C3 Overheating.

Good Morning.

OK I can drive my C3 for 20 miles plus with my wife in the car with no probs,
but if I drive the same distance with two passengers in the back the car overheats.

We are in North Cyprus where it is 30C Plus s I don,t suppose this helps much, Could a blocked air filter cause this.
Or is there a problem with the water system.

Welcome to the forum faro,

Its much more likely to be part of the cooling system; coolant, thermostat, cooling fan. Rather than an air filter.

When you say the car overheats, is it just the temperature gauge going up, or is there any other indication that the engine has actually overheated?


A simple check is to pop the bonnet when the temperature gauge is over 5 bars and look to see if the fan is running. Don't touch the fan if its not running as it may just start very quickly. If the fan is not running, you have a fan problem.

Hi Arfur Dent.

When the car overheats I get the audible warning when the gauge goes into the red. Yes the fan is working. I took some friends to the local airport here. about a 35 minute drive It involves quite a long climb over the mountains. It overheated (But not on to the red) when we got to last part of the climb, when we started going down again it cooled back down to the normal 3 bars. On way back home from the airport again another climb over the mountain, (I was on my own in the car) about halfway up the gauge went into the red and the audible warning was on. I let it cool for about 10 minutes then put the heater on full blast and drove home.

Cheers Bill.

With the cooling fan working (the one on the radiator), then it could be the thermostat not opening or some air lock in the cooling system.

I see its an automatic you have, does the auto box seem to be changing to the correct gear and working correctly? Because a faulty automatic gearbox can cause overheating even when the cooling system is working as designed.

A quick check on the coolant level in the reservoir would also be useful. Is the level normal when the engine is cold?

The coolant level when the engine is cold.

The gear change seems to be fine.

Hi All. Many thanks for your help. Have booked GS 622 into a garage who says he will run a diagnostic check. And will get a service as well. Of course being an expat here it tends to cost us a bit more than the local would pay.

Still don't want to be stuck with a blown HG in the middle of nowhere. There is no RAC or AA here

OK Talking about Citroen's Some years ago a ran a Diane. Great car and put up with all the cracks about a Sewing Machine on wheels, We used to turn the back seat around so the kids could see out of the back window, they thought it was "Cool"

We also ran a Berlingo 1.9 Diesel Van for our business. Brilliant vehicle we had customers all over the UK, I just loved driving that van.

I remember diesel vans from years ago noisy & sluggish but the Berlingo was nothing like my past memories of diesel's. Very nippy and comfortable.

Also check for a blocked radiator ( full of flies etc.)

alsie2 wrote:Also check for a blocked radiator ( full of flies etc.)

Great tip, something simple and easy to check

faro wrote:I remember diesel vans from years ago noisy & sluggish but the Berlingo was nothing like my past memories of diesel's. Very nippy and comfortable.

That's thanks to the new 'common rail' high pressure HDi engines. A revolution in diesel engine design. The C3 Diesel was fitted with this 'new' design from the first build in 2002 and continues to use them to this day. The turbo adds a pep to the acceleration

Wikipedia has an article on the subject of the Common Rail Diesel

Hi All.

Well it seems my C3 has a blocked Rad. So it's in in Nicosia now getting sorted. There is a lot of lime scale in all the water here, don't remember putting tap water in the car, i'm sure I always used the water fro the Air-Con unit. Oh well just pleased it's going to be fixed.

Many thanks for your help.

Cheers Bill.