Noticed a couple of odd things recently with my tintop - a Citroen C3 diesel - and thought i'd ask the collective for thoughts!

1. Under acceleration the engine revs rise quickly, but the car speed doesn't, then the revs fall and the car speed / revs go back in sync as speed steadily increases. I've only really noticed it in the lower gears when I'm accelerating out of a corner. It's like the wheels are spinning/on ice - but i am fairly sure it isn't a road grip thing (the car doesn't understeer - or 'judder'. It's been happening for at least three or four weeks...


2. When the clutch pedal is depressed at tickover I can feel a sort of 'pulsing' through the car. I've noticed this over the last few days - queueing in traffic usually. Makes no difference whether car is in gear or not.

Car is on 102000 miles - and the original clutch as far as I know. It's been relatively well serviced - and had a service a couple of weeks ago. The only other problem, which has been the case for years - is it is extremely noisy when it runs (sounds like a tractor!). It's been suggested to me that one of the ancillaries has a bearing which is generating the noise - e.g. water pump. Whatever it is, it has never affected the performance of the car...


Is a good guess that this is this sign of 1) a slipping clutch and 2) something wrong with the clutch release mechanism?

Do I keep going until it expires - or take it in for a clutch change now?

Clutch and probably the dual mass flywheel...

same problem on my old astra and it was the clutch and dual mass flywheel, not cheap to replace but it was a company car so did not effect my bank ballance.

ITS FRENCH

Sacrebleu, its going to be expensive unless you just change the clutch

First symptom is clutch slipping. If it's as you describe it won't be long untill you're stranded so leaving it isn't a great option.

Second and last bits sound like a DMF issue but you won't know for sure until the 'box is out. Could be other stuff, like cluch diaphrgm spring/fingers distorted causing the pulsing and the noise from something else but more likely to be both from the DMF.

Clutch and mass damp flywheel knackered I'm afriad

I had a Citroen C3 1.4 HDI 70 2003, that I thought had the clutch going. Took it to a Citroen specialist who changed the clutch, on the way home judder still there until suddenly lost all drive. Towed it home, tried on the drive, moved a little then lost all drive again. Towed it back to specialist next day, stripped and they couldn't find anything with the clutch. Started stripping the gearbox and everything seemed fine. Then while examining the diff the crownwheel suddenly fell off! Seems that the crownwheel is pressed onto the diff which can slip and fail. I had to get a new (secondhand) gearbox.

Is the car making a loud ticking noise? This is a known problem that Citroen don't mention- injector seals - if you find the citroen technical website it actually list it on there. The Citroen main dealer didn't even know about it. I was quoted £600 to change the £2 of seals. Was a tricky job as the injectors had a massive build up of coke around them where it had blown past the seals!

phoned my local clutch place, apparently it doesn't have a dual mass flywheel, and it's 350 Inc vat for a new clutch to be fitted, so it sounds like it could have been worse!

Probably the same clutch/flywheel as some of the other Citroen/ Peugeot models that use a tiny thrust bearing that can disintegrate . It's worth changing the sleeve the thrust bearing moves on ,less than a tenner. Avoid sitting in traffic with your foot on the clutch as the thrust wears quickly

Mine was juddering and slipping when going up a steep hill.
So, took the motor out and found the release bearing was shagged, the clutch was worn out and the dual flywheel had a lot of play.
New clutch, flywheel, water pump, timing belt, gearbox oil, steering fluid, coolant etc came to £510. Where I get my Mot wanted £450 just to do the clutch, and that was just the labour!

Got all the parts from eurocarparts, apart from the fluids that I got from Hanford on my trade card:-)