Strange Happenings With Lights & Central Locking

[Woz]

Hi everyone

Im new to the forum hope someone out there can help with some suggestions. After many years of Xantia ownership I stuck with Citroen and purchased a second hand C5 diesel esate LX. This car is too clever for its own good (or is it just too clever for me?) my problem is if I lock the car with the blip it locks and the indicator lights flash. if I then press the blip again the indicators flash for car finder mode. A press of the blip will then unlock the car and and the indicators will flash, all as advertised. If however the car is left locked for a couple of hours or more when I come to unlock it with the blip the car will unlock BUT no indicators flash and there is no interior light on opening the door. the car only springs back into life when the engine is turned over. If I then turn off, lock, unlock or car find every thing works. Is it the car or have I selected something inadvertantly?

Dont know if this is linked but the car has recently started displaying ECO MOD, what is this and is it selectable?

Th Citroen dealer wants £58 to run a diagnostic to find a fault code then the fix would be extra £££. If it comes to it I think I will be living without an interior light when I open the door!

Hope someone out there can help with my minor but niggly problem, thanks!

[paul.h]

Welcome to the forum.

Eco mode is on all our Citroens, it is designed to prevent the battery going flat. After the engine is off, if something electrical is in use such as radio or interior light, then these are switched off after 15 to 30 minutes and the car is then in eco mode. They will not come on again until the engine has been started. There is nothing wrong unless the interior light does not go out after closing the doors (or boot light or radio not turned off, etc). The car handbook should have some info.

[citroeneddie]

Welcome Woz.

 

I have a problem with my C5 reverting to Economy Mode after leaving the car and the dealer found a problem connected with the radio.

 

Hope that helps, I'm not mechanically minded unfortunately :rolleyes:

[Woz]

Now you mention it this problem of mine started arround the same time that my remote radio controls on the stalk stoped working. Thanks for the info. Did the dealer mention what it was eg loose connections or the like?

 

Welcome Woz.

 

I have a problem with my C5 reverting to Economy Mode after leaving the car and the dealer found a problem connected with the radio.

 

Hope that helps, I'm not mechanically minded unfortunately :rolleyes:

[Woz]

Thanks for the info Paul. Surely the inerior light should come on when the door is opened regardless of eco mode, do you think this is a seperate problem. Citroeneddie also replied to my question and reported having a problem with his radio linked to his eco mode. My remote stalk for the radio stopped working around the same time as my locking problem but I did not think of a link between the two, maybe there is.

 

Welcome to the forum.

Eco mode is on all our Citroens, it is designed to prevent the battery going flat. After the engine is off, if something electrical is in use such as radio or interior light, then these are switched off after 15 to 30 minutes and the car is then in eco mode. They will not come on again until the engine has been started. There is nothing wrong unless the interior light does not go out after closing the doors (or boot light or radio not turned off, etc). The car handbook should have some info.

[citroeneddie]

Woz

 

What part of the country are you?

[Woz]

Fife, Scotland !?

[iannez]

if the bsi detects a drain on the battery it will switch all comfort electricals off including interior lights.

[Woz]

Hi

Sorry to show my ignorance but what is the bsi (Im going to feel realy silly when you tell me Im sure) If I am not leaving any thing on what could be causing this? could it be as simple as a battery on its way out?

Thanks for your input.

[iannez]

bsi is the interface that controls the cars electrics. its what the fuses are plugged in to in the glovebox. the battery drain will be down to component failure or something being wired wrong and not allowing the bsi to shut down (hands free and bluetooth car kits are main culprits for this). as someone has already said, the radio is first thing you should check. remove and unplug the radio and see if this works first.

[Woz]

Hi iannez

Thanks for the advice ill give it a go, and let every one know the outcome. Any more suggestions gratefully recieved. :rolleyes:

[Woz]

OK I removed the radio over night and this morning same problem (eco mode) does any one out there know what equipment fitted to an LX is able to draw power from the battery when the car is turned off and locked. Does anyone have any thoughts on a possible cause? Could it be the monitoring unit itself at fault or is it possible that a failing car battery could cause the same symptoms. Im open to any educated guesses becauses that is what I will be resorting to soon.

Dont Know if this is relevent but when I reconnected the radio/cd with radio swithched OFF and no key in the ignition something in the unit powered up briefly but the unit did not switch on. Also my remote stalk control for the radio is still not working, I am guessing that with the radio removed this stalk is electrically isolated or is it connected to something else. The buttons on the stalk do not fill me with confidence as they sometimes feel like they stick. No controls on this stalk work at the moment. This is probably a red herring but it all happened arround the same time. :huh:

[72dudes]

Woz,

 

Iannez is your best man to answer this, but reading through all the posts I'd say the stalk problem is not a red herring. If the radio control stalk is stuck "on" (whether vol up/down or seek etc) it could be causing a small current drain which is sending the car into eco mode after 30 minutes.

