Common Faults with the Citroen DS3

The Citroen DS3 (now known as just the DS3) is a very popular little supermini sold from 2009 to the present day. These cars use any one of a range of reliable and proven PSA Group (Peugeot/Citroen) engine and drivetrain combinations, and when maintained properly they are very reliable little cars. 

However, if you’re looking to buy one, it can be a bit of a minefield on the internet trying to find out what to look out for. In this guide, we’re going to go through some of the most common issues and faults found on the Citroen DS3. I am a mechanic who has seen at least a hundred of these cars in for repair, and without issue most of the time it would be one of the problems listed below. I’ve also run French cars for many years and am very familiar with the servicing and repair of any of the PSA drivetrains used in the DS3.

I am not suggesting that every DS3 owner will experience these problems – far from it. Most DS3 owners experience trouble-free motoring (providing they service their cars on time and perform preventative maintenance when it’s due.) I’m not trying to scare you out of buying a DS3 – I think they’re cracking little cars. What I am trying to do is just make you aware of what you might experience when you own one, and for specific things this gives you a bit more ammunition when you’re going to view a car to ask the dealer or seller whether certain repairs have been done or not.

It’s worth mentioning that with cars, it often doesn’t matter what you buy – you will experience minor issues and problems like these. Without further ado let’s get into common faults with the Citroen DS3.

Gearbox not engaging reverse properly

This is a really common problem on the 5 and 6 speed manual gearboxes, which were fitted to numerous other Citroen, Peugeot and DS models – from everything to the DS3’s sister car, the Peugeot 208, right up to the Citroen Berlingo and Peugeot Partner mid-size vans. On your DS3 you’ll have one of two five speed gearbox variants, or the six speed variant. 

On each of the gearboxes there is no synchromesh on reverse gear. Sometimes you will engage reverse and the reversing lights will come on but reverse gear will not engage. Sometimes you’ll experience a really horrible grinding noise, and other times you just won’t get anything and the car won’t move.

Unfortunately this is normal, and it’s because the DS3 uses quite an old gearbox design. Not having a synchro on reverse is not unusual in manual cars but for some reason this issue seems to be more pronounced in the DS3. You might find that a gearbox oil change helps you out a little bit (make sure you use 75W-80 or 75W-90 oil from a recommended brand such as Total or Mobil) but fundamentally this is something you might have to live with.

You’ll find that just changing back to neutral, lifting the clutch all the way and pushing it back down and trying reverse again usually gets the gear. If you’re finding you need to do this multiple times, however, something is probably wrong and you should get it checked out at a garage.

Problems with the centre screen

I personally don’t rate the screens in these cars. They look nice, and especially in some of the more basic models they do help to give the car a more premium look, but they’re prone to freezing, rebooting themselves while in operation and sometimes just packing up altogether. I’m not an auto electrician so if someone came into my garage with a screen problem I probably wouldn’t look at it – I’d recommend a good auto electrician that I trusted, but there are a few things you can look at to try to mitigate this problem.

You should first check with Citroen to see if there are any software updates available for your system – often this can fix some freezing and suddenly switching off issues. What also tends to happen on these cars is if the battery is toast or if it’s low on charge for whatever reason, the battery can cut off non-essential items like it does in economy mode, and this could be why your radio keeps cutting out (although usually you’ll get a notice on the screen saying it’s going into economy mode.) If nothing else, give your battery a good charge and see if the issue comes back.

There’s a lot of people online who say that tuning into certain stations via DAB causes problems with these screens, and switching to the FM equivalent solves the problem. I don’t know how accurate this is, but it’s something you might want to try if you’ve exhausted all other options. 

What I wouldn’t recommend is asking a Citroen or DS dealer to look at this issue – unless you’re convinced it’s something I haven’t described here, it’s likely due to the fact that the screens put into the DS3 (and in other Citroen, Peugeot and DS cars for that matter) just aren’t particularly good and will play up sometimes. Don’t pay a £80 diagnostic fee to Citroen/DS for them to tell you what I’ve just told you here.

