Coolant Temperature Sensor

[Guest mart]

Hi coolant temperature warning kept coming on with the STOP light too.Gauge a bit erratic but after a short distance every thing seemed normal. I visited the local Citroen dealer who said it sounds like the sensor £92 fitted or £9 for the part opted for the part. I have located the sensor (green) managed to get the cable connector off but can anyone explain how to get the sensor out I have twisted pulled etc by hand but to no avail am i missing something?

[Johndouglas]

Coolant sensors are notorious for misinforming. At the moment my daughter's Xsara has a similar problem. Only once in some journeys does her stop light come on, the coolant warning beeps and the temperature gauge zeros. All just for a minute - and then it's back to normal. I suspect the connector has slight corrosion and is causing a resistance.

 

If you want to change the sensor, you need to drain off the coolant so that the level is below the sensor hole. Disconnect the wiring by pressing down the small catch. Use a spanner to unscrew the sensor and remove the sealing ring. The new one screws in.

[Guest mart]

Hi coolant temperature warning kept coming on with the STOP light too.Gauge a bit erratic but after a short distance every thing seemed normal. I visited the local Citroen dealer who said it sounds like the sensor £92 fitted or £9 for the part opted for the part. I have located the sensor (green) managed to get the cable connector off but can anyone explain how to get the sensor out I have twisted pulled etc by hand but to no avail am i missing something?

 

 

Hi just to let you know there is a plastic circlip that holds the sensor in place pulls out from underneath. The sensor then just pulls out. I didn't drain down used a cut off plastic bottle and caught most of the coolant you need to re-use the rubber gasket off the old sensor too. Push the sensor in the hole push the circlip back in place push the cables on replace the coolant fluid.

Citroen C5 2.0HDI 2002

[Johndouglas]

Hi just to let you know there is a plastic circlip that holds the sensor in place pulls out from underneath. The sensor then just pulls out.

 

That's useful to know. I'm afraid I assumed it would be similar to XUD's.

[dangafo]

Coolant sensors are notorious for misinforming. At the moment my daughter's Xsara has a similar problem. Only once in some journeys does her stop light come on, the coolant warning beeps and the temperature gauge zeros. All just for a minute - and then it's back to normal. I suspect the connector has slight corrosion and is causing a resistance.

 

 

HEY. MY CAR HAS THE SAME PROBLEM. TEMP GAUGE GOES UP, FOLLOWED BY THE 'STOP' LIGHT AND THE WARNING ABOUT OVERHEATING APPEARING ON THE DISPLAY. THIS GOES AWAY IN LESS THAN 2 MINUTES. THE SENSOR HAS JUST BEEN REPLACED BY A CITROEN DEALER (THEY ACTUALLY HAD TO ORDER IT FROM FRANCE AS THERE WERE NONE AVAILABLE HERE DOWNUNDER). ANY THOUGHTS ARE APPRECIATED!

 

DANIEL

2004 C5 EXCLUSSIVE 3.0 V6

[Johndouglas]

Coolant sensors are notorious for misinforming. At the moment my daughter's Xsara has a similar problem. Only once in some journeys does her stop light come on, the coolant warning beeps and the temperature gauge zeros. All just for a minute - and then it's back to normal. I suspect the connector has slight corrosion and is causing a resistance.

 

 

 

Hi! Yes, it's three years ago that we had this trouble on the Xsara Hdi. I decided to get a replacement sender from the local agent - as Mart said, it cost £9. Not too difficult to change. A few bits of pipe work to remove, a U-shaped clip to pull out, and the sender just pulls out. There's a loss of coolant which needs replacing and bleeding, but since changing it, there's been no further trouble.

[sifaan]

I have some symptoms of overheating, can anybody suggest what might be wrong? The car is a 2002 C5 2.0i

 

Car has had timing belt and water pump changed recently and coolant renewed. The garage said they found an overheating problem when running with A/C so they flushed out the radiator to clear any residual muck but the problem apparently was with the radiator cap - it was replaced and things were fine.

 

Then one day, 2~3 weeks ago, the car overheated in bad traffic (i.e. no in rush of air due to the vehicle movement) - that is to say, the temperature gauge went up to red zone and the stop sign came on. Running without A/C was OK. temp guage pretty firmly in middle ground.

