List of french reliability that failed you during ownership

[Kokain]

My father always told me don't buy french or italian cars and I broke that wise thought by getting a Berlingo. Never the less I like the van, it's a great ride and spacious. So to celebrate the french unreliability I want to hear from you what things did go wrong during the time of ownership.....

[Image: Dis_gonna_b_gud.gif]

[Gadgetman]

What went wrong with our current car, or previous French cars?

I believe the 'crappy french car' myth about Citroën stems from the GS.
It has a nice air-cooled engine, but it had ALLOY cylinder heads...
Back then, most cars had cast iron or steel heads, and hobby mechanics didn't have a torque wrench, so when tightening bolts on the engine they used the 'turn it until it sits' rule of tightening. That broke a lot of bolts. Pulled them right out of the head...
They didn't pressure-test the 'shocks' either.
(When the gaskets inside fails, it gets real nasty)

[ron]

My old C15 did 180,000m with me,no non service replacements.Even the clutch was original when sold.It's still going now.:woop::thumbsup:

[Kokain]

- Most recent one was the rear wipers showering my passengers because the hose is probably split up somehow. I have to remove the damn plastic cover and see what's going on in there.
- Less than 1 year since I bought the car and the central locking is playing up.
- ModuTop heater also doesn't switch on after I tried recently. Probably another wire f**ed somewhere.
- Coilpack packed up about February, when it gets hot it was running on 3 cylinders, so new one was fitted.
- Arches annoyed the hell out of me during flooding season making grinding noises like it was water in the disc brakes or CV joints. Binned them and never had that problem again + easy access now.
- Sliding door rubber unglued and was pointing towards the inside creating water slide in the car.
- Front spring snapped about October and I must have driven the car for 3 months before I noticed it.
- Middle rear seat belt keep going past it's no return point so I had to mod that out since the design is really shitty. If it goes past that point it can take an hour to manipulate it to come out
- Rear drum cylinder is leaking but I finally bought replacement. I hate assembling that awful design with the spring hidden from the back of the shoes

There is probably more that I will add when I can think of them. Luckily a lot of these are now sorted out

[haulrs]

No biggies for my Berlingo... Gearbox noises about a week berfore a clutch was required... Win
O2 heater sensor ....
Love it cheap and happy motoring!


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[pch]

Think you had a Friday car? most modern cars are generally crap today like most items one buys, things are not made like they used to be, its a throw away world we live in...Really sad.....but on saying that my Berlingo is over 4 years old now and apart from front spring problem which HQ addressed and sorted with warranty, not had any problems, despite crappy UK mechanics attitude to french cars.
Good cheap motoring, having owned many VW camper vans, for years this motoring is cheap....

[addo]

Only annoyances really have been heater hose connections - the plastic elbow breaking and also the heater matrix O-rings dying of old age.

[BlueSlug]

Had my Multispace for about 5 weeks now, bought with minor faults which are nearly all fixed now.

Drivers arm rest snapped of from seat frame - posted thread on my fix £1

Rear quarter window catch snapped and held closed with boot lace! - Fixed with new catch at £12.23

Both Modutop rear compartment doors off with broken hinges - Fixed with four cable ties and a drill

Double side of rear split seat had no push button and some workings missing from lock, so it couldn't,t be dropped. - Fixed by making missing parts from a black plastic drain cover and you can hardly tell the difference £1

Drivers rubber door seal coming away on bend - looking for suitable double sided tape that will hold under tension?

Modutop blower not working - unsolved still

Strange metallic ping from rear of car on taking off and cornering, and present on speed bumps. Sounds like something hitting fuel tank - unsolved still

Strange whirring/ woo woo noise coming from auxiliary belt area - think I've narrowed it down to power steering pump end float, as sound increases when on full lock. Can't hear the sound when engine first starts, only when revs drop to 950rpm when warm.

All this aside, I am starting to enjoy owning my Blue Slug

[Coco]

Third alternator now at 185,000

Air bag light connections

Others attitude to French

[Kokain]

@BlueSlug

Rear quarter window catch snapped and held closed with boot lace! - Mine hasn't snapped but it's vibrating when I go through pot holes. I haven't got time for it to be honest but some bicycle tyre rubber or just a rubber washer will solve it. I thought it wasn't tight until I saw the shitty design

Both Modutop rear compartment doors off with broken hinges - Understandable, mine never even came with the doors since probably somebody got tired of fixing then. I saw your thread by the way Definitely ghetto with the cable ties

Drivers rubber door seal coming away on bend - I glued mine using Polyurethane adhesive which cost 6gbp but it's really low shore (around 50-60) so it didn't work well for my ghetto bushing mod. http://i.minus.com/i9xUKmVEvkC1I.jpg http://i.minus.com/idLSfsBzat1ll.jpg Never the less do use it on rubber bits, it's great for that. Sticky and it's flexible like silicone.

@pch Give it some time brother, problems are just around the corner. You are still talking about warranty which labels you as a fresh bate.