paul.h

The thermostat on the end of the cylinder head will be mechanical but it looks as if it comes as part of the housing so is expensive at around £150 - possibly a reason for the garage not wanting to replace it. Labour to replace it is also about 2 hours so a total bill of maybe £250, a big chunk out of any profit the garage has made on the car. It also includes the temperature sensor at this price but later models from RPO 12223 cost less. The Citroen part no. for the housing/thermostat may be 1336Z8 or for later cars V764558080, but this should be checked using your VIN. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CITROEN-C4-C3-DS3-BERLINGO-1-6i-EP6-ENGINE-THERMOSTAT-HOUSING-1336Z8-/361161679546?nma=true&si=hI8DlzZmxCxHJelwGgJaTs96bCw%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Peugeot-Citroen-Thermostat-Housing-V764558080-207-208-308-3008-C3-C4-DS3-/111772482683?nma=true&si=hI8DlzZmxCxHJelwGgJaTs96bCw%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 When our C3 needed the temperature sensor I thought it would need a new housing since the temp sensor was moulded in to the housing (which also included the thermostat) but the Citroen fix was to remove the bleed screw and fit the new sensor in place of the bleed screw, thus saving about £150 and 2 hours labour. A Citroen dealer will know about the recall and will know if your car is affected and if it has been done. Just checked and it looks as if Quest Motors is a Citroen dealer !!! - if so then you should have a used/approved 12 month guarantee that could be used at other Citroen dealers if you do not get very far with Quest. However, large motor groups may be outside this and such as Evans Halshaw only give a 3 month warranty (at least they did when we were looking a few years ago) and the cost of getting 12 months made the cars expensive. Temperature controls and flaps on the cabin heater will be electrically controlled but if the engine is not heating up then these are not the problem.

Welcome to the forum. A dealer will only sell a touch up pencil but a car accessory shop will often do spray paints and mix the colour you want. There are also paint spray shops. DRB A1 Motor Stores in Warrington are a good example.

On ebay do not just look for a mirror, search for a C4 Picasso breaking. Many breakers list a wheel nut and then you can get in touch for the other parts, probably saves listing everything but may also avoid ebay's cut of the proceeds eg http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Citroen-C4-Picasso-2-0-hdi-EGS-breaking-wheel-nut-/222034654359

It might depend on who is doing the MOT and possibly whether they have anything to do with the seller. If it was leaking then the leak could have been cleaned up before an MOT.

Welcome to the forum. On the home page there is a link to the Picasso forum which may be worth a look. You will need to join it separately to this one.

Welcome to the forum.

If it is still under warranty check the steering rack for oil leaks, this is listed in the Common Problems topic.

I have deleted your similar posts and copied my reply here so that all replies are in the same place and edited the topic title a bit. Welcome to the forum. You could have some wiring problems, check for damage between the driver's door and body and similarly the tailgate. Also check the tailgate switch and its wiring.

I would see if the pulling is a brake sticking problem considering your other topic on a rear one with the caliper touching the wheel which may suggest a lack of maintenance. I had to replace the drop links on a C3, it was not pulling but was noisy and had been found during the MOT as an advisory. I have read on here that all wheel alignment on the C5 is not straight forward since the rear wheels are a different width than the front so you may be better getting it done at a Citroen dealer, particularly if the garage you used is the one that did not know about C5 rear brakes. If you have kept the badly worn tyre on the car then this will affect the handling and may contribute to the pulling - try it on the other side of the car or use the spare wheel as a test. If the tracking was out it would usually affect both front tyres. If the tyres at the front are not the same then that also may have an effect.

On one of the C5 sections there is a pinned topic on cleaning the rear brakes including the calipers. You can do it without disconnecting the brake pipe so do not need to bleed the brakes afterwards. If you look closely you may also find the inner brake pad has worn more than the outer one and could need replacing. http://www.citroen-owners-club.co.uk/citroen/topic/6881-removal-of-rear-brake-calipers-pad-replacement-c5-to-2008/ I would not bother using that garage again, they do not know about the C5 and have not investigated the problem enough to find out what was wrong or even checked on the internet for a problem that affects all C5s and earlier Citroens. On the C5 Technical section there is a pinned topic of common problems.

How did the garage decide there was not a problem, did they do any temperature checks or plug in a code reader to see what temperature the coolant sensor was showing ? As you say, the symptoms indicate the thermostat is opening at a low temperature and needs replacing. If under 3 years old it would still be under warranty by Citroen so it ought to be fixed without any cost to you. Have you noticed if the engine fan is running ? Last year our 2010 C3 with the 1.4 vti engine started going to max temperature warning with the fan on all the time and I was going to replace the temperature sensor on the thermostat housing. However, our dealer said there was a recall on the vti engines due to faulty temp sensors and these were being replaced, paid for by Citroen. You can do a quick check on the thermostat by feeling the top radiator hose as the engine warms - it will start to warm up when the thermostat opens but should not do it until the coolant is quite hot, unless the thermostat is opening early.

If the rubber O ring on the cap is broken it will not maintain the pressure in the cooling system and will let the coolant boil - so this could be your problem. I would not run the engine until you fit a new cap since every time it boils you risk warping the cylinder head since steam does not remove heat as well as water. If there is air still in the system this will similarly risk warping the cylinder head. I would not open a bleed screw on a hot engine, you risk getting scolded, far better to do it on a cold engine and with it switched off.

