Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Well its very quiet on here at present. so why not post all your hints and tips as no one is ever to old to learn so here goes.

 

front Droplinks. always have the suspension set to high then put a crowbar on the anti roll bar where it meets the droplinks and push down. if theres movement then the droplinks need replacing

Posted
There is an article in the March 2012 Car Mechanics magazine on a bad C5. Soon after buying there were clouds of steam under bonnet and hoses rock hard but then as a fix the garage where it was bought from simply put a hole in the coolant expansion bottle cap at the dot on the ! so the temp gauge did not go high - possibly the head gasket had failed. Also the rear calipers had corroded away where the pad retaining bolt goes through (grease could have prevented this - a tip) so the pads were held in on one side with tie wraps. The buyer decided to reject the car and was going to the small claims court before the garage finally decided to settle and give a refund.
Posted

INTERIOR DOOR HANDLES

 

aslong as there the same side the rear handle will fit the front all you have to do is

 

turn handle over and youl see two lugs that hold the handle to the door shave quarter of a inch of the rear lug and itl fit. The front handle will fit the rear without any adaptation

Posted

Yes , it is strangely quiet

My only tip at the moment is not to listen when people laugh at you for buying a C5

They don't know what they are missing

 

Dave, when people ask me why I drive a crap french car, I always ask them 3 questions, 1stly which manufacturer won the F1 GP this year oh yes, Renault, 2ndly, who won the Le Mans GP series this year, oh yes it was Peugeot and 3rdly, who won the Rally World series this year again, oh that will be Citroen, no BMW, Audi, Merc, SAAB, Volvo, Ford, then ask them this, where does BMW, Ford, Volvo, Chrysler and about half a dozen other manufacturers get their diesel engines from, oh yes PSA.....usually shuts them up.....

  • Upvote 1
Posted
It could be that the site has so much info on it that any newbies can look up just about everything for the answers without having to ask any questions as much of it is here.
Posted

"Dave, when people ask me why I drive a crap french car"

 

I have been a car mech for 22 years now , i work on every model in all areas servicing , clutches ,engine work , diagnosis

 

the french stuff have there faults like every other but recently some of the "top marques" stuff have gone down hill big time...... Mercs and Audi, VWs the build quality has gone down hill badly , i work on Range Rovers and Bentleys ...continentals and Spurs and the like , they go wrong all the time and its not £100 or £200 fixes...... its more like £1500 or £2000 repairs !!! and these are cars that costs £60grand and upwards .

 

The french stuff are not so bad for the money you pay , and its like what was already said loads of the other manufactures are using the psa diesel motor ............ just keep away from that 1.6 hdi oooooooo its a bad un , black death engine EGR control to the hilt !!

Posted

Here's one that is a bit controversial, but I do it to save time when doing oil change myself out in the road. I've stopped jacking the car up at the front now, I just raise the suspension fully, my axle stands then just slide under the front wishbones. Saves dragging a heavy jack all the way to the front of my house.

I've got much better at changing the headlight bulbs through seven years of refining technique. Use a small mirror to look into back of headlight (usually need a torch too) so can remind self of layout, then can now reach in and unclip the clip with minimum of fuss. When refitting bulb I find it handy to do it and look at front of car headlight from outside to make sure is fitted straight, as is possible to do on an angle and do up the clip, but bulb will not be in right. Often when it seems a struggle to do I switch hands and try with the other hand (even when it would seem as if it would be more difficult) and it becomes possible to do it. I now can do both headlights without ever needing to move battery or the header tank thing on the other side which speeds it all up massively.

When I fit a new oil filter I don't wear a latex glove at all and fit it as tightly as I can by hand. When I come to remove it I find if I wear a glove the extra grip seems to enable me to always undo it by hand myself. Again saves time faffing about with that tool for removing the filter that there is never quite room for!

Posted

In response to Fatgut I have to say it's my own fatgut that prevents me doing an oil change without jacking it up

 

Would anyone risk a new-shape C5 1.6 Hdi on short gentle trips with regularv oil changes ?

