fatgut

Fixed! Thanks jd, I looked at fuses again, and it definitely was fuse 10, 15A, but not the fuse box under the bonnet, it is that position fuse in the fuse box in the glove box. Must have missed that one when I went through them all before.Both sockets working again, as is boot height adjuster. Needless to say the handbook was wrong about what fuse does what. At least I know every fuse in both boxes is fine now, having got in the zone and done the lot. Now to try to fix the non-opening tailgate glass for the third time.since the car was new.......

The 12v socket in the boot and the 12v socket between the front seats have packed up, both at the same time as the electric boot height adjuster I think. The actual cigarette lighter socket by the gearstick is ok. Have had every fuse out of the glovebox fuse box and tested them, all ok. Anybody got any experience of similar problem please? The car is a 2003 mk 1 C5 2.0 hdi lx estate.

Got caught out by this one recently. There is a grey rubber washer which seals the white plastic drain plug to the fuel filter housing. It is only visible if you drain the fuel filter housing of all fuel and totally unscrew the drain plug to remove it. Our car is 12 years old now and done 216000 miles, so the drain plug has been unscrewed a few times now as I always run a bit of fuel out at every 125000 mile service just to see if there is any water in it. I had noticed that I was having to do it up more and more tightly to stop it dripping over the past couple of years. The grey rubber washer had badly split. I have replaced it with a similar rubber washer and all fine again. The rate of leakage when the car engine was running was a steady stream, so car undrivable really. I will be checking the new washer in future when servicing. Probably the cheapest part ever that got a car back on the road!

I'm so glad I wrote this up because when I came to do it again a couple of months ago I had no idea how to do it, so I did an Internet search and found absolutely nothing until I came across my old post, which I'd totally forgotten about. I can update the info now. It was NOT a half hour job, took over an hour, and it is definitely only possible to do if the heater control panel is removed, and in order to do this the black front (ie the part you actually see with the control knobs on) must be removed too, as it will then allow sufficient room to jiggle it about so it can be pulled out of the aperture to allow access to the bulb holders at the back. It just will not quite fit through the gap otherwise. The black plastic front is only held on by clips that a small screwdriver opened. The heater control cables also definitely must be unclipped at the back of the panel to allow it to come out. Need to use the small dentist mirror to be able to do the job. I was able to just unscrew the bulb holders by hand easily. Putting it all back together is rapid. The key to starting the whole job is removing the gear stick gaiter first in order to then remove the really big piece of plastic trim ( I called it egg shaped but it is not really) which has the centre vents in it, ash tray, radio and heater etc.

I think it is the latter in my case, always seem to be able to use google to search this site and find pretty soon what the likely fault is with ours. In fact I think I must have read too much over the years because when my wife reported a recent power loss but it seemed to pick up dramatically when the revs went over about 2000 I said it's probably the MAF sensor. (Then checked site and it matched others symptoms).The garage connected up a fault find machine, test drove it and ordered a new MAF sensor, and it has never gone so fast since we had it as a new car. Also what has made a massive difference was me taking up an enormous amount of slack in the throttle cable. I'm convinced this had never been done before at any service we ever had done at a dealer or independent, because the adjustment clip was right at the very end of the cable outer before I took up the slack. Wish I'd looked into it years back, probably explains the gradual loss of acceleration over the recent years.

IMPORTANT ADDITION!! Sorry cannot see how to edit my original post here, so will have to add this. I forgot that the reason the hinge trim was not on was due to the need to finish off repairing the 3rd brake light and nothing to do with gas strut replacement. To replace gas struts for tailgate only then the glass does NOT have to open at all, and the only plastic trim to remove on the outside of the car is definately the large piece that goes across the whole width at the top that very obviously is in the way. The other really critical point I missed is that I put my step ladder under the tailgate to take it's weight when the gas struts were taken off, as it is quite heavy and the window glass gas struts do not really help to reduce the weight at all.

