Sensodrive Snow Mode?

[soafie]

Hello, I am from Perth and I recently purchased a C2 which I am really enjoying. I would like to know if anyone has had any experience with the snow mode function of the sensodrive gearbox.
The owners manual says that snow mode comes on when the car senses slippery conditions however my car has gone into snow mode quite a few times now for no particular reason while I am in manual mode. Has anyone else experienced this or have an explanation?
Also, has anyone noticed that when they are driving (in manual or auto) and slowing almost to a stop (for example, when approaching a roundabout) the gearbox seems to get "confused" and wont engage any gear at all leaving you essentially free wheeling in traffic. Eventually after some time it engages, usually with a thump because I have reached high revs
Any advise on these points would be great. I do love my car but these "problems" tend to make me a little nervous about driving in traffic. I haven't taken the car in for it's first service yet but seeing as though C2s are not common over here, it would be great to have the benefit of others experience
Thanks for your help, soafie

 

[Fordman]

Gearbox problems

My suggestion is get it looked at asap - it doesnt sound too good at all - do you mean it has not yet had its first "free" service or is it heading up to 10000kms?

Fordman.

 

[Nil Time]

Snow mode on Senso drive

I have had my C2 for about 9 months now, and it very occasionally will go into "snow" mode when I pull up at a dry intersection. It is something that I am going to ask about when I put it in for it 20000 km service in about 2 months time or so.

As for the situation regarding coming up to a roundabout/intersection and the transmission being "confused", all I do when driving manually is to treat the Senso drive like any other manual transmission - i.e. I make sure that it is in the gear that I want it to be in, positively selecting first if I have to....sort of like what you would do with a normal manual gearbox. I do not rely overly much on the automatic changedown feature of the Senso drive transmission.

I have had my little beast for nearly 18000 km now...and I hugely enjoy driving it....so much so, I am using it to do a 1000 km trip this week, over a couple of days.

My

Cheers

 

[soafie]

My suggestion is get it looked at asap - it doesnt sound too good at all - do you mean it has not yet had its first "free" service or is it heading up to 10000kms?

Fordman.

Thanks for your reply. I have only had the car for 6 weeks so it is due to go in for its first "free" service in a week. I've read about the software upgrades that can be done, do you think that could be the cause - could the car be running on an "old" version of the software? Thanks

soafie

 

[soafie]

I have had my C2 for about 9 months now, and it very occasionally will go into "snow" mode when I pull up at a dry intersection. It is something that I am going to ask about when I put it in for it 20000 km service in about 2 months time or so.

As for the situation regarding coming up to a roundabout/intersection and the transmission being "confused", all I do when driving manually is to treat the Senso drive like any other manual transmission - i.e. I make sure that it is in the gear that I want it to be in, positively selecting first if I have to....sort of like what you would do with a normal manual gearbox. I do not rely overly much on the automatic changedown feature of the Senso drive transmission.

I have had my little beast for nearly 18000 km now...and I hugely enjoy driving it....so much so, I am using it to do a 1000 km trip this week, over a couple of days.

My

Cheers

Hi, thanks for your reply. Does your C2 go into snow mode when you are in manual mode (as mine does)? The owners manual says that it should only do it when it's in automatic mode.
WRT the transmission being confused - even if I manually select a gear, it's like the clutch is depressed for way too long and I just have to wait for it to be "released". It can be quite dangerous if there is traffic coming, I certaintly would never lend the car out that wasn't aware of it. My husband drives the car quite often too and he has noticed the same problem.

Thanks for your help, soafie

 

[cbgb]

Snow Mode

Hi,
Mine did that a few times, only when in Auto, but not since the latest software upgrade.

 

[Nil Time]

Sensodrive eccentricities...

Hi, thanks for your reply. Does your C2 go into snow mode when you are in manual mode (as mine does)? The owners manual says that it should only do it when it's in automatic mode.
WRT the transmission being confused - even if I manually select a gear, it's like the clutch is depressed for way too long and I just have to wait for it to be "released". It can be quite dangerous if there is traffic coming, I certaintly would never lend the car out that wasn't aware of it. My husband drives the car quite often too and he has noticed the same problem.

Thanks for your help, soafie

Hello Soafie;

Mine occasionally goes into Snow mode when in manual. As you know, then it is just a matter of taking off in 2nd gear until it decides to go into normal Auto mode.

Very, very rarely, the transmission can take a couple of seconds to decide that it wants to select first - but that has only happened 3 or so times in the last nine months.

I think that my transmission software is an old version, and that is something that I will be asking about when I get my 20000 km service.

Cheers

 

[danielsydney]

I thought only the full automatic had the snow mode on it, and was activated through the pressing of the small black button on the console?

 

[cbgb]

Snow Mode

There is a manual 'ovveride' button to turn on Snow mode, but it also turns on when the car senses 'slippery' condition (incorrectly in the case of Australia!).

