citrophile

Had a good look this morning and it is, as I thought, a turbo failure. The shaft wobbles about a huge amount and end movement must be at least 2 or 3mm. There is also quite a lot of oil in the air intakes. So, I now have to do another turbo rebuild :( although this should be a walk in the park compared to the C5 2.0 HDI I did a few months back. At least this time I can do it standing up rather than flat on my back under the car. So far today I have stripped the whole front off the car, as I decided it would be easier than trying to work in the small space between the radiator/intercooler mounting panel and the turbo/cat/dpf and heatshields. It also means I can get round to renewing the aircon condensor which sits between the radiator and front grille, which needs the bumber off anyway. I would definitely recommend removing the whole front as it gives you a huge amount of access to everything. Once I removed the bumper, grille, radiator/intercooler panel and the steel bumper crossmember, the cat/dpf and turbo were off in a matter of minutes. As long as you plan how you are going to tackle it, it's not too tricky. Have ordered the new turbo cartridge, oil pipes etc and will be removing the sump and cleaning tomorrow. If I had all the bits already then I reckon all in it would only be a weekend job. I also broke a couple of fixings when removing the twin throttle body thingy and also can't for the life of me think why citroen ended up with such a stupid and largely pointless way of fixing it. It seems to be some impossible magic trick of you can only get at the fixing when you take the throttle body off but you can't take the throttle body off as you can't get at the fixings!!! :x I'm not sure yet how I am going to get it fixed again, might be some strategically placed tie wraps. Although some frustrations so far, this is far far easier than the turbo in the C5...

Wife's 2006 C3 1.6 HDI VTR developed a problem today where it had absolutely no power under load and on any slight incline just kept getting slower and slower. When I looked at it when I got home from work it started fine and idled OK but when revved it emits a rather loud metallic rattle. I'm thinking possible turbo failure and will have a better look on the weekend so at the moment it's sitting on the drive. Any thoughts? Rob

Yes Paul, that's true but you don't need to dismantle the motor spindle and I found that using anything other than the spindle end started to damage the shaft socket as it seems to be made of very soft plastic (or it deteriorates with age and heat). The part of the motor spindle that sticks out (the black bit) is only pushed into the motor and can be easily removed with gentle use of a flat blade screwdriver. To replace it you just push it back into the motor, it only goes in one way. Rob

Does anyone know where the internal temperature sensors are located in a 2005 C5 with dual aircon. It looks like the passenger one is on the front of the facia to the right of the glovebox but I can't find where on earth the driver side one is? Cheers Rob

On your question of Lexia software I got mine from Jim at Easy Diagnostics (www.easydiagnostics.co.uk). I rang him up rather than buy it blind off a website and he's very knowledgable and happy to chat through it. Mine installed on windows 7 with no hassles and I've used it lots with no problems connecting or programming various settings. Cheers Rob

I'm assuming you have the aircon with the dual temp controls. I've had the same problem with my 2005 C5 but it's not the motor, it's the shaft that connects the motor to the internal flap has broken. Having had some good advice from dcba12290 I'm going to be taking my dashboard out in the next few weeks so that I can get at the aircon/heater unit and repair the flaps. It's easy to check the stepper motors. On the passenger side you need to take out the glovebox and then you should be able to see the two motors. The top one is for the airflow distribution to the various vents, the bottom one is the one that controls the hot/cold mix. If you undo the two mini bolts then it should come out easily. When it's out, change the temperature on the passenger side and you should see if the black "star" shaped spindle is turning. If it turns through approx 90-100 degrees (just over a quarter turn) when you go from fully hot to fully cold then the motor is fine and you need to check the shaft to the flap. I found the best way to do this was to carefully remove the black spindle from the motor, find a socket to fit (very small, probably around 8mm) so that you can insert the "star" end back into the shaft in the side of the heater unit. You should then be able to turn the flap manually but do not force it as it only turns through the same 90-100 degrees that the motor does. If turning the spindle manually doesn't change it then it is most likely the flap shaft has broken inside the unit. This is the problem I have, hence I will be taking the dashboard out. There's more information about the flaps and some diagrams on the aussiefrogs forum here http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/citro%EBn-forum/89911-c5-flap-motors.html Good Luck and let us know how you get on. Rob

It was only the rear wheels. I lost it after I took the front ones off to do my turbo so had to refit those with 4 standard bolts! They were a real pig to get off cos they had been over tightened last time I had a pair of rear tyres. Still, all done now so no more hassles in future.

