Looking at it I don't see why Citroen dont sell the actuators on there own. Ho and after all that a time on the "Lexia" to adjust everything up .

[myglaren]

It's a long time since it was invoked but perhaps the transport section could help with that!

FCF International Couriers

There is a rally in a month, perhaps that could be a place for it to change hands? (CCC National, possibly Bishops Stortford, july 16th IIRC)

[ekjdm14]

Wow, so they replaced the whole lot even the ECU & wiring is this because they don't sell actuators separately, or is there something else that fails I wonder? Looking at the units online I can see that a dealer's "fitter" wouldn't want the hassle of splitting the thing though, job for a real mechanic that one lol

On the posting on thing, were you referring to me? we're not a million miles away being in Cheshire, certainly not as far as the rally sadly as would've liked to go to something like that at some point. If there is anyone who still partakes in the International Couriers scheme that would be passing close enough that could be an option (with tea/coffee and biscuits at this end!) or another possibility is perhaps we could meet halfway one weekend.

Another possibility, depending on how much the lot weighs & how prepared you are to wrap the thing up is we could pay postage. Have you managed to weigh/measure the thing at all? I know Hermes and the like ship stuff for pretty reasonable prices now so might not be too bad.

[RichardW]

You can buy bits separately for the actuator - I suspect in this case they were unsure what was wrong, and elected to fit the lot rather than try and fit bits only to find out it still wouldn't work. IIRC you can only remove and refit the ECU once - although that may be in the same vein as HDi pipes that are only supposed to be use once....