Rookie2

Welcome John

Hi sim1975. If you go along to the "comma" website they have a tool on there where you enter your registration and it tells you all of the latest fluids and oils recommended for your vehicle. and the amounts needed here it is http://www.commaoil.com/products cheers

Sorry SJM I dont have, and have never had anything to do with, the c5 model, I didn't know the wheels are well into the arches. I suppose you could achieve the result with blocks of wood on each wheel and then wrap the wire over the top of the blocks, be a bit fiddly though trying to hold everything in place. Apart from that , someone else has just mentioned that the wheel base on the c5 is different front and back.

I have a couple of spare cars that are parked up for prolonged periods. I went to a local camping centre and bought a couple of those solar charging panels that lie on the dashboard. They work great, just sit there trickle charging the battery, never failed to start even after leaving a month or more. Really inexpensive chargers and very handy if going on hols and leaving car behind etc.

I have noted on quite a few cars that not just a broken spring, but a incorrectly seated spring can throw the alignment out, even a worn strut top bearing does exactly the same and is very hard to identify. I've seen people fit narrower tyres just to stop the outer wear. I suppose it all goes back to the old Brittish Leyland problem, just hoping you dont buy a car that was built on a Friday afternoon. Lol.

Hi samjmann I have often found it necessary to set the tracking on various cars either because they had been damaged repairs or for some reason ha their racks removed . Of course going along to the,local tyre depot is the easiest way to do it but sometimes you just have to try and get the tracking somewhere near to be able to drive there. I usually get a thin wire (electric fence wire is perfect), tie one end of the wire off to to , for example, the back axle, then run the wire around the outside of the cars wheels (all four of them) directly through the horizontal centre of the wheels. When you have run the wire through the fourth wheels centre line, tie it off to another fixed point on the vehicle. Now if you watch where the wire passes along the horizontal centre line of the front wheels, you can turn the steering until you get exactly the same gap between the leading edge of the rear wheels, (if the fronts are toe in) or the trailing edge of the front wheels (if they are toe out) For instance, if the line (which is touching the leading edge and the trailing edge of the rear wheels) is only touching the leading edge of the front wheels(when the steering in centralised), then it is safe to assume the car is toe out. Now if the car is toe out, for example, take a measurement between the wire and the trailing edge of the front wheel on the drivers side and compare that measurement with the same gap on the passenger side. This will tell you if the toe out is equal both sides. It may be that you set up is toe in, the same applies except that your measurement will be between the leading edge of the rear wheel and the wire. So if we assume your vehicle has been set up by the local tyre shop, you can perform these measurements so you know what they reckon it should be.. From there, you can adjust the toe in/toe out, to try to get a setting which is a little kinder to your tryes and yet still retains steering attitude. You have the original measurements so can easily return the vehicle to what the local tyre shop reckons it should be. Its sounds a little complicated trying to explain but it is in fact really simple. If you can imagine running a thin wire right round the whole car directly through the centre line of the wheels. I have done this many times on lots of cars and have got them close enough to what they should be when checked on garage equipment. Give it a try, it's simple and free

Hi Shastu Does your car have the auto wipers or just manual ?

As far as I am aware, the chains on these engines are "Lifetime" chains. Now the question is, what is a "Lifetime" ? As you know there are hard lifetimes which can be over in 30,000 miles and there are easy lifetimes which can still be going on after 1/2 million miles. Have a read of this thread and it will give you some ideas of the pitfalls with timing chains https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40166 Personally, if i had timed one of these engines up with a new belt and the chain was showing no signs of being a problem, I would leave it alone. cheers

Hi ww2rupert and welcome to the forum You may have a throttle pedal problem, these motors have an electric throttle pedal and they can cause the symptoms you mention, Have you had a diagnostic done on it? Try unplugging the plug to the throttle pedal and start the car up, see if you get a smoother tick over and slightly faster.

Hi Grin Good figures, it certainly makes a difference, and a lot more pleasure to drive.