A few days later it again overheated in standstill traffic, and switching off the A/C brought the temp. done quite quickly... after a while turned A/C on again, works fine for few mins, then starts to heat up again, again turning off A/C reduces the temp.

 

more recently, the probably has appeared in traffic even without A/C (I turned off the engine until the lights turned green), and has also appeared twice when not in traffic. as the problem seemed to be getting worse, I checked coolant levels and it was close to minimum - topped it up (about 650ml worth) but that didn't stop the problem from happening again. Garage also said that provided minimum level was present then the cooling system should work fine.

 

Garage is at a loss to figure out what might be wrong. They've done a pressure test on the coolant circuit and there are no leaks. So was the loss due to release from the tank cap at overheating? on the other hand the garage haven't found any evidence of the engine actually overheating (so if it was a malfunctioning temperature sensor, what happened to the coolant?)

Garage also confirms the cooling fan is working as expected (I can hear it running after switching off) and that the high speed mode is also functioning.

 

today when the guage started to go up to the red zone, I pulled over, pipes to/from radiator were hot to the touch (so the thermostat had opened, although I don't know if it was open at that particular time), as was the expansion tank and the LDS tank next to it - but I don't know if that is the temperature they would be at if the engine was running normally.

 

my suspicions are:

1. my front brakes have a binding problem (new pads, new discs, need to apply caliper repair kit). could the heat generated by the binding be screwing up something somewhere? will hopefully get the caliper repair kit applied next week, so if the problem disappears that would suggest this to be complicit

2. intermittent fault in the fan's high-speed relay

3. intermittent fault in the thermostat

4. intermittent fault in the temperature sensor

 

is there any way I can check

1. the actual temperatures to see if there is a real difference when the guage says it's overheating? if I get a thermometer that I can carry around (electronic?) what places should I check temperature at?

2. if the thermostat is open at any particular instant - if the pipes near radiator were cold, it would mean it had never opened... but what if it opened, but got stuck later? i.e. is there a way to see if there is a flow of coolant in/out of the radiator?

3. if the fan is on high-speed or low-speed? while the engine is running it's hard to guess from the sound of the fan, but I guess I should feel a difference in the airflow behind the radiator?

 

thanks!

[paul.h]

Did you have the problem before the timing belt, etc were replaced ? If not then maybe there is a slight blockage - bit of gasket/sealant or even faulty water pump - loose impeller/small impeller.

 

On tickover, usually with the air con on the revs are increased slightly so more load on the engine and heat to remove. On high temperature sometimes the air con is automatically stopped on cars. I would suspect that maybe the thermostat is not opening fully (they do not last forever) - you could just remove it as a first test. A new one will not cost much so is the lowest cost thing to do.

 

When overheating starts to occur I would put the cabin heater and fan on maximum to give additional heat removal and with the air con off.

 

A code reader should allow live data to be read so you can see the sensor temperature and possibly a hand held infra red one could be used as an approx comparison to a few degrees by pointing at different areas.

Wrong timing may possibly lead to engine running hotter and overheating.

 

Binding brakes would not lead to overheating when in stationary traffic - just cleaning up the pads/calipers should stop them binding, I do not think the pistons are likely seized so I would leave the caliper repair kit until later and avoid any need to bleed the brakes - to get air out of the abs system you need a dealer tool (proxia ?).

[paul.h]

Something else to add, Haynes is not much use but the French RTA manual which covers the hdi engines has the following which may apply to the petrol ones.

The engine fan is a 3 speed fan with the speed depending on the coolant temperature or the air con refrigerant pressure.

- speed 1 at 97°C or 10 bar pressure

- speed 2 at 101°C or 17 bar

- speed 3 at 105°C or 22 bar.

Battery has to be above 10.5 volts.

If 105°C when stopping engine, the fan will run for 6 minutes.

 

The separate relays that cover the different speeds are located on the fan support which is mentioned in Haynes.

So something to look at, could be a relay/connection/wiring/fuse failure if the fan is not reaching the 3rd speed.

Make sure the radiator is not externally blocked with flies, etc.

[sifaan]

Did you have the problem before the timing belt, etc were replaced ? If not then maybe there is a slight blockage - bit of gasket/sealant or even faulty water pump - loose impeller/small impeller.

hard to say if the problem was pre-existing... car was due for a change on the timing belt so got it done as soon as I got the car. driving before that was minimal and the overheating issue is anyway intermittent. however, it ran fine for over a month afterwards without ever overheating, on both long and short trips, open roads and traffic.

