French Car Forum

Hi All

I have recently brought and a proud owner of A 2003 CITROEN C5 VTR


I have owned 3 Citroens in the past and all seemed to be fine so hoping this is too as the last car a Rover 75 was a nightmare for me


Previous Citroen's were
ZX Volcane
ZX D Advantage
AX 1.4 D

Hope to pick up some good hints and meet up with some other C5 owners in the future

Hi,

Just sold my C5 this evening, and miss it already

Welcome

Hi

Thanks for the fast welcome!

Welcome to the FCF Tim!

I see you had an AX 1.4D, they were the ones that do ridiculous MPG's are they?

They are apparently becoming more sought after now because of their efficency

I used to have a ZX too back in the day...a 1.4 reflex. It served me well apart from the obligatory head gasket failure at one point

Welcome to the FCF Tim

I hope your C5 serves you well, what engine VTR is yours?

vince wrote:I see you had an AX 1.4D, they were the ones that do ridiculous MPG's are they?

They are apparently becoming more sought after now because of their efficency

I used to have a ZX too back in the day...a 1.4 reflex. It served me well apart from the obligatory head gasket failure at one point

Hi Vince

Yes the AX was rather good on MPG
I use to average 48 mpg around town on short journeys and once went for a long drive from london to devon and back and averaged 71mpg
brim to brim


The ZX Volcane was unfortunately written off when some crazy Dutch guy
came out of a side turn without giving way and hit it at about 20 mph whilst my wife was driving it
she still sufferes from the whiplash accident, almost 10 years
since it happened.

I also had a ZX 1.9D advantage Auto!
Now this was not so good on MPG and i could only get around 28 mpg around town and around 40 mpg on a run and it really struggled on the hills too and soon got the name of "Fred Flintstone"

Citroenmad wrote:Welcome to the FCF Tim

I hope your C5 serves you well, what engine VTR is yours?

Hi Citroenmad

Thanks for the welcome

I have a 2 litre HDI 110
Problem is I have only had 3 weeks and have already found out the Head Gasket has failed!
Just confirmed by sniffer test


I will be talking to dealer tomorrow and either the warranty will be sorting it out or the car will have to be rejected and my money back or court proceedings will be started!

Not happy at all as already had a nightmare with my last car a Rover 75 1.8 Auto.
That too had a head Gasket failure which i paid £550 to rectify and then the Auto gearbox packed up so i had to get rid of at a great loss

red_dwarfers wrote:Welcome to the FCF Tim!

Thanks too!

Well, thats only the second 2.0HDi ive heard of with HGF, its a very rare thing on HDis. What are the symptoms your getting with it?

How many miles has your C5 done?

Good luck with it, hopefully your warranty will cover it.

Unlike the rovers which go ever week, or just about The R75 is a lovely car, the diesel is a tempting choice.

Citroenmad wrote:Well, thats only the second 2.0HDi ive heard of with HGF, its a very rare thing on HDis. What are the symptoms your getting with it?

How many miles has your C5 done?

Good luck with it, hopefully your warranty will cover it.

Unlike the rovers which go ever week, or just about The R75 is a lovely car, the diesel is a tempting choice.

Hi again

Trust me to be one of the unlucky ones then


I am getting the coolant boiling over and out of the expansion tank
I have read this has happen on a few other occasions on the Picasso forum so take it its more of the common fault on these when it does go.

My C5 has done 105k
The warranty covers upto £1000 but the quotes i have had have topped that already and expect it to be around the £1200-£1500 when it comes through.

As I have only had the car 3 weeks i shouldn't have to pay anything towards the cost so will have to see what the dealer says or reject the car

will have to see how it goes...

Thats very odd, i think there has been one mention of a 2.0HDi with a failed HG on here, that i can think of.

Let us know how you get on with it, i hope it hasnt put you off French cars too much

Citroenmad wrote:Thats very odd, i think there has been one mention of a 2.0HDi with a failed HG on here, that i can think of.

Let us know how you get on with it, i hope it hasnt put you off French cars too much

Hi

Its now been collected and is with the garage and I'm still waiting the outcome.

Thing is they say it's not a HGF but i was present when the sniffer test was done and it turned from blue to yellow colour in front of me so can't see why it would pass the same test now...

will update next week when i know more

AND No it hasn't directly put me off french cars
but cars in general though!

Hi

Now again confirmed to be a HGF as pressure building when under load
strange that one minute gas is present in header tank and then doesn't show up!

Work now being carried out between dealer and warranty company and a new cambelt to be fitted aswell with parts + labour contribution from me also towards this.

will update as it goes

So your keeping the car now?

At least the warranty covers such things, some are not worth the paper they are written on.