Well done, lets hope thats cured it for a reasonable time You probably would not see the soot coming out the back as it can be miniscule amounts that block the pores in the DPF Filter By the way, which product did you use, just so that the rest of the users here will be able to tell which ones to buy. cheers

Unfortunately not, however, what you can do is to get onto a dual carriageway, get into third gear and leave it there and put your foot down getting the revs really high for as long as you can, at least a couple of miles but better if you could do 5 miles or mre. It generates the heat in the DPF to burn off a lot of the soot and revitalises the filter. You could also use a bottle of "Forte" in the fuel tank before you do it and then help enormously.. I work closely with a friend who has his own MOT centre, when he has a car that fails the emissions he puts a bottle of Forte in, does a high rev run and it flies through the emissions test. Cost of the Forte about 12 to 14 quid.

I've never thought of it before, however, I wonder if it would be a good idea to shrink wrap the fuse boxes on those models to keep the rain out ? Shrink wrap is dirt cheap and the only other tool needed is a decent hair dryer, in fact, I might give that a go on my C3, though, fingers crossed, I havent had the water problem yet.

Hi Stuart and welcome Something else worth checking is the windscreen scuttle drain holes. Directly below the windscreen (where the wipers are housed) is the "Scuttle" This scuttle should have a drain hole at each end of it to let the water safely drain to the ground. These drain holes usually have a rubber tube on them which becomes blocked or restricted by leaves and debris. If you have a heavy downpour, the amount of rain entering the scuttle can be more than a semi blocked hole can handle. This results in the flood of rain filling and overflowing the scuttle panel and running directly onto the fuse box (amongst other things). Given time, the rain water may eventually drain away normally from the drain holes so that when you come to look at it, it looks quite normal. Get a hose pipe and try filling the scuttle with water, the water should drain away immediately. If you see the water level start to rise in the scuttle then it is a safe bet the drains are blocked. edit Heres a goo write up I have found on the problems Citroen have http://www.citroenpeugeotspecialists.co.uk/news/common-faults-citroens/

Welcome to the forum, sorry I cant help with pinouts

Hi Arak yes, lexia will do regeneration, however, as I warned, it can be terrifying when you have never done one before, so much so that the exhaust on the vehicle glows bright red, so you also have to make sure you do not do the regeneration on long grass or near anything combustible. You dont by any chance have oil leaking past the trubo seals do you ?, I only ask because if that is the case then you will have trace oil in the cat and certainly into the DPF. This will show up as a dpf blockage which will clear somewhat when you drive on the motorway at high speed but will quickly re occur when you go back to town driving. just a thought !

Thats what they call "Sods Law". If you try to rectify it yourself now, then you are letting the bloke who did it off the hookj. If you dont do it yourself now, then you have to wait another week to be able to get it sorted. Life aint easy is it ?

Hi Guygamps My frst port of call would be the turbo eletro control valve, You will probably have two of these one for the turbo and one for the egr, they are usually identical as on my C8 2.2. The valves control the vacuum going to the turbo which increases/decreases the amount of boost to the engine. If you follow the thin rubber tube fro the turbo back up the engine, you will eventually come to the electro valve. t usually sits right alongside the egr electro valve and it is possible, as a test, to swap the two electro valves over so the do each others jobs. Check the small vacuum pipes for splits/leaks/perishing etc. Also make sure that the actuator rod from the solenoid to the turbo itself moves freel and is not sticking in or out. This si the type of valve you are looking for http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TURBO-SOLENOID-ELECTRO-VALVE-FOR-PEUGEOT-307-407-CITROEN-C4-C5-2-0-HDI-161842-/331093325106?hash=item4d16b33532:g:gH8AAOSwirZTxVXL

Hi arak81 I dont know what sort of driving is the norm for you, but these engines do not like slow start stop town driving. It may do you a bit of good to get out onto a motorway in 3rd gear at high revs for a few miles and get that dpf hot, it does it the world of good and you will notice the difference afterwards. If you can get onto Lexia you can force a regeneration but your engine has to be in tip top condition before doing it that way as the computer takes over control of your engine and it is, at times, quite frightening how hard and for how long the computer high revs the engine. Takes a bit of courage but well worth it.

