Part Identification Help!

[CluelessMuppet]

As my name states I am not a petrol head and am I quite cluess about the vast majority of a car (Basic premise and parts fine, but the nitty-gritty stuff? Zero clue I'm afraid!) and I'm hoping the more experienced and clued up owners might be able to help (Which is everyone besides me!). I have a 2002 2.2 HDi Exclusive C5.

 

I was doing normal checks, oil etc, and noticed the part below was broken, looks like some kind of solid rod coming from the dash area (Bottom-ish) up to a triangular piece of metal on the side of the engine. I have no clue what it is or does - I have no warning lights, everythings working, I tried to adjust stuff to see if anything had an effect and nothing happened - for all intents and purposes that I can see it does ... nothing. But I know that can't be the case! I can see how it should connect and that it's broke but no idea what it's for and if driving around like this will result in a fireball and a rather swift end to my life?

 

Any help for a nerd who really should knuckle down and learn about cars more please? :)

 

First image - Where the "weird part" is located...

 

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f344/E_V_I_L/image.jpeg

 

 

The part itself close up - Left hand box highlights the bit on the engine, the right hand box highlights the rod/shaft that disappears into filthy car guts and doesn't appear to do anything!

 

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f344/E_V_I_L/image2.jpeg

[paul.h]

Welcome to the forum.

 

This is a common failure point on the 2.2 hdi 136 bhp engine. The plastic socket breaks. It comes complete with the actuator at the end of the rod and the part is called a diaphragm (full name swirl control diaphragm), Citroen part no. 036387 and cost about £20 5 years ago when I had to replace one. To replace the complete part is awkward but it is possible to just swap the plastic socket over, try removing the broken one first to see how to do it. Also clean up the ball and maybe use a bit of grease on it.

 

When it failed on our car I noticed the performance was not as good but the fuel economy hd improved quite a lot, from about 50 to 60 mpg but that may have been coincidence. Others have reported the engine management light coming on and esp faults.

 

If you look on the C5 Technical section there is a pinned topic of Common Problems on the C5 that is worth looking at. It includes this failure and has a link to a topic on how to replace the part.