Johndouglas

If your C5 has Xenon lights then you don't need to do anything. I have driven thousands of miles overnight in mine and have rarely been flashed by oncoming HGV's. Now my previous Xantia was a different matter!!!

You need DOT4

Did you wind the pistons back the correct way? Offside anticlockwise, nearside clockwise. I have heard that to wind them both the same way will b***** them up.

Use DOT 4 brake fluid. Order is front left, front right, rear left, rear right.

You won't do much harm by leaving off the undertray, however it was put there for a reason. You'll take away a little bit of the aerodynamics of the car. The engine will sound a bit more noisier to pedestrians. And on the one occassion when I left off the undertray on my Xantia, the next time I went under the car, I found the lower edges of the wing liners broken because of vibration.

You'll find it almost impossible to move the rear spheres without a proper tool. I've driven hydraulic Citroens since 1990 and know how difficult it can be. Yet with the correct tool it's fairly easy. I have the Pleiades wrench but other forum members have managed with DIY versions. You need the rear wheels on ramps with the wheels carrying the weight of the car. Turn the spheres only a 1/4 of a turn to break the seal, then lower the suspension and release the pressure. Leave for a few minutes then remove the spheres. I usually place a plastic carrier bag around them so that the bag catches any LHM. When refitting don't put the new rubber ring on the sphere. Fit it into the housing otherwise it will tend to leak. If you are doing the centre anti-sink sphere, loosen the 9mm nut at the rear of the sphere before spinning it off. Not to do so will turn the fluid pipe and break it.

The clutch isn't fully releasing. Check that carpets or mats are not preventing the pedal going to the floor. If mats are not the cause, then the cable needs adjusting. You should have 130mm of travel in the pedal. You need to measure the distance from pedal top to the floor with the pedal up, then measure again with the pedal down. Take the second from the first and see how close it is to 130. Adjustment is carried out at the gearbox end of the cable.

If you drive a C5 and you have xenon lights, then yopu don't need any beam masks nor need you do anything to the lights. Since I got my C5 I've driven thousands of European miles overnight and have never been flashed by oncoming traffic. Whereas with my previous Xantia, if the beam masks weren't exactly right, the HGV's certainly let you know.

Most certainly pistons will have hit valves. Possibly the camshaft will be in pieces.

Are the rear arm bearings OK? When worn, the rear wheels look a bit /-----------\

Tail gate struts are replaceable. Try GSF mail order - they are less than £20 each. The handbrake should be on after 3 or 4 clicks. If not, use the footbrake, then the handbrake several times to bring the auto adjuster up. If adjustment is required, the adjuster is under the centre console.

I have something similar on the ends of my roofbars

It might be the sensor that faulty. You'll find it near the top of the flywheel housing. And the key for locking wheel bolts - could be anywhere! When my C5 was new, I was given two keys. One I've put in the sparewheel well - the other in the glovebox.

Have you checked fuses 14 and 15 in the engine bay? If they are OK I'd look at the switch.

When it says not suitable for some Citroens, it refers to the hydraulic Citroens like BX, Xantia, and XM's which use LHM as hydraulic fluid. Use brake fluid on those, and you'd ruin them. DOT 4 would be OK to use.

My C5 got through its front tyres in 8000miles from new. The tyre depot advised having the alignment checked - it was a mile out. Now at 20000 the replacements seem to be lasting much longer.

When I bought a Xantia new in 1998, I had the same problem with the alarm going off. It went back to the dealer several times. Eventually the fault was traced to a malfunctioning estate rear door catch.

Although I've owned Xantias, I've never had one with a keypad. AFAIK the code is programmed into the fuel pump. Change the fuel pump and your code won't work. If the keypad is removed, there is a hardened plate on the fuel pump which needs to be removed to disconnect the wiring. The plate is fitted with shear bolts as a theft measure.

I have the same problem on my 2005 C5. Although I have it programmed on the centre display, speed makes absolutely no difference to the volume. It's been like that from new. It doesn't really worry me!

When I put my 2.1 Xantia on ebay it was bought by an English guy who lives in France. I offered him some beam benders for the lights but he didn't want them because he was going to fit continental type headlamps. Incidentally, continental lamps wouldn't pass the MOT here. Maybe likewise in France.

We all run our cars in cold weather without getting smoke from under the wheel arch - so I would forget that theory. What is the clutch like? Is it slipping at all? Put the front wheels up against a curb and with fairly low revs, slowly let out the clutch in first gear. If the engine stalls, the clutch is probably OK. If it doesn't, the clutch could be slipping.

OK thanks, I'll look into it. Any particular make of bar?

Accident assessors usually recomend replacing a towbar after the vehicle has been involved in a rear end accident. Buy secondhand and you could end up buying a towbar which has been stressed. A new one from www.towsure.com will cost in the region of £130. Since EU regs came into force, all towbars have to be designed to attach to fixings already provided by the car manufacturer. Therefore it's a comparatively easy job to do (providing you have a decent tool kit and ability to use it) However, with more cars using multiplexing, the fitting of the wiring is more complicated than it used to be. Towsure can provide modern relays for 12S and 12N sockets. PS. The towbar has to be designed for your particular model. In the case of my C5 there's two different bars for pre-04 and post-04.

Foir a detailed repair description have a look at the pdf at http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/C5-L/files/

I used to own a 1998 2.1 Xantia and this very thing happened to mine. It turned out to be the anti-sink valve leaking. It's about £50 to replace. Remove the battery and you'll see it underneath with five pipes leading into it. To remove it you'll also need to work from below.