Hi Dave Does no one who lives near you have a copy of the Lexia you could connect up to ? To be honest with you, Lexia from China is now so cheap it is silly not to have one. When I bought mine it cost me nearly 200, now you can get them for far less than a 100. Anyway, what is the noise you are getting that concerns you Dave ? I ask because if it was to do with the timming then it would probably be continual, the crank pulley, I suppose, could make a noise when cold which disappears when it gets warm as the rubber insert softens. Yep, the MAF could cause rough idling as could a bad injector, bad timming etc etc If you suspect the DMF then consider getting it off and throwing it in the bin an replacing it with a solid flywheel conversion kit (sorry, I shouldn't really recommend that, but it is what I would do/ have done). Despite all the manufacturers hype, family cars do not really need DMF, I'm an HGV C&E Driver (when I feel like it), DMF's were brought out for the heavy trucks to take the shock out of the gearbox when the truck pulled away with a large horse power capability. Next thing you know they start appearing in family runabouts and in my opinion are totally needless. Apart from that, the conversion kits are cheaper than a new DMF even when you have to include the new solid flywheel, and certainly cheaper the next time you come to change the clutch as you never have to worry about the flywheel again. Not sure if your motor has an access panel in the bell housing, if it has and you can see the flywheel through it, place a line across the flywheel from the starter ring teeth to the clutch plate. Hold the clutch still with a bar and using a screwdriver try turning the starter ring. If my memmory serves me right, you are allowed a maximum of 19 to 21 mm radial movement. If you can turn the starter ring any more than that whilst holding the clutch pressure plate still, then yes, the DMF is kaput.

Hi Buddy If you have just had the belt done I would refrain from starting it again, It could be any number of things along with, possibly, the timing being one or two teeth out. You need to get the timing checked and the tension of belt, before you start it again.

Hi Johno The van should certainly travel better than you describe. I am not sure of the layout on your van but, for example, on my C8 there are two electro valves which are identical to each other, one controls the egr and one controls the turbo. If your layout is the same then it wont hurt to switch those vales around and try running the van like that to try it. Either way you will have an elctro valve that controls the turbo (I believe), if that electro valve is denying the turbo the vacuum that it needs then that will be causing the lack of power This is the type of valve you are looking for http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TURBO-SOLENOID-ELECTRO-VALVE-FOR-PEUGEOT-307-407-CITROEN-C4-C5-2-0-HDI-161842-/331093325106 cheers

Johno Just take it slow and methodical, if you get stuck just come back on here, there's always someone lurking around to help you out. If you do get it sorted then please come back on and tell us how as it helps all of us to understand better in future. cheers.

Hi Johno Of course the speed of any vehicle going up hill depends on a few factors, the incline, the load inside the vehicle, the wind direction etc etc. However, an unloaded HDi van should manage any normal hill without any trouble at all, of course, it is not going to be a racing car or even equal to an Hi car, but it certainly should not struggle to get up the hill. Get someone to start the car whilst you watch the turbo solenoid actuator. You should see it move. Whilst the van is running, pull the small rubber vacuum tube off the turbo actuator, you should feel it sucking your skin in when you put your finger over the end of the tube. If it is blocked then change the tube or it may have a hole in it When the engine cold, take the air inlet pipe onto the turbo off and put your fingers inside (Not when the engine is running) feel for any movement on the vanes. A little bit of end float (in and out) is fine, but there should be very little, if any, side to side movement. Does the turbo vane spin freely when you flick it with your finger, It Should Do ! Is there any evidence of black engine oil in the air inlet pipe to the turbo If all seems well, check the return oil flow from the turbo. On the bottom of the turbo there is a two bolt flange, remove is and place a container underneath the outlet hole in the turbo. Start the engine for one minute then switch off. The amount of oil that flows from the turbo drain, if I remember correctly, should be 30cl (I will check on that figure just to be sure) If there is little or no flow then you have to correct that problem first (which could be something as simple as a blocked filter, renew it) Without that flow of oil your turbo will not be spinning up correctly and will eventually wreck itself. However, before we get that drastic, check the airflow through the turbo first. cheers

Was it a good quality sensor Johno ? there are loads of copies out there which simply do not work. Assuming it is a quality one and it is working, then I would think that it is a turbo boost problem. Can you get to the vacuum supply line to the turbo solenoid and pull it off to test nfor the end of the pipe sucking with the engine running ? Can you see the actuator rod moving on the turbo? If the motor is starting ok and driving ok on the flat, then it can surely only be an air induction problem when you are asking the engine to do more work going up hill ? cheers