Posted
no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no and no. Ive yet to see a 1.6 with more than 100k on the clock with the original turbo. We done work on a pug 407 last year for a local taxi driver and that had3 turbos in 6 months and we followed the recomendations ie new oil pump and vacum pump and all oil pipes also all the air pipes and everything replaced sump off and rocker box off and engine cleaned out. it nearly bankrupt the owner. there just totol shite. Dave your normally quite level headed and give good input on the forum. i think it best if myself and other members put your last posting down to a moment of sheer madness or some kind of mental ilness. get well soon my friend
Posted
What Coastline said , the 1.6 are just bad no matter whats done to them they just keep going wrong , one of the issues it the turbo has a very small housing and it spins to fast a just has to work to hard , also they have 60 percent EGR control .....the exhaust gases kill the oil but even with regular changes with good quality oil it will still fail .
Posted
£15 spent in halfords buying / having the headlight bulb changed is much better than reading all the instructions from someone who has already struggled in the cold with greasy fingers for two hours to change the headlight bulb, and then struggling yourself in the cold with greasy fingers for a further two hours. That's my tip.
Posted

fatgut has posted - I've stopped jacking the car up at the front now, I just raise the suspension fully,

 

In the car handbook it says to raise the suspension to max before using the jack. There have been reports on here when this has not been done and suspension problems have resulted.

Posted

OK , I definitely won't get a 1.6 Hdi C5 now .I'm wondering if this is a future trend with big cars and small engines - 1.5 diesel Renault Laguna, 1.6 diesel Volvo V70 , 1.4 litre Skoda Superb , 1.0 litre Ford Focus ? Engine has to work so hard to pull the car along, it wears out quickly ? Obviously OK for fleet managers if somneone else pays for the bills during the lease period

 

Is this engine no good in the C4 1.6 Hdi ?

 

Another tip - Mr Sheen leather wipes - good for cleaning the steering wheel without removing the colour/surface of the leather

Posted

A couple of things picked up from Car Mechanics mag are that fitting smaller engines means they are running at higher revs, so more likely at the most efficient point so emissions are lower and if the car companies do not meet their emissions targets they are/will be fined. However, the fact they wear out and cost more to maintain probably is not part of this. Small engines are ok for shopping but once on the motorway or towing the caravan, the larger the engine the better.

 

We are on our second C4 with the 110 hp 1.6 hdi (there is also a 90 hp one) and this engine works well but the car is 1300 kg vs a C5 at maybe around 1550 kg. I think they are still known for turbo failure though, our last C4 was on 47k miles when sold and always smoked on starting but it did not have an exhaust filter and it may not have been a turbo wear problem.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

In this months Car Mechanics magazine there's an article which basically says - do not buy a Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI because of (unspecified) engine problems . I believe this is the same engine as the 1.6 Hdi Peugeot Citroen unit.

 

Is this part of a new trend for manufacturers to build cars that last the warranty period and no more ?

Posted

Probably most people know about this but if you have alloy wheels on a car new to you then remove them and put a smear of copper grease where they contact the hubs after cleaning up the contact points with a file. I have always found that the wheels/hubs corrode together a bit if not greased, making it difficult to remove the wheels and better to do this at home before a puncture and wheel change.

 

Easiest way to free the stuck wheels I have found is with a lump of wood held against the back of the tyre (not the alloy part) and hit the wood with a heavy hammer (4 lb works a treat) with the car on max suspension height and jacked up but only slacken the wheel bolts until the wheel starts to move so less worries about being squashed if the car falls off the jack/axle stand.

