Big Al

Hello all. I haven't posted anything for a while which I guess is good as the old girl's been running pretty nicely. Anyhow, last night I tried to eject a CD from the player (the dash mounted one, not the changer) and all that happend was a clicking noise for 10 secs or so and no CD. It seems well and truly stuck in, and will not play either. No previous problems whatsoever with it, except it did seem to get rather hot after a lengthy play - the CD comes out very warm. Anyone come across this? Also, any tips for removal of the unit so I can have a look or send it off for repairs? The car is a 2003 2.2HDi Exclusive estate with standard stereo plus cd changer under the driver's seat. Thanks

Ditto. Quite normal to have a little dampness here. Don't forget a lot of MOT testers are on autopilot -don't understand weird stuff like Citroen suspension. Rare to get a signficant failure before 125k miles.

Thanks fellas. I assumed that the problem on mine was merely a dodgy ball joint connector. But are you saying that it's likely to be coming apart because the actuator itself is knackered? Strange thing is I'm not getting any noticeable adverse symptoms even when it's not connected.

Hello all. Seems like it's time of the month for my Cit ('03 2.2HDi manual, 100k). Latest problem is admittedly a very minor one but I wonder if anyone has any info. There's a linkage on the right hand side of the engine fairly high up as you look at it. A cable coming upwards with a ball joint connector to a moving part (valve?). This ball joint keeps coming apart. I guess I need to replace the linkage, but was wondering what purpose it serves as I don't notice any diference to the car whether it's connected or not. Will I have to replace the cable? Looks tricky. Once again, I remember seeing something about this item somewhere on the forum, but am blowed if I can track it down.

H19SNS, my battery lasted 6 years which is not brilliant but ok I suppose. Starter seems ok so far. Car has just hit 100k and like you, I like it. Now that the mpg is fixed it's even better. Hard to beat for combination of mpg/space/purchase cost. My last car was a 406 diesel estate that I ran to 180k with no major probs so I'm a bit of a fan of French diesel estate cars. Hopefully the C5 will reach similar mileage with few problems. So far aside from consumables there's been nothing significant go wrong, just a few niggly things that can be fixed with a few DIY skills. From my experience, I reckon they are as reliable as most other makes out there (Toyota/Honda possibly excepted) and are brilliant cruisers on the motorway. I suspect some owners skip items like DPF servicing and then get loads of warning messages/limp-home mode... and so essentially write the car off as unreliable. As ever it helps if you can find a good independent Citroen specialist to keep the cost of such jobs at a sensible level. My filter swap was £100 for the exchange filter plus labour plus Eolys fluid. Circa £275 all in if I remember correctly. I loked at Saabs but I prefer diesel and the 9-5 didn't get a decent diesel engine until 2006 (Fiat unit replaced the GM diesel) so they were still a bit pricey when I was looking. Happy motoring!

All done and no problems - thanks again!

I got mine off from the top - easy to do if you take out the air cleaner box (the whole lot simply slides up once you've disconnected outlet pipe and a sensor). Then you can undo the inlet/oultlet hoses to the intercooler, the sensor and retaining bracket. All can be done from above provided you can get to the bottom hose clip screw to loosen it - I could, just about. I made sure that the screw for this was pointing upwards on re-assembly so as to make the job easier next time. Anyhow, to the intercooler itself. 2/3 of the front face of mine was totally clogged with oil/muck hence severely restricted airflow and cooling ability. I cleaned with gunk and a pressure washer after sealing the inlet/oulet and senor connections. I had to be a bit careful with the jet washer to avoid damaging the delicate cooling fins. I ran out of time to test, but could see no evidence of leakage from the hoses, so assume the unit itself does leak. Once all back together the difference in mpg and performance is stark. My declining mpg is reveresed - now back up to 45mpg+ (from 39mpg) and the car is more responsive and pulls better low down. This problem had obviously been develping for some time. I actually first noticed the oil pool under the intercooler about 18 months ago but didn't think it was serious. I noticed the mpg/performance decline more recently and this prompted a more thorough inspection of the intercooler, hence I spotted the clogging of the fins. I would advise owners with otherwise unexplained drop in mpg/performance to check intercooler condition. The point of the intercooler is to improve both of these on turbocharged engines, so an inefficient one will have a significant effect. Leakeage here seems to be very common (my mate's 2.2HDi is at the early stages of the same thing). I will probably replace mine as it will no doubt leak oil and clog again over time, but might try to repair now that H19SNS has shown it can be done. I guess I must still be losing a bit of boost pressure so will have to repair/replace to sort this anyhow.

Thanks for the advice John - you certainly don't get anything as comprehensive in the owner's manual. I'm off to do it now so hopefully all will be ok.

