C5 04 Estate Air Circulation (Aircon)

[ghostms]

this one is not that dificult problem and im trying to solve it my seft.

when i put the air circulation (dont know how to call it, when you want air to come out and cool/heat the inside of the car) in the drivers side the air that come out is hot and it doesnt matter if i have 16 or 28 degrees set on it, it still come out hot, (passengers side is as it should be, works fine). the mechanic said to change the air con motor that changes the air intake from the engine to outside http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/m9jpDljJCQhTIUQwU2Ln3RQ.jpgsimilar to this little thing, but i checked the old one and now the new one they both dont work when i change the temperature. but they do turn on when i press http://thumbs2.picclick.com/d/l400/pict/141286223345_/CITROEN-C5-AIRCON-HEATER-CONTROL-UNIT.jpg the button on the left side below the auto button, then that motor is turning. do not know the error code...

so my question is:

IS THERE ANY OTHER MOTOR THAT CHANGES THE AIR INTAKE?

IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH THE ELECTRICS?

IS THE ANYTHING ELSE BROKEN AFTER THAT MOTOR?

Edited May 22, 2015 by ghostms

[paul.h]

I have assumed your car is left hand drive for use in Spain and it has automatic climate control.

 

I could be wrong but have you changed the motor that puts the air flow on to recirculation (it is located high up above the passenger footwell for a left hand drive car) and not one that adjusts the heater flap position ?

 

The passenger side heater flap position motor is located close to the left side of the passenger footwell and is awkward to reach. The driver's side heater flap motor is located at the right side of the driver's footwell and is a bit easier to reach. Sometimes the socket on the heater flap that the motor fits in to can break and there is a topic here which may help from the C5 Technical section Common Problems pinned topic:

 

10. The air conditioning only gives cold air at one side or does not cool much.

The evaporator matrix cooling the air on the C5 is long and if the amount of refrigerant is low then there will not be enough to cool all the matrix for both sides of the cabin. First step should be a regass then if that does not work and there are no leaks then look at replacing the air flap control motors. A regass may be about £50, a flap new motor about £60. It could also be damage to the air flap shaft motor fitting - see this post http://www.citroen-o...c5-2002-aircon/ . I had to have both C5s regassed when about 7 years old, on the second one there was a printout that showed there was only 93 g of refrigerant left and that 525 g were put back in yet the air con was working and gas could be heard going through the pressure control valve but the air was not cooling much.

 

 

Also have a look at this topic for a possible fix to a broken heater flap connection http://www.citroen-owners-club.co.uk/citroen/topic/22652-c5-v6-problems-and-fixes-exhaust-heater-flap-motor-air-bag-ecu/

[ghostms]

yeah the car is left hand drive and it does have auto climate control.

 

um and by your explanation where the motor is i think i changed the right one...when you take of the cosmetic plastic under the steering wheel you can see that motor on the right side kinda deep (well left if we were talking about the right hand drive), i go to the two links you shared. seems that the problem is deeper then the motor, will check it manually on monday to be sure. right reading more and there are two similar motors in almost same place??? The reduction motor for distribution flaps and The reduction motor for mixing flaps...

honestly i think i will go to break yard again just to see better how everything looks there under the dash since i know there is one with dash already off, was stupid not to do it when i was taking the parts off.

 

and about refrigerant yeah that is totally gone...need to fill it, but the problem is not about that, because even with out it there should be difference between 16 and 28 degrees and there isnt, on the passenger side it is perfect... 16 degrees normal air 28 degrees hot air, drivers side no matter what degrees the air is hot.

 

btw prices here is spain is a lot cheaper... air con regass 40euro and i got second hand motor for a 10euro, ventilator for 20euro... spanish love citroens, here are tons of them so break yards are loaded with them, even in a small one i went i got 4 or 5 c5s to choose from. problem is that c5 estate or break dont know what to call it, is very rare and  i drive all around spain and seen only one so far (tho not that this matter for this problem)... but i got more...

