Your Letters

I am interested to see that you had acquired a Peugeot 107, as I have a 2009 Citroën C1 Splash (3-cylinder petrol, manual gearbox). This is in addition to my 1985 Talbot Alpine – I have been using Alpines as my daily driver for the last 27 years – I’m also currently restoring an Alpine GLS and a Talbot Solara – but that’s another story!

I bought the C1 in April 2017 to replace my wife Pam’s ageing Fiesta, but I like it so much it is usually me who drives it!

The garage I bought it off conducted a ‘service’ and new MOT, but I don’t know how much that involved and there was no service record to speak of. Mileage was 54,000 miles. Over the next few months I added several accessories – rubber floor mats, glovebox lid, rear mudflaps with Citroën chevrons to stick on and I could not resist buying and fitting the cute tachometer which sticks out on a stalk from the speedo. The original wheel trims had been replaced with a cheap set, so I bought some I liked off ebay, again with Citroën chevrons to stick in the centres.

Finally, being a great believer in winter tyres, I sent for a set of new steel wheels off ebay with winter tyres already fitted and I use these from about December to March. A new battery was fitted in December 2018. In February 2019 there was a recall from Citroën regarding the tailgate hinges – this was checked at our local Citroën dealer and found to be OK.

One problem from the start was difficult gearchanging. I know now that this is a common problem with this model. Earlier models (not mine but possibly yours, being a couple of years older) had a smaller diameter clutch – these can be replaced with the Yaris-type clutch as fitted to later cars.

I joined the Citybugclub.co.uk which covers advice and spares for the C1, 107 and Aygo. This is free and I also paid a one-off £10 for access to further advice and procedures for specific jobs.

They recommend their Exedy clutch kit for a complete fix to the gearchange problem, so I sent for one plus all I needed for a full service – oil, filter, gearbox oil, air filter, pollen filter, plugs and a new reverse light switch, which I thought I would renew during the stripdown as it is normally quite inaccessible.

Removal of the gearbox was reasonably straightforward, although everything was packed in tight as you would expect with such a compact car and a lot of dismantling was involved. I found several horrors – the clutch plate itself was not badly worn but was not sliding very well on the splines and the release bearing was in very poor condition with a lug broken off (which was not inside the casing).

Also the gearbox had been overfilled with the wrong type of oil. Obviously, someone had filled it to the filler plug when the front of the car was high up on ramps. The oil was thick dark stuff, not the clear runny type of oil recommended.

It took considerable effort to undo one of the driveshaft hub nuts because it had been cross-threaded and forced all the way on. So,

I came to the conclusion that some cowboy had had a go at changing the clutch before and made a really bad job of it. I went the whole hog with the driveshafts and exchanged both for re-con units from our local motor factor, Leamoco, together with new gearbox oil seals. I spent about a week on the clutch change and service and I am pleased to say the result was amazing – gear-change problem gone!

While I was at it I inspected the brakes – all good – and changed the brake fluid. Future jobs in the pipeline are changing the cooling fluid and possibly fitting a new water pump and auxiliary belt – the car is now 10-years-old and I want to do everything now to make it last another ten.

Finally, last year, I decided to have the aircon, which had never worked properly since I had it, fixed. It was done at a specialist at Warwick who replaced the condenser, re-gassed it and did a clean of the ducting system. I wasn’t that bothered about air-con, being used to driving much older cars without it, but figured that if it is fitted it might as well be working properly.

By the way, I always use Shell V-power petrol in the C1, as I did in our Fiesta Mk4. Personally I think it is worth every extra penny with the increased performance you can notice in a small car.

In conclusion, I love driving the C1 and working on this car – I cannot fault it. The road tax is £20 per year, insurance cheap, lots of mpg, easy to work on and spares reasonable and readily available.

So, Martyn, I am really pleased you have the 107 in your workshop and when you have worked your CM magic on it, I guarantee you will not be disappointed with it. I look forward to the articles. John B Henderson

Martyn Knowles responds: Thanks John for the update on your C1. We covered my 107 in the last few issues and Rob Hawkins did a great job of servicing the 107 in his home garage during lockdown. Rob’s friend, John North, enquired about buying the 1.0-litre Peugeot for his daily commute, so we gave him the 107 for a two-week test drive. He fell for its charm and bought it. Unfortunately, the centre exhaust pipe parted from the back box not long after his ownership – though, John is hands-on, so soon fitted a sleeve and welded it back on...