 

On tickover, usually with the air con on the revs are increased slightly so more load on the engine and heat to remove. On high temperature sometimes the air con is automatically stopped on cars.

as the guage approaches the redzone the A/C is switched off in mine (the "Eco" light comes on)

 

I would suspect that maybe the thermostat is not opening fully (they do not last forever) - you could just remove it as a first test. A new one will not cost much so is the lowest cost thing to do.

the engine does run at "normal" (midrange) for quite a while before it starts to shoot up; can it happen that the thermostat opens fully but then closes a bit?

anyway, will try to get this done this week

 

 

When overheating starts to occur I would put the cabin heater and fan on maximum to give additional heat removal and with the air con off.

I've read about this in other places as well... not sure I understand how it helps - how does running the fan on max in the cabin help cool the engine?

(btw this is in Sri Lanka and the car doesn't have a heater mode... unless maybe if I set the A/C temp to about 40 degrees and see if the car activates a heater instead of the A/C compressor.

 

 

A code reader should allow live data to be read so you can see the sensor temperature and possibly a hand held infra red one could be used as an approx comparison to a few degrees by pointing at different areas.

thanks; will see if I can find a infra-red thermometer but won't be holding my breath on that one :S

 

Something else to add, Haynes is not much use but the French RTA manual which covers the hdi engines has the following which may apply to the petrol ones.

The engine fan is a 3 speed fan with the speed depending on the coolant temperature or the air con refrigerant pressure.

- speed 1 at 97°C or 10 bar pressure

- speed 2 at 101°C or 17 bar

- speed 3 at 105°C or 22 bar.

Battery has to be above 10.5 volts.

If 105°C when stopping engine, the fan will run for 6 minutes.

 

The separate relays that cover the different speeds are located on the fan support which is mentioned in Haynes.

So something to look at, could be a relay/connection/wiring/fuse failure if the fan is not reaching the 3rd speed.

Make sure the radiator is not externally blocked with flies, etc.

I was at the garage when they were checking out the relays, there are only 2 - i.e. only 2 speeds on this model. and they say fan does switch to high speed (have got the relay contacts cleaned anyway) but I don't know if the relay is intermittently failing.

 

 

one more thing, which leads me to suspect the temperature sensor rather than the thermostat... the engine is rough on cold - actually requires starting at least 2 times in the morning (usually 3), each time it runs a little longer than the last time. performance remains poor until the engine warms up. do you think it would help to get the sensor replaced?

 

Thanks

[paul.h]

Sifaan, I did not realise you are in Sri Lanka, it could be your car is a bit different to European models to allow for the higher outside temperatures.

 

In UK cars, the cabin heater matrix takes engine coolant to warm the air flow in to the cabin so if the cabin fan is set to max and the heater setting set to max temperature (with air con set to eco so is switched off), then the engine coolant gives up heat to the cabin as well as to the radiator.

 

With the air con on, as well as more load on the engine, it takes the heat out of the cabin and loses it (plus some from the compressor) in the condenser matrix which is in front of the radiator so making conditions a bit worse for engine heat removal - another reason why it switches off on high temperature.

 

If you are getting a garage to do the work, a temp sensor is not expensive, maybe about £20, so I would replace it at the same time as the thermostat since it will not take long and in both cases there will be some coolant draining needed so may as well pay for the work once.

[sifaan]

(btw this is in Sri Lanka and the car doesn't have a heater mode... unless maybe if I set the A/C temp to about 40 degrees and see if the car activates a heater instead of the A/C compressor.

I can't set the temp to higher than 28 degrees, so I guess heating the cabin to cool the engine is not an option for me.

 

car overheated again yesterday - from approximate (i.e. touch!) measurements, the heat (coolant reservoir, radiator inlet pipe) when the engine is overheating (almost red) and on normal (mid range) seems to be the same, so I'm inclined to suspect the temperature sensor. however I wasn't brave enough to try touching the engine so this doesn't completely rule out the thermostat...

 

also fan was running at high speed even when the dash indicated overheat so I think that can be eliminated as the problem.