Related: Citroen DS3 – Engine Fault, Repair Needed

“Engine Fault – Repair Needed” warning light

So this is a common one (as it is on any car) and could be a number of different things. If you’re getting this, first thing I’d check would be the coil packs and spark plugs just to rule out the possibility of a misfire (only applicable to petrol versions.) If this doesn’t work, there are a number of things you can do based on the type of car that you have.

If you have the 1.6 THP engine (fitted to the DS3 Racing) this error could be thrown up as a result of a number of things, usually related to the timing chain. This is the only DS3 engine that I’m aware of that uses the chain, and is the same engine as fitted to the Peugeot 208 GTi, the Peugeot RCZ as well as some Ford and Mini vehicles.

One of the first things I’d check is the hydraulic chain tensioner. If you notice that the engine is very rattly until it warms up, this is your likely culprit. As the chain weakens over time, it results in it being loose until the engine warms up and you get good oil pressure. In this instance you should have the chain tensioner and possibly the chain replaced ASAP. You could also be experiencing loss of engine timing, which is a common issue in the THP engines. You’ll need to get a garage to time the engine back up for you and just check why the camshaft/crankshaft sprockets have slipped and caused the engine to go out of time. You may also be experiencing clogged intake valves – and you should be having these cleaned roughly every 30,000 miles anyway (they won’t show up on an OBD read, but you can get a mechanic to inspect them if you suspect this is your issue.)

If you don’t have a THP engine you may be experiencing something as simple as a faulty oil pressure switch or sensor which is throwing up this engine fault error. This ought to show up on an OBD read, but it may not. On the Puretech engines this is a bit of a pain to replace as it’s right at the back of the engine, so you might end up paying two hours’ labour to have it replaced. The part is very cheap though at about £10.

Related: A guide to the best engine oil for your Citroen DS3

One of the more common causes of this “engine fault, repair needed” warning light are timing belt issues on the Puretech/VTi versions of the DS3. On these engines the timing belt runs in oil, and over time the oil starts to break down the timing belt. Bits of it crumble off and land in the sump, and the oil pump picks them up and they get into the oil passages in the engine and start to starve the engine of oil. If you’re getting an engine fault warning light and you haven’t had the timing belt replaced in the last 60,000 miles you will need to get someone to check the condition of the belt to ensure that this isn’t the cause of your issue.

Looking at the belt you’ll notice a pockmarked surface which is as a result of bits breaking off, instead of the smooth surface you’d see on a new belt. If you do see this, don’t start the engine and replace the belt immediately. You’ll also need to get a garage to do an inspection of your engine just to see how much damage the little flakes of the timing belt have caused.

Other things to check if you’ve had no luck with any of the above are low engine oil (just check the dipstick), a faulty oil pump or a blocked oil filter.

One of the other things that can throw up this warning light on the HDi diesel engined versions of the DS3 is an AdBlue fault, which we discuss in the next section.

Adblue issues (diesel only)

There’s a very common AdBlue problem that plagues the DS3 as well as other Citroen and Peugeot diesels. What you’ll notice is a large red “SERVICE” light on the dashboard. This doesn’t mean, as you may expect, that the car needs a service – it means there’s a mechanical fault. You’ll also get a “UREA” warning light flashing, and you will notice on your screen that it says “Emissions Fault – Starting prevented in X miles”. Obviously as you continue to drive the car, the figure will get lower until it reaches 0 and you will be unable to start the car.

Sometimes, all this means is that your Adblue has run out and you need to top it up. You should be EXTREMELY careful when filling up your AdBlue. Many petrol stations, especially those at motorway services, have AdBlue pumps, and these are not designed for passenger cars, but for HGVs. HGVs take significantly more AdBlue than your DS3 will and there is the possibility that you can over-fill the tank, which can cause damage to the AdBlue pump and the tank. Only fill your AdBlue tank with containers, and if you’re not sure, ask Citroen to do it for you (the charge should be less than £100.)

