Broken front spring

Hi everyone, bought a 2010 C3 PICASSO VTR PLUS HDI about 6 months ago and have had a few minor problems, today I took it to get the alignment checked as I still have a couple of handling issues, the latest one being it pulls to the side. The guy said straight off "had I checked the front springs", which I hadn't, I'm disabled and have to rely on garages for just about everything these days. He had a quick look and sure enough the front offside spring was broken, he reckons its common with these. The car only has 47,000 miles on the clock, and I can see there's been recalls for this problem, do you think its worth contacting Citroen ? or maybe the garage I bought it from, but its 6 months later now, I cant see them being interested. What do you thing guys ?

Hi flytebass

flytebass wrote:He had a quick look and sure enough the front offside spring was broken, he reckons its common with these.

It was a common problem back on 2002 and sounds like its still a common problem.

There are places to check recalls, and Citroen UK is the best place to start, try this link to Citroen UK and this link (click)

The 'new' springs are much thinner and lighter than old fashioned springs which are better in some respects, but do seem to break more often.

flytebass wrote:do you think its worth contacting Citroen ? or maybe the garage I bought it from, but its 6 months later now, I cant see them being interested. What do you thing guys ?

What have you got to loose?

This is an early topic for broken front springs on a Citroen C3 in the link.

Thanks C3CAR, cant seem to register at Citroen.co.uk, I'll try again tomorrow, will also give the dealer a try, your right, what have I got to loose

I justed posted about something that may be the same? Citroen C3 has Bomping, Banging, Creaking, Springing Noise

I did check the recalls page - you can do a one time seach without registering here https://www.citroenrecalls.co.uk/one-off-search.aspx

But mine came back as not needing anything.

I dont suppose you have a picture of what the broken spring looks like so I can compare to what mine looks like? Have you been quoted a price to fix it?

MrX wrote:I justed posted about something that may be the same? Citroen C3 Bomping, Banging, Creaking, Springing Noise

I did check the recalls page - you can do a one time seach without registering here https://www.citroenrecalls.co.uk/one-off-search.aspx

But mine came back as not needing anything.

I dont suppose you have a picture of what the broken spring looks like so I can compare to what mine looks like? Have you been quoted a price to fix it?

The springs are very common, its just one of those things with the new banana springs. The early recalls are for 'spring cups' to limit the damage with broken springs.

On my 2002 C3, I purchased springs from Euro Car Parts (click the link) and had them ready for the garage to install at £45 a side. Do both sides so the suspension stays balanced. I would recommend that you also have the dampers changed if they have done 60K miles or are close to that because the dampers will come off to change the spring anyway.

There are some pictures here Citroen C3 has jangling sound from front spring, pictures.

If you do have to get a spring replaced, please note that they should be done on both sides, as different springs may cause handling issues.