sifaan

hmmm - just to confirm, does the typical problem with the connectors under the passenger footwell result in a different error message?

Hi The old airbag was reused; the reason for replacing the comms 2000 was because the horn stopped working (apparently the ribbon cable or something tends to give) so i meant to say that it can't be faulty communication of the comms 2000 that is the problem. Do you think the Airbag/igniter needs to be replaced, or could it be the connecters in the footwell? /Sifaan

Hi Paul, looks like you were correct after all The configuration for the side and curtain airbags are on another menu (and it seems my car has side and curtain airbags for driver and passenger) I was able to deactivate the level 2 airbag in the configuration (so now the pesky error message doesn't appear) but it didn't let me enable the "steering column airbag" (so perhaps that does refer to the knee airbag that were fitted to the facelift models) Now, I'm inclined to think my Com2000 is fine, because the unit was replaced sometime back and the airbag error was there before that as well. Perhaps it's the wires under the passenger footwell that are the problem? I took a look at it, and actually there are 4 connectors coming in (at least, from the nearside of the passenger footwell) and 5 connectors going out (at least, on the offside) I was able to unplug and refit two of them (the brown and the light blue), but the locks on the other 2 were different (and have more wires through them) and I left them until maybe I could get some advice how to release them? Picture at http://cl.ly/image/3g3y3W0o0l14

I doubt it Paul; probably my car doesn't have a knee airbag, based on Haynes: (btw what should I look for to confirm it?) Based on the above, the level 1 and level 2 should be the side and curtain airbags (although I don't know which is which). Apparently renewing the side and curtain airbags is tricky (beyond the realms of Haynes) so probably there isn't even a way to check if the car came with it - apart from perhaps service.citroen.com which is still down. I'm thinking to turn off the faulty airbag and turn on the steering airbag in the config - because even if I have a level 2 airbag it's not working; and when the citroen site comes back up try and see if I should have it (in which case it probably means a very expensive repair!)

This is interesting; in the configuration screen it says Level 1 Driver's Airbag - Yes Level 2 Driver's Airbag - Yes Steering Column Airbag - NO Passenger's Level 1 Airbag - Yes Passenger's Level 2 Airbag - Yes Passenger's airbag deactivation switch - yes Could it be an incorrect configuration (how can the steering column airbag not be there?)?I'm trying to see what it should be from VIN on service.citroen.com but it seems to be down currently...

Hi all Managed to get my old diagnostic kit upgraded to use the new versions of diagbox; since I got the car it has displayed "Airbag fault" in the multifunction, but never got around to fixing it because there were always more urgent things to deal with (and I assumed it was the passenger airbag under the seat wiring) But with the diagbox it turns out that the error is "Driver's level 2 airgbag igniter open circuit" Where is this airbag? Can the igniter be replaced? Or could it be that the car never had that airbag to begin with? I'm figuring it's not the one on the steering column, cos I had the com 2000 replaced some time back (for the horn not working) and the airbag fault existed before and after that; and furthermore the configuration shows that the steering column airbag is not present. Thanks /Sifaan

In the end there wasn't much bleeding needed as it turned out there was hardly any oil in the system at all! the hose that was leaking turned out to be not the original hose - got another one made up (well, still not original, but I guess it should last a few years) and topped up with fresh oil and suspension has been behaving nicely since then. Also replaced the seal at the accumulator sphere at the same time.

Finally got the faults cleared with diagbox; there were some faults in the transmission ECU relating to pressure regulation, so got the solenoids replaced (apparently thats the fault that comes when the solenoids start misbehaving) and since then (touch wood) it's been behaving

So, the car ran fine for a few weeks, and then the problem surfaced again - initially intermittently, but now for past 2 weeks it's always there. the battery is fully charged (even took it out and got it independently tested) so it seems unlikely that the problem is with the battery. any suggestions what else I could try?

So, the battery proved to be the culprit after all Yesterday I tried twice with the engine running for about 20 mins, but that wasn't enough to get it out of it's sulk and didn't have time to try further yesterday Later that night I managed to get diagbox upgraded to 5.29 (it takes a very long time to "install the internet update") Today I tried running a full diagnostic with the engine running - and while the diagnostic was running the car again went in to economy mode (the glovebox light was on since the glovebox was open, but can't imagine that putting the car into economy); I switched off and started again, and lo-and-behold, the gearbox fault was gone (the boot lighting error still remains, together with some other random error in the BSI, and I still can't clear them, but at least the car is moving again) Many thanks!

