fatgut

Told you someone would know! Word of warning about costs though. I am part way thru following Randomblokes handy tip on switch replacement, and it's been pricey so far. The switch on ours failed (would not work on open circuit with tester), so bought new one, and it was over £25 from dealer (did work on open circuit when pressed). Then,as had not bought the proper puller tool to get the wiper arm off, and had destroyed the plastic leaving the knurled integral nut part (like randombloke) had to hacksaw that off and buy a new arm. As needed new rubber anyway got the whole thing, and that too was I think about £25. Then put it all together to find have got presumably the wiring fault problem too, as switch still not working. Not had time to get out there with voltmeter again,and also feel like I am suffering from 'C5 fault- fatigue' at present. Maybe someone with more logic than me could explain why we have not had the self opening window problem (? yet!!), is it because there presumably isn't any power to the switch. I think I vaguely remember finding this at the start of the fault finding process, but that was about October!

Sums the C5 up so well! Good one.

Happy New Year to you to and sorry to hear of trouble with tailgate. I have 'previous' with the bunch of small wires enclosed within that black rubber boot that goes from body to tailgate, and it's easy to check for a broken wire in there, mine was broken clean thru, very obvious. However there are much more learned sages who offer nuggets of wisdom on this site, so I'd hold back until one of them advises!

I second that iannez, as we had this fault in both rear doors in our 2003 C5, and both were fixed by main dealer under warranty, and they've been fine since. And we still can't trust the kids not to fiddle with the doors, so they are always on child lock setting.

Here's my experience with headlight bulbs in the 5 years we've had a C5 hDi LX from new: Only dipped beam ones seem to ever fail. Cheaper non-E marked bulbs go very quickly, so I always now buy the longer-life type that have that e mark too. The more night driving you do the quicker they go. (Obvious, but easily overlooked fact by people reporting bulb life, made a great difference when our car usage pattern changed.) As for the 'suspension effect', no idea if is a factor, but on our 03 car when outside house, beam shining on house wall, engine running,with both dipped and full beam, if push button to raise car, there's a brief delay, then a headlight flicker when the car raises from normal height to mid position, and then from mid to highest. Going down causes no flicker. In the handbook it states that the car lowers itself automatically at high speed, so presumably is doing the reverse as it slows down again, so presumably that explains the flicker that we've always noticed with headlights right from new when driving mainly on A roads on main beam. Must be going too quick on motorways for suspension to be re-adjusting itself and speed is more constant.

That's music to my ears from coastline taxi's, and backs up exactly what I was told about 2 to 3 years ago by the retired owner of a garage whose business was to maintain cars used as taxis. He himself had chosen to run a 2.0 hDi C5 as his own car as he had seen quite a few even then get to the 200,000 mile mark with no maror engine faults. It was hearing this that made me decide to purchase my wife's company car once it got to the end of its lease. (Up until then it had been viewed as a slow big load-lugger that was plagued by stupid electrical faults, lock faults etc...., that we were glad we didn't have to pay to fix.)The ex-garage owner did point out that the 2.0hDi was the only engine he would consider, and in his opinion was one of the best he'd ever dealt with. At the time he was considering changing his model (for a different spec or bodytype I think), and was seriously considering another with the same engine but it was at 250,000!!!!! That decided it for me.

There's definately a pattern emerging here - see my last post earlier this month in Problems and Fixes in thread titled "Rear wiper works with no key in car". Almost sure to be another broken wire, if so was only a really quick job to fix. My nightmare would be looking inside that rubber boot and finding 2 broken wires - they are all white coloured with the world's tiniest writing on which I couldn't read!

Time for a mini update on this. Yes the strut does have the conventional threequarters of a circle clip at the 'easily' accessible (rear) end which springs off with a screwdriver easily(finding where it landed takes an age though!). Yes the socket does prise off the ball with a large screwdriver in the usual manner. Then it would not release as hoped as the front end is secured by a C shaped circlip that required the headlining to be dopped down further in order to access it, so I gave up at that point as was absolutely freezing. The socket of the strut was knocked back onto the ball using a drift and a mallet, and then ever since the tailgate hasn't seemed to sag as much. So I've sprayed the exposed bit of both tailgate struts with WD40, and am seeing how it goes. Still unsure whether there would have been enough room to wiggle the gas strut out of the tunnel once disconnected, but at a guess would say more likely than not. Otherwise will be a tailgate off job, but doesn't sound too hard based on the above post. Word of warning - all this was a 2 person job, and the tailgate is clearly VERY heavy based on the extra effort required to hold it up once just 1 strut was disconnected. 2 props advisable. The other obvious thing to point out is that a temporary way round the low tailgate problem is to use that weird button just inside the boot to raise the rear of the car on the suspension. We had never once used it in 5 years, and had forgotten its existance until recently- DOH!

