2002 C5 2.2 Hdi AirCon / Heater issue

[Jerdo1]

Hi,

I'm a newbie so please be gentle ?!

I recently bought a 2002 C5 diesel auto hatch to pull a motorcycle to France where I am staying for 5 months.
It seemed a bargain and only had 80,000 on the clock along with a changed cambelt etc. I love the car but it has a number of quirks - most of which are manageable on a day to day basis. However when I was in France last year I had a 2005 Renault Clio, which was fine but had no aircon. I decided that this was a must this year and so my SX model came equipped. The aircon and heater appeared to be working fine but it was a little less than cold so - about a week before I set off for France I had the system recharged and noticed a big difference in the coldness.
I set off for France with my daughter and when I switched the aircon on she immediately noticed that, with the heater at its lowest (coldest) setting there was hot air coming through all of the passenger side vents. The drivers vents were all pumping through cold air as they should. No matter what I tried it stayed like this all the way south through France.
Is there an easy fix to either disconnect the passenger side altogether and rely on the cold air being pumped through the drivers vents - or some other way to fix this. I would like some idea of the possibility of a fix before I approach a 'local' Citroen garage / mechanic.
One of the other issues is that ONLY the drivers window opens - but that's will be another Post for another time!

thanks in advance

Jerdo

[myglaren]

The motorised flaps that control the airflow fail to operate - a fairly common problem.
Usual cause is the flaps distort with the heat and then the motor cogs that drive them shear off.
There is a replacement motor with a longer shaft and stronger cog but this doesn't cure the distorted flaps and If I recall correctly it is quite a job to access them for repair/replacement.

Just a guess but if you remove the glovebox and or the trim under the dash it may be possible to reach in and manually move the flaps to a suitable position although only a temporary and unsatisfactory measure.

[Jerdo1]

Steve,
Many thanks for the swift reply. I'll try what you've suggested but was wondering - is it possible that this could be a temporary problem that could be solved by lubricating the flaps or cogs.
Or is it likely that now it is malfunctioning the flaps have distorted / cogs sheared?.
Jerry

[myglaren]

Always worth a shot at lubricating it but I doubt it will be successful.

[BenC5HDi]

I found that if I simply left the thing in the cold position, it would eventually - like in a few days, go to where I'd asked it to! This happened on 2 of the 3 C5s I owned.

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[Peter.N.]

I find with mine that the passenger side defaults to 'hot' this is unfortunate as my wife doesn't like the heat and I don't like the cold, but, if I set both controls to cold when I get out of the car, when I start it again it is usually cold on both sides, I can then turn my side up without cooking the wife.

Peter

[BenC5HDi]

Yes, I think one of mine behaved exactly like that Peter.

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[Jerdo1]

Hi Steve, Ben and Peter,
I did as Ben suggested and it seems to have fixed it. I will take your advice Peter about setting them to cold and see if things stay as they are.
I assumed that it was a costly failure of something - but seems to be a quirk - which I'm fine with.
Thanks for all the help and I'll be sure to be back soon with another quirk needing solving!
Jerdo1

[Nebby]

Are there diagrams and or a basic, how to to check these flaps? (55 C5 1.6HDI) I used to be able to hear them move but now I only have child air on the drivers side.