Interesting that you mention the battery - the incident (fault clearing and subsequent gearbox fault) happened on Monday - tried battery reset several times to no avail. On Tuesday I was trying from about 6pm to midnight to get the fault cleared (it took Tuesday day to get it configured on my Mac) and there were no issues with the battery even then Yesterday I was away, and today when I tried again I did get an economy mode active warning which I didn't take much notice of - but just now when I tried to start the car, it didn't have enough juice even to light up the dashboard (it did initially, but at the first attempt to start it died) Had to jump start the car, and now leaving it on idle a bit to charge up the battery. Can't imagine what could cause the battery to drain cos no lights were on (but now took the precaution of removing the boot lights since there was some fault associated with them) and will see what Diagbox says shortly (currently trying to update 5.20 to 5.29, the latest I can apparently get without flashing the unit)

Hi For the past 2 weeks or so the car (c5 Mk1, 2.0 petrol, AL4 auto) has been having an anti-pollution fault, so I got an electrician with a lexia (or more precisely Diagbox) to look at it and he cleared the faults on the system and it got rid of the message (and the check engine light on the dashboard) When he was done with the job, everything seemed fine. A little later I noticed that the car was on low, so I started it up, raised it to normal and switched off again. Later, I needed to move the car (it was blocking another car in the parking lot) and I switched on and got gearbox fault message (as well as gear lights blinking in the display) - but I was able to put the car into reverse, and move it to a different place (but forward was only 3rd gear I suspect). Since then, the gearbox fault appears whenever I switch on the ignition, and I have not been able to put the car in reverse either (the brake pedal depresses fully, but I can't move the gear selection lever out of P). Resetting BSI by battery removal has not helped. I don't remember seeing the fault when I lowered the car although it was possibly there then as well. I haven't been able to get the electrician back to take a look at it; but I resurrected my old chinese lexia and got it working on diagbox 5.02 (and today on 5.20). The unit shows 3 faults on the BSI: "Permanent fault Communications fault with the engine management ECU" "Permanent fault Communication fault with the automatic gearbox ECU" "* Permanent fault Boot lighting command" The text of the first is in blue, the others are black; only the third has an asterisk in front (although I don't know what it means). Can't get more info on any of the errors. When I try to clear the faults, I get the message "This command will erase the fault log However, this one has not yet been consulted erasing is impossible" What could I try? Thanks /Sifaan

I was under the impression that the planet wouldn't talk to citroen's and lexia wouldn't talk to Pugs. By 406 software did you mean entering a 406 VIN (with the same type of engine) and that it would work for the engine diagnostics (but not other areas like suspension)?

Sorry Dave, didn't see your message till now; the sparks were firing on all cylinders and subsequent developments suggest the gasket was not the culprit the long delay was to get lexia setup on the mechanics laptop (these guys are all Pug mechs and they only have planet, not lexia) - after removing and cleaning some sensors (I don't know which exactly) and clearing errors on the ECU the engine is running fine. Presumably some gunk built up over 10 years on some sensor was the culprit!

thanks coastline; have passed the info on to the mechanic; hope it is something simple to replace like the crankshaft sensor rather than the wiring which is a pandora's box all in itself!

seems it's one problem after another these days :( the car now has a bad engine miss - apparently due to injectors #2 and #3 not firing (*) but the strange thing is that even when the injectors are swapped around with other cylinders, it is still #2 and #3 that are not firing. The mechanic says when they removed the fuel rail from the cylinders, when cranking all 4 injectors squirt (just long enough to notice that they do) and after that only #1 and #4 continue to squirt. So the suspicion is that it is electrical/control related (ECU not sending signals to injector) and hopefully an electrical specialist (familiar with 406s and EW10J4s) will take a look at it tomorrow. There are wiring issues with the car (related to fire in the fuse box long time ago and patchy repair job on the wiring there) but that should only affect the main harness; actually the engine harness was replaced a few months back so the wiring on that should be fine. any advice from the good folks here? (*) recently there was a similar problem which required the coil pack and an injector (I think it was #1) to be replaced; how they both went bust at the same time is not clear but anyway things worked fine after they were replaced. to be precise, we replaced the coil pack because the mechanic said that was the cause for the miss and then realized there was still a miss, and that was diagnosed to be a faulty injector. hopefully we didn't unnecessarily replace the coil pack.

thanks paul and coastline for insights on depressurising. what kind of tools would we need to remove/refit the accumulator sphere? and any special precautions to take on it?

