Citroen c3 2010 vtr plus thermostat

[Citroenboy]

Hi everyone:)

So my son has a Citroen c3 2010 vtr plus…..first French car I have ever worked on………so the temperature sender went short circuit to ground so got a new thermostat with the updated double sensors and wiring loom adapter ( old thermostat had single plug) so now the temperature sensor is working but I am not seeing the thermostat open……is this and electronic thermostat????? Or a normal wax type ???? I can’t see a new out the box thermostat being faulty or bloody hope not

I have bleed the thermostat and the heater matrix hose and the heater is lovely and hot………any ideas please ???

As there is not temperature gauge on car I have got him an obd2 gauge and it is showing temp is like 103-105 but no fans kicking in

This is doing my nut in and want to stop worrying about it !!!!!!!!


Please help……….and many thanks if you got this far !!!!!

[xantia_v6]

Can you clarify which version of engine the car has?

[PaulC5]

You could use the part number to check at what temperature the thermostat opens, some are around the temperature you are seeing and if so then the fans would have a higher setting. You can check if it is opening by feeling the radiator top hose which will start to get warm.

[Citroenboy]

Can you clarify which version of engine the car has?

Hi m8, not 100% all I know it’s the 1.4

[Citroenboy]

You could use the part number to check at what temperature the thermostat opens, some are around the temperature you are seeing and if so then the fans would have a higher setting. You can check if it is opening by feeling the radiator top hose which will start to get warm.

Hi m8, shows it opens at 103 c, top hose on radiator is hot bottom hose on radiator is cold…..so that was why I was thinking thermostat was not opening

[PaulC5]

Sounds as if everything is working correctly, the thermostat starts to open at 103°C, the water then starts to go through the top hose and is hot, the radiator cools it down and leaves out the bottom hose cold. The thermostat is possibly full open by the time it gets to the 105°C you have seen.

To get the engine fan to come on you will need to leave the engine running with the bonnet closed for quite some time so it warms up more. If you have air con, putting that on will run the engine fan so that is a quick check that it can work.

We had a 2010 C3 1.4 vti petrol and that started running the fan continually and it turned out there was a faulty batch of temp sensors. Citroen were aware of this fault and their free fix was for them to fit a second sensor on the thermostat housing in the bleed screw position and a short wiring loom so the old sensor was bypassed - cheaper than a new housing. This was in about 2014 but I do not know if Citroen will still be doing the fix at no cost.

I do not know how long you have had the car but keep an eye on the oil level, ours used approx 1 litre every 2000 miles all the time we had it which was from about 12000 miles. It also needed a new timing chain at around 50k miles - a common thing on vti engines.

[Citroenboy]

Hi m8, many thanks for advice

Yeah when it was at about 103-105 the bottom hose was still cold……..that was why I thought it wasn’t opening……I have rebleeded it now but will let it run for long and try ur ac trick and see if the rad fan kicks in…..does the engine need to be hot ???? When the last thermostat was swapped due to the faulty sensor the fans were running all the time but since swapping over to the newer style thermostat I haven’t heard the engine fan run