seefive

Finally got this sorted. It got worse around Christmas - needed 2 hands to get it into first on a cold morning, and risked a broken wrist changing from 3rd to 2nd. The car was booked in for its 120k service , and luckily it blew a headlamp bulb the night before, as well as an exhaust noise just starting to develop. So - got a full service , front brakes and pads ( they had done over 60k - can't complain) replaced gear linkage, fitted extra clamp to seal over the small hole in the pipe next to the cat. Total Cost (very good Citroen Specialist) - £681 inc vat. Oh -and a free headlamp bulb fitted free. And a free loan car The gear linkage was £120 (ex vat), don't know how much of the £375 total labour charge was for fitting. Probably £100 or so. The exhaust has to come off apparently... It's so nice to be able to change gear without fear! Not the kind of bill you want in January, but what else can you do? Happy new year Credit Card Company!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Citroen-C5-Petrol-an...A1%7C240%3A1318

Thanks everyone. I'll print this thread and take it into the garage when I get the service done next month.

Agreed. I posted a negative reaction to the new car back in April/May time when it was lauched, and got beaten up for it. Everyone was falling over themselves to say how wonderful it was. Well, we're now 7 months on, and the new C5 is still a very rare sight on the road. Dismal sales figures, recession or no recession. The lack of a hatchback is suicide in the this sector, and if people want a boring over priced German saloon (more fool them) they will continue to be ripped off by the German brands, and continue to spend time waiting for the AA van. It's all in the badge! Citroen is all about individuality and daring to be different. The new car is a sell-out to the mainstream, and they have only succeeded in losing their established customers, not gaining any new ones. The c5 did pretty well in the car of the year voting (whatever that is) finishing third behind the Insignia (which really will dominate the family sector) and the new Fiesta, so a competent car, and keenly priced, but they've got the marketing all wrong. This is a Peugeot, not a a Citroen, if you know what I mean.

Thanks - one more update on this. I have now discovered that if I move the lever into the correct position after changing (with the clutch pedal up) it locks in position as it should do. Changing down is then straightforward, as it should be. This is a real easy work around. I am having 4 new tyres fitted tomorrow and a 120k service in January, so I'm relieved not to be buying the car a new gearbox for Christmas!

Hello again Sorry- I'm still having this problem. I pulled the gaiter up but could only see electrical. not mechanical cables. The lever flops back into the neutral position after engaging 5th. No problem with the box itself, but 5th to 4th change means grabbing ths stick and pushing it forward to where it should be, before pulling back to 4th.

Hi Techbod My ranting is more about the fact they have charged anything , never mind £5,000. The 2 people's experiences on this thread are by no means isolated instances. Take a look at this.. http://www.citroen-owners-club.co.uk/citro...?showtopic=5855

Sorry, but this stuff really winds me up, as you can probabably tell! Accepting that these (several) problems are the minority, Citroen really should put their hands up and fix them free of charge. If they tried to treat customers like this in the USA, they would very quickly find themselves on the wong end of a lawsuit. It's totally unacceptable to charge big money to fix an inherent fault which has in no way been caused by the customer. Morally wrong. Shame on you Citroen. Beware potential Citroen diesel buyers. Of course, Citroen aren't alone in taking this cavalier attitude, A couple of weeks back , that other French car company Nissan (aka Renault) was in the press for all the wrong reasons. Their diesel pickups have a fault where the con rod bearing disintegrates after about 50k miles and the the engine block breaks , spewing oil and bits of metal all over the road as the car dies, and risking a serious accident to the car behind. Nissan refuse to help, saying it's fair wear and tear, and not a safety issue. (source - BBC watchdog)

Well, so much for the wonderful HDI engine that everyone raves about. With diesel now a staggering 18% dearer than petrol (108 v 91 at my local Shell garage), the obvious question is - why buy a car with such a huge liability under the bonnet? My petrol car, whilst not perfect (Citroens never are) is a breeze compared with these 2 horror stories If I were subjected to this abuse form Citroen, I would be beating a path to the Board of Trade, who control import licences. No car company should be allowed to import rubbish like this, which is demonstrably not fit for purpose, never mind charge exhorbitant amounts to fix them. PamC8 and Bus Driver - my sympathies are with you. I sincerely hope you can get justice for all you've been through. I would try and offload your cars as soon as possible - trade them into a Citroen dealer ideally. It's only a matter of time before that engine light comes on again!!

Update on this one. I am now on my third radio this year! The original Citroen/Clarion unit only works for very short periods of time, so is unusable. The Sony started cutting out as noted above, then started giving me the silent treatment - going into mute mode for long periods of time. At this point I started to suspect the car phone kit (Nokia professional istalled before I bought the car). I have now bought a JVC unit which has a switchable telephone mute. It was initially cutting in and out rapidly, but when I switched off the mute - everything's fine! The new units still plays MP3 cd's ( my main requirement) and cost £60 - not bad, and certainly cheaper than getting the phone kit de-installed or repaired. I bought a plug-in cradle/charger/speakerphone custom designed for my phone on ebay for £10, so all sorted now. ( I hope)

Just replaced both mine with very little trouble. I put a long thin Philips scredriver between the lens and the lip of the boot and gently levered up against the boot - they popped out easily with no damage to the car. Getting them back is more of a struggle. Hold them on the lug one side and push the other until they click into place.