[coastline taxis]

Hi

how long did you have the car before you had the timming belt done and did you have any overheating problems before you got the belt done. Or has all these problems just happend since the coolant was drained off also does the garage you use no how to bleed the coolant system as you dont just put water in and go as this problem sound to me that it either hasnt been bled properly or you have a sticky thermostat. While we get away with it in england due to the weather its critical that your system is filled up properly due to your high outside temperatures

[paul.h]

Just had a look at typical weather for Columbo, Sri Lanka for November and for all of the year, the min temp is 23°C and max 30°C so warmer than UK even in our summer. Relative to the UK, the radiator may need to be larger (worth a check if this has been replaced with a smaller one), engine coolant anti freeze would only require the corrosion inhibitors (if not used the radiator could block up with rust/scale), cabin heater probably not required, air con system may need to be larger.

[sifaan]

Hi Coastline :)

 

how long did you have the car before you had the timming belt done and did you have any overheating problems before you got the belt done.

about a month, delay was in getting parts down from UK. Didn't use the car much - few short runs, maybe 200-300km in total.

didn't have overheating problems before.

water pump was actually replaced ~3 weeks later; there seems to be a practice in sri lanka of only replacing the half of the pump that has moving bits; but the part I got was a superceded part and the two halves didn't fit. was initially a bit foxed when the garage told me the pump didn't fit, but on further investigation understood the situation and got the new pump fitted in its entirety

 

Or has all these problems just happend since the coolant was drained off also does the garage you use no how to bleed the coolant system as you dont just put water in and go as this problem sound to me that it either hasnt been bled properly or you have a sticky thermostat. While we get away with it in england due to the weather its critical that your system is filled up properly due to your high outside temperatures

well, I suppose they know how to do it :) despite the eff-up with the water pump, the garage is actually the agent for citroen in Sri Lanka and have been trained by citroen (in singapore). of course when I topped up coolant I just opened the cover and poured it in, but I guess that's fine?

anyway they flushed the coolant when I took it in after that to pressure the system and check for leaks so presumably it's OK. But I will double check just to confirm.

 

the thermostat should open at 89 degrees. where is that compared to the ideal operating temp of the engine (EW10J4)? I'm asking cos if the ideal temp is close to 89, then it could be that the thermostat cuts in and out often and then if it sticks the overheating can occur. but if the ideal is much higher, it would mean the thermostat opens up at 89, and stays open all the time. in which case it would be strange to close at a higher temp? or do thermostats tend to fail in that way?

currently it seems I can drive at least 5 km with A/C before the overheating manifests (and with the temperature indicator stable in the middle of the white zone for a while). would that be about par for a failing thermostat?

 

thanks!

[sifaan]

hi Paul

 

Just had a look at typical weather for Columbo, Sri Lanka for November and for all of the year, the min temp is 23°C and max 30°C so warmer than UK even in our summer. Relative to the UK, the radiator may need to be larger (worth a check if this has been replaced with a smaller one), engine coolant anti freeze would only require the corrosion inhibitors (if not used the radiator could block up with rust/scale), cabin heater probably not required, air con system may need to be larger.

well, the car was imported brand new and service.citroen.com says it's for Dusty atmosphere, Asian radio, etc. so it's probably configured to be suited for our climate/conditions. will check on the possibility of smaller radiator although I doubt it (there's been plenty of idiotic things done on the car, but I guess a smaller radiator would manifest as constantly higher temperatures).

 

thanks

 

btw to explain the "imported brand new" comment - it's a common practice here to import used cars, so lots of used jap vehicles and also quite a few used 406s from the UK

[coastline taxis]

ok then just to confirm you got the car and you could do the following.

 

drive 2 to 300km with no overheating issues

use the aircon with no problems.

sit in traffic with no probs.

 

then you take it to garage for timing belt and water pump is changed and system is flushed an bled.

 

you then get car back abd you now have overheating issues.

here

is that correct or am i going in the wrong direction

[paul.h]

In the UK engines normally run between the thermostat opening and the engine fan start temperature, so in your case would be between 89 and 97°C. The fan is only likely to start in stationary traffic but if the air con is on, it will cut in and out as the air con refrigerant pressure goes up and down. The thermostat has to open since the engine has no way of losing much heat without the radiator (or the cabin heater).

 

Some other info, the high temperature alarm is 118°C and the radiator (tank) cap is 1.4 bar, equivalent to a steam temperature of 126°C. So the order of the temperatures are:

- 89°C the thermostat starts to open - check the top radiator hose starts to get hot. The gauge probably below the middle and may help confirm temp sensor.

