Newbie C5 2004 2.2 Hdi Auto Essex & Queries

[doro708]

Hi all and thank you for allow me to join your forum.

 

I have a Citroen C5 from 2004 2.2 HDI Automatic with 4 speed , Exclusive trim level. 

I have just bought the car yesterday and seems to be in a good condition . At the moment it has 104k miles , timing belt changed at 96k miles and it drives good for now. 

 

Although i have a few questions : 

 

1) Does anyone know a good garage or a specialist near the Billericay area in Essex that i could use in the future and have the service done , gearbox fluid done and all the relevant checks ?

 

2) Yesterday when i have bought the car both key fobs were working ok but this morning none of them is working so i can lock and unlock the car only if i inserts the key into the door . Does anyone have any idea about what it could be as it seems so out of nowhere since they were both working fine yesterday ?

 

I have also attached a few pictures with the car . 

 

Future plans will be to upgrade the speakers and add a xcarlink with Bluetooth . 

 

Thanks,

Adrian

 

[coastline taxis]

very nice indeed.

 re gearbox  Take it to the dealers its around £100  but worth every penny as its a complicated job to change the box oil and involves using thermometers.

 

the keys try new batterys then resync them to the car (ignition on hold lock button on key fob for 10 seconds then try fob )

[doro708]

Hi and thank you for the suggestion Coastline Taxis. I will go on Monday to the Citroen dealer in Basildon to ask for a quote and if it comes around £100 i will do it there .

Regarding the key i have ordered new batteries but i will have them only on Monday although i am a bit sceptical that the cause is the battery but i will see when i will get them .

I also have a Haynes manual for the car , it was included in the sale so if anyone from the Essex area needs to have a look or to borrow it a bit i am happy to help .

[paul.h]

You could also try the remote keys with the car parked elsewhere in case there is radio interference from something. Resyncing the remotes after replacing the remote battery is covered in the handbook (and Haynes) in case you forget how to do it.

[doro708]

Thank you Paul .

 

I have tried already in different places and it didn't worked so I will wait until I got my batteries , change them , resync the keys and I will see then .

[paul.h]

You will find the Haynes manual does not cover the 2.2 hdi engine, your 136 bhp one or the later 173 bhp one. However, it covers the rest of the car. If you want a manual, the Citroen service box has the workshop procedures, wiring and parts diagrams and comes on 3 dvds from such as ebay. It is also available as a download and on the C8 section there is a link for this in a post by Simple.

 

If you need to jack the car up the suspension should first be raised to max height and then switched off, otherwise suspension problems can occur. Also do not go underneath it without using axle stands since if a height sensor is caught the suspension can quickly drop to a very low level.

[doro708]

Thank you for all the informations Paul. I've looked through the Haynes manual and I've seen that it doesn't cover the 2.2 and at the moment I am fine with the engine .

Regarding the suspension I will take that advice .

Like I said on my first post I would appreciate if anyone can suggest a knowledgeable mechanic in Essex for my car based on their experience as I have already looked for independent specialists and I found 2 but I would like to get a recommendation from someone .

[paul.h]

You could try a message to Arak81, he is in the London area and has used a few garages to sort problems on his C4. However, if you do your own maintenance the C5 is not difficult to look after and on one of the C5 sections there are a couple of pinned topics to help with cleaning the brakes which needs doing every year or so. There is also a pinned topic of common problems to have a look at.

[doro708]

Hi again and thank you all for your help.

I have managed to sort out the remote by changing the battery and do a reset of the BSI, the procedure with the window down , battery disconnect, etc. 

Everything works now . The problem with one of the remotes is that the unlock button after it is pressed it sticks in so i need to be careful with that . 

This morning i had the coolant level low warning so when i checked , it was correct the level was low but that might have been me not tightening the enough when i have checked the level first time so i will keep an eye on it. 

I need to change one of the sidelights bulbs and do a service but that will wait until i come back from my holiday . 

I also think something needs to be changed on the suspension as it does not seem very smooth, i can feel some of the bumps too much and there is also a slight knock in the steering wheel over bumps and potholes at low speed . I would appreciate if there is someone around me with a similar car to give me a quick ride and compare them . 

Regarding the service i have seen that Citroen do a fixed price major service + mot starting from £229 with aftermarket parts or £289 with OEM parts and this service also includes the gearbox oil change . Do you reckon this is a decent price ? What are guys paying for a major service or a gearbox oil change ? 

 

Kind regards,

Adrian

[paul.h]

The service will be engine oil/filter change, pollen filter change, air filter change, diesel filter change, a few checks but these are mostly the same ones as the MOT. Anything else such as cleaning the brakes, brake/clutch fluid change will be extra. Coastline has indicated the gearbox oil change is about £100 and a full price MOT is about £55 so the service element is about £135.

 

Apart from the gearbox oil change, these are all fairly straight forward diy jobs and OEM parts from Citroen are about diesel filter £65, oil filter £7, 6 litres of Total INEO ECS 5w/30 oil about £50 (internet will be less), sump plug washer 40p, air filter £20, pollen filter £20 - so the parts total about £165 to do DIY. Since this is more than Citroen are charging for the service element you need to check what is covered.

 

The slight steering knock could be a worn anti roll bar drop link and this would be picked up at the MOT. If the noise is from the back of the car, the C5 can be a bit clunky noise wise when going over bumps, but if squeaking then it could be the rear suspension arm bearings are worn - if the tops of the wheels are leaning in then this could be a sign. If when you reverse and apply the brakes the back ones clunk then that is normal but if bothered there are shims that fit over the top of the pads but where not originally installed and are now on the parts diagrams. If there is a squealing noise from the back brakes the corrosion that forms between the rear calipers and suspension arm neds cleaning off - there is a pinned topic on cleaning the rear brakes.

[doro708]

Hi everyone , 

 

I'm back and i have some news.

I have went to the Citroen dealer in Basildon and asked a quote for transmission oil change which i have manage to get after they have tried to convince that i don't need to change the transmission fluid , the quote is £184 , too much in my opinion . I have also asked for a LDS fluid change which again they said this is a very strange thing to do as it never needs to be changed but after some polite chat they said is £208 and the engine oil is £44.

After this discussion i decided to get all the parts required for the service myself especially because Eurocarparts had a 30% discount for bank holiday and i have paid approx £80 for all the filters + 2 lemforder droplinks which is more than decent . I will try to do the service this weekend.

Regarding the transmission oil i have asked a few more citroen independents and so far one said that it doesn't need to be changed and one quoted me 45 for labour plus the oil as required and vat (gear oil is £8.94 per ltr +vat) so i might do it there .

I have also bought a set of wheels exactly like the ones that i have to put winter tires on and a steering wheel in very good condition as mine suffers from the usual Citroen degradation as i have found according to google. 

I have found a PDF for the 4HP20 transmission and it does not look complicated at all to change the transmission oil but this is for Xantia so i am not sure how different would be on the C5.

http://www.citroenkerho.fi/xantia/pdf/tekniikka/ZF4_HP20.pdf

 

Kind regards,

Adrian