PICASSOCONVERT

anyone know where i can get wheel nuts for my c5 2.0hdi sx(alloy wheels) from. ive tried ebay and they are really expensive and you can only buy 4. my locking nut snapped yesterday whilst removing it!!! any help would be much appreciated. cheers tony Sorry only just seen this post - I had to replace a worn locking wheel nut with a non-locking nut in France in the summer (after a puncture) and it cost 2 euro from a Citroen dealer. Which reminds me I must make sure that the other 3 wheels can be removed without problem.

I enjoyed reading your short story very much. You experience is just about the same as my son and daughter-in-law who "bought" my 2001 2.2HDi estate from me at 5 years old 72,000 miles (I had had the car from new with few problems and replaced the DPF and fluid just before I handed the keys over). The new owners got two problem-free year's motoring and replaced the cam belt & water pump at 7 years/98,000 miles. The DPF/fluid work and the cambelt/water pump change cost about £850 at our local Citroen garage, which I didn't mind as they should be fairly infrequent items. However, about six months ago at 125,000 miles the "limp mode" problems you described arrived. Like you they are living with it, using the car for local journeys and using their second car for motorways/long journeys. As you say, a great car in most respects, and capable of very high mileages, but a bit of a pig to fix in some respects. I now wonder how long my 2003 2.2HDi/67,000 mile car will go before it starts to become unreliable. Having not done the DPF/fluid or the cam belt/water pump yet should I quit whilst I am ahead?

Well over two and a half years on and some things don't change. I have come back to my C5 (2003 2.2HDi) twice now in recent months to find the battery flat after the car has been unused for 2-3 weeks. I replaced the battery first time thinking the battery had conked (bought the car second-hand in May 2009 so did not know history of battery). The battery needle in the car has always been slightly higher than in my fist C5 (2001 2.2HDi) so I assumed charging was normal with engine running. Current draw ar rest (car unlocked, bonnet open) is 0.36 amps, so I shall be checking the condition of the alarm battery and pulling a few fuses when the weather warms up as explained in this thread. So, thanks to all contributors especially Random Bloke. My short-term fix is to put the battery on charge overnight. I hope I don't end up having to get rid of my C5 like Chillie did because of this problem. I'll report back if I find anything next Spring. Tow bar wiring could be suspect, of course, as it was a DIY job!!

Phil Good luck with getting your problem sorted - I will watch your progress with interest. My son's 2001 2.2 estate has had the same problem for 3 months now and we're no further forward! The ESP/ASR and Antipollution fault shows up but the car doesn't always go into limp mode. He can get the diagnostics done at work but the codes which come up (I don't have them to hand at the moment) don't seem to help. We have had the car from new and the particulate filter/Eolys fluid and related controller were replaced at 5 years old, 73,000 miles. The car is now 8yrs 7 mths old and 114,000 miles. This evening my son and his wife drove to us (about 90 mile journey) and the car went into limp mode after about 70 miles. I have just driven it round and about now for 10 miles and it's been fine and I drove it hard and gently but couldn't get it to go into limp mode. I just wonder if there's a dry joint on a circuit board, or an intermittent connection somewhere. David

Johndouglas Thank you very much for your reply - most helpful as always. With best wishes. David

Just to close this topic off - 9 months and quite a few thousand miles later my C5 is running OK with the component the garage repaired. The replacement they sent me is still in its box in the glove compartment. I haven't found the 6 speed gearbox an improvement on the five speed box in my previous C5. The ratios of 5 and 6 don't seem much different and overall fuel economy (2.2HDi diesel manual) is 43.5mpg in the 6 speed versus 43.6 in the 5 speed. However, I am still enjoying the supremely comfortable and quiet drive.

Tomorrow has finally arrived - 6 months later! Sorry for delay in final chapter of story. Everything worked after one minor issue (indicators reversed). Next time - if there is a next time - I'll forget about a Citroen harness and fit an after-market one as others have done so successfully.

My son drives my old C5 (2001 2.2HDi estate manual) and had the bearings replaced about 3 months ago at just over 100,000 miles. Cost from an independent Citroen specialiust was about same as you have been quoted. Tell-tale signs of wear was an occasional clunking from rear end, especially when encountering bumbs in road. sorry, can't comment on if it is a DIY job or not.

paul.h, thank you for your guess - it was spot on. Once I had connected the purple up everything worked fine. The Citroen harness has 2 off 12V +ve supplies - orange and purple wires, and one switched one - grey wire. Unfortunately this wire isn't very thick and in due course I will run a 3mm square cable outside the harness to bypass it. I have already run a 3mm square cable for the fridge return. Finally, thanks to everyone for their kind help.

