On Going Issues

[ClaireJayne88]

Hi,

I bought my 61 Reg Citroen DS3 1.6 VTI (Petrol) in February 2018 and I have had nothing but issues with it since.

The engine management light has been a constant problem, going on and off even though there are no issues from the diagnostic machine. I've been advised there is a fault with the sensor.

The car uses an excessive amount of oil, with me having to fill up at least once a month (this has been checked with no leaks or issues being found).

The heater always malfunctions when coolant is added and the system has to be drained in order to make it work again.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues ?

I have the car on finance with £5,000 left to pay but I'm seriously considering trading it in due to the issue's I keep having.

Thanks in advance

Claire

[DavidDS3]

I always thought the 1.6vti engine was less problematical than the THP. With regard to the sensor did you have the diagnostic done at a Citroen dealer? I would suggest that a proper check with the official kit would be worth doing. Oil consumption is I think a feature of modern engines, I reckon I put in a couple litres over the service interval. Does the engine smoke a lot? If you keep topping up the coolant than you have a leak. I had a similar problem with mine a few weeks ago. There appeared to be seepage below the header tank. My initial thoughts was the pipe at the bottom of the tank. In the end it was a hairline crack in the header tank itself. £24 for a new one and problem solved.

[ClaireJayne88]

I always thought the 1.6vti engine was less problematical than the THP. With regard to the sensor did you have the diagnostic done at a Citroen dealer? I would suggest that a proper check with the official kit would be worth doing. Oil consumption is I think a feature of modern engines, I reckon I put in a couple litres over the service interval. Does the engine smoke a lot? If you keep topping up the coolant than you have a leak. I had a similar problem with mine a few weeks ago. There appeared to be seepage below the header tank. My initial thoughts was the pipe at the bottom of the tank. In the end it was a hairline crack in the header tank itself. £24 for a new one and problem solved.

Thanks for your response and help David. The diagnostic has been done at 3 separate garage's and all have come back with the same response, that it is the sensor and not an issue with the car.

The engine doesn't smoke a lot thankfully. I've had a mechanic check the coolant three times and no leak has been detected. It seem's to be that whenever coolant is added this creates a blockage in the system which stops the heat getting through. Once this was drained and refilled last time, the heater worked fine.

It is booked in again this evening to be looked at, so will ask the mechanic to look at the header tank for any cracks.
 

[Bryn]

My 13 reg 1.6 vti had a water leak issue until recently. It had been going on for ages. The garage eventually traced it to a hairline crack in the header tank and replacing that cured the leak - for a while.
After a few months, my leak came back. Many attempts later, including several pressure tests on the cooling system, a water pump fault was diagnosed - cue new water pump. ~Not currently leaking (touch wood!) so the problem seems to have been cured. Have they checked the water pump carefully for signs of leakage?
Your issue with the heater sounds like an airlock to me. Surely, that shouldn't happen unless the water level has been allowed to drop significantly below the minimum mark? (And if it has, I think the answer is to bleed the cooling system after refilling?) I wouldn't risk driving around with any kind of blockage (air or otherwise) in the cooling system for fear of doing expensive damage to the engine.