 

[soafie]

There is a manual 'ovveride' button to turn on Snow mode, but it also turns on when the car senses 'slippery' condition (incorrectly in the case of Australia!).

I'm pretty sure my C2 (an '05 model) doesn't have a manual switch to switch on snow mode. . .the main reason the whole snow mode thing has concerned me is because it has gone into snow mode a couple of times just before I pull up my driveway (which is fairly steep). Trying to get up the kerb while the car is stuck in second makes me wonder how long the clutch is likely to last. . .
I'll certainly be asking about the software when the car goes in for it's first service in a week or so.

Thanks for all your help

Soafie

 

[jasC2]

I'm pretty sure my C2 (an '05 model) doesn't have a manual switch to switch on snow mode. . .the main reason the whole snow mode thing has concerned me is because it has gone into snow mode a couple of times just before I pull up my driveway (which is fairly steep). Trying to get up the kerb while the car is stuck in second makes me wonder how long the clutch is likely to last. . .
I'll certainly be asking about the software when the car goes in for it's first service in a week or so.

Thanks for all your help

Soafie

there is a software upgrade that should hopefully fix most of those problems..
i noticed a huge difference when i got mine done..

 

[Oby.]

Is this the same sensodrive gearbox as in the c3 Pluriel? Do people who use this gearbox have any reservations with it overall, as far as trouble free life( hopefully long), is concerned-or anything else. With the software updates have you all found problems fixed. As an aside- what is this software update stuff. I haven't bought a car for 7 years and haven't heard of it before in relation to cars.

James

 

[cbgb]

Snow Mode

Checked last night and there is in fact no manual button for Snow Mode, but as I said, it hasn't happened since the upgrade.

 

[ColinHarry]

I have had my C2 since July last year and I has never gone into snow mode.

I would definitely put it in and get the latest software update.

I last had mine updated in January and this has pretty much cured the problem of hesitating between gears.

My car has now had 2 software upgrades - the first [last Sept.] made a big difference. the January upgrade was less dramatic.

I drive almost entirely in sydney traffic and leave it in auto most of the time.

cheers,

 

[cbgb]

Snow Mode

I drive almost entirely in sydney traffic and leave it in auto most of the time.

cheers,[/QUOTE]

Likewise, Because i'm mostly in traffic I'm also mostly in auto and I still reckon it's a lot more fun to drive than an automatic!!!

 

[ucc2]

Not much evidence of snow mode up here in Brisbong either.

Still struggling with sensodrive after fourteen months and 10k kms- I'm very able to relate to the descriptions of the confused transmission at intersections, and am hoping the (second) software upgrade I've booked in for next week at the dealer fixes it. I'll keep you posted.

 

[soafie]

Not much evidence of snow mode up here in Brisbong either.

Still struggling with sensodrive after fourteen months and 10k kms- I'm very able to relate to the descriptions of the confused transmission at intersections, and am hoping the (second) software upgrade I've booked in for next week at the dealer fixes it. I'll keep you posted.

OK, I just thought I'd let everyone know what's been going on with my C2 over the last week or so. . .this could get a bit long, and I could start sounding like I'm getting a bit annoyed - but bear with me!!
I have a fair bit of difficulty getting my car to dealerships for services, as I live a fair way out of Perth city - I can usually swing 1/2 a day off work to get it done but the boss usually isn't all that impressed and often expresses his disdain with my choice of 'poofy wierd little cars' (he drives a Commodore. . .)
So, I took the car into one of Perth's Citroen dealers for it's 2500km service last Friday (I wont mention any dealership names but I live South of the city, so I went to the closer of the two dealers. . .). Told them about the sensodrive problems. . ."yep, no worries, should be able to do the update - come back in two hours" Upon my return, they tell me that they cant do the update, as they don't have the most recent update disc and they don't have web access to enable them to D/L direct from Citroen To make it even better, they told me that they have had a sensodrive Pluriel *completely* lose drive due to software problems. . .
Alright - a frantic 'phone call to the other dealer and they tell me that, "yes we can do the update if you come around right now" Off we go. Tromp into the dealership, only to be told that, no, they cant do the update, as it takes them 4 hours to D/L it from Citroen and a further hour to D/L it into the car (and they couldn't tell me this on the 'phone??) So now the car is booked in for this week to (hopefully) get everything sorted.
To top things off, since the service (or whatever they actually do at 2500km) the car is extremely sluggish and went into snow mode no fewer that 5 times on my 80km journey home
Still makes me wonder though - my car has a Jan '95 build date, and I didn't buy it until March - surely the software should already be as updated as possible?

Soafie

 

[danielsydney]

soafie

that sounds really awful. I hope you get it sorted out. I would be writing a nasty letter to ateco about the dealers over there in WA. That really is bad luck and as usual it sounds like the dealers dont care about you and no after sales service.
No wonder "once again" why citroen in australia will never be a real contender...