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

Hi all, Just wondered if anyone could tell me where the fuel filter is on an '02 HPI 2.0, I cannot find one! If there is one fitted, and I am thinking that it's probably me being dense, where is it located and what is the procedure to change it? Thanks in advance Stasi

OK Crafty, Count yourself ignored !! ;) Stasi

Alex see my answer to your other post Stasi

Yes, and have the scars to prove it! Take a look at the new bulb and it will help you see how the connection is made; it's basically a twist bayonet fit, Deal with the passenger side first by disconnecting and removing the cover and battery (follow the corerect procedure which is outlined on a post here) which will be the easier of the two. I am assuming you now have the round cap off the back of the light unit and can see inside the back of the unit. twist the rectangular block anti-clockwise (that's as if you are looking forwards from the cabin) about 1/4 turn and the rectangular plug can be withdrawn. the D2R bulb is retained by a wire clip that you can feel at the top of the bulb, from the FRONT of the car the clips are to the right of centre and push it to the left and it will release and swing down. the bulb can then be withdrawn and replaced, be very careful not to touch the glass part of the bulb and ensure it is seated properly before clipping and reconnecting the plug. Drivers side access is very restricted by hydraulic reservoir and pump, but access is possible by approaching 'sideways' - threading your hand and fore arm adjacent to the radiator, rather than trying to force your hand in the very narrow space between the lamp unit and reservoir, the latter has a seam that seems to have been honed to a flesh-shredding edge by some malevolent French gnomes as I discovered........ Hope this is a help Stasi

Exchange rebuilt calipers http://www.brakepartssuperstore.org.uk/con...n-uk/d5395.html hope this helps; alternatively have a look in specialist car mags for brake rebuild specialists, Practical Classics perhaps..... Could also be worth asking small local garages or motor factors, they are not normally too cagey about telling where to get things done, they may be able to put you onto a local engineering firm who could help. Even a ring round Yellow Pages under Motor Engineering could prove fruitful. Good luck Stasi

Colin, How about breaking the mould a little? Instead of trying to replicate the Xenon look, how about going for the 'French look'? If you do a little study on the net, there is much written about the effectiveness of these after-market bulbs and their effectiveness; one option which I can say is a very cheap and valid upgrade is the 'all-weather' bulb - I used them on a Xantia, an XM and a Skoda Oktavia and the night-driving experience is very positive! They show a softer yellow light reminiscent of the old amber tinted french headlamps and provide less glare and better vision in poor weather... You'll pick them up from a good motor factor for about £12/15 a pair and possibly less on FleaBay Regards Stasi ,

I think factory-fit Xenon Discharge lighting is only fitted on Exclusive models; that seems to be the case on pre-facelift cars; I recently had a Xenon bulb go pinky-purple on my car and although my fiancee rather like the colour it was not conducive to safe driving....my local Citroen agent quoted £112 for the replacement; local motor factor quoted £72 trade .... I bought a pair of bulbs from a guy in North London who fitted them and charged me £25 FOR A PAIR and guaranteed them for 2500 hours which is quite a price difference! I was also able to choose between 4300k, 6000k (both legal ) or 8000k (not legal in the UK as they are too blue). I went for the 6000k and am very happy with the lights now. Your problem is that if the car does not have factory fitted Xenons it would not be legal to retro-fit Xenon Discharge bulbs because a) You will not have self-levelling headlamp units and B) You probably do not have a headlamp wash system, both of which are a legal requirement with Xenon HID systems. The headlamp units alone cost over £300 EACH for the Xenon type - I've bought viable cars for much less than a pair of these! There are a lot of bulbs on the market that claim to be Xenon HID, don't believe the sellers claims. They are crap! A true Xenon HID system uses a ballast in a similar way as the starter on a fluorescent tube, and there is not a filament in the bulb, have a look on the web at a D2R Xenon bulb and you will see that they are not just a regular bulb with a blue coating on.... So sorry to disappoint you regarding retro-fit, should anyone be needing replacement D2R units, or ballasts I can recommend the chap I went to and will PM his contact details to anyone who asks. Regards Stasi

just a thought... my retractors stopped doing their thing after I manually retracted to go through a particularly marrow width restriction; do they retract when you operate the switch inside the door? The switch that selects which mirror you adjust has a central position- slide it backwards once to retract and again to open. I think that is how I reset mine and they both work on the remote now. Regards' Stasi

Apologies if you have tried this, but if the barrel will not turn, it could be something as simple as a stuck 'leaf' in the lock. The 'leaves' ( and I don't know what the locksmiths term for these is) are spring loaded and as the key is inserted they slot into place along the cutouts of the key; if a piece of gunge has been inserted inadvertently, or the grease that they are lubricated with has solidified, that could prevent a leaf from sitting correctly, so try a tiny squirt of WD40 or even better a graphited oil into the key slot and either work it in by putting the key in and out a few times, or leave to soak over night. It may not work, it may work temporarily, or it could be a permanent solution but it's cheap, worked for me on a Xantia barrel and gives you a breathing space to source a secondhand lock or a cheaper new one than a £500 shocker. To extract the barrel I can offer only generic advice; remove the plastic shrouds and insert the key; there is usually a release button on the barrel, sometimes a hole that you need to insert a thin rod into. (Allen key perhaps?) In my experience the key would need to be turned to extract the barrel, maybe if lubrication allow the thing to operate, remove the barrel and clean the lock of old grease and relube using graphite or a light white lithium-based grease. Hope this helps Stasi