Thinking about buying a C5 - good bad points please

[fotobright]

Yes its that red estate. Is there a link to that conversation anywhere?

[fotobright]

yes its the red estate, any links

[citroenc5mad]

I have got a 1.6hdi c5 its a cracking car the engines are great. However I do service mine every 6 thousand miles to prevent the turbo from going/failing. Never had a problem with it and its a 2006 model but just upgraded to the newer shape c5 same engine and just going to carry on the service schedule that I chose to do om my current car.
I've herd loads of stories about the turbo ducking the engine dry and I put this down to the astronomical service intervals. 20k is a bit too much if you ask me for an oil change especially when some drivers only cover this amount in 3yrs which defeats the object of the oil changing being annually as they use the mileage.

If you want extra power as the 1.6 struggles to give a powerfull punch as it sometime runs out of steam only when accelerating to reach motorway speeds, once it has reached 60+ mph then it seams to just keep on giving. Buy if your after a car that will give great MPG I average 78.3 sitting about 55-60mph, and returns 60-64MPG @ 70mph.

For this type of car I think the 1.6 engine is better than what people make it out to be especially if maintained correctly, servicing I would recommend every 6k, fuel,air,cabin filters every 12 or 18k

Dan

[Northern_Mike]

I have got a 1.6hdi c5 its a cracking car the engines are great. However I do service mine every 6 thousand miles to prevent the turbo from going/failing. Never had a problem with it and its a 2006 model but just upgraded to the newer shape c5 same engine and just going to carry on the service schedule that I chose to do om my current car.
I've herd loads of stories about the turbo ducking the engine dry and I put this down to the astronomical service intervals.

It's not just that. The problem is residue from the EGR system blocking the oil pickup pipe from the sump and starving the turbo of oil, which ruins it. There's a mesh filter in the pipe that must really be removed. It's not simply oil changes in your ownership. There's at least two people who've had new turbos dealer fitted, that have failed in less than 3000 miles...

If you can *prove*, and I mean *prove* that the car has had oil changes every 6000 miles or so, and has had the mesh thing removed, and the sump cleaned out of goo now and again, fine, buy a 1.6HDi. If you can't, then you do it at your own risk as far as I can see.

[Peter.N.]

Hunting on mine was caused by the pressure regulator on the HP pump, or rather by a blocked filter on it.

Peter

[hamster99]

In my view the 1.6HDI is a little underpowered for what is quite a heavy car, especially if you want the estate. As for mechanicals, look after it sensibly and it will last years, my Exclusive has everything you could want in a car and has done 240k, 65k by me in last two years. You should be able to pick up a decent 2005/2006 facelift one for less than a grand. If you're happy with a spanner in your hand they're pretty easy to maintain too, especially with advice on here.
Rob

[Peter.N.]

... and just in case the turbo should fail its right on the front so you can get at it, almost as if they knew something.

I think I would be happy with a 1.6 if I knew it was in good condition when I got it, they are the same power as the 2.0. 8 valve I have now and that's quite good enough for me.

Peter

[fotobright]

Hunting on mine was caused by the pressure regulator on the HP pump, or rather by a blocked filter on it.

Peter

I changed the main fuel filter as a matter of coure a couple of days ago but are you saying there is a filter in the HP pump? Excuse my ignorance but I was a child of veg ol powered XUD before this heady world of HDI sensors ha

[Peter.N.]

I know the feeling, I'm new to common rail as well, I ran my first diesel in 1959. However there is a pressure regulator on the HP pump, fairly easily removed, held on with two screws and a plug, when you remove it you will see on the end what looks like a length of stainless steel tube, its actually a very fine filter. I haven't found it possible to clean them but as some don't have the filter I removed mine altogether and its been OK ever since, you can just grind the end off providing you get all the swarf out, you will see what I mean when you take it out.

Mine started off hunting and then became difficult to start when hot.

Peter

[citroenc5mad]

It's not just that. The problem is residue from the EGR system blocking the oil pickup pipe from the sump and starving the turbo of oil, which ruins it. There's a mesh filter in the pipe that must really be removed. It's not simply oil changes in your ownership. There's at least two people who've had new turbos dealer fitted, that have failed in less than 3000 miles...

If you can *prove*, and I mean *prove* that the car has had oil changes every 6000 miles or so, and has had the mesh thing removed, and the sump cleaned out of goo now and again, fine, buy a 1.6HDi. If you can't, then you do it at your own risk as far as I can see.


When you say mesh thing what fo you mean?? As I know where the egr valve is but no idea about the mesh.
and taking the sump off is it a big job?? I know about the slurry sitting in the bottom because of the bad design of the sump plug.

I also take it that the sump is a different design to the 2.0 and 2.2 hdi engines??

Dan

[Peter.N.]

Yes, it also holds more oil. They seem to have made a complete muck up of the oil system on that engine. I would agree, you really need to be able to look inside the engine to determine the oil change history, it was much better when you had a filler in the rocker cover, you could at least see the condition of the top of the engine.

Peter

[zipdip]

Hi the new X7 C5 is a big improvement on the earlier model the build quality of the cabin is a vast improvement,many on this forum lose interest if you do not have the
Hydro suspension,it will cause you problems but the forum has seen and done it all so getting advice on what to do will be easy,it is a big car,so do not expect massive MPG whatever diesel version you pick,some other makes have new 1.6 green diesels that will do well over 60MPG,the Citroen will get you around 45MPG if driven well,if you do not do massive mileage look for a petrol one,I bought one and converted it to LPG and it does around 54mpg if I was using petrol,which of course I am not,and of course this latest attack on dirty diesels by Boris,will have no effect on me,so a petrol X7 on lpg will be more economical than a diesel one and cheaper to buy and I do not have the Hydro Suspension so members on here do not consider it a true Citroen if you are one for number crunching I get 6.4 miles per litre of gas bought at 69p a litre so with Petrol costing around £1.28 a litre ,you can do the maths,a petrol X7 C5 will do no more than 34mpg on petrol.

[fotobright]

In my view the 1.6HDI is a little underpowered for what is quite a heavy car, especially if you want the estate. As for mechanicals, look after it sensibly and it will last years, my Exclusive has everything you could want in a car and has done 240k, 65k by me in last two years. You should be able to pick up a decent 2005/2006 facelift one for less than a grand. If you're happy with a spanner in your hand they're pretty easy to maintain too, especially with advice on here.
Rob

I'm looking but i'm not seeing this elusive C5 estate 2.0L HDI for about a grand! People seem to asking £1295 for a 120,000 (03) plate and £2000 for an (05) however if you look at what they sell for on Ebay they're not getting that for these? Would the elusive £1000 price need to be from an actual car auction?

[Peter.N.]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Citroen-C5-Es ... 35dab1353a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Citroen-C5-Es ... 2a41d50bd9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-CITROEN- ... 3393b39d8c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Citroen-C5-2- ... 1c40cc6a47" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[fotobright]

Yes seen that one, amusing ad but a tad far away from the main arterial routes or airports. I guess i was just hoping for an 05 with the new front. Lots of 1.6L on a (05) but the 2.0L not really within my budget though. The one that finally appeared in Glasgow the other day seemed to sell in seconds?!

Ah right you've got more than one..i'll look at these

Second on list is nearby but a 90bhp but it is nearby but the 110 would best
Third on list. I made them a reasonable offer, they didn't reply but a private list bid appeared 10mins later (coincidence) ha
4th one on list is another 90bhp

There's a few more but I have to factor in trying to get a cheap train or flight. I'll get there in the end!