Never got any fult codes, even when I took it to the main dealer with the engine light flashing! General concensus seems to be sticking valve. I believe there are some lifter problems on Peugeot petrol engines. Still not a real big issue though. I've had the car over 3 years and I've put 50,000 miles on top of the 67,000 it had done, never broken down, just some wobbly starts, mostly in the winter. Seems to be better if the oil is kept right up to the maximum, with some Wynns lifter cleaner added.

Just out of interest, why are you being quoted euro in Sweden? Swedish currency is the cown (SEK) 500 SEK is about £100...

Here's a real strange thing. My Sony radio started acting up today - power going off and on intermittently. For a while it actually came on and off with the ignition, which it never has before. It's reverted to how it was now - "permanent" feed brings it on in standby mode when I unlock the car, then switch on manually. Very strange how it behaved just like a switched feed for a short while.

I think that would get too complicated - electric seats in a car designed for manuals. Maybe I should look for an exclusive. The arm rests are a major comfor thing for me, as I suffered whiplash injuries years ago that came back to haunt me . Since having the Citroen, all that pain's gone away, thanks to the suspension plus the arm rests supporting me properly. Looks like I'll be reluctantly joining the diesel brigade - petrol only available with auto box, painful on road tax. Could they make it any more awkward? What's the reliability like, with all those extra's? I have to say I prefer to keep it simple, hence looking at VTR's

I am considering moving to a post - 2004 (facelift) C5 and I notice Citroen quietly dropped the front arm rests from mid range models. Given that I don't particularly want an Exclusive, is there a way to retro-fit arm rests? I have them in my current car and wouldn't want to be without them. Thanks

Almost certainly the resistor pack. Very common fault on models with climate control. Cost around £100 at main dealer. (supply and fit)

Switching the wires didn't make any difference with the Sony. I think the problem here is the strange power protocol of the radio. If you push the off button once, it goes into stanbdby mode ( lights still on but no sound) This is how you should leave it. The permanent feed will switch off after a couple of minutes and it will go dormant (lights off). When you unlock the car, it instantly comes back in standby mode, just as you left it (disc will play from the exact point it was, radio stations and all settings intact). If you push and hold the off button a second time, it will go dormant, and can be switched back on with the mode button, and everything's fine. However, if you lock the car after the "double switch off" , that's when the trouble starts. On unlocking the car, it re-initialises, goes into demo mode and returns everything to factory settings - presets all wiped clean. Selecting the "auto off" option in the redio menu has the same effect. I only know this because I found out the hard way! Does the Pioneer come off and on with the ignition/canbus signal? Cheers

Check to see if you have "auto power off" selected on the radio. Mine did this until I disabled this feature. It would come on as I unlocked the car, and go into demo mode and lose all the settings. Now it comes on in standby mode, with all memories preserved.

Hi I noticed the old post about headlamp bulbs surfaced again in C5 problems section. Reading all the advice and counter-advice put me in mind of a recent conversation I had with a BMW owner. One of the side light bulbs needed replacing on his 7 series. Cost to replace at main dealer. TWO HUNDRED POUNDS!!! (not sure if that included VAT) So he got a friend to come and help, and it took them 2 hours to remove bumper, parking sensors etc to replace the bulb, which was £20 alone. Puts Citroen prices/practicality in context, I think. Any advance on £200?

Mine did the same. internal fault in the radio. I scrapped it and replaced with a Sony from Halfords sale (£50). The Sony plays MP3 discs (brilliant! 14 albums on 1 disc in full cd quality), accepts an Ipod if that's your thing and doesn't randomly retune preset buttons like the old Citroen/Clarion did. Sound quality is on a par with the original. The only downside is the C5 is equipped with CANBUS electronics interface, so I have to switch radio on and off manually. Not a real hardship. Connection to the remote stalk is possible, and canbus can be accommodated , but these are expensive and not really worth it imo. You can't get a straight replacementfor these radio's - they aren't made any more, so the only other routes are specialist repair (£???), or ebay plus vin coding. (probably about £100), and you still can't play MP3 No brainer really...

Does H3 + mean you get a sport button, and vice versa? If so, I have it on my old petrol SX. Later cars seem to be down-spec'd though. Don't think you get it on post-2004 vtr's, which is the equivalent middle of the range model.

Hi I am beginning to have problems changing from 5th to 4th. The gearstick feels "dead" when you pull it back towards reverse, and the only way to get it to spring across is to push it forward first, then flick it back. It goes into 5th perfectly, and there are no other issues. Not a big problem, but could this be the start of something nasty? Or is it "just" a worn spring? Could this be a fairly simple repair? Thanks for any advice

Sounds like you've got the later type, like the link below, and I don't know how those come out, sorry. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Radio-Blaupunkt-Citr...id=p3286.c0.m14

Just had a look at Xcarlink model v on the internet - it's a solid state device , not for me. I'm looking for a disc-based player, or a way to fully integrate my existing MP3 disc player/radio Godd luck anyway.