Finally did this slightly arkward job myself recently after 3 years of putting up with a sagging tailgate. (Finally got to point where it would only stay half open even in hot weather!) Had no luck in end with getting a company to re-gas the struts as they said they would not fit their jig, so had to buy 2 new ones from Citroen dealer who sold them at a 'cheaper' price than the German manufacturer's UK agent. The job entails getting the plastic trim off the tailgate glass hinges first, so doing the rear window 'fix' was the first step, or just get to the solenoid to manually pop the glass open if you're not bothered about an opening rear window if yours has stopped working. Then I also got the large black plastic trim off that runs the whole width of the back end of the roof, but I'm not sure that was really necessary now. Easy to unclip with the usual careful force though. Gas struts for tailgate itself (ie not glass) are the outer ones, use small screwdriver to prise under metal clip to pull it fully off as you'll be binning the strut anyway, then use very big flatblade screwdriver to prise end of strut off ball, will pop off easily, and no danger as strut is fully open. Getting to other end means removing the two rear luggage net / dog guard fixings in the roof lining, then pull back the plastic trim at the bottom of the vertical piece of trim in the rear corners so can then pull off those vertical pieces of trim that hold up the roof lining at the rear corners. It all just pulls off with a bit of careful force. Then you can gently pull the roof lining down at the rear corners, as held up with adhesive pads which will can substitute with strong double sided sticky pads when re-assemble. You then can just about get your head in to see the end of the struts. (Reading glasses required for me at this point as its close range, and also mini head torch too as a bit dark.) I had to buy a pair of circlip pliers too here as I could not remove the circlip that secures the end of the struts without the right tool. Once they are off keep hold of them as the new stuts do not come with circlips. The struts are now free. Installation is reverse of removal, except it takes about one tenth of the time because you know what you're doing now. I have posted this because I've never found an account of how to do this job anywhere yet, but seen plenty of posts about sagging C5 tailgates.

Here's one that is a bit controversial, but I do it to save time when doing oil change myself out in the road. I've stopped jacking the car up at the front now, I just raise the suspension fully, my axle stands then just slide under the front wishbones. Saves dragging a heavy jack all the way to the front of my house. I've got much better at changing the headlight bulbs through seven years of refining technique. Use a small mirror to look into back of headlight (usually need a torch too) so can remind self of layout, then can now reach in and unclip the clip with minimum of fuss. When refitting bulb I find it handy to do it and look at front of car headlight from outside to make sure is fitted straight, as is possible to do on an angle and do up the clip, but bulb will not be in right. Often when it seems a struggle to do I switch hands and try with the other hand (even when it would seem as if it would be more difficult) and it becomes possible to do it. I now can do both headlights without ever needing to move battery or the header tank thing on the other side which speeds it all up massively. When I fit a new oil filter I don't wear a latex glove at all and fit it as tightly as I can by hand. When I come to remove it I find if I wear a glove the extra grip seems to enable me to always undo it by hand myself. Again saves time faffing about with that tool for removing the filter that there is never quite room for!

Have the 2003 2.0 hdi, with the old style connector plug. Did a google search and found blower-motor-resistor.co.uk, they repaired it and sent it back for £13.50. It took a week, I spent £1.50 to post it there, covered by Royal Mail for £48 value. They have worked wonders on it, fully functional again, and no hassle having to cut off the old connector block and fit on the new style one which would have come with the new resistor if I had gone down that expensive route. Hardest part for me was finding where it was in the car - loads of misleading rubbish on the 'net out there - think it must relate to the climate control model. On the Yahoo C5 site click on 'Photos' in left hand column, go to TontonJon's Photos (on page 3), Picture Fan Control 02 shows exactly where resistor is in LEFT side footwell. Drop the black material cover under the glove box first_- the plastic clip thing just has to be turned 90 degrees then pull it down to remove. Then just slide down the red clip on the resistor and pull resistor straight out by hand, was a bit stiff on mine but I managed. A 5 minute job to remove once you know where to look!(Torch required even in daytime). Don't worry about not having resistor in whilst it is being repaired as blower still will work on setting 4 (ie gale force 10).I wish I'd done this job months ago, it was so easy.

We've an estate that failed it's MOT on this about 3 years ago, and the tester said he had to fail it only because he could see the oil leak, so therefore there was a suspension fault. He hinted that if it came back for retest and he couldn't see evidence of a leak it would be ok.(I think he meant we could just wipe it prior to re-test?). We quickly asked one local indy, who didn't want the job, then got the one side done at the dealer for about £200, then it passed. We got the other side done one year later when it too started to leak, so probably best to get both done at once to be more cost-effective.

