C5 Wot do I do with it?

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birksy
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Post by birksy »

Ah well looks are not everything, a good chassis however is a very good starting point.
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Post by Citroenmad »

No Andrew, i actually dont mind the front styling on the C5 at all, maybe im just used to it. Though i do think the facelift is a big improvement in looks.

They are not perfect cars, but they are good.
Chris
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Post by XantiaDaveEire »

andmcit wrote:Are you saying the simile is true with the C5 then!?

That old chestnut = 'mantlepiece, stokin' fire' saying translated
to a C5 means they're best appreciated when you're inside, and
to Hell with the appearance? ;) :-**

:oops:

Andrew
:lol: Sometimes sacrifices have to be made :wink:
1998 Xantia 1.9 TD 186k
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Post by cachaciero »

XMV6 sadist wrote:When I was last in Vantage (Merton) he was telling me that he'd bought a load of C5 pumps direct from Citroën. You should be able to get one from them - "quirky" guy to deal with though.
Thanks for that tip talked to Neil and we had a very wide ranging and interesting conversation on things Citroen related which has caused me to re-evaluate just how much re-programming may be necessary with a secondhand pump. Yes he does have some new pumps for sale although I am not sure and I am not sure that he is sure that they are good for an H3+ car. Says that the pumps he has are configured don't require programming and have been fitted to about every C5. If that is the case my understanding that they are VIN coded is wrong, However my worry is that if there are differences between H3 and H3+ pumps one could fit and H3 pump to an H3+ car and most of the time one wouldn't notice the difference I suspect that there are many who would NEVER know the difference as by default the C5 the centre regulators are in soft mode when de-energised.

cachaciero
2006 Toyota Prius T Spirit
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1995 XM 2.1 TD Auto SX died @ 140K
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cachaciero
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Post by cachaciero »

There have been many interesting comments on this thread about design and the pro's and con's of C5's, when I get time I may start another thread on my thought processes as regards a C5 replacement, however for now I still have a problem.

Monday off to work all appeared to be well until three miles from work when "boing" suspension fault!. Lunch time tried to get the suspension on high, pump ran briefly but sounded like a tin can. Stripped the cover of the tank so I could get a closer look at the pump, having done this I checked the oil level, shock horror the tank appeared to be empty, impossible because if it was I would have had no power steering but low it was. I did wonder if the pump had suffered oil starvation, seemed unlikely but.....
Of to Citroen to get some LDS returned with splinters in my stomach my local dealer has a very rough barrel and an aching fundamental orifice £28.00 for two litres!

This made no difference pump, when it runs often but not always sounds rough.
Lexia will report a permanent fault which can't be cleared and an examination of the parameters associated with the fault says that the sensor supply is not present. Interestingly go to the normal parameters page and it says Sensor Supply -= 5Volts this confuses me, I wonder if there is a speed sensor on the motor.


However switch the ignition off for a minute or and the fault can be cleared and the pump can be run from the Lexia sometimes for several itterations then it will come back and say that the pump can't be run and the fault code is set.

So whatever it is it's intermittent, drove to work today lost count of the number of suspension warnings run home this evening not one! Looks like a fine day tomorrow maybe a good day to take the pump apart, just need to find a clean way of saving the oil before I start.

I now have another question to answer, where has two liters of oil gone in the last four months....?

cachaciero
2006 Toyota Prius T Spirit
2001 2.2 C5 Exclusive SE
1996 XM 2.1 TD Auto VSX
1995 XM 2.1 TD Auto SX died @ 140K
1987 CX 2.5 Gti Turbo II dead
1984 Ford Scorpio
1981 CX 2.4 Pallas Auto
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Post by andmcit »

So. What's stopping you sorting that Cx Turbo2 out!? ;)












Sorry, I'm not being very helpful, I know.

A really fine list of cars there. Odd one out and not a favourite of mine
but I cannot recall seeing a Granada now for a looong time too; they
all seemed to go the same time as SD1's and Sierras. :(

...or why not just run the G? :D


Andrew
cachaciero
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Post by cachaciero »

andmcit wrote:So. What's stopping you sorting that Cx Turbo2 out!? ;)











Sorry, I'm not being very helpful, I know.