;) Fixed it no problem, was indeed one clearly broken wire within the rubber boot connecting tailgate to body at top left. Snapped right through, insulation and all. Suspect this will not be the last of these here as is filled with an amazing number of VERY thin wires which are inividually surprisingly inflexible. The short piece of wire I used to patch in was a lot more flexible than those in the loom, and was very similar in thickness/core size. The wiring is really kinked at this point when the tailgate is shut, so a real weak point I think.

Thanks for that once again randombloke, I did give that most exposed bit of loom in the rubber cover a wiggle in the hope that it would magically reproduce the phenomenon, but it didnt, so at least I know where to start now, and I'll roll it into starting the tailgate glass repair too, sometime after Christmas. Just read your latest post on the random opening tailgate glass - that one sounds even worse, the more I learn about this car the more I fear for my future leisure time!

I'm asking if anybody has had this fault on an estate before in order to save me some time on the detective work. Already have a multitude of other problems to fix in just the tailgate area, so keen to be as quick as possible. (Gas struts weak, tailgate glass won't open again-this time I'm doing it!) Today's C5 new trick which made me think I was losing my sanity was when the tailgate was open, the key was in my pocket, and I saw the wiper suddenly sweep. It then continued to do so all day, just the odd bit of wiping, seems linked to tailgate being opened or shut, and I think it seemed to do it once when I shut a back door too. Hope it's not doing it when car parked unattended,unable to monitor today. It can stop with the wiper half way across the screen. No idea if it would do it with when driving as had really wet weather up here all day, so rear wiper on non-stop when on move today. Used the so-called search facility on this site found zilch so reverted to usual plan b and manually trawled all posts and found one which mentioned similar problem, but no desciption of any fix/result. My guess is I'll be getting into the tailgate interior and looking for water ingress/shorts/corrosion/broken wiring/poor earths as per usual! Any short cuts will be very greatly appreciated, thanks.

When I changed the oil on our 2003 2.0 hdi lx I too was told by the display that you get on start up that is either -s or 0s (you know the illogical one that means the opposite to what you think it means!), that it was low on oil, but it had a full 5 litres nearly. It took a day or 2 to right itself, and I have read of this before with this car. Very Citroen. Maybe this is what is happening?

Ok, found it, it's in the yahoo C5 forum under 'Files' in the blue box top left of screen, in a pdf format and found a post that directed me to it in the normal part of the forum where they said this repair took them about 1 hour. I reckon even if you are rubbish at electrics, armed with this somebody will be able to help you out because it is very well explained with good photos. Hope I can remember where it is when/if it fails again on ours. Hope is of help, Paul.

Yes it is an electric pushbutton under the wiper mounting, common fault to stop working apparently. When ours did at about 3 years old, was company car so dealer did it, but have seen a description of how to fix it either on this forum or the yahoo C5 forum,so keep looking! If you worked out how to get that blinking number plate bulb cover off I'm sure you can fix the tailgate glass!! Good luck.

I would't either based on what happened to me today on our other car. A (desparate) mini-squirt of GT85 down the heated rear screen switch on a Laguna resulted in not only the heated rear screen continuing to not work ( following my failed attempt to repair the poor illumination of the heater controls), but also then the subsequent immediate permanent failure of that switch's illumination! Looking like complete new unit now necessary. Don't do it!!

Apologies techbod thought it was owners only that would use this site, good of you to help out all and sundry! Absolutely no luck with trying to get a photo onto this site as it would only work if it had a URL (says my wife - who understands these things). Option is to send email of photo privately to you if you are that interested! PM me if so. Had a good look at hinge arrangement today, and I reckon there may be room to jiggle out the gas strut once unclipped without removal of hinge/tailgate, but I want confirmation before wrecking things, so will continue ferreting out info. Will post next installment for reference when I have actually got somewhere with the job! Pulled down rooflining and can feel ends of struts in locating holes that project out of front of 'tunnel' end, so hoping they just locate in.

Thanks techbod, thats exactly what I did the last time I ever had to do this job on a more conventional car, and it's easy, unfortunately on the C5 estate which I presume you don't own, the gas struts are entirely within 'tunnels' within the roof effectively, so always completely within the bodywork, unexposed. They operate directly on the hinges of the tailgate, hence what I fear means removal of tailgate in order to access end of gas strut as is covered by hinge at the accessible end. Am guessing the inaccessible end either just sits in a recess or screws in. Could well be wrong on all this though as haven't had chance to really look at it as is either a)dark, b)blowing a gale, or c)raining this week ! Thanks anyway.

Gas struts on 2003 estate model weakening, wife nearly knocked out by sagging tailgate last week, time to get it sorted out or it's going to end in tears. Asked at dealer and it's usual eye-watering price quote ie £78/strut inc VAT, parts only, and there are 2 obviously for tailgate. Further 2 for glass only, but no sag at all on that. Got quote from very helpful regassing company for a fraction of dealer new part cost, includes 2 year warranty, or if on inspection they are no good , can supply new again at very reasonable cost. So, need to get the 2 struts out. Very quick inspection leads me to think is a whole tailgate off job (arghhh). Can anybody who has ever done a gas strut replacement on an estate C5 let me know what's involved please. Thanks, Paul.

