Bad Handling, Poor Fuel Consumption On C5 2.2 Hdi

[Guest 2.2 HDI]

Hi everyone, i recently bought a 2003 2.2 C5 exclusive HDI automatic..

Having a few minor problems with it, i bought this to use as a taxi(not yet working as taxi) and previously had a manual 2.0 hdi C5..

 

First bad bit is fuel consumption im only getting 30mpg combined 80% motorway driving at the minute according to the dash display

The manual i had returned 42mpg as a taxi with around town driving..

 

Second is the handling, my first C5 was magic and bumps went unnoticed, My new to me 2.2 is shocking if im honest!

Ive checked the front droplinks and passenger side needs replacing (ive a new pair bought, not yet fitted)

When you hit a bumpy road the car is all over the place and feels like the front moves left and the rear moves right or visa verse depending which way the bump pushes the front, it feels like the steering column is rattling when this happens also and its very noisy rattly over bumps/uneven roads(old car was like riding on air over any surface)

 

Third problem is a creaking rear right suspension, if driving slow or parking in a carpark its very noticeable an can be intermittent, it can be heard if i higher up the suspension to the max then lower to normal driving position..

 

Also it threw up pollution sumthing or other and ESP fault codes at the same time 3 days ago, i later came out to the car and everything was back to normal lol..

 

 

Car has 101,000 miles on the clock and service history..

 

 

Any pointers or possible fixes appreciated as its due NCT next week (Irish version of MOT)

[Guest 2.2 HDI]

Bump any idea's lads, also spam bot clean up??

[paul.h]

A common thing to check on the 2.2 hdi is at the right hand end (when looking at it) of the cylinder head, the swirl control actuator rod breaks off at the plastic ball socket. The part is £20 and may give running problems and anti pollution messages. You may also need to replace the particulate filter if this was not done at about 75000 miles - this also gives poor fuel consumption when blocked and pollution messages.

 

The 2.2 manual is about 10% higher fuel consumption than the 2.0 hdi and the auto even worse so if the 2.0 gave 42 mpg then you are going to get low 30s. What does the car handbook give for official mpg or you could compare CO2 figures for old/new cars.

 

Coastline taxis is our expert on the suspension (and everything else on the C5) but as a guess, you could have a problem with the suspension spheres.

 

The creaking suspension may be something that needs WD40 spraying on it or a worn suspension arm bearing.

[Guest 2.2 HDI]

A common thing to check on the 2.2 hdi is at the right hand end (when looking at it) of the cylinder head, the swirl control actuator rod breaks off at the plastic ball socket. The part is £20 and may give running problems and anti pollution messages. You may also need to replace the particulate filter if this was not done at about 75000 miles - this also gives poor fuel consumption when blocked and pollution messages.

 

The 2.2 manual is about 10% higher fuel consumption than the 2.0 hdi and the auto even worse so if the 2.0 gave 42 mpg then you are going to get low 30s. What does the car handbook give for official mpg or you could compare CO2 figures for old/new cars.

 

Coastline taxis is our expert on the suspension (and everything else on the C5) but as a guess, you could have a problem with the suspension spheres.

 

The creaking suspension may be something that needs WD40 spraying on it or a worn suspension arm bearing.

 

From what i can make out the handbook says 38mpg combined for the 2.2 auto.. Ill check that swirl control actuator tomorrow! Is the particulate filter hard to change also are the spheres expensive and hard to change, i never had to change anything in the old c5 so even though i owned one this is all new to me..

 

Cheers for the reply paul.

 

Stevo.

[Randombloke]

Early C5s seem to suffer from binding front brakes. I end up checking mine every year about this time, clean them up and there is usually another 4mpg to be had, or 6 mpg on long runs.

[Guest 2.2 HDI]

Early C5s seem to suffer from binding front brakes. I end up checking mine every year about this time, clean them up and there is usually another 4mpg to be had, or 6 mpg on long runs.

 

Worth a look! Cheers :)