It used to be normal to change the oil/filter after about 1000 miles but not any more, then it became a quick check of the car and now nothing until the first service. As pointed out this may be to keep fleet car costs down since if a private customer you probably would pay and increase your dealer's income. Since your car is under warranty you would need to get your dealer to do it since if anything goes wrong you would need to show VAT receipts, etc as part of your claim against Citroen.

We did not bother having our house cavity walls insulated when it was being offered in our area. The main wall receives all the wind and rain from the west. If the insulation got damp, the heat losses would increase and also the internal walls would get damp. To remove the insulation would then be difficult so for the possible energy savings it was not worth the risk. Our daughter has a new build house and there are 23 downlighter lamps in it, all supplied with 50 watt bulbs plus another six 20 watt under cupboard lights - 1270 watts if all left on. However, to comply with the building regulations the bedrooms have special bulb holders that use 9 watt bulbs but have a GU10 type connection - unfortunately the rooms were too dark to see so I have swapped these for normal bayonet bulb holders and put in 20 watt low energy bulbs. Odd the regs allow these downlighter bulbs but not normal bulbs in the bedrooms - where is the common sense and these fashionable downlighters do not give a good spread of light either, try shaving under one, maybe that is why beards are fashionable. The 50 watts have since been replaced with 5 watt LEDs.

Just a warning, if you go under the car axle stands should always be used since if a height sensor is caught the suspension can quickly drop to a very low level. If you jack the car up the suspension should first be raised to max height and the ignition turned off to avoid possible suspension problems. Possibly the rear height sensor just needs freeing off and spraying with something like wd40. Then take the car down and up on the suspension a few times. To help starting as a test, when you turn the key in the ignition switch, leave it for longer before starting the engine to give the glow plugs more time. If the fuel filter has a priming pump, you could use this before starting to see if the filter is draining down due to an air leak.

All electric cars do is move the emissions to a power station and there might be more emissions whilst making the cars since they are more expensive. However, if the power station/car combination is more fuel efficient than the car only, then overall emissions might reduce. An electric car would not be any good for us though since many of our journeys are further than an electric car can do and when travelling a long way the last thing you need is to stop a couple of times for half an hour. The other week on radio 2 they were discussing the hydroelectric power stations that run water downhill through turbines during high electric demand and then during the night pump the water back up - I think they were wrongly saying this was sustainable energy, forgetting more power was needed to pump the water back than was gained when it first went through the turbines. As an aside, the other day we had an EPC survey (energy survey needed when selling a house). It came out better than average but the only ways to improve were to install a condensing boiler at about 10 years payback (or more if it breaks), floor insulation at about 200 years payback and solar panels on the roof, again decades to payback. So I would not see any payback so will not be doing them.

I think it is probably better to put a link on both topics to each other plus it is easier to do. See also this topic where the non working reverse lights were fixed by replacing the gearbox reverse switch http://www.citroen-owners-club.co.uk/citroen/topic/7946-reversing-lights-stopped-working-advice-please/

See also this topic where the parking sensors and reverse lights were not working but were fixed by simple by cleaning the multi function switch contacts http://www.citroen-owners-club.co.uk/citroen/topic/21170-rear-parking-sensors-c8/?do=findComment&comment=88697

Welcome to the forum. Your car looks in good condition so I am guessing it can not be bodywork problems you need advice on. On the C5 Technical section there is a pinned topic of common problems to have a look at.

'If you need a top-up just pop in, sit down with some refreshments and relax - we’ll take care of it while you wait for just £9.99. We’ll even wash your car for free during your visit.' You will go when the low level message comes up so possibly needing about 15 litres having done about 10k miles and your car may be coming up to a year old or more. If this does include the adblue then it does not seem too bad unless they only do a top up and not a full refill. But then whilst having the relaxation, refreshments and waiting for the car wash, you are bound to look at the new cars and it could be expensive.

You could check for any air leaks after the MAF but also on all the hoses connected to the sensors/actuators. Also check if the air filter is clean. Then it may be a case of a diagnostic check and maybe checking the fuel injectors.

I do not know much about fitting aftermarket radios, but it may just need the correct adaptor cable. Have you tried taking a speaker connection direct from the radio to prove the radio and at least one speaker ?

Welcome to the forum.

I think Citroen may be trying to limit information to owners or making it difficult to find out, possibly in the hope of getting more work at the dealers. If you look in the Maintenance/Warranty book, it used to give a list of service items and the mileage/time intervals. Now it only gives the systematic operations (things done every service) which are a few checks and changing the oil and filter but does not even tell you when these should be done, other than saying the car was supplied with a service plan. The service plan though just says service due at x miles without saying what is needed. You then need to register on MyCitroen but this still does not tell you much. However, if you register on service.citroen (as other professional non emergency services and a member of the Citroen Owners Club) you can use your VIN (VIS) and then print out a service item list with miles/time intervals but it does not list the systematic operations. If you do register you also get free access to the parts diagrams. http://service.citroen.com/pages/index.jsp

This is from Citroen's procedures but dated 2012 so it is possible it has changed since then for the latest C4 Picasso: CAUTION : To push back the rear brake caliper pistons , the direction of rotation on the right-hand side is the opposite of that on the left-hand side.Turn the right-hand brake caliper piston clockwise and push it back ; By means of a wind back tool.Turn the left-hand brake caliper piston anticlockwise and push it back ; By means of a wind back tool.Check the brake fluid level.