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted
Having bought a 07 1500vtx with 1006 thousand on the clock, the article on the fifteen engine don't sound that good, only problm at the moment is a leak at the pipe entering the steering box other wise car is very clean although not any where near the sixty to the gallon advertised by Citroen or Even fifty for that matter, and i can manage 30 out of my 2.8 non turbo fiat camper so its not down to a heavy foot on the c5. i have the bills spent by Zenith vehicle contracts and the were charged £30.48 for s/f h/l bulb, in total they spent £4,938.01 in the 101thousand miles, inclusive mot and tax, hoping i wont have to spend so much :)
Posted
Just another hint, I use a 2009 C5 exclusive 2.0 HDI and was sufferring the dreaded limp mode about every 6 weeks or so. I satrted adding Redex deisel additive to every tank (I use a full tank every week) and the problem has gone. It obviously helps the regeneration cycle, not sure how but at £4 for two treatments it is worth it for me.
Posted

Just another hint, I use a 2009 C5 exclusive 2.0 HDI and was sufferring the dreaded limp mode about every 6 weeks or so. I satrted adding Redex deisel additive to every tank (I use a full tank every week) and the problem has gone. It obviously helps the regeneration cycle, not sure how but at £4 for two treatments it is worth it for me.

 

qman, try changing your fuel filter. I had the exact same problem, every 4 to 6 weeks the car would drop into limp mode and the fault codes showed low fuel rail pressure, strangely adding Redex seemed to help, but eventually, a Citroen specialist told me there is an issue with some of the fuel filters on the market and changed mine (not expensive - certainly cheaper than Redex every 4 to 6 weeeks) and I haven't had the problem since.

 

Rgds

 

Gary

Posted
I changed the fuel filter, it cost £65 for the part and another £60 for the main dealer to do it. It made no difference. I have to say the car runs extremly well and I do 550 to 600 miles a week in it. Given a tank of fuel is £95 an extra £2 to avoid limp mode is well worth while and seems to give slightly better MPG as well. As a motorway cruiser these C5s take some beating.
Posted

I changed the fuel filter, it cost £65 for the part and another £60 for the main dealer to do it. It made no difference. I have to say the car runs extremly well and I do 550 to 600 miles a week in it. Given a tank of fuel is £95 an extra £2 to avoid limp mode is well worth while and seems to give slightly better MPG as well. As a motorway cruiser these C5s take some beating.

 

qman, mine is the same although the 2.2hdi 173bhp 6 speed auto, it does around 600 miles per week and averages 44mpg (mostly m'way mileage) it is a supreme cruiser. The fuel filter fitted to my car didn't cost that much and I haven't had the limp mode kick in since (touch wood).

 

G

Posted

The one on mine is built in to the cooling system and is a sealed unit so you have to replace the entire sealed unit, hence the cost. The changing also loses cooling fluid so the antifreeze needs to be topped up, then I was at main dealer prices plus VAT. Altogether not a cheap replacement.

Other hints for potential or current 2009 2.0 HDi owners:-

The windscreen trim can fly off at speed, this was a recall on early 2009 models and should have been done.

There is a recall on late 2009 models for a defective wiper motor which may cause a fire.

There was a batch of short wiring harnesses which cause a bad connection on the footbrake switch, this manifests itself as random unexplainable defects, none of which you would expect to come from this fault (including limp mode). Citroen know about it and have produced a short extension piece which fixes the problem but they have not recalled affected cars and only do the work if you complain enough or have a good main dealer.

There was also a batch of faulty engine bay fuse boxes which can cause the autobox to fail to select the correct gear.(Mine only gave me third) again Citroen are aware and again they have not bothered to do a recall.

My car is now out of warranty due to mileage so I have fitted K&N filters and chipped it to 180 bhp which makes it altogether a better car to drive, Still doing 42mpg with high speed motorway use, can get 46 if I drive like an old man (I am only 60) not bad for a fully laden automatic. I previously had the Avensis 2.2 deisel which I chipped to 200 bhp but it didn't like being so highly tuned so I dropped it to 180 and then it gave me 50mpg which I put down to being a manual gearbox. Don't believe the Toyota Hype, it had more problems than the C5 has.

Posted

I see there's a recommendation for oil changes on 1.6 Hdi engines which is basically to do it the old school way - take out the sump plug and let it drain while the oil is hot

Seems sucking it out through the dipstick hole doesn't get all the muck out ( as we could have guessed )

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...