My C5 is Giving Power Steering, suspension and Other Warnings - Battery?

[StokeMusicDude]

Hi . . This is my first post . . . so please be gentle!!

I have two cars (Chrysler and Citroen C5) and switch them each 6 months (summer and winter) on Sunday, I put the C5 onto the road, taxing and testing and fixing a rear puncture. Car was running fine . . so took it on a long run Monday . . everything fine. Tuesday night . . nipped down the local supermarket . . fine. Then went to nip back as I'd forgotten some things. I got to the end of the road and put foot downed to nip out . . crikey . . car lit up . . Suspension, power steering, ABS and then the STOP light. It went into limp home mode so I pulled up . . walked to shops and came back. Started fine . . went forward . . all light appeared again. Luckily the traffic had lightened and I decided to get car home . . very difficult with no power steering and hardly any power.

I've looked around the car . . no obvious leaks, nothing looks amiss, so did a bit of research. At the moment, I've got the battery off and giving it a good overnight charge as I'm hoping that might be the route cause. Even though it was running OK during the day, maybe having the lights, radio and heating on was enough pull on battery to cause mayhem?

BTW . . started car today . . started fine, running smooth . . warning lights came on after about a minute.

Am I on the right track . . . or looking at something more serious??

Worried Stokie Dude

[xantia_v6]

It would make it easier if you post your VIN, or tell us the year of the car and exactly which engine your car has and which trim level.

You could check all of the fuses, particularly those in the fuse box beside the battery.

[GiveMeABreak]

Did you follow the BSI reset procedure before removing and after replacing the battery? If not, this can lead to all sorts of electrical issues - especially after a dormant period.

Post you r VIN as Mike says so we can see what you have.

[StokeMusicDude]

Hi there

No . . I haven't done the reset routine yet as wanted chance to charge the battery overnight. If it starts OK tomorrow . . will run through the reset procedures then as having to leave window open (overnight) would be too risky. Got the registered keepers doc . . details are . . Citroen C5 Exclusive Auto . . 2ltr . . first reg 30/01/2006 . . VIN no. . . VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]. On a "55" reg plate and done about 57K.

Any help or pointers will be much appreciated.

Plan so far is to . . get battery fully charged . . start her up . . go through reset . . if all OK . . go get a new battery . . cross fingers.

P.S. I could call Green Flag rescue out . . would they have the gear to do a system fault finding test/reset do you think?

[GiveMeABreak]

The purpose of the reset is prior to and after you connect the battery. The various computer ECUs need time to be properly shut down before the battery is disconnected, and again, proper time to 'awaken' and reinitialise once the battery is reconnected. Not doing this can cause problems with the ECUs. Opening a door for example will trigger the door module ECU and that in turn will get the BSI waking up other ECUs - which defeats the purpose.

I would at this point connect your battery up and leave the car without opening the doors for a few minutes, then try the procedure again fully (but just remove the battery negative and don't let it reconnect accidentally).

[StokeMusicDude]

Hi Marc . . Thanks for the reply.

That's basically the plan . . but the battery was (I think) pretty dead by the way the needle jumped up when I put it on charge. Will get my amp meter out and do all checks (battery and alternator) and the reset tomorrow. If my thinking is right, either the battery is just not holding sufficient charge and/or the alternator is weak. I was just trying to see if anyone could confirm that a weak battery in the system could cause the kind of mayhem on the dash board?

Cheers

[GiveMeABreak]

Absolutely a weak battery is a big no-no on the X7. Too much going on prior to and after the car is locked, so will always drain slowly. I trickle charge mine (on the vehicle is recommended and make sure that the negative charging paddle is clamped to the battery charge status module - not the negative battery terminal directly). This is so the charge status control unit can accurately determine the charge state prior to and after charging. It incorporates a voltage sensor and a power sensor.

So in the above, clamp the negative charge paddle to to 'a'

[Stickyfinger]

Interestingly my car does not have that fitted.

[GiveMeABreak]

Have another look Alasdair - part 15 - and still in use up to the end of production on all models.

If not, I can only suggest somebody has replaced the battery wiring and not replaced the unit.

I'll get a photo of mine tomorrow and post it - diagrams can be deceiving.

[Peter.N.]

My '51 reg C5 had a voltmeter on the dash which I thought was a good idea, providing you look at it now and again, it should pre empt any low voltage failures.

Peter

[GiveMeABreak]

Interestingly my car does not have that fitted.

Sticky - Here's the one from my car - and that's Copper Ease, not rust by the way

[StokeMusicDude]

Update on the C5 . . Put battery back on after overnight recharge and hey presto . . everything is fine and dandy. Off to the local motor factors for a new battery and it starts to play up on way back home giving different various warnings, but driving fine. Put new battery on and everything is fine and dandy again, so I go for a 20 mile run to top up the new battery charge. Just pulling onto my drive and start getting warnings again and eventually loose power.

I'd had enough for one day . . so went out to watch a very average England performance at the pub with mates.

By now I'm thinking the next thing is the alternator, but I couldn't check that myself due to a disability, so I called out Green Flag thinking they could maybe help with an initial diagnostics if it wasn't the alternator . . but . . no need. They confirmed little or no charge coming off the alternator . . so she's booked into local garage for new alternator next Tuesday. Hopefully that should sort out the issues. All this drama and my initial alarm, could have been spared if there was a simple Ampere/voltage gauge on the dash.

I will update you all in a few days time . . Cheers

[GiveMeABreak]

Well sorted - it doesn't take long for the battery to drain does it! At least you have treated her to a new one.

[Hell Razor5543]

Well, My C5 Mk1 VTR estate does have a battery gauge on the instrument panel, but I don't know how accurate it is.

[myglaren]

I bought a widget that plugs in to the fag lighter sosket - voltage, temperature and two USB sockets.
That and a multimeter initially confirm that the voltage indicator on the dash is reliable as an indication but doesn't show how many of your actual voltses there are.
My battery - about 18 months old - seems to have benefited from a 48 hour trickle charge last weekend.