Thanks again. Every little helps. There seems to be a fair bit of variation in wire colours for 13 pin systems - and more variations in the Citroen harness. By the end of play today I had run 2 3mm square cables to the rear of the vehicle in the same way as you did and fitted fuses near to the battery. I connected one of these wires to the orange wire in the harness and the other to the grey, having first checked that these wires fed through to the same colours at the 13 pin socket. I had also traced the earth wires. I still cannot fathom the purpose of the purple wire which appears to be looking for a home in the car harness - I have fixed the socket end of this to pin 8 for the time being and taped off the car end. Having put everything back toogether the lights on the car work as normal, which is a relief. Tomorrow I am going to pay a visit to the dealer so that I can hook the car up to the caravan and see what (if anything) lights up - this will give me a day to try and resolve any problems. For information the wirng of the Citroen harness is currently as follows: Pin 1 Yellow L/H indicator Pin 2 Blue Rear fog lights Pin 3 Green/yellow Earth pins 1-8 Pin 4 Green R/H indicator Pin 5 Beige R/H tail light Pin 6 Red Stop lights Pin 7 Black L/H tail light Pin 8 Purple Reversing lights Pin 9 Orange +ve Pin 10 Grey +ve fridge Pin 11 Green/yellow Earth pin 10 Pin 12 Not used Pin 13 Green/yellow Earth pin 9 This isn't too far from the scheme on the Sargent Electrical Services Ltd website. I will report back tomorrow on what happens when I hook up to the 'van.

Good morning John douglas and thank you for your comments, which are very helpful. My next step is to reproduce your 2.5mm fused leads from the battery to the rear of the car. I feel reasonably confident that the orange and grey wires, for which I cannot find a matching socket in the vehicle harness, must be the +ve supplies for pin 9 (car +ve) and pin 10 (fridge +ve). Both these wires are cut in the Citroen towbar wiring harness which seems to suggest they are intended to be fused at the rear of the vehicle so I will add in-line fuses. If the above is correct, it just leaves me to discover the purpose of the purple cable which looks as if it should attach to the vehicle harness. However it is possible that this is the power supply to the relay rated 25 amps (that and the other relay ought to provide the same functionality as your Smartcom and Smart7). At the 13 pin socket of the harness I believe I have matched up all the wires except for a purple (which should - by process of elimination - be the equivalent of the more normal pink on pin 8 for reversing lights) Tracing which wire leads to where in the harness should help the process. I hope to at least get the road light operational by Thursday which is when I collect our caravan.

Well, after a week away and time to think, I recommenced the towbar wiring job today. This time the harness went in fairly smoothly - the Citroen part is designed to have the 2 relays in the compartment on the drivers side of the load area. From there the harness goes out under the car via a pre-existing hole. I just removed the existing rubber plug and fed the harness through. The harness has a matching grommet in the right place to re-fit into the hole. The connectors to each light cluster are designed to come up from underneath - I cut a small rectangular hole at each end of the black plastic sealing strip which runs across the forward end of the bumper (these holes are concealed by the bottom edge of the light clusters). The connectors on the harness fit into the loom in each light cluster and it is reasonably easy to get the wiring to sit neatly before replacing the lights. The harness was secured under the rear of the car using the cable ties supplied. Although the harness was supplied for conncetion to 2 sockets, I have run the cables together in one conduit to connect to a continental-style 13 pin socket. The next problem is to identify how the power supply works. There is a 3 pin connector plus an earth connection which appears to pick up the power for the relays and the fridge, but no matching connector in the vehicle wiring harness. I am guessing that this is wired as follows: Orange wire (thick) - fridge +ve Grey (thin) - trailer +ve Purple - relay Green/yellow - earthed to vehicle body If I am correct, I can see that I could provide a high-capacity, fused +ve supply from the battery to provide the +ve supply. However, I am not sure where the connection comes from for the purple wire and if it does actually operate the 25amp rated relay when the engine is running. So any help on the above connections much appreciated. Once I have the power supply connected up I can check the connections on the 13 pin socket and tidy everything up. Once again thanks in advance for any help.

Well, boot floor and side trim removed. Rear lights removed. I can see the principle of how it all goes together and the towbar harness fits into the existing harness OK but.................. The job needs someone who knows how the harness runs through the vehicle, so I am abandoning my DIY attempt and I'm off to find a professional to do the job for me.

Update - another day, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining, so on with the job. Progress so far: Access to sides of load space achieved by removing the silver trim across the taligate by removing 4 screws, removing load space mat and floor (release 4 load eyes/locks and lift floor out). Remove boot lights, height adjustment switch and 12 volt socket from their positions and disconnect from harness. Gently remove side panels so that rear ends are free to flex into centre of car. Surprise, surprise no sockets in the wiring harness (which is on the passenger side on my vehicle) to accept the towbar wiring loom, so off with the nearside light clusters. It appears that the towbar wiring might fit "in-line" with the existing harness - hence the large number of plugs and sockets. Next step is to identify all the plugs and sockets - watch this space.

