Citroen technicians please help

chrisfreelander54

Looking for some advice from citroen techs/specialists as I'm at my wits end.

I have a 2007 Citroen C2 VTS, which had the dreaded ABS Pressure Sensor fault, I sent this off to be reconditioned for MSE price of £180 inc pick up and return delivery via the repairers courier, compared to Citroens £915.00 +VAT for just the replacement part.

Upon return the the said part got refitted to my car and my cousin (mobile mechanic) wipes the faults from the ECU and bled the brake system only to find upon use that the brake pedal drops to almost the floor before engaging the brakes allowing the car to stop.

My cousin said that the C2s are prone for popping seals, so I sent off for a brake master cylinder seal replacement kit, which was fitted, but still have the same problem, which now points to the servo, this is going to be replaced ASAP and hopefully cure the problem, if after this is done the brake pedal is still the same, what else could be wrong as the brakes worked perfectly before removing the ABS unit.

Thanks in advance
Chris.

Westmead_Fan

this may sound stupid but did you bleed the brakes in a special order?

also are you sure you bled them properly?

[Deleted User]

You need Dynamo Magician never mind a technician. I have a Citroen and its one thing after another.

GolfBravo

My guess is that the C2 is using a Bosch ABS unit. If this is the case, you need to connect the car to Citroen diagnostic tool (Lexia) to bleed the ABS unit - the tool allows for all ABS valves to open, otherwise there is still lots of air trapped inside it. Normal brake fluid bleed is just not enough.

Strider590

GolfBravo wrote: »

My guess is that the C2 is using a Bosch ABS unit. If this is the case, you need to connect the car to Citroen diagnostic tool (Lexia) to bleed the ABS unit - the tool allows for all ABS valves to open, otherwise there is still lots of air trapped inside it. Normal brake fluid bleed is just not enough.

Sounds about right for Peugeot/Citroen, self protection, make it hard (if not impossible) for anyone other than a dealership to carry out even the most simple of tasks. The home mechanic needs a seriously good quality set of TORX security sockets just to carry out simple jobs (because even the suspension uses heavy duty security screws/bolts).
For bigger jobs the average garage has to invest in special/expensive tooling.... For example my 306 had alloy wheels which (until people started copying the tool) you couldn't get balanced anywhere but at a Peugeot dealer (and they'd refuse if you hadn't got your tyres from them).

To be fair though, i've been told that on some Mercs, you can't even check your own oil level.

Not only are they p1ss poor for reliability in long term ownership, but you can't even fix them yourself. So unless they make another car like the 205 GTI, 106 GTI or 306 Rallye (which were worth the hassle), i'll never buy one again.

Thus ends my French car rant

GolfBravo

You can buy Lexia/Proxia (Citroen/Peugeot) diagnostic tool clone from ebay for around £80.

OddballJamie

Deleted_User wrote: »

You need Dynamo Magician never mind a technician. I have a Citroen and its one thing after another.

I'm certain the UK gets all the Friday afternoon cars from Peugeot/Citroen. Although I had a Xsara VTR for nearly five years and nothing major went wrong with it.

gilbert_and_sullivan

They've never forgiven us for Waterloo.

Strider590

OddballJamie wrote: »

I'm certain the UK gets all the Friday afternoon cars from Peugeot/Citroen. Although I had a Xsara VTR for nearly five years and nothing major went wrong with it.

Effectively a 306 GTI, I've heard stories similar to yours and i've heard some real horror stories.

I knew someone who had a 306 cabriolet, it got written off when the ECU gave up and would have cost £2000 to replace.

My own 306 only started having problems when I was trying to get a simple fault fixed (lambda sensor), successive garages tried different things and broke/damaged other stuff in the process.
Before this, the only issue I had was some loose wiring to the headlights, which made them flicker over speed bumps.

I think ^^ this is the biggest issue with Peugeot/Citroen, they make them hard to fix (as in my last post), people try to fix them, but the car is so fragile that they break other stuff in the process and then the car starts to fall apart.
The build approach appears to be to pour the parts into the engine bay and then screw them down wherever they land, so doing anything without breaking something else is literally an art form.

spacey2012

If you want my advice, it sounds like your cousin does not know what he is doing.
I would stop and take the car to a garage that has the software tool and bleed kit to bleed the ABS unit before spending another penny.
Without this, the Air in the system just gets trapped between the valves.
Then once it is fixed, get rid of it and never buy another French car.

OddballJamie

Strider590 wrote: »

Effectively a 306 GTI, I've heard stories similar to yours and i've heard some real horror stories.

I knew someone who had a 306 cabriolet, it got written off when the ECU gave up and would have cost £2000 to replace.

My own 306 only started having problems when I was trying to get a simple fault fixed (lambda sensor), successive garages tried different things and broke/damaged other stuff in the process.
Before this, the only issue I had was some loose wiring to the headlights, which made them flicker over speed bumps.

I think ^^ this is the biggest thing issue with Peugeot/Citroen, they make them hard to fix (as in my last post), people try to fix them, but the car is so fragile that they break other stuff in the process and then the car starts to fall apart.
The build approach appears to be to pour the parts into the engine bay and then screw them down wherever they land, so doing anything without breaking something else is literally an art form.

The minor annoyance I had was the airbag light, if the drivers seat had been slid forward and back a few times to allow access to the rear, the light would come on. A quick fiddle with the plug under the seat and all well again.

Other thing I can remember was once a fuel hose split and sprayed a fine mist of fuel over the engine bay. Also the hand brake snapped on the joint, cheap fix though.

I know what you mean with the wheels, I had the same issue with no centre hole to balance, luckily I knew a tyre fitter who could balance them. Also had the spare cage rust shut and the bolt had to be cut off.

Over 70,000 miles and almost five years not too much really.