- 89 to 97°C normal running temperature - gauge probably about in the middle.

- 97°C the engine fan should start on low speed - gauge above middle. It will also start if the air con is on regardless of the engine temperature.

- 101°C the engine fan speeds up if 3 speed fan. Will also speed up if air con pressure rises to 17 bar.

- 105°C the engine fan speeds up to max speed for 2 or 3 speed fan. I found mention of a 2 speed fan in another French C5 book for the diesel engines but it only mentions 1 (91°C) or 3 speed fans for petrol ones. It will also speed up if the air con pressure rises to 22 bar.

- 112°C the air con is stopped (found against the V6 petrol).

- 118°C the high temp alarm is given - gauge will be at max.

- 126°C the radiator cap will lift and let out steam.

 

Note apart from the thermostat and radiator cap, all the temperatures originate from the temperature sensor, so using live data the fan will cut in at the indicated correct temperatures (or from use of the air con) as shown by the sensor but if it is faulty, the actual temperature may not be correct.

[sifaan]

ok then just to confirm you got the car and you could do the following.

 

drive 2 to 300km with no overheating issues

use the aircon with no problems.

sit in traffic with no probs.

yes

 

then you take it to garage for timing belt and water pump is changed and system is flushed an bled.

you then get car back abd you now have overheating issues.

here

is that correct or am i going in the wrong direction

not quite; the timing belt is changed, they were given the water pump as well, but got foxed by the superceded part and so water pump was not changed at the time

used for ~3 weeks without overheating, then waterpump was changed.

then used for another 3~4 weeks without any overheating.

 

the first time the overheating happened, it was during a hot day, stuck in traffic, with A/C. switching off A/C brought the temp display to normal (even in traffic)

second time (2 days later), was at night, in the rain, stuck in traffic, with A/C. again swithing off A/C brought it under control.

drove 80km on it a few days later, with A/C, but no traffic and no overheating.

so it seemed to be due to the traffic and not the length of the drive.

 

few days later overheating happend in traffic even with A/C off. resorted to switching off the engine.

what had happened in the meantime was: changed front brakes and discs, flushed and replaced brake fluid, new front tyres. there was, and still is, some amount of brake binding, which maybe just due to new pads/discs, and/or the fact that the calipers need attention.

more engine effort due to binding brakes could lead to overheating, but not clear why it didn't get under control when car is at standstill (engine idle)

 

it was after this that I checked and topped up the coolant (it was still above the minimum level though); afterwards took it in to garage to check for leaks (no leaks - but they did flush and refill coolant for the check).

 

the last time the overheating happened was after ~5km drive, no traffic, A/C was on initially but switched off somewhere in the middle (was a cold day by our standards), and just at the end of the journey I raised the car to get over a bad patch and it started to heat up. parked and left engine on idle a few mins (fan was running on high speed) and temp came down slowly. it was at this point that I tried touching the radiator hoses, etc. and it didn't seem unusually hot.

(the garage also said this; even though the dash indicates overheating they can't find any evidence that the engine has actually overheated - no steam from the radiator cap, etc.)

[coastline taxis]

have you got access to diagnostic tools with live data if so go into the live data side and see how quick the engine temperature is rising also does the temperature jump up when you put the air con on. If not then your first action is to change the temperature switch and/or the thermostat.Do you have the parts available out there.

[sifaan]

have you got access to diagnostic tools with live data if so go into the live data side and see how quick the engine temperature is rising also does the temperature jump up when you put the air con on. If not then your first action is to change the temperature switch and/or the thermostat.Do you have the parts available out there.

garage has lexia; I booked a time slot for thursday morning and can get it on the lexia then.

obviously I have never done this before and probably garage hasn't either, so if you can explain a bit more what I should be looking for it would be appreciated.

(e.g. should I let the engine cool down first? should I do it parked with transmission on P/N, or driving around? should I look to log the temp. reading against time? etc)

 

temp sensor 1338.A7 and thermostat and 1338.A0 are available in Sri Lanka (20~25 pounds each); generally if the part is to be found on a pug then the part is available in Sri Lanka. although often it's proved cheaper to get it hand carried from UK.

 

thanks

[sifaan]

a few more points;

 

I will probably be able to borrow a digital thermometer (contact type, not infra red) for the diagnostics. any suggestions where to test? the radiator inlet hose (outside temp!) could be one easily accessible place, but what about someplace on the engine that would be a suitable proxy for the coolant temp?

