Hello! Long Time Citroen Fanatic With C5 Issues & Pregnant Wif

[grimble]

Hello there!  :)

 

As the title say's, I've been a huge fan of Citroen's since a child. Memories of being driven by family friends in France in a very old 2CV back in the 70's!

I've owned 7 Citroen's now from AX's, BX, ZX, Xantia & an XM, Xantia being my favorite to drive and the XM being totally cool. Maybe have the oppotunity to drive a DS one day hopefully.

 

Anyway, here's the story which is happening now.

I've had to sell my campervan as my lovely wife is now pregnant and was having difficulties in getting in and out of the van. This was our only vehicle so sold that on Saturday (yesterday morning) and then went to look at a Citroen C5 estate.

The C5 seemed to be perfect for us as we are considering pulling a caravan in the future, so I did my research and located what I thought was the best C5 for us.

A (2002) 2.2HDI SX with only 68000 miles on the clock, fully serviced from a Citroen Garage and totally clean.

 

I bought the car privately and got a reasonable price, tested the car out and drove it around. All ok so I bought the car!

 

Firstly driving half an hour down the road with the fan blower on, this stopped working and hasn't worked since. Maybe the fuse? I'll have to check. It's the climate control version and the rest of the buttons are lighting up and working.

 

Also, now I've noticed a sign that say's 'Diesel Additive Min. Level'.

I've done some looking around at forums etc and looks like I'll have to get this sorted ASAP! I've got £200 spare (which I was going to buy a cook with!) which I can use to hopefully solve the problem.

 

I'm considering what to do, should I get Citroen to sort this? or, get an independant garage to sort it? or try and sort it myself? My level of expertise is average to low (I have changed a starter motor on a Xantia before).

 

I'm planning to keep this for a few years as I really love the car, but looking for the best way to precede and within my budget of £200.

Can anyone give me a little advise perhaps with the Fan & the Eolys etc.

 

Hopefully get this done before my wife pops. (way off yet!)

Thanks, much appreciated!

 

Graham (Swansea) - 'An Englishman in South Wales!'

 

[Johndouglas]

 the fan blower  stopped working

 

Hello and welcome to the forum.   We'll try and help you with your new C5.   But the wife - we'll have to leave that to others... :D

Yes - check the fuse for the fan.   Also there's a heater control module resistor down by the pedals which sometimes gives trouble.   Often you can get used ones on ebay.

 

The "diesel additive" warning shouldn't be ignored because the Eolys is required to be there so that the correct amount is injected into the fuel tank for successful working of the particle filter system.   If you ignore the warning, the particle filter will quickly block and the engine will go into limp mode.   Eolys fluid unfortunately is very expensive and the tank takes around 5 litres.   Similar fluid can be found on ebay.   Google "Pat fluid".   There is an alternative to refilling the system with Eolys.   That is to have the particle filter removed from the car.   It isn't actually removed.   The filter box is opened and the core is drilled or knocked out - and then the box is replaced.   But then the car's ECU needs to be modified so that the engine doesn't expect to regenerate.

 

 

 

 

 

[grimble]

Thanks, I've been looking around at it seem the air blower problem maybe the result of the resistor pack. But when it stops raining I'll check the fuse box! Funny how it stopped working half an hour after I bought the car, strange co-incidence! I hope nothing is short circuiting, making it blow.

 

There's a kit for the Eolys which is £130 also a video in French that shows how to do it on youtube, shame my French is only minimal! But it looks possible as long as the car computer recognises that it has been done and clears the fault. I wonder how long this fault has been around and I'm hoping it hasn't effected the particle filter.

 

I'll call a couple of garages tomorrow just to see how much it would be but more than likely I'll do the job, although a bit scary!

Wishing there was a good HD video in English, perhaps have a go in making one myself and if successful it may help many.

 

Thanks!!

[paul.h]

If you do not want to go down the route of removing the exhaust particle filter and eoylis fluid system from the ecu, if topping up the eoylis fluid (and possibly needing to tell the car this has been done - diagnostic work), the filter may still need replacing (due about 70k miles from the maintenance record book). However, it may be possible to remove it and jet it out to clear the ash that builds up. I seem to remember somebody on here doing this a long time ago and the Haynes manual for the same engine in a Peugeot mentions cleaning.

 

The Haynes manual for the C5 does not cover the 2.2 hdi engine but Citroen manuals on 3 dvds are available from such as ebay for about £5 and include parts diagrams. You can also see the parts diagrams on the service.citroen website, register as an other professional, member of the Citroen Owners Club.

 

If the fan resistor pack goes it may still be possible to run the fan on full speed, but I am not sure.

[grimble]

Thanks for that.

 

I've ordered a kit to replace the diesel additive and it should arrive tomorrow, So I'll give that a go!

I'll then try and find someone who can reset the ecu counter so the warning is not displayed, perhaps there's a cheap device on ebay that can do it?

 

I've also ordered a resistor pack from Hong Kong for £22, hopefully that should work when it arrives.

 

I can't think about the PAT filter at the moment, too much already after buying the car! Hopefully the warning wont come up until next year sometime and then find the best way to deal with it with the funds I have. Jetwashing maybe a good option as there are plenty of videos on youtube of that although some say it only lasts for so long! Perhaps I'll try some high-rev action on the M4 to give it a clean!!

 

All excited about the car as it's sooo nice to drive but not as nimble as the Xantia, but it's more stable in corners than the XM estate I had!

Planning to take some sexy B&W C5 pictures on the Brecon Beacons near me soon lol!!

[grimble]

Wow, had to send back 4.5L of Patfluid. Did some research and it's not compatible with the existing DPX42 already in the car, you can't mix 'em. Anyway, ordered just 1l from local Citroen garage with kit and then I'll put another litre or 3 later on after looking for the cheapest way to reset the ECU.