A really fine list of cars there. Odd one out and not a favourite of mine
but I cannot recall seeing a Granada now for a looong time too; they
all seemed to go the same time as SD1's and Sierras. :(

...or why not just run the G? :D


Andrew
The CX Turbo2 went to the great big breaker in the sky some eight years ago, with much sadness I might add as there was little wrong with it . Nobody seemed to want it. I didn't have the storage space and in reality probably not much chance of ever finding the time, money or enthusiasm to put it back on the road.So.........RIP



This is just a list of cars I have owned not cars I still have, the Granada went in part ex against the Turbo 2.
In many ways I quite liked the Granada in looks it was vaguely similar to the XM had the same level of practicality as regards being a hatch but not the same amount of room in the back, engine was nice and responsive even on the auto box, nice lot of toys, ride not bad handling well......o.k if you didn't push it to hard and didn't load the back up too much.
However having had one CX I really missed the suspension. tight steering and brakes and all the other benefits that come with a proper high pressure integrated hydraulic system, not to mention that having a CX marks you out as an individualist / nutcase whatever :-)

However the practicality of the Granada viz a viz the CX started a seed of discontent with the CX and the high running costs on a day to day basis steered me in the direction of a diesel Xantia only I found an XM first :-)

cachaciero
2006 Toyota Prius T Spirit
2001 2.2 C5 Exclusive SE
1996 XM 2.1 TD Auto VSX
1995 XM 2.1 TD Auto SX died @ 140K
1987 CX 2.5 Gti Turbo II dead
1984 Ford Scorpio
1981 CX 2.4 Pallas Auto
Renault 21
1220 GS Club
Rover P6 2000TC
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Post by Citroenmad »

So which or your car list do you still have? And how many are road going?
Chris
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dieselnutjob
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Post by dieselnutjob »

instead of buying a 407 look at the 607 instead
they have more room in the back and the styling is classier in my opinion
I think the 607 is a tougher car as well
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Post by Citroenmad »

dieselnutjob wrote:instead of buying a 407 look at the 607 instead
they have more room in the back and the styling is classier in my opinion
I think the 607 is a tougher car as well
The 607 is a great looking car and I think well built too, but its a saloon which might not fit the needs of cachaciero.

407 is a great looking car too in my opinion, I really like the Coupes styling too. A 2.7HDi 407 Coupe would be rather nice 8-)
Chris
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cachaciero
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Post by cachaciero »

O.K I was going to start another thread on this but as we have got here anyway....:-)

First in answer to Andrews question the only car that is on that list that is still in my possesion is the C5, did have both the C5 and the VSX XM for a while but the XM went to Lol Ingram who sadly did not have much time to enjoy it, I guess it's still in France.

Question was essentially do I persevere with what I have got or do I get something else?

What I have got had problems when I purchased it some of which I knew and some I didn't . The problems I have are not uncommon on this car, slight tendancy to steer to left, heavy tire wear on outer shoulders rears in particular, heavyish fuel consumption, hanging on to second gear (auto), passenger window not responding to switches correctly, problems with swirl valves / vaccuum system,`sporadic reported failure of additive sensor. Hard ride

Of these the swirl valve vacuum has been resolved, the auto box I have a handle on and a fix which fixes the autobox but in theory leaves the ESC system a little impaired. Window I havn't got a clue but can live with. The hard ride I have narrowed down to the fron centre regulator but havn't as yet got a definitive idea of what exactly.
Heavy fuel consumption is not out of spec one feels that it could and should be better and some of the issues around this have been well aired.
Tyre wear my belief is that early rear subframes were manufactured incorrectly possibly with excessive toe in or maybe not rigid enough.
My feeling is that if the front lower wishbone and rear subframe were replaced with S2 parts all these problems would likely go away.

For the rest of the car and this is the top spec SE model all the toys work and as far as I am concerned work well the only known issue is the aerial amplifier which is a bit iffy The Nav system works but is generally pretty useless.

If I could get on top of all the problems I would love it.

Before the pump the basic decision was do I spend the £700.oo quid it would cost to upgrade the suspension components new discs etc plus another say £400.00 to get the car on a rolling road tuner to sort the engine and hopefully improve the fuel consumption or just buy another car and if so what?.

