New Owner With A Few Questions

[BDonati]

Hello all :-)


Having just bought this C5 (2005 2,0 HDI) , I have a few questions.




1: The rain sensor is far to sensitive, is there anything that can be done?

2: There is a rattle when idling in neutral, it goes away as soon as the clutch pedal is slightly pressed. I am thing this is the throw out bearing?

3: The clutch pedal seems harder than normal. Could this be bearing related or worn clutch or something else?

4: I also have a 2002 C5 petrol with H3+, This one has H3 (no sport button) This 2005 C5 seems mutch harder than the 2002. Is that just the difference between H3 and H3+ or could it be the 18" wheels? The tires are 225/40/18 could it make a difference fitting 225/45/18 tires? The current tires a cheap china tires, maybe it will be better getting some premium tires.

Brian Donati

 

 

 

 

 

[paul.h]

Welcome to the forum.

 

I went from a 2004 mark 1 C5 to a 2007 mark 2 C5 and found the suspension a bit firmer, however, it could be a change of the lds fluid will help but it has about 5 litres so would cost about £60. It could also be a sphere needs replacing, this is from the Common Problems pinned topic:

44. How to check the suspension spheres.

This topic contains useful information from coastline taxis on how to check which sphere is at fault if the suspension is hard http://www.citroen-o...ues/#entry83812

 

I find the intermittant wipe on the rain sensor is not as good as a normal timed one but just live with it and often prefer to manually push the wiper stalk for a single wipe. The windscreen needs to be kept clean in the area of the rain sensor so you could look at this.

 

Standard wheels/tyres are 215/55/R16 for all the mark 2 C5s so somebody has fit non standard wheels to the car. It may be better to change the wheels to standard ones to improve the ride.

 

The rattle could possibly be the clutch release bearing or it could be the dmf starting to show signs of wear.

 

I have found the clutch pedal is harder on the C5 than other cars but you could try bleeding the clutch in case it was not done at the last 2 yearly brake fluid change. If it gets too hard then possibly the clutch needs replacing.

[ESL57]

Low profile tyres are a comfort killer. Taller profile is what you want.

  You can also get different pressure spheres for comfort. AEP do them.

      Cheapest place for Total LDS is Neilsen Wholesale. 2 litres posted last week was about 17quid all in.

[BDonati]

Hello :-)

 

Thank you for the replies :-)

 

Sorry about the late update, 

 

 

The rattle turned out to be the  clutch release bearing and the dmf needing to be replaced. 

 

The clutch is still much to hard? 

 

I have replaced the wheels with some 215/55/16 and that improved the ride softness a lot. It is still not as soft as I would like it to be.

 

I am considering comfort spheres. But when I try to find opinions of these I see a lot of negative opinions of them, mostly people saying that they just have a bigger dampening hole so that they mess with the dampening?

 

Anyone on here have them? 

[coastline taxis]

take the alloys off. steel wheels will flex and give with the road conditions alloys wont

[paul.h]

In your other topic on the suspension pump possibly running slow, it has been suggested to replace the suspension fluid and this may help to soften the ride.

[BDonati]

Hello :-)

 

Current wheels are 215/55/16 winter tires on steel wheels.

 

I checked the hydraulic oil level and there was 1 liter to little in.

 

I topped it up, and now the pump runs normally and the ride seems a little softer.

 

 

I still would like it to be a little softer, 

 

 

Doesn't anyone have experience with comfort spheres?

[ESL57]

I find the clutch pedal on my 02 HDI 8v very light, as light as I have driven. Less you have a blocked or collapsed hose in circuit?

    Check what type spheres you have on the car, as someone may have put wrong items on as replacements. My rears are 31 bar.

 Other remote possibility is that your swinging arm bearings are stiff and not giving travel. 

     You should be able to bounce rear between 4 and 6 inches, the front a bit less.

 

Differing opinions on comfort spheres........Like everything.  Even the same cars can be different to drive, different mpg, handling, ride comfort etc. So many technical variables, then ,subjective opinion.

[MikeLane]

For what it's worth, my Xantia started pitching whilst in France and it turned out that I needed a couple of new front spheres. The garage used the chassis number to determine which spheres I needed as, strangely, they "changed" from time to time during the production run!! So, in your case perhaps "wrong" replacement spheres have been fitted.

[MikeLane]

Forgot to say that on my CX, BXs, Xantia and C5 people have said that the clutches are heavy compared to the various makes they drove.

[MikeLane]

Oh Dear! Another thing you metioned is "Current wheels are 215/55/16 winter tires on steel wheels." If the "Winter" Tyres are reinforced the ride will be harder.