:lol: Ok, I'll answer myself then! Got the 3 mini light bulbs at citroen dealer and successfully did it. The key to it is to remove the plastic trim around gear stick then that allows access to the 2 little torx bolts which hold the bottom of that big egg shaped piece of plastic that surrounds everything in the centre of the dash(radio, heater etc). Radio has to come out to allow you to get the big egg shaped trim out. Have to pop out the 2 push button switches either side of radio too I seem to remember. Egg shaped trim unclips at sides by prising with screwdriver if necessary with care, then just pulls out easily. The 3 bulbs are accessed from the rear of heater controls, so I had to get the 4 torx bolts out that secure it then release all wiring plugs from back and one control cable at back in order to allow enough slack to then wiggle the heater control panel out of it's aperture. May need to fiddle with the setting of the 2 heater control knobs to allow slack in cable to wiggle heater control unit out, and then to cause the black plastic things to move at the back to expose the outer 2 bulbs if necessary. I had to use a pair or mini pliers to unsrew some of the bulb holders as couldn't grip well enough with fingers. They just unscrew conventional way a quarter turn to release. I took the black plastic front off heater controls as didn't know what I was doing, but absolutely no need to do this. If I need to do the job again I might try using small mirror on stick and see if possible to do without getting heater control unit out at all. Word of warning- one of the bulbs I got from dealer was a dud, so had to re-use the 1 that was still functioning in unit, best to buy an extra then can change the ash-tray one at end of job if not needed, as you will have exposed that one in course of this job. Having done this once, I reckon I could do it in about 30 mins now.Wonder what the dealer would charge for this one?

We have had an 03 LX 2.0hdi 110bhp estate since new, and can inform you that there sounds to be no problem with the car's performance - it is a high geared car (for motorway economy presumably). My wife and I have to do a 3 yearly RoSPA advanced driving test. and this car has been used in 3 tests so far where either a serving or retired Police driver sits in the passenger seat. They are merciless in their criticism of basic faults such as wrong gear for speed, so as its never been mentioned I can only presume we're driving the car correctly. At a steady 30mph on the flat don't expect to be in anything other than 3rd gear, it will really labour if in 4th at 30mph. If accelerating steadily up through the gears for economy on a flat road, expect to change into 4th at 40mph and 5th at 50mph (all very easy to remember). My suspicion is that you've been used to driving a very differently geared car. At one point I was driving this one and a 205 1.9 GTI, which could not have been more different as at 30mph it could pootle along in 5th!! Our overriding memory of driving this Citroen when we first got it was that it felt absolutely dead and unresponsive, as we had a Focus 1.8TD before.However the fact we've kept it so long is testimony to it's economy, massive comfort and amazing ability as a fully loaded up long distance load lugger. Hope that helps, I think you are looking for a non-existant problem with this car, its just a bit slow in summary!

Have 2.0 Hdi break model in LX form, has air con not climate control, and backlight gone partially. Had a little look and got so far in (radio out and prised back part of heater display cover)and decided to enquire if anybody has ever done this. Recently spent an age carefully doing same on Laguna only to get as far down as needing to remove a cicuit board to get to bulb! (at which point rang dealer to be informed bulbs are not replaceable) Wondering if is same story on C5 as unit looks a little similar in nature. Any tips gratefully received.

Don't expect the owner's manual to give you much help on any slightly technical under-the-bonnet issues! I always have to get out my most large screwdriver and lever as described every time. Nothing to worry about breaking. You'll get used to it every time a bulb goes. Good luck!

My guess is it is behind front bumper driver's side on UK model, as when my wife nudged too far forward once when parking, it dented in the bumper and then there was a leak from the washer bottle which the garage had to replace. Have seen details within this forum on how to remove front bumper - is apparently not as major a job as it sounds. Think I read it within a thread on how to change a headlight bulb recently, as some people choose to do it this way!!

:unsure: That's right, the POINTED pick is the critical thing, a small bladed screwdriver just won't do it. The other thing I found was that I had to lever it what instinctively felt like the wrong way to get it to release, i.e. when you have got the point of the bradawl (if thats the spelling!) in the little hole you then lever it to release by moving the bradawl handle towards the centre of the bulb cover. Obviously it can't go at all far because the bulb cover stops it, but it only needs to go a little way to magically release. Works same for whatever side of bulb cover you decide to go for, also worked on my neighbours old shape Picasso as its the same bulb cover. This only took visits to one car spares shop, one local garage (who just destroyed it) and then finally a dreaded visit to the main dealer to buy a new one to find out how to do it. It's so easy when you know how. The car handbook description of how to replace it is woeful. Bet the French language version has it in full detail! Our car up until recently always had these little stupid jobs done on it at the main dealer, as it was a company vehicle. No surprise then to find when I do it for the first time that its clearly been done in a really hamfisted way by someone who also didn't know how, as there are scratches into the paintwork where someone has had a good go at it with the wrong tool. Hope this saves other people time and money!!