Well, I thought I would take the easy route to fitting a towbar to my 03 2.2HDi estate. The Witter towbar went on easily enough today and I even manged to find my torque wrench to tighten the bolts to the correct torque. So far as wiring goes, I thought I had that all sorted out too. I bought a Ctiroen wiring harness which a dealer was selling cheap and they checked my VIN to ensure that it would fit my car. However, the harness looks a bit fearsome - there are no fewer than 8 plugs. As the dealer cannot supply any instructions, does anyone know if I will find 8 sockets to accept the harness when I remove the driver's side boot lining, or is able to point me n the direction of a wiring diagram? Also, one plug has a grey wire and an orange wire which are cut from the equivalent wires in the harness as if something has to be connected "in-line". This plug also has a purple wire which runs into the harness and that part of the harness has an earth tag. does anyone know what this is for? The final complication is that our new caravan is German and will have a 13 pin plug. It looks as if I might be looking for a good auto electrician in the Luton/Bedford area. All suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks for the picture - this must be a new feature of the model after mine. I was thinking that as the sensors are only switched on when I engage reverse gear, I could live with them sounding continuously for the short times I go backwards (down the drive, out of a parking space). Wouldn't have the benefit of the sensors, but never had them on my previous cars anyway. I think this closes the topic for me, except that if I do try disconnecting the 2 middle sensors I will report the results.

Thanks for your replies. I think that like randombloke my C5 doesn't have the switch that your later car has. I'll have to decide whether to go for a detachable towbar after all.

I am about to fit a towbar to my recently-acquired 2003 2.2HDi Exclusive estate (oh, how nice to be back in a comfy C5 after 2 years in a skipasso). I don't want a detachable one (added expense, more complication) and wondered if I can just disconnect the parking sensor wires to stop them working without any side-effects? After 40 years driving without sensors, I don't really need them. Thanks for any help, and sorry if I have missed an earlier post on this topic (I did a search but couldn't see anything).

If you do try to glue your seals in place try clear silicon sealant (the pigment in the coloured varieties reduces the strength and would look messy if it came out from under the seal). The best kind is the stuff they use to stick fishtanks together - so try your local fish supplier. You can refit the seal "dry" and mask off the door to avoid sealant getting on the door. Once the seal is in place and the sealant is starting to cure you can carefully wipe off any excess and remove the tape to leave a tidy looking edge. We use silicon to bond components to glass/carbon/kevlar fuselages in model gliders and it copes with high loads and stresses. However, if necessary it can be peeled off with a bit of patience. Hope this helps.

Randombloke Thank you very much for your reply. The garage (non-Citroen) tracked the problem down to the MAC (MAP?) sensor (something to do with manifold pressure?) which was leaking. It's located just in front of the battery. They did a temporary repair with mastic/tape and my 60 mile journey home was uneventful. They will get a new part and post it to me. The battery seems fine. Such bliss to be in a supremely comfortable C5 again after 29 months of bouncing around in a Xsara Picasso! I knew about the expense with the 2.2 engine of having the particulate filter and Eolys fluid replaced in due course and the cam belt/water pump changed before 100,000 miles/ten years from my previous C5 (51 reg SX 2.2HDi estate), which my eldest son is now driving. Interesting having 6 forward gears to play with - that's about the only mechanical difference from my previous car. Best wishes. David Wilcock

Just collected a second hand 2.2HDi estate, 2003 with 52,000 miles and got 6 miles down the road when "ESP/ASR fault" followed by "ANTIPOLLUTION" appeared on dash. Service lights lit up. Phoned my local Citoen service garage who refused to advise. Can I drive it home (60 miles) or am I stuck? All answers gratefully received. Anyone know any good B&B's in Ely!!

£450 2 years ago in UK for a new filter, fluid and ECU on my 2001 2.2HDi at 75,000 miles, so may not be much difference.

Not quite Cambridgeshire, but if you can get to Bedford I have found Central Motors very good. I believe they are a Citroen approved service/repair outfit. 'Phone number is 01234 314151. I have also used Chevronic Centre in Arlesey ('phone Rob Moss on 01462 731733) - they are right next to Arlesey station if you should commute into London. Hope this helps.

So far they want me to pay for: Diagnostic check 1 £70 Diagnostic check 2 undetermined though Citron have offered to make a contribution Particle filter £350 ECU £400 Therefore in excess of £800 to turn a false warning off which may not even do the trick For information, I paid £450 in total 2 years ago to my local Citroen service garage for a new particulate filter, new fluid and a new ECU (my car was new in 2001 and apparently it is common for the ECU to pack up when this work is carried out). The car had one 75,000 miles. So, even allowing for inflation, £800 looks excessive.