paul.h

iannez frequents this site and gives good advice. As well as the Haynes manual I have the French ETAI (RTA) one for the C3 petrol (essence, available from Amazon's French site) - they also do one for the diesel. There is a drawing showing the heating system. It shows 2 separate motors (motoreducteur) , 1 on the air inlet duct (to put on to recirc ?) and 1 presumably to alter the temperature at the right hand side about half way up. Both are close to each other. I would have a look with a mirror and torch above the driver's foot pedals (I do not think there are any covers over the feet) and you may be able to see and reach the parts. Also, if you remove the pollen filter from inside the bonnet, you may be able to see the recirc flap inside the duct and what it is doing for the first 10 seconds and also if it moves when you set it to/from recirc.

There probably is something in the Haynes manual that would help. The C5 forum seems to be the most active one on this site. It is not that people do not want to help out, but unless a Citroen tech replies, you are relying on somebody else having had the same problem (and fixed it DIY ?) and the C3 seems to be a reliable car.

Haynes and the ETAI (RTA) French ones are worth having. The ETAI ones have good photos and line drawings and are on decent paper - there are separate ones for the mark 1 and 2 C5s but only cover the diesel engines.

There is some info in the earlier October 2009 post 'C5 suspension fluid leak by Brian W' on changing the spheres and it quotes a dealer cost of £175 to cure a leak just in front of a sphere but does not say if a sphere is to be or has been replaced since there is so far no final feedback.

Our Xsara Picasso had a leather (or similar material) gaiter whereas our C3 has a rubber one. I suspect the 2 are not interchangeable. Also the Picasso one would split after about 2 years and need replacing so its life is less than the C3 (now 6 years and still ok). First time was done under warranty but second cost about £30 for the part. I guess you have not tried Citroen for a new one on grounds of likely cost.

There is the French ETAI one which can be ordered through Amazon's French site and this covers the 2.2 HDi. The Haynes one is ok for all the none engine bits though so is still worth having. Haynes also do a Peugeot 406 with the 2.2 HDi engine but I do not know if it is correct for the C5.

I think the Peugeot 206 and the Citroen C3 have common parts, possibly the same chassis, so using a Peugeot specialist ought to be ok. Most cars have CV joints though so any garage ought to be able to diagnose a faulty one.

At the weekend I finally got round to using the garden spray. It is a Hozelock Promo 5 litre sprayer which has a short lance and a small angled spray nozzle which easily reaches in to the end of the air con evaporator matrix once the pollen filter is removed. Gave the matrix a good spray over the full length with the Dettol non bleach surface cleanser and left it to dry overnight. It also dripped out of the drain hose to the ground. The previous smell has now completely gone although it was not that bad. This cleanser does not leave any other perfumed smell either. A google search will find the sprayer.

Sounds as if the battery voltage may be a bit low. If you can, measure the voltage or before starting the engine check the voltmeter on the dash to see if that is lower than normal.

In the latest Car Mechanics magazine a Honda Civic had a knocking from the front which turned out to be the shock absorber needed replacement. You could check to see if it bounces ok and look for an oil leak on yours - but this should have been noticed by the garage.

Seems odd the garage could not see anything wrong. Sounds like a CV joint though. If you can find a large empty car park, drive round in tight circles forwards and backwards both left and right circles - this will often give the offending knocking of a worn CV joint. Also with the car jacked up and when turning the wheel play/roughness may be detected in the joint. Did the noise start soon after any repairs, has the car passed an MOT with the noise ? Other things could include - the coil spring cup added to stop tyre/brake hose damage when the spring breaks could need slight adjustment if it catches the lower end of the spring - had to do this on mine on the driver's side and cured it by slightly bending the cup away from the spring. A simple check would be to remove the cup and road test the car and see if the noise goes. - after I had the front springs replaced under warranty, the driver's side spring top mounting failed and was noisy - the bearing had come apart during fitting. - steering rack mounting bolt loose - had this on a Saab once and that gave a knocking noise. - anti roll bar mounting rubbers worn. - loose bolts in the suspension. - worn rubber mountings in the front sub frame. - a worn wheel bearing could give a rumbling/whine noise but unlikely a knocking noise unless loose - some Saabs had this.

I would remove each wheel and have a look to see if they are worn. If you have a Haynes manual it will give you the minimum thickness of the pads and discs so you can check. The wear depends on the actual use of the car so different people may brake differently and hence the wear may not be comparable with other cars so the importance of checking. Recently I replaced the rear pads and discs on our car at about 33000 miles (53000 km) since one of the discs had corroded since the pads had siezed, otherwise they would have been ok. The fronts are still originals and ok for some time yet.

May be you could exchange photos by e-mail with the scrappy so you can both compare your and his seats to see if they are the same.

The door card is just the door panel on the inside of the car.

May be a loose or corroded electrical connection inside the door or may be the solenoid (if there is one) in the door working the switch needs replacing ?

It probably means there is a slight coating of oil on it just below the gaiter. Nothing to worry about unless it gets worse. There have been posts on here before so it is probably a common thing.

How do dealers check the cambelt tension is correct ?

On our mark 1 VTR there is a sport setting on the suspension which stiffens it up. I use this when it is windy, sometimes when pulling the caravan, if there are a lot of bends - just helps stop the car rolling about as much.

I may be wrong but seem to remember something about the brake pedal switch could give the anti pollution warning. I have tried a search for this but it does not seem to be working that well.

Where abouts do you think the noise is coming from - inside/outside/dash areas/car moving or stationary ?

The part nos. beginning with 6 are (I believe) the Citroen part no. and not the manufacurer's no. You could try the Citroen service website to get the part no. - you need to register but do not need to be a dealer/garage/etc. http://service.citroen.com/do/logout

A few questions to help check if the air con heater box drain is blocked without taking any bits apart: 1. Have you had the air con on recently. Water condenses on the outside of the cooling matrix (air con evaporator) and collects in the plastic surrounding box between the front footwells but should drain out to the outside of the car, unless the drain is blocked. 2. Does the windscreen steam up a bit. 3. When the air con is on do you get water dripping out under the car from the air con drain (ie from the plastic box which contains the cabin heater matrix and air con cooling matrix). 4. If you put the cabin fan on full speed, set the air flow to the face vents and close all the vents, can you feel a flow of air out of the air con drain point under the car (I do not know where this is but may be somewhere under the front seat area). 5.Was the carpet wet before you cleaned the car. Other possibilities include a coolant leak and rain ingress.

This is only a guess without reading/thinking about your notes in detail, but is the purple wire meant to come from an ignition controlled +ve supply which is needed if the relay for the caravan supply is not the smart type that detect when the engine is running - otherwise the car battery will go flat.

Who is the breakdown sevice provider - saves us all looking for the small print ? What caused the locking key to break, were the wheel bolts too tight ?

This has happened on our car but seems to have stopped (no foam left ?). It was from the driver's side at the slightly raised bit and probably occurring as you get in/out of the car.