However, if you’re sure that your AdBlue tank is sufficiently full, this could be the dreaded UREA pump fault. What you must do in this case is do an OBD code read on your car and look for the following codes:

U0118 87 Multiplexed Additive Pump

P1435 – Multiplexed Additive Pump

These two codes in particular indicate that your UREA pump is failing. This is a well known issue with PSA AdBlue systems and the recommended action here is to replace the entire UREA pump assembly. With this system you can’t buy the pump and tank separately, so the whole thing needs to be replaced, and the part is priced at circa £1000 from Citroen. 

While the tank is very, very expensive, the labour to fit it is not – it’s only around a one or two hour job. There have been cases (although don’t quote me on this) of Citroen willing to fit a customer-purchased tank, so you may want to look on eBay to see if you can get a tank for less than the cost of a genuine one and have Citroen fit it for you. You should ask your local dealer whether they’d be willing to do this first and get it in writing. Additionally the tank will need to be coded to the car, which the dealer will need to do (a local garage won’t have the equipment to be able to do this.)

It’s worth saying that if you see the above two codes, get a dealer to give you a diagnosis – I don’t want to be the one responsible for convincing you to purchase a £1000 AdBlue tank if your fault is something else. However, I have had a number of these cases and when we saw those two codes, we’d tell the customer to take the car to a dealer and be prepared for a significant bill. 

Check also if your vehicle is under warranty, even if you bought it from another dealer that’s not an official franchised Citroen agent, as their warranty may cover this (and if they do agree to fix it, they’ll be sending it to Citroen for them to repair the fault and paying for it themselves.) 

Puretech engine – excessive oil consumption (petrol only)

You may notice that specifically on the 1L and 1.2L Puretech petrol engines, you burn a heck of a lot of oil. Some people have commented that the car will use up to 1L of oil every 2,500 miles which is usually the sign of damaged piston rings or a head gasket issue. However, this is actually normal for the Puretech engines specifically and if you go to Citroen with this issue, they will tell you that it is normal. 

These are good engines but if they’re not serviced correctly with exactly the right kind of oil, they start to experience problems at around 75,000 – 100,000 miles, and that can include excessive oil consumption. You may also notice that for a three cylinder petrol they sound like a tractor when you start them up. The only advice I can give you here is for you to make sure you service your car diligently at the correct intervals, and take the car to a garage that you trust to perform servicing. You should also keep a bottle of oil handy and check the dipstick at least once a week.

Clutch biting point

Some customers have brought me their DS3 to complain of a high clutch biting point. These are usually customers who have never driven a French car before and aren’t aware that on most French cars, particularly Peugeot, Citroen and DS but also Renault (as well as some Japanese manufacturers) the clutch biting point is usually very high. I’m not sure exactly why this is, but you’ll notice the difference if you’re used to driving, for example, a Ford Fiesta, and you jump into a DS3. 

This isn’t a fault and there’s no fix for it – you’ll just need to put up with it. If you really can’t get on with the clutch and you’re stalling the car all the time, it’s worth just getting your clutch checked out as when the clutch begins to wear, it can cause the bite point to become even higher.

Recalls

There are around 30 recall actions related to the DS3 in the UK. Some of the more significant include the following:

R2021/238 – The operation of the vacuum pump may be affected due to material detaching from the timing belt

R/2019/339 – Front airbag ignitiers may not deploy correctly

R/2017/300 – Suspension and steering fixings may not be tightened to the correct torque

R/2012/123 – Wheel bolts may become loose

R/2011/127 – Airbag may not deploy correctly

R/2010/076 – Front axle may detach

It’s worth mentioning before you start thinking that all DS3s are deathtraps is that each of these recalls will have affected a very small number of Citroen DS3s – and for example, if you’ve ever had any significant work done on a car where the wheel bolts may become loose, it’s likely this is a non-issue as the wheels on your car have likely been off and re-torqued correctly anyway.

However, for any car you’re looking to purchase, you should do a recall check online to check whether your car was subject to a recall, and if it was, whether it was ever done. You can do this when doing an MOT check. Check with the dealer if the car you’re planning to purchase has been subject to a recall and ask to see documentation that it was completed.

Check out some of our other content about the Citroen DS3!