 

I also wondered about a comparison with the engine oil temp guage (if the engine was overheating, shouldn't the oil also heat up?), but unfortunately that (and the level sensor) are no longer working. they both used to work, then the got to the level of working half the time (but it made up it's mind during switch-on, and AFAIK didn't change it's mind until restarted), and recently doesn't work at all. however I check oil on dipstick at least weekly and the level is fine.

could this be another busted sensor/s? what sensor/s should I be looking at (haynes only refers to an oil level sensor, not a temp. sensor), service.citroen.com has an oil level probe 1131.E5; does that also measure the temp?

or could it be that the BSI/wiring is acting funny (please also see other issue here)

 

thanks a lot!

[coastline taxis]

Ok then the fuse box burnt out do you no what caused it. What i would do first is put all your faults under 1 topic because without knowing the full facts youl get wrong and costly answers. In view of the previous fuse box fault you need to start and check all the wires. if you can get hold of the pin data this will make it a lot easier for you. Then start testing the wires. Also your other posting says you are thinking of doing a update on the ecu/bsi i would get your car running correctly 1st otherwise you will just be adding to you problems. if you cant get the pin date then each wire has its own number and can be traced that way from the component e.g coolant sensor wire is 123 (not the actual number) then on one of the plugs in the ecu and fuse box will be a wire with 123 written on it test with a multimeter on both ends to se if you have continuity also check resistence

[paul.h]

Sifaan,

I had a quick look back at your earlier posts and you appear to have/had problems with the windows (shutters) not part opening off the key fob and also possibly the speedo/rev counter since you asked Coastline for the stepper motors. I have gathered your car is a 2.0 petrol, automatic, mark 1 C5, not sure of the year of manufacture (must be 2001 to 2004), mileage must be around 80k for the timing belt to need replacing, there has been a fire at some point (fuse box burnt out) but with all the problems if this was in the UK they would cost more than the car is worth to repair and it would simply be scrapped unless there is access to low cost parts and labour. In the UK there are lots of C5s for sale at low prices and with labour costs of around £50 to 80 an hour your car may not be viable. What condition was the car in when you got it, the list of problems Coastline has asked for should give us a clearer picture and let us help you best we can. You have not mentioned any problems with the auto box yet but they seem to not be reliable based on some posts on this forum. Maybe I am missing something, but are cars in Sri Lanka difficult or expensive to get ? It is a pity you are having these problems since the C5 is a good car.

 

The oil level sensor also measures the temperature and should have 3 wires to it. The oil temperature on our car, 2004 vtr 2.2 hdi bears no resemblance or movement relative to the coolant temperature but then it has never gone to high temperature.

[sifaan]

Sifaan,

I had a quick look back at your earlier posts and you appear to have/had problems with the windows (shutters) not part opening off the key fob and also possibly the speedo/rev counter since you asked Coastline for the stepper motors. I have gathered your car is a 2.0 petrol, automatic, mark 1 C5, not sure of the year of manufacture (must be 2001 to 2004), mileage must be around 80k for the timing belt to need replacing, there has been a fire at some point (fuse box burnt out)

What condition was the car in when you got it, the list of problems Coastline has asked for should give us a clearer picture and let us help you best we can. You have not mentioned any problems with the auto box yet but they seem to not be reliable based on some posts on this forum.

it's a late 2002 car; has ~90k kms (in Sri Lanka we use km for distance!) but due to our conditions timing belt changes are actually recommended earlier than UK so actually it was overdue on the car. the fusebox had burned out due to an electrical fire (battery terminal not fixed properly -> spark -> fire). also the heat shield under the bonnet was replaced and the burnt wires repaired (seems to have been some guesswork with this as subsequently discovered)

the AL4 box had been replaced under warranty (at the agent) seems to be fine now.

