Hello,

Has anyone ever worked on a C3 gearbox? It's beyond my capabilities I
am sure! How much would it cost to have a garage look at it? Is gear
work always an expensive thing?

I've got a 54 plate diesel c3. It used to be that when the gear lever
was in neutral it centred itself beneath 3rd/4th gear. Now when it
goes into neutral, the stick drifts to the right beneath 5th/reverse.
On a couple of occasions I have pushed the stick across and up to pull
off in 1st and found it is in 3rd!

I have taken it to a garage and they think there is a spring in the
main gear box that has failed. They have never had this fault on a c3
before and neither has the citroen dealer! They say it might be
something cheap and simple when they open the gearbox or it could be
something horrendously expensive, so they say it could cost anywhere
between one hundred and a thousand pounds, depending what they find.
It is difficult to know whether to go ahead with the work, not knowing
how much it will cost. I might be prepared to pay £100 but not £1000.

You may remember I have posted here in the past about the turbo
charger: below 3000rpm it doesn't seem to work and the car is
sluggish. It has been in and out of garages and they have found and
fixed a couple of leaking seals that were losing pressure but it has
never been completely cured.

With both of these faults, is it time to get a new car? That seems to
be the feeling of the garage.

TIA

"Fred" wrote in message
...
Hello,

Has anyone ever worked on a C3 gearbox? It's beyond my capabilities I
am sure! How much would it cost to have a garage look at it? Is gear
work always an expensive thing?

I've got a 54 plate diesel c3. It used to be that when the gear lever
was in neutral it centred itself beneath 3rd/4th gear. Now when it
goes into neutral, the stick drifts to the right beneath 5th/reverse.
On a couple of occasions I have pushed the stick across and up to pull
off in 1st and found it is in 3rd!

I have taken it to a garage and they think there is a spring in the
main gear box that has failed. They have never had this fault on a c3
before and neither has the citroen dealer! They say it might be
something cheap and simple when they open the gearbox or it could be
something horrendously expensive, so they say it could cost anywhere
between one hundred and a thousand pounds, depending what they find.
It is difficult to know whether to go ahead with the work, not knowing
how much it will cost. I might be prepared to pay £100 but not £1000.

If they open the gearbox it will be expensive, don't be in any doubt about
that. Personally I think it's more likely to be an external issue. A spring
or maybe bushes on the linkage.

Steve

On Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:14:19 -0000, "shazzbat"
wrote:

If they open the gearbox it will be expensive, don't be in any doubt about
that. Personally I think it's more likely to be an external issue. A spring
or maybe bushes on the linkage.

They thought it might be a linkage but said everything was ok. They
were going to buy a new selector box but when it arrived, decided that
it was not the selector box so refitted the old one. The garage is
convinced the fault is inside the gearbox. I'm not sure the gearbox is
as bad as they say because surely it would be making some horrible
noises and not driving very well if the gears were damaged?

"Fred" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:14:19 -0000, "shazzbat"
wrote:

If they open the gearbox it will be expensive, don't be in any doubt about
that. Personally I think it's more likely to be an external issue. A
spring
or maybe bushes on the linkage.

They thought it might be a linkage but said everything was ok. They
were going to buy a new selector box but when it arrived, decided that
it was not the selector box so refitted the old one. The garage is
convinced the fault is inside the gearbox. I'm not sure the gearbox is
as bad as they say because surely it would be making some horrible
noises and not driving very well if the gears were damaged?

not really, if you have a selector problem the gears are probably all ok

On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 10:44:18 GMT, "Mrcheerful"
wrote:

if you have a selector problem the gears are probably all ok

The garage claimed it was not the selector and so sent the new one
back and refitted the old one. Do you think I should take it to a
second garage, perhaps one that specializes in gears, to have a second
opinion? TIA

On Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:25:19 +0000, Fred
wrote:

On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 10:44:18 GMT, "Mrcheerful"
wrote:

if you have a selector problem the gears are probably all ok

The garage claimed it was not the selector and so sent the new one
back and refitted the old one. Do you think I should take it to a
second garage, perhaps one that specializes in gears, to have a second
opinion? TIA

No garage specialises in gears. There are specialist gearbox
re-builders/re-conditioners but they don't usually remove/refit the
box.
--
Peter Hill
Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header
Can of worms - what every fisherman wants.
Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!

Peter Hill wrote:
On Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:25:19 +0000, Fred
wrote:

On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 10:44:18 GMT, "Mrcheerful"
wrote:

if you have a selector problem the gears are probably all ok

The garage claimed it was not the selector and so sent the new one
back and refitted the old one. Do you think I should take it to a
second garage, perhaps one that specializes in gears, to have a
second opinion? TIA

No garage specialises in gears. There are specialist gearbox
re-builders/re-conditioners but they don't usually remove/refit the
box.

or diagnose the fault. I would look for someone that specialises in your
marque and model and ask them.