Mild lurching in 3rd gear only

2004 Citroen C5 2.0 vtr auto
Car: Citroen C5
Year: 2004
Variant: 2.0 vtr auto
Categories: Running Rough, Starting & Power Loss
When driving my recently bought c5 I found the car to lurch softly in 3rd gear. 1st and 2nd is fine then once it selects 3rd the lurching starts. It isnt making any strange noises and the engine behaviour dosent reflect the motion and it runs fine. The only way I can describe it is as if you were driving with an odd shaped wheel or as if the rear brake was hit and miss on a buckled disc. It is more noticeable when driving slow about town and not very severe at all. I am concerned that it might be a gearbox problem brewing. The car has been well looked after and has 78,000 on the clock with a service history from previous owners.
Problem added: Feb 6, 2012 (12 years ago)
It really could be a number of things, you may be right with the tyres, or the brakes, speak to your local garage and get them to do a road test for you,
Answered Feb 8, 2012 (12 years ago)
I have the answer to my own problem. It turns out the lurching was a sign that the gear box was developing bigger issues. After a wek or so the car would not select the correct gear and would stay in 3rd on the open road and at rest wich ment it did not want to start off again. When this happened it wouldnt engage tiptronic mode unless you turned it off and then on again. When put under slight preasure the gear box would thump and go to 3rd gear of its own accord. I spoke with 2 citroen specialists. One guy told me to drive it to the scrap yard as he had experienced this before and it could not be fixed. He told me the fibres from the syncro hub where wearing of and blocking the oil ports in the box and it was not worth fixing. The 2nd guy told me that in his experience it could be the oil preasure regulator in the box which was failing and a diagnostic check could reveal this specifically. Either way it was going to cost a substancial amount of money to fix with no gaurentee of success. I am getting the car checked out on diagnostics tomorrow and will post the outcome on this page. Can I add that in the 17 years of driving automatics this is the first let down I have had. Its a shame because other wise the c5 is not a bad car. In my experience stick to full auto vauxhalls,and Hondas if you want piece of mind in an automatic. Watch this space. E/Mail me direct if you are having the same problem with a C5 if you think I can Help.
Answered Mar 8, 2012 (12 years ago)
I have the answer to my own problem. It turns out the lurching was a sign that the gear box was developing bigger issues. After a wek or so the car would not select the correct gear and would stay in 3rd on the open road and at rest wich ment it did not want to start off again. When this happened it wouldnt engage tiptronic mode unless you turned it off and then on again. When put under slight preasure the gear box would thump and go to 3rd gear of its own accord. I spoke with 2 citroen specialists. One guy told me to drive it to the scrap yard as he had experienced this before and it could not be fixed. He told me the fibres from the syncro hub where wearing of and blocking the oil ports in the box and it was not worth fixing. The 2nd guy told me that in his experience it could be the oil preasure regulator in the box which was failing and a diagnostic check could reveal this specifically. Either way it was going to cost a substancial amount of money to fix with no gaurentee of success. I am getting the car checked out on diagnostics tomorrow and will post the outcome on this page. Can I add that in the 17 years of driving automatics this is the first let down I have had. Its a shame because other wise the c5 is not a bad car. In my experience stick to full auto vauxhalls,and Hondas if you want piece of mind in an automatic. Watch this space. E/Mail me direct if you are having the same problem with a C5 if you think I can Help.
Answered Mar 8, 2012 (12 years ago)

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