Whatever I have it has to be a hatch or possibly an estate, in reality a full blown estate is a little big for most of what I lug so a cut down estate now called a Tourer in Citroen C3 speak or 407SW in pug speak would be about as big as I really want to go and even these are bigger than I really need. Something where the rear seats come out completely might be acceptable too aka the baby Merc.

Gearbox yes I can drive manuals but in reality most of my driving is in relatively congested situations and having one less thing to expend brain power on is a bonus, in these situations an automatic is defiinetly the more relaxed way to drive. Further it avoides crap like clutch changes at 70K ish. and often DMF failures at about the same time
Yes I know autoboxes can and do fail and will be ultimately expensive when they do go but with a bit of care many go on to 150K ish and I won't have the car that long.

Ideally it will have hydropnuematics suspension but some of the air suspensions now fitted on other Marcs don't appear to be too bad so maybe a possibility.

Fuel consumption is probably now the one consideration which I put at the top of my list. For most of the driving I do one could argue that anything much over 110BHP is a waste it never gets used.

The 2.1 XM @110HP on an auto box was adequate for most of the local driving I do and on the MWay it would get to 90 quite smartly when required, an improvment to the 0-30 time would have been nice.

So currently this takes me down to something in the region of 1.6 unfortunately PSA don't do an autobox on a 1.6. neither do many others.

Abondoning an autobox opens up the choice and arguably gives better fuel consumption but at the expense of undoubtadly higher maintenance cost on a circa 5K secondhand car.

Going for a different manufacturer this for me has cost I have worked with Cits for a long time and have an investment in tools and knowledge which would to some large extent be lost changing to anothe make. So not a decision to be made lightly.

This is a long post so i will stop and let the "galleria" comment :-)

cachaciero
2006 Toyota Prius T Spirit
2001 2.2 C5 Exclusive SE
1996 XM 2.1 TD Auto VSX
1995 XM 2.1 TD Auto SX died @ 140K
1987 CX 2.5 Gti Turbo II dead
1984 Ford Scorpio
1981 CX 2.4 Pallas Auto
Renault 21
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Post by Citroenmad »

I might be well of the mark if you don't like these, but reading your above requests for your next car gave me an idea of what might fit your bill. And it is a 1.6HDi 110 and an auto gearbox ...

Something like this:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

Or, there is the smaller 5 seat version, which does have removable rear seats, as does the 7 seater:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

Its in a low tax bracket, 55MPG average according to spec, it will be lively enough, auto box with manual input with the padels when needed. Prices are softening now too, and they are a great looking MPV. The top spec models and it was an option have air suspension on the rear, which provides a good ride but also self leveling.

Its smaller than a C5 estate too, the 5 seat version certainly.

Seems about perfect!?

How many miles would you say your rear tyres on your C5 last? I think all C5s rear beams toe in to a degree, true some are worse than others.
Chris
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Post by andmcit »

What's wrong with a 2006 vintage (NOT 2011!!!) C4 5 or 3 door; my sister
loves her 1.6HDi 16v although it doesn't have the superb wet suspension
of it's forebears yet this is the feature beset with problems on the current
C5? Yes, it's firmer in ride but I think it's aged well and now a nicer prospect
to the awful replacement which will now no doubt depress values of it's
forerunner. Just a thought; there's a lot out there and many do rate them
and love the high mpg, looks and build quality...

Personally, I wouldn't want one but I'm happy stuck in the era of 70's-90's
Citroens where the bigger the better the car! :D BTW, I adore my CX GTi T2
and plan to shake a Gs back onto the road I've now decided! 8-)

Andrew
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Post by dieselnutjob »

I had to replace a bent track control arm and both bottom ball joints recently on my 607. Here are the alignment numbers that the fancy computer came up with.
You can see that I still have a problem with camber on one side but it seems to drive well.
The C5 and the 607 are related I beleive so it might be interesting to compare numbers.

Image
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Post by Citroenmad »

The C4 is a nice car, though might not be big enough for cachacieros needs, no removable seats etc. But the C4 Picasso ...

I almost bought a really nice C4 about 4 months ago, very nearly said yes but decided Id miss the C5s size, space and luxuries. Im glad I didnt buy it now.

The C4 GP is a nice car, its sold very well, there are loads of autos around and they are economical. They are the best looking MPV in my opinion too.
Chris
07 Citroen C6 V6 HDi Exclusive - Red
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