 

when buying the car the agent identified some issues, and we discounted the cost of those against the purchase; these included:

• flushing and refilling LDS (some absolute idiot had topped it up with ATF... said idiot was an ex-mechanic of the agent who had gone down the alcohol road)
  
• replace 1 rear gas sphere, both rear suspension cylinders, both front leak back hoses
  
• replace both lower arm ball joints
  
• replace front brake pads
  
• replace timing belt + water pump
  
• power steering pump (it was leaking)
  
• flush/replace brake fluid (no history of having it done in the last 2 years)
  
• injector cleaning (using 3M additive)
  
• replace spark plugs
  
• replace 2 tyres (worn out)
  
• speedometer (it's just the stepper motor; currently using the tacho motor for the speedo)
  

 

subsequently appeared/discovered and fixed

• engine mounts (1806.52 link right and 1844.92 mounting bracket right)
  
• drive belt (came off due to leak from the PAS pump before it could be replaced)
  
• crank pulley (damper broken) and drive belt tensioner (wasn't tensioning anymore)
  
• A/C compressor clutch (the coil was rewired and baked in)
  
• front brake discs (there had been a crack that had been repaired!)
  
• front brake caliper (getting down the repair kit and pistons; binding was taking place and the hand brake had been disconnected as a workaround. probably this binding was what had caused the crack; also the old brake pads had unbalanced wear)
  
• wiring fault in headlights (it was the fogs that were getting turned on, not the dipped beam) / reverse lights (there was ~8V voltage even when the lights were supposed to be off)
  
• washer pump failure (not fully fixed, as detailed in other post). our bad for not checking this specifically.
  
• starter motor solenoid (contacts worn)
  
• fuel pump (was getting very iffy; tended to need to be tapped several times in the morning before it would start up). morning starting is still iffy. still confused as to whether I have the correct pump or not. Please see this.
• Replaced front suspension brackets (it was rather expensive that the agent did not discover this first time around) + rebound stop + cylinder boot
  
• Replaced Com2000 (the airbag fault message pre-existed; agent told us not to wory about it, and we didn't know it possibly meant an expensive com2000 replacement. subsequently the horn stopped working which is quite a dangerous situation!). we hand't checked the wiper washers.
  

 

also, less critically:

• the shutter function on the small button on the remote fixed itself, I don't know how.
  
• rear off-side passenger door got stuck; the thumping-while-unlocking trick worked.
  

 

discovered but no solution yet:

• the agents say the lexia reports a fault code on the MAP sensor (and the car has cut out once or twice, but not recently); they've tried cleaning the MAP, and even tested with a MAP off another car, but the fault keeps reappearing. they're take on it is that it's likely a wiring error. one of the options discussed was getting an used wiring harness from a breaker (in UK)... would this be feasible (would probably work out cheaper than individually diagnosing/fixing wires)? if so, what harness should I be looking at getting?
  for the lights, washer, etc. it seems the main harness (6566.XW) but for the engine sensors I think it's the engine harness (part 6558.21 or .HZ or .NC depending on what I've got). for some reason breakers seem very reluctant to give out VINs of the cars they're breaking so it's going to be a challenge to find the right part :S
  
• the oil level/temp issue. could be the sensor or the wiring...
  

 

if this was in the UK they would cost more than the car is worth to repair and it would simply be scrapped unless there is access to low cost parts and labour. In the UK there are lots of C5s for sale at low prices and with labour costs of around £50 to 80 an hour your car may not be viable. Maybe I am missing something, but are cars in Sri Lanka difficult or expensive to get ? It is a pity you are having these problems since the C5 is a good car.

Cars in Sri Lanka are very expensive due to the tax structure; excise duties were reduced earlier this year and some other taxes/depreciation mechanisms will reduce from next year; but still we're looking at ~200% tax on CIF prices on a petrol car with a 2.0 liter engine and much more for diesels.

just to give an indication, a 406 D9 executive with about 100k kms on the meter would cost about 10,000 pounds. and even that's because european cars have a lower 2nd hand value. for a Corolla 110 (probably 3-4 years older, smaller engine, much less features, more mileage) the price would be similar.

labour is not too bad, e.g. even at the agents it cost 16 pounds to replace brake discs; 15 pounds to replace com2000. at other garages it would be cheaper so they are an option for things not connected to the hydractive suspension.

there's about 40% tax on spare parts; so that's why it's usually cheaper to get stuff from UK; but there are smuggled parts as well (for only slightly less than those who import clean) and occassionally the price difference is so marginal that it's better to get it locally.

 

The oil level sensor also measures the temperature and should have 3 wires to it. The oil temperature on our car, 2004 vtr 2.2 hdi bears no resemblance or movement relative to the coolant temperature but then it has never gone to high temperature.

ok, thanks.