Finally solved this one..!! C5 went in to local dealer for MOT yesterday (passed with no issues...yay) but said I had nail in one rear tyre. Told them I lost the wheel nut key and they said they could drill the two bolts out (one on each rear wheel) and charge an hour's labour (around £85). At first I hesitated but then thought I would have to do something about the nail in the tyre anyway so agreed for them to do it. In the end they took over 2 hrs and had to keep the car overnight..!! Still only charged me the hour though. The moral here is make sure you don't lose the key, or even better, take the locking wheel bolts off altogether. After all, who's likely to steal standard Citroen alloys these days!

Yes, luckily it reset first time. Let's hope my luck holds out for the MOT on Friday... :mellow:

Sorted - have now set it to zero and error message has disappeared. Thanks Rob

Thanks coastline. It's 2005, so will try setting to zero tomorrow. Rob

Have refilled my eoyls tank and think I now need to reset the system via Lexia. I have found the section to do it but confused as to whether I should reset it to Zero or if it asking me for how much is now in the tank. Any thoughts? Rob

I have the lexia software on a laptop so it told me the two outer sensors were faulty.

In the end this was so dead easy. You were right about the spotlight surrounds, a careful hefty tug releases the inner end clips and the outer ends just slide out of the slots in the bumper. Sensor can then be easily changed. Inner parking sensors are similarly fitted, a tug on the end and the plastic "box" detaches easily from the bumper section and the sensors can be changed. Took me all of 10 minutes. Result.

Thanks Paul, will try all of that when I get some time on the weekend

Thanks All Fitted a couple of new anti-roll bar drop links and all my strange noises have gone away.....yay..!! Looking at the old ones they were very knackered. So much movement in ball joints it probably wouldn't have been that long before they popped out. Actually dead easy to do as well, not something you often say about the C5! All done, both sides in an hour. Rob

Hi When I started my C5 this morning my heater wouldn't work, it flatly refused to provide any heat whatever setting I put it on. I have the dual climate controls and even when set to high it still only provided a nice blast of cold air. I have checked coolant levels and fuses and connected it up to the lexia but nothing showed as a problem. It was fine yesterday! Any thoughts? Is there a thermostat or temperature sensor somewhere which might have failed? Rob

I am getting clunks and rattles which appear to come from the front when I drive along relatively smooth roads at low speeds (20-30mph). I have checked all the suspension ball joints, steering etc and they all feel tight and not loose at all. Is it possible that it is the tops of the front suspension struts or maybe something else. I'm a bit worried as the MOT is due in Feb. Don't know what else to check. Rob

I'm getting the "fluid level low" warning and wondered how much fluid I will need to put in. Does anyone know how long 1 litre would last in miles? I've done 215k now and I wouldn't want to stick 3 or 4 litres in (at £30/litre) if that would last 80,000 miles as I suspect the car will have expired (or become too expensive to repair) long before I get to 300k miles. Rob

Thanks Paul/John, am going to have a go on the weekend if weather is ok

In my experience the Haynes manual often misses out a couple of important steps or doesn't tell you the "easy" way to remove something so that may be why it won't budge. Also bear in mind that it probably hasn't been distrubed since it came out of the factory 8 years ago. Can I ask why you are doing it? I thought about removing the dash so that I could replace a bit of the aircon unit on mine but when I looked through all the different things you have to dismantle like steering columns, coolant system, air bags etc etc I decided I could live with the passenger air con not working properly! I did initially start to dismantle the dash on my "spare" VTR but gave up pretty soon as it was becoming a mammoth task. Not that I'm afraid of big jobs having replaced the turbo on my 2.0 HDI......!!! I'm going to be stripping my VTR soon so if you find you need any "bits" to put yours back together give me a shout. Rob

Is it possible to change the front parking sensors on a 2005 MkII C5 without removing the front bumper? My lexia says I have one which isn't working. At the moment I do not have the engine undertray fitted if that makes a difference. Rob

How difficult is it to change the cambelt on the 1.6HDI engine? My wife's is coming up to 100k miles and I'm not prepared to pay dealer prices any longer if it is a relatiely straightfoward job. Just changed the turbo on my C5 2.0 HDI so I'm reasonably handy with a spanner!! Rob

If you have Xenon lights then you will have washers. If you're careful you can pull the square caps by getting your fingernails around the top and bottom edges. If they are washers then you will be able to pull them open a little and see the washer jets.

There are a number of members who might assist with a diagnostic session if you can indicate which part of the UK you are in.