Stasi

Anyone interested in a C5 Hpi Exclusive in Storm Grey as a project? I have no time to waste on it and the bloody thing has soaked up enough blood, sweat, tears and cash to have ruined xmas! I just want rid of the damned thing and if it doesn't get sold very quickly I will have it crushed into oblivion and laugh as it happens. Regards Stasi

Hi Mikey, sadly it is a burnt piston and I'm trying to get a complete engine to get mobile again.... Stasi

I will write once advising with a copy of report and give him seven days to come up eith an offer and if as I expect he does not respond then I will use the small claims procedure. I would anticipate him not representing himself on the court date and if that

Thanks Dave, I will write once with a copy of report and give him seven days to come up with an offer, and if as I expect he does not respond, then I will use the small claims procedure and get onto Croydon Trading Standards. I would anticipate him not representing himself on the court date and if that transpires I WILL enforce the court judgment and have his assets seized. Bailiffs arriving on a busy saturday morning..... I'm down a lot of money thru his ineptitude, another couple of hundred will not make a huge difference! It's going to be a crap christmas anyway so I have not too much to lose and even if I don't get the money he will have a CCJ against his name and some bad press in the local paper which I think would be what spurs him into some sort of action once he realises I am not just going to go away.....

I am sick about it Dave, called the vendor and he effectively told me to p*ss off, so on principle I will take him thru the small claims court on the basis of fitness for purpose; and if I win I'll send my mate Jon the Bailiff in to seize his wife, dog and anything else to cause him inconvenience, I am looking at sourcing a good used engine as I am in too deep to just walk away, but would advise anyone to not buy cars from JPS Cars of Redhouse Lane in Croydon Surrey unless you want an Oyster Card.... I will generate this guy such a plethora of bad publicity even to the extent of standing outside his site and handing out factual flyers. Meanwhile I am doing twelve hour nightshifts and commuting by bloody train because some toerag cannot fit a damn timing belt and pulley. Can you suggest anyone who is trustworthy and may have a C5 lump?

Ok well the head is off and it's two burnt pistons. The slags who sold me the car basically washed their hands of it, so looks like I'll be taking them to court as the garage that has the car says the timing belt and pulley were wrongly fitted, don't know how until I speak to him later......Anyone got a spare HPi engine lying about? Or a 12-bore?

Bleeding hell.......... 197 quid for a top gasket set..... sob.......

Just an update on my HPi woes, Having replaced coil pack and plugs still a 3-cylinder HPI; plug three had metal fragments burned to its electrodes and so it seems it is more serios than one would hope. Checked the fuel rail wiring and all seems intact..... The car is breathing heavily and not smoking so it is head off time, quoted 280 plus parts to fix, a comp test will confirm the diagnosis and that will be done later. Unlikely to be bottom end as the engine is not noisy or smoking so hopefully just a burnt valve....only he says! Just what one needs a fortnight before xmas. regards Stasi

Thanks for the thoughts guys, appreciated! And I thought I was going mad..... I picked up a magnetic tool and grabber for pennies today, but have decided that I will be taking it to a garage today, my fiancees best friends husband is a mechanic and having spoken with him he seems clued up on PSA cars, for me it's just too cold to be messing about with the bleeding thing. I will give him the info on the fuel rail wiring; this would be the four orange colour plugs visible through the manifold I'm guessing. I'll let you know the outcome as soon as I find out what the problem is. I still dread it being a head-off job (valve, however unlikely...) as for timing you cannot beat a massive bill just before xmas.... Regards Stasi

Ok. Well I have changed the coil pack and still the same; P0303 and a three-cylinder C5..... I was NOT able to extract the spark plugs from the car despite having bought what was alleged to be the correct plug socket to do the job, and the wrench has a magnet in that seems to foul on the plug insulator so that it does not engage with the hex on the plug.... a regular 14mm plug socket has walls too thick to pass down the ridiculous tube and quite honestly I am flummoxed as to what one can use to get the bloody things out......are the tubes a push fit into the casting? I did think of smashing the poxy magnet out of the socket and using a length of washer tubing or a magnet on a piece of string to extract the plug once it is off the thread but wonder what the pro would use to do this oh-so-simple job...... I've owned a few cars over the years from Trabant to Cadillac and honestly have never come across such a git to do simple jobs on...... Please help before I lose the will to live and end up buying a Ni**an on the strength of the fire damage payout ;) with desperate and hopeful regards Stasi

Just wondered if anyone here lives in the North-west 'burbs or south Herts with a HPi, who would be happy to allow me the use of their coil pack for half-an-hour to eliminate or otherwise this rather pricey component from the equation, as I have a very sick C5 running on three pots that I need to fix on the proverbial shoestring..... A large drink and everlasting gratitude to any samaritans out there.... Stasi

Thanks Guys, will ttry the simple stuff first, it's a 2002 engine code is EW10D/RLZ Regards Stasi

Hi, a code hitherto unknown on my 2.0 HPi popped up at the same time the car started running on three cylinders, and it is apparent that something is amiss, what i would hope for is almost a 'likeliest cause' and suggestions for eliminating things without having to buy components to substitute until the problem is cured..... the fault appeared whilst travelling at 80mph and was accompanied by the ESP/ASR fault and 'Anti-pollution faulty' followed by 'Anti-pollution inoperative and flashing engine symbol.... I will start the ball rolling by saying I would guess coil-pack as it was not accompanied by any mechanical noises or smoke etc, as one would expect if a major mech fault was the cause, and would not think that P0303 would be generated if the cause was low compression due to say a burnt or dropped valve.... Over to the more technically-minded now....thanks in advance for your input Stasi

I wonder.... the mil came on the other day as i navigated a really badly corrugated road surface; hopefully wiring shorting to earth.... otherwise its over a ton for the 5-wire sensor, if that is the one that I would need and all indications are that is the case, have you any experience of the universal type? they are 'only' 45 quid...... thanks for your help Stasi

Good Morning, just wondered if anyone could confirm my diagnosis of a fault on 2.0 HPi C5; Intermittent P0132 dtc (O2 Oxygen Sensor Circuit High Voltage (Bank1, Sensor1)) and open loop system fault.... my feeling is precat o2 (lambda) sensor; could anyone give me the benefit of their expertise on this? Fuel consumption is up a bit but apart from that running ok. If the consensus is that the precat sensor is to blame, is this the expensive 5-wire one? or the not quite so expensive 4 wire unit? Regards Stasi