 

As I say, this is only an educated guess so I hope iannez will chip in if I'm wrong. Good luck.

[paul.h]

On our last Saab the radio stalk went through a main control unit before it went to the radio. It had a wiring connector at the steering column so if the C5 is the same you could try unplugging it.

[Woz]

Thanks 72 Dudes & Paul H for your input.

Well I've now opened up a can of worms! Took a look at the stalk connector and guess what? its one unit for all the stalks with 4 connectors on. One comes from the ignition barrel, 2 x twin wire connectors which put the airbag light on when disconnected individually and one grey one with the majority of the cables in that I cannot work out how to disconnect yet. The thing is, I can see a circuit board inside this unit and as I wiggle this grey connector with the car turned off I can get the reversing selection ding (or is it bing? the little speaker is on this unit) to sound which concerns me regarding the condition of this circuit board. This may be the problem as this circuit board obviously recieves power when the car is swithched off. You know when your looking at something and your thinking this bit looks expensive, well this is one of those bits! Although I have not taken long looking over the unit it looks on first inspection to need the steering wheel removing to replace it too. I do hope I am wrong. If anyone reading this thinks I am off track with this problem and barking up the wrong tree please feel free to pass comment or offer advice. :huh:

[iannez]

you are looking at the comms 2000. look on the back and you will see a small button just behind where the ctrls plug in. press it and this will release the radio ctrl stalk. it slides straight out but be carefull with the button as they break easy. look at the hole on the opposite side to give you a bit more idea. this is where the cruise ctrl stalk slides in exactley the same as the radio stalk. not sure about the ctrls staying powerd up after the radio has been removed. could work through the bsi but would have to check a wire diag but but agree with what 72dudes said. remove it from the equation and its one less thing to worry about. might be worth doing the ecu reset. wind the drivers window down and open the bonnet. remove the keys and wait 10min for everything to shut down. disconnect the battery for 5min then reconnect. do not open any doors or touch windows etc while its shutting down. if you disconnect the battery before everything has shut down you risk loosing key codes and could cause all sorts problems.

[Woz]

Hi iannez

found release for stalk and removed it thanks but still have problem. tried the battery disconnect as you described but now have new problem, my remote locking blip does not work and have had to lock car manually. suggestions please!

[Woz]

further to my last post it now appears after leaving the car for a hour before unlocking it and starting up I am no longer in ecomode so there must have been something wrong with the stalk. now I have the problem of my remote central locking blip not working, has the battery disconnect caused this and how do I get it working again.

[Woz]

Ok have ordered new stalk £13 and after I have fitted it and tested it myself this Friday have been told the only way to get my remote central locking working again is for the dealer to re-program the car which takes 30 minutes at a cost of £32.90 + Vat. Is this the only way to do it as it seems excessive to have to pay this for the sake of disconecting the battery. How do you replace a failing battery when the time comes?

[iannez]

this is normal. just put the key in the drivers lock and keep locking and unlocking until the indicators flash and this will re-sync the blip. no need for a trip to the dealers. let me know how you get on. you can re-code the blip yourself but try this first.

[Woz]

Hi iannez

The indicator lights do flash when locking and unlocing the car using the key all operates as if I had locked with blip. Anything else I can do?

[Woz]

Hi

Been thinking (oh dear) you say I can reprogram the key? is it not the car at fault? I have read mention of re syncing I assume that is because the system has a rolling code change for security. I do not want to mess about with the blip if it is the car but I will bow to greater knowledge if that is the way forward. Any advice will be greatfuly recieved on wether I should re programe the key and how to do it. :P

[iannez]

keep working the locking with the key and then trying the remote. the blip will not programme if its out of sync. keep trying and it will work. try locking it and using the remote to open it. by using the key to lock and unlock you are doing a remote re-sync.

[Woz]

Hi Ian

Thanks for the info. I have tried to do as you say until the point where everything stops for a short period(like the central locking taking a rest) then carried on. I have done this for 6 sets so to speak (apprx 40 key turns) do I just carry on? How long can this take and am I doing it correctly. I unlock the car remove key then try to lock with blip then I lock the car remove the key then try to unlock the car with the blip. Should there be a set time between key turn and blip press (does NASA have the same problems with the shuttle?) Help before I turn into Basil Faulty and give the car a damn good thrashing aaaarrgh! :(

[iannez]

lol. no set time mate. try to recode blip. turn ignition on (dont start) with ignition on hold the lock button in for 5 sec and that will recode the remote. if this does not work the remote is still out of sync and you will have to go back to locking and unlocking. put that tree branch down and try to be patient. you will get there in the end.