Sensodrive not starting after headlight change (can't select Neutral)

Hi fellow C3 owners,

After struggling valiantly for an hour to replace a passenger side dipped headlight bulb, I though I had met with success and got the new bulb in. However it seems that as I left the car door open whilst changing the light, the car has now entered Economy mode and will not go into Neutral when I turn the ignition on, meaning it is impossible to start.

When I turn the key to a second click, I can see the 'AUTOMATIC' text and snowflake flashing in the display and a dash where there should be an 'N'. However the dash never turns to N or a number. I can hear the gear box moving after some time but it doesn't find neutral. Red battery light continues to flash throughout. The below video of a C2 shows the exact same thing that is happening with my car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQSbCnhD83E#


I've had the RAC out who checked the fuses and battery which were fine, gave the battery a recharge and ran diagnostics on their computer. However they still couldn't get it started. I've also tried disconnecting the battery for an hour in order to reset the ECU after reading some other posts but it still has the same issue. Additionally I tried turning the key to the second position and holding the brake pedal down for 2+ mins but this didn't work either. I could hear the gears moving but the display didn't change. Eventually the display just turned off whilst I held the pedal down.

At a loss on what else to do, going to try leaving it overnight to see if it resets itself. Anyone else manage to resolve this issue or have any suggestions as it seems fairly common with the Automatics? My C3 is the flappy paddle Auto (sensodrive), 2003, 1.6 Petrol.

Can't even confirm the headlight bulb change has worked whilst it is stuck in Eco mode.

Hi gwyn111, welcome to the forum

snowflake flashing in the display

That's a gearbox error, doing the reset for the gearbox is a good step, which you tried but it failed.

I have 2 resets for the flappy paddle box:

To reset the flappy-paddle (sensodrive) gearbox, try this procedure first,

• Switch the ignition ON - a dash and "Auto" appear on the instrument panel
• Depress the brake pedal and keep pressing
• Wait until you see 'N' or a gear displayed (approx 30 seconds)
• Release the brake pedal
• Starting is now possible again

Try if the first one doesn't cut the mustard;
To reinitialise the flappy-paddle (sensodrive) gearbox ECU, try this procedure

• Switch the ignition ON then OFF
• Wait 5 minutes
• Switch the ignition ON while applying the brake pedal and then release
• Wait for 1 minute
• Switch ignition OFF and wait for another 1 minute
• Attempt to start the car

there is also a procedure to reset the BSI (and hopefully the gearbox ECU)
https://citroenc3owners.com/citroen-c3-t ... 3-t69.html
Worth a try?

There is also a procedure to get the car out of 'eco-mode' without starting it, but requires the use of lexia tool.

Thanks for the advice C3CAR. I couldn't get it to go into gear so it was towed to a garage which specialises in Citroens (not a dealership). Turned out that the actuator was stuck and they had to move it manually. It's ok now but could happen again which may need a new Actuator at a cost of £500+

Hopefully it will be ok now though and it just got stuck due to going into Eco-mode as a result of the headlight change.