 

i know this will be off topic, but when i search the forum i ether dont know what im looking for or the search engine just cant find it. so one more problem:

1. esp sensor need to be changed ( at least thats what the mechanic said right after he said that esp only needs to be set up right with computer). problem i got, i dont know where it is or even how it looks and i cant even find esp sensor anywhere on the web it seems that the name in english is different or something. do you know the link anywhere about it or a picture how it looks.

i must say i live in spain only two years and im not the one talking to the mechanics.

[paul.h]

Another member will hopefully confirm this, but I thought the esp works from the wheel abs sensors so that if the car detects a wheel at a different speed to the others, the car will apply individual brakes to help prevent a skid or wheel spin. The steering angle sensor may also be part of the esp system.

 

There are some things here that are worth looking at http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/?t=19811

[ghostms]

 

 

There are some things here that are worth looking at http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/?t=19811

 i think i read that before once i got the car and was looking for problem fixes, mostly the site is talking about things that my car already got rid off

i have changed:

timing belt kit

all filters and oil

hydraulic liquid with a little pipe that was leaking

all tires

ventilator and one motor for air circulation (which i think is wrong change anyways)

few little parts (front wheel section) for mot

lights sensor

2 bulbs

catalytic converter liquid and maybe few part with it

 

the mechanic told that the problem is esp sensor and it should be located somewhere around the wheel so i guess it is abs sensor...before i look to buy one i will try cleaning this one...cause i already had problems with electric windows and cleaning the switches did the job. one windows was working badly...turned out only little white plastic was out that connects the motor to the glass.

 

still 3 problems i got is:

esp sensor

air con regass (cant fill it until i didnt sort out this motor problem im having)

arms for back wheels (my back wheels bottom parts are tilted outwards and i need to change the whole part to fix it, a very expensive fix)

once these 3 more thing is sorted car will be perfect.

 

thanks for all the help

[ghostms]

heater flap motor, problem NOT with motor it self, but the part that it connects to! everyone in the forums was correct as that part wears off with time.

If you get similar problem and the mechanics tell you that the motor is broken DO NOT believe them, as everyone said here that those motor rarely go wrong.

paul.h posted very good links and i had one in citroen.mforos.com (sorry i was shown it and cant find it where it exactly is), but it had pictures and everything how to fix it.

solutions for it is:

1. buy a newer motor with a longer black "star" shaped spindle. easy and least time consuming fix, but the most expensive.

2. get one second hand from a brake yard and take out the spindle and join it with the other one so it become twise longer, not a hard fix took me 20min to modify it.

3. repair the worn hole, i personaly do not advise it cause you have to take out the dashboard which will take a lot of time.

 

i chose the second fix because i have had already bought the second motor thinking that it is not working (mechanic idea), tho i checked it today and it was spinning fine out of the socket, then i put my finger in the socket and it actually fitted in. then i took the other motor apart took the spindle out and tried with it and i could spin and change the position of the flaps manually. so i took that peace apart and left only the end of it. shaped it to fit in the other one and glued it together with the whatever (sorry havent used it for a long time and cant remember the name of it and if tell it in spanish that wont help right...you know the one grey when it hardens becomes like a metal) all that took me around 20min. tools used: hammer to get the peace i needed and kitchen knife to shape it fit in (note...any tools you got at hand maybe better then mine does the job). once shaping was done the peace fitted so well that the glue wasnt really needed and its there only for insurance. cost 10euros for motor. glue i already had. i dont think any tut is needed cause once you have the two peaces in your hands it is very easy to come up with the idea, i didnt use any i jsut was told after that someone did it before me...so creativity i guess...

end result might not be pretty but im sure it will do the job:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y174/Ghost_Ridah/2015-05-26_21-05-41_232.jpg

another note to get this motor off you got to take the middle panel off, meaning radio, air con consule all that. to see how to do it you have to look online, theres like 4-5 steps and 8 screws... dont have the link since when i tried to take it out throw the side where your feet goes i could only unscrew 2 screws and the last one was behind the air con pipes with no way to it. tho i took a mobile on the spot browsed the net for c5 .... the site was c5club.com and tittle how process to dismantling dashboard ... and you will find the link with pictures there.

hope this helps for someone!

thanks for everyone and specially for paul.h

[paul.h]

Thankyou for this fix, I will link to it in the Common Problems post.