I need to change the battery on my '03 2.2HDi. I've picked up from various threads that there is a procedure that should be followed, and that the advice is on here somewhere. Can't find it though - can anyone point me in the right direction?

Mikey - thanks for the extra advice. The battery now appears to have virtually died - not unreasonable given age/miles I suppose. These things always seem to arrive at once! I remember reading that some care needs to be taken when changing batteries in order to avoid getting spurious warnings. I'll have to search to forum to check.

Thanks mlkey - I will pencil that procedure in as a job over Easter (weather permitting). It needs doing since at the very least the efficiency of the intercooler must be way down as it is so clogged with oil and muck. But like yours, the car doesn't use much oil or smoke at all so I assume the turbo itself is ok. Current mileage is 99,500. I'll post the results of my efforts next week. H19SNS - if the intercooler needs replacing the best price I've found for an OE one is £200. Have you researched availability/price at all?

Apologies if this has been covered - I did a search but didn't find anything specific. Anyhow, I was carrying out a full service over the weekend and noticed that the turbo intercooler radiator on my car (2003 2.2 HDi Exclusive manual) is very damp with oil and has a pool of oil under it. Looking through the radiator grille I can see that the fins at the front of the intercooler are pretty oily and hence have picked up a lot of road dirt and are clogged. I guess the leak has been going on for some time. I assume this will affect turbo performance - I have noticed a gradual drop in performance on boost as well as a 5% or so reduction in FE. Turbo lag seems to have got worse as well. Before I tackle it has anyone got any tips as to a) removal and inspection of the intercooler element; :huh: what the cause is likely to be? c) why is there oil in this area - I though the intercooler was an air-to-air cooler? Many thanks in advance

For info - I fixed this. If anyone has a similar problem I can help.

I know this is an old thread, but I just read it. If it's any help, my 2003 2.2Hdi does exactly the same thing. I replaced the gearbox oil and that made no difference. I have learned to live with it and hardly notice it now. It has not got louder over 20k miles so assume it is a characteristic of at least some of these transmissions.

Sound advice. I got a quote of £85 from a breakers, but it was for a later ('05) car. Surprisingly it was a different design. Not the sort of thing I expected to change, especially as the rear of the car looks pretty much the same as the original version. Will keep trying the breakers/eBay since it doesn't look fixable. Hopefully something will turn up.

The retracting spring in the pull-out rear load cover for my 2003 2.2Hdi estate failed yesterday. I heard quite a loud noise like a spring uncoiling, and now there is no tension in the pull-out cover. I had a look but there doesn't seem to be an obvious fix. Anyone come across this? I can't find a reference by searching the forum. Any help is appreciated as the new part, which comes complete with the parcel shelf bit, is £300!

Allan - I tackled this last night and now have a working trip computer. You were right about some fiddly soldering! But your instructions were spot on, so thanks for pioneering this fix. Regards Al

Very useful - hopefully I won't need to take the whole lot out, but if I do..... Regards Al

Hi Allan - thanks for the reply. I should look at the site more frequently to keep up with topics better. I'll have a go at doing it in situ. Excuse my ignorance - but what is the COM2000? I think you're right about being heavy handed with the button. Regards Al

Allan, I also have the identical problem problem on my '03 2.2 HDi Exclusive estate. It's great to see a probable fix. One question - do I have to remove the stalk from the steering column first, or can it be done in situ? Apologies if this seems like a daft question. Regards Al

A few months ago I had a puncture on the M25 in my C5 (2.2 HDi Exclusive estate 2003) and could not shift the locking wheel nut. I ended up shearing the wheelbrace. RAC came out and to cut a long story short they eventually got it off after about 2hrs and the use of a hefty impact driver. I have since done away with the locking nuts as they are a total liability. I figured that there were more desirable alloys out there than my C5 ones and so the chance of theft was low compared to the risk of not being able to remove the wheel. I bought a set of four ordinary wheel nuts from my local Citroen dealer for a very reasonable price (circa £20 if I remember rightly). I also bought an extendable TUV-approved wheel brace from Screwfix which is brilliant. I now know that I will always be able to get my wheel nuts off. One interesting point - the car drove brilliantly even with a complete flat - down to the clever suspension I 'spose.

I think I can, but will check on the way home tonight - thanks for the tip!

Thanks Paul - that was my first thought, but wanted to check in case it could be an electronic glitch not related to the stalk itself. Perhaps if I'm feeling brave I'll have a go at stripping it down and cleaning it myself.

The stalk button that scrolls through the various readouts on the multifunction trip computer went from working fine to working intermittently to not working at all over the space of a a few days. The readout is now stuck on miles remaining and I can no longer scroll through the various options. Everything else works fine. The car is a C5 2.2HDI Exclusive estate '03 reg with 80k miles. Anyone come across this before?