c3 1.6 hdi 16v turned radio, lights and engine off

andy32154 wrote:I am just wondering, would a starter motor cause the problems and turn the engine off while driving and not using the device at that moment?

Yes.

There is a permanent - unswitched, unfused -12v supply to the starter and the alternator. If you short one of these down to earth, the voltage will drop and the engine ECU will shut itself down - which stops the engine. Other ECUs will also shut down too so you may notice other odd behaviour.

Oh, and the smoke

andy32154 wrote:Can you tell me what devices are not protected by fuse please? Is it an alternator and starter motor only or something else?

Those 2 are the ones I can see.

Hi, does somebody know where the ignition load relay is in C3 1.6HDi?

It looks like the starter motor is faulty. I also did one test where I unconnected the starter motor, taped the two wires, connected the battery, ecu and all electric stuff which I unplugged before and turned the ignition key on the position where all the dash board lights came up. Then I checked what of the electric stuff works and what does not.
The following did not work: Lights, Wipers, Heating, Radio,
The following worked: Indicators, Hazards,

I was advised that the ignition load relay is probably faulty but do not know where it is exatly seating.

Thank you very much for your help in advance
Andy

andy32154 wrote:I was advised that the ignition load relay is probably faulty but do not know where it is exatly seating.

If they are not talking about the starter solenoid, then everything else like that is part of the BSM module which you can pick up on eBay quite cheaply.

Finally I can confirm that the starter motor caused the problems a talked about....
After I changed it, charged the battery and reset the ecu, there was not a problem to start the car and all devices suddenly started work. I hope that the faulty starter motor did not affect other devices

I was curious what exactly was faulty inside of the motor, so I disasembled it and took a few pictures of it. Please have a look at them if you are interested in it.
I am very grateful that the C3 forum exist. All your advices made the situation for me much easier, as I did not have a clue about electric stuff.

Thank you very much everybody who was helping me.

Andy

Pleased you got this sorted. I'm a little surprised it was the starter motor, my money was on the alternator but looking at the state of the motor I can see why!

I think you should be OK with the other electrics, the fault would have been under voltage rather than over, which is usually a killer.

Missing Lincs wrote:Pleased you got this sorted.

andy32154 wrote:After I changed it, charged the battery and reset the ecu, there was not a problem to start the car and all devices suddenly started work.

Yes, well done having a go yourself and thanks for sharing the pictures with us