Hi all Back with more suspension related problems - this time some LDS leaks :( One leak is from the front regulator sphere (where it screws in). My guess is the seal (what citroen calls a square seal) is the culprit - had a similar issue with another sphere some time back. Questions: 1. Does the system need to be depressurised to replace the seal? 2. What tools are needed to remove and then refit the regulator sphere? Is it a DIY job? 3. Any other things to watch out for? Other than Citraerobics to bleed the system? The other leak is in the supply piping - one of the rubber hoses between the metal piping (I think it's 5270 RN, but might be 5270 QE). The hoses in this has been fixed up locally by a previous owner (the clamps on the hoses look different to the original clamps). Getting a hose fabricated and fitted shouldn't be a problem, but 1. Does the system need to be depressurised before disconnecting the hose? 2. Any things to watch for? Thanks! /Sifaan

thanks coastline; priming the pump did the trick - battery powered tyre compressor with rags in the neck. took a few attempts to get it going (either I wasn't getting a good enough seal, or the pump took a few tries to get going) and now the car is going up and down as expected... ...well, it seems to be going up a bit slower than I remember - which is either a defective memory or maybe the system still needs to bleed itself (did quite a bit of citraerobics already). Of course the LDS level at low is not at the bottom of the bucket (now that the pump pulled the LDS) so maybe another can of LDS will do the trick. Yet to go on a test drive to see how she handles...

Update (not very positive): Bought the used pump available locally plus lots of LDS. My chinese Lexia wasn't upto the mark (I think it is not connecting well to the OBD2 based on the error messages I get) so couldn't depressurize the system. Removed the pump (lost loads of LDS) and fitted the new one and put in about 4l of LDS. (wasn't DIY, got a Pug mechanic home to do it - cost less than 20 pounds for half a day of work, including the trip to the shop to get the pump) The pump whirs when I press the suspension up button (and also when the battery was reconnected after the job) but the car doesn't move up or down (I tried citraerobics for about 20 minutes to no avail). The LDS level in the tank doesn't seem to change either. (BTW The powersteering works) What should I try next? As far as I could notice, everything was connected back fine (used new worm drive clips instead of the original hose clips - I had read that those can't be reused and mechanic also said the same). Except - there's 3 wires coming to the pump: 1 single yellow wire on a double connector (1 unusued), and below that 2 wires in a ovalish connector with a red clip lock. The red lock (even with the headlamp removed) couldn't be pushed back in all the way but the plug seems secure. The internal display shows the car up/down in the various stages (like it did even with the dead pump) Thanks

sorry for the very late response - didn't have time to check anything the past few weeks. just to confirm that the short is in the pump (and not the wiring), today I replaced the fuse and unplugged the pump's power supply. pressed suspension up/down buttons (car thought it was going up because the pump ECU was still plugged) but the fuse didn't blow. So I guess that confirms it's a problem with the pump. I found an used pump in Sri Lanka for Rs. 28000 (about 135 pounds), whereas on ebay UK it goes for 60 pounds and up. But unless I can find someone to hand-carry it, the cost of postage and possible customs duties would negate any savings I might make. Is there any possibility that the pump might be repaired? Is it a sealed unit? Labour costs are lower in Sri Lanka so many repairs that are not viable in UK are carried out here (e.g. rewinding starter motors/alternators). Thanks

well, not unless you fancy a holiday in Sri Lanka :) will be away this weekend on work, will try to look at the wiring next week. in case the wiring itself is not shorted, how difficult is it to replace the pump? (wouldn't try that myself, but while good mechanics can be found, they wouldn't have exposure on citroen hydraulics.)

so, decided to look for loose connections / wiggle some wires this morning. as I was pulling the bonnet release, I noticed there was a display on the odo. tried the key and the car was live. but there was an immobilizer fault (loose wires at the ECU?). disconnected battery for a while, reconnected, and the fault went away and I could start the car. but still the suspension didn't raise (nor could I hear the pump whir). back to maxi fuses again, and this time the 40A fuse had blown again. is it that the pump is bust (is there anyway to check - e.g. resistance across terminals?)? or could there be a short circuit in the pump wiring? or is it that the pump is dying and can live a few more months with a 50A fuse?

The suspension setting was low when the car came alive yesterday. Not sure if that's the setting it was on before the fuse went (the setting wasn't making a difference). It wasn't jacked up by any other means (Sorry coastline, not sure if I understand you correctly)

finally some good news! sourced a 40A fuse yesterday and plugged it in this morning. when reconnecting the battery negative, there were light sparks (the kind that is usually present). so had some hope. and in a few minutes, the car responded to the key fob, and even started in one go (normally it's a bad cold starter and needs 2-3 tries). however, the suspension was on low, and when I pressed the up button - the car died. back to the maxi fuse box, but the 40A fuse - indeed all the maxi fuses - are fine. What might have happened? Does the fusebox detect the presence of the fuses? coastline - is that why you were insisting on replacing the fuse? what might have gone wrong now? battery suddenly died because it was idle for so long and too big a drain from the pump? but it would be unusual considering that it had enough juice to start on first crank? BTW we do have some loose/damaged wiring at the ECU/fusebox - occassionaly we get AC/washer pump malfunctions, gearbox faults, immobilizer faults, etc but the car was always live it would be a strange coincidence if something major had worked loose just when I checked the maxi fuse, and then stayed loose through subsequent inspections until the fuse was actually replaced, and then got loose again just when the suspension Up was pushed? curiouser and curiouser :S