Johndouglas

Look at the switch on the brake pedal

Autodata quote belt tension in SEEM units but I've bought on eBay a Burroughs BT33 gauge which is scaled in Newtons. Has anyone got a conversion table?

EGR -- Exhaust Gas Recirculation. It's a solenoid device which opens to put some of the exhaust gases back through the engine.

The MOT examiner tests the emissions of the engine and the general condition of the exhaust system from a leakage point of view. If the result is within limits, he's satisfied. But to my knowledge, the 1.5D never had a cat fitted, only egr.

Must be missing something here. My bike tyres are moulded with "Inflate to 40PSI"

You can only write from your own experience. I did my Xantia when it was six years old and the bolts came out fairly easily - tight - yes, but no trouble. Just out of curiosity, I tried one of my C5's bolts, and that turned OK too.

If your car is fitted with a particle filter in the exhaust system, it may be getting blocked. The warning comes on at such times. Although it disappears after switching off, it will come back again. Ignore it for too long and the engine will go into limp mode.

Offside anti clockwise. Nearside clockwise.

You can check the gearbox oil level on the ground. Get the car standing level, but first you'll need to remove the nearside wheel. Also you'll need to move the wheel arch liner (maybe). Now you can see the end of the gearbox. It's oval in shape. Find the large bolt head at around four o'clock. If you remove it, oil may dribble out. If it doesn't, you'll need to add some until it does dribble. Why does the LHM level not work? It's only a simple float in a tube. If the float has got stuck at the top, you could drill a 2mm hole in the dome to push it down. Seal the hole with bluetac. Even without the float working, the level is more or less correct if you can just touch the LHM surface with a finger poked into the filler hole. Slightly too much LHM won't harm.

I have a C5 with xenons and last winter I drove to Southern Spain, a lot of the journey being overnight. Although I didn't use masks (Citroen UK told me I didn't need them) I didn't get flashed once. From previous experience in a xantia, I know French HGV drivers give you the works if you blind them.

What you are looking at is a spring clip. Just flick it off with a small screwdriver, but retain it. Once the clip is off, the strut pulls off a ball joint. Before you start get the rear door well propped up. It's extremely heavy.

What an amazing list of faults. Have you owned the car from new? I also have a 2005 2.0HDi C5 and so far have had no faults with it other than a propensity to eat front tyres. They needed replacing at 12,000 miles. But at the same time I discovered that front wheel tracking was badly out of true. Regarding your rear door. My guess is that the repairer has re-skinned your damaged door and perhaps not replaced all the sound-deadening material.

Funny how these myths get started. C5 brakes are similar to those on previous Xantias and BX's, all three of which I've run over the past sixteen years. I've never found any trouble with calipers seizing, however what you will find is that over time, corrosion will build up between the caliper and the suspension arm. The corrosion will cause the brakes to sqeal and make the pads wedge shaped. It's a fairly easy job/not a too costly job to get the corrosion removed.

Forget it! For it to stick, both surfaces must be scrupulously clean. Both your surfaces will be covered with oil.

Depends on how long you leave it in. If you're happy to change oil & filter every 6000, then a semi-synth is fine. Leave it longer, then use full-synthetic.

The sender for the exterior temperature is contained within the n/side door mirror. Look for the little bump along the bottom edge.

'City diesel', which is what supermarkets sell has a mixture of 5% bio diesel. The same stuff which has been on sale in France for the past couple of years. They sell nothing but. The bio diesel is manufactured from rape seed oil or sugar beet.

Without passing any judgement on Tesco's diesel, I just make the following observation. My daughter runs the Xsara mentioned in my signature. It's at around 50000 miles from new and she runs it exclusively on Tescos fuel. She drives around 50 miles each day, mostly on dual carriageways. Prior to last MOT, I gave it its usual big swig of Redex diesel and told her to give it a thrashing. At MOT, it just scraped a pass. The other two vehicles with the same treatment, sail through the emission test. All I can think is that it's down to the fuel.

You can look, but you will not find anything there at all for a C4. <_< OK! Try here:- http://www.brakesint.co.uk/shop.html

Look here:- http://www.gsfcarparts.com/ Find your local store and you'll find some of the best prices. Or here's another place:- http://www.eurocarparts.com

It has a reference number. You should be able to replace it.

I changed a number plate bulb on my daughters Xsara just before MOT. I used a small bladed screwdriver on the edge of the plastic lens and it just popped out. Snapped back in on four little lugs.

Try wiping them over with neat washing-up liquid. It works on bathroom mirrors - it might work for you.

My C5 doesn't work like that. If there's a bum on either of the front seats and the belt isn't fastened, as soon as the car reaches 5mph, the sounder starts quitely, then gets more persistant. After about a minute it gives up and only the light stays on. Presumably there's a sensor in the seat which works with the belt lock. Even if the back seats are folded down, the lights come on, and a message is displayed telling that none of the belts are fastened. Lights and message disappear after a few secs.

If your matrix is leaking you will need to top up the coolant reservoir from time to time. Also the carpet will be damp in the front seat footwell. If the car is misting up, check that the lever is on recirculating. If it isn't, you won't get rid of water vapour from the car interior. If there's a need to top up the coolant tank, get some Bar's leak or similar from Halfords,