Hi Shaun, I have been looking at this as reckon got same fault. Only have basic air con in our 2003 2.0 hdi lx estate, and the quick searching I've done found some useful stuff on the Yahoo C5 owner's site, from jontom I think was his name. Anyway, look in his photos (click on photos on the lhs of screen, his are last photos on final page), I reckon he's cut off the connector off the new resistor pack and spliced on the old connector block at a guess, remember vaguely reading something about this when doing some on-line searching a month or so back. Check his written posts anyway, am sure it will all be there and please let us know how you get on, it will definately help me. Sorry to be a bit vague, but really busy on other stuff at present hence no time to search properly. Regards, fatgut.

5th gear in the 2003 2.0 110hdi we have seems happy at 50mph and up. 35mph would be a real strain for ours in 5th, the revs would be too low. It is a high-geared car compared to every other one I have ever had.

Oh yes - sort this out before you ram a brick wall behind the car like we did. Just use the search facility to see my post from last summer, had no problems since. Basically you need to pull up really hard and straight on the gear knob (DO NOT TWIST IT) then do the silicone lubricant/ptfe lube. To use the search facility try words like reverse gear/stuck/collar etc.

I have 'nearly' done it in the past. Got so far as getting gas strut prised off with screwdriver after removal of the clip, then dropped headlining and gave up when found I needed to remove the little circlip that was retaining the gas strut at the end nearesr the front of the car, simply because I ran out of time, and had nobody to help me with the job of taking the tailgate weight. I did that 2 years ago and have never got back to it! I had found a company online in Derby that would re-gas the struts by post for I think it was £8 each strut plus postage, and I think it had a 2 year guarantee. Since then on our car the sagging estate tailgate problem is only bad in the really cold weather, so we have coped. Really ought to do it though, as it seems as if it would be easy.

Our rear wiper suddenly stopped working just before Xmas, so I looked in that black rubber boot that 'protects' (not) the incredibly thin wires that go from the body into the estate tailgate. I found 2 broken wires (including insulation, so obvious) in there this time. Last time it was just one, and that repair seems fine still. There was a thicker green/yellow one that when repaired made the wiper work again.The other wire when repaired made the interior boot light work again, and stopped the car doing a weird self- locking thing whenever the tailgate was open for a few seconds.(A new trick it had done for about the last 4 months). This is a very vunerable area, so I wonder if some broken wires are a part of the problem? I tried to cut a corner and do it quickly by just twisting the ends of the wires together, but had to do it properly in the end and add in a little extra cable into each, as there is no slack, so it gets too tight when the tailgate is opened, and would eventually have failed I reckon. The black plastic cover is held on with plastic star bit screws, it's all flimsy junk, so go carefully, half of mine are broken now.

If it's not too smashed up you could try repairing it like I repaired mine. I took it off,(that makes it sound easy doesn't it), then drilled a series of holes either side of the crack(s), and used a load of black strong zip ties (that I got in a big pack for a couple of quid) to hold it across the crack. It has worked really well, but it does look a bit like a Frankenstein-style scar. Nobody sees it! My other top-tip is to use a disc-cutter on your drill to drill the plastic undertray around the inevitable 'seized' bolt you will encounter (actually it is the fixing that fails), then judicious use of a strong zip tie or two to reaffix near that point seems to work really well. There are loads of points to attach it to all round. Even if you could get the odd seized bolt out there is no easy way to replace the failed spinning fixing to the car, as access is usually awful. I have done thousands of miles now with our undertray fixed this way in places, and the zip ties get replaced annually when I service it. Now I've typed that lot you'll say it's in 40 bits and went in the bin!! Might help others though.

Glad my post helped you Gearbox, and since I did the job I've lost count of how many times I've seen it mentioned on this site that to get the gearknob off you have to just pull directly UP. Never mind, it is very secure and problem free still, some months on now.

Have always had an overwhelming response when I have sold our last 3 cars using Autotrader, always advertised at a realistic price. The last one was a 2002 Laguna turbodiesel estate, average bodywork, similar mileage to yours, sold in Feb for asking price to first viewer. People were ringing and enquiring within hours of me placing the ad, there was no need to pay for more than a week of advertising. Don't bother with paying extra to go in the actual paper copy like I did, response to internet ad only was more than enough. I just based the price to ask on the free What Car valuation available on-line. It is a no-hassle way of selling a car compared to ebay in my opinion, because they see it before they buy, where as on ebay it is all so reliant on you being able to describe every little fault in detail so there is no cause for dispute after it is sold.