dodgy Speedometer C5

[tictac77]

2001 C5 2.2HDI

Yesterday my speedometer stopped working for no apparent reason when it was working fine the day before. This morning it started to work for about 5 minutes then stopped again.
I'm assuming this must be a loose connection but have any of you had any experience of this and if so how did you fix it?

Car is due for MOT in next month so would like to get this sorted asap but without getting taken for a ride at the dealers if possible so any help you could give would be appreciated

[CitroJim]

Bizarrely, a working speedo is, I believe, not an MOT requirement as they cannot reliably test it.

Having said that, it needs to be fixed. The first place to look is the connection to the vehicle speed sensor which will be found on the top of the final drive housing just above where the RH driveshaft comes out of the diff.

The sensor itself may be the culprit but before changing it, do check its connections as down there is a pretty hostile place for electrics.

If that does not resolve, I recommend, given the complex electrical system on a C5, a Lexia diagnostic session at a suitably equipped garage. That'll pin the problem down more specifically.

[tictac77]

Thanks Jim will give that a try and if no joy then off to the garage it goes

[civvie]

Think you will find it to be the stepper motor behind the speedo that's gone faulty, this happened to me this summer, I swapped the speedo stepper motor for the rev counter one, this has cured the problem, all I need now is a new stepper motor for the rev counter, unfortunately the stepper motor is not available on its own. Anyone got a spare stepper motor that works? There have I think been threads on how to replace the motors, but I have never been successful searching the forum. I found out by googling something like "C5 speedo stepper motor" or a mixture of both, to find some hits, its then fairly easy to swap but just be careful.
By the way my rev counter works sometimes, usually when I first use the car on a trip, but as time goes it slowly goes down to 0 and stays there.

Civvie

[myglaren]

I think that Civvie has nailed it.
It is a very common problem with C5s. Probably the best thing is to get another stepper motor from a scrapped C5*. Don't be tempted to swap the whole instrument binnacle though as the odometer will reset to that of the highest mileage vehicle and this cannot be reversed.
If your car has the higher mileage of course this won't be a problem.

*it is also possible that the same stepper motors are used in other PSA vehicles of similar vintage but I couldn't say with any certainty.

[civvie]

Yes Myglaren is correct, don't swap over the binnacle you don't need too.
On the back of the speedo is the stepper motor, inside it are some gears and the motor, what happens is a plastic pin breaks that hold a small gear wheel, this is the problem. I swapped over the stepper motors so I had the speedo back working.
What I did was remove the binnacle by inserting a couple of credit cards (wifes not yours!) in where you see two round indentations on the bottom of the black surround, push them in hard as they have to move the clips that hold the binnacle. Also drop the steering wheel to its lower setting. You should be able to slide the binnacle out, disconnect the plug from the wires.
Remove the covers to show the back and front of the speedometer bare. remove the needle, behind the head there are two small white plastic pins holding the drive in place. unclip them by moving them to the side, a small screwdriver will do, and pull the unit out. the unit has long pins coming from it that locate into the housing. dont worry about breaking anything as it just slips out and goes back in easily. Re- straighten the two plastic pins as they slide straight back into where they came from (before re-inserting), put it all back together but you need to check that the needle is in the correct position as there is no stopper. road test with a friend and pace them at about 30mph ( or use sat-nav) and reset the needle as required. You can either try and find another stepper motor, or as some have done is replace the broken pin with a small drill bit glued in.

Civvie

[tictac77]

Thanks for the info, Ill try and find a replacement motor then as it sounds like its exactly the same fault as you had.

Ive never come across a car that I like so much but has soooo many niggling issues (speedo, anti pollution etc)

[tictac77]

I followed the instructions and got the cluster out of the car but cant see how the motor comes away. May just try and purchase a replacement dash,

Do any of you know of one for sale?

[civvie]

Tictac,

The stepper motor is held by two pins (they are white plastic that go either side of the motor, they stick out from the cluster assembly, one for the speedo motor and one for the rev counter motor) take the needle off the front of the dial, I stuck a bit of tape on the front of the instrument panel to enable the needle to be put back in the same place, when you take the needle off, there is a small weight behind it, not sure why its there but be aware.
Next carefully prise the two pins to the side of the motor, you won't have to move them far, just enough to enable the motor to be slid out, the pins are flexible, ( I was scared to do this first time) then all you do is pull the motor out, do the same for the rev counter one, swap them over, straighten the pins and clip the motors into their new positions etc.

Civvie

[johnhuson]

I appreciate this is a very old thread but please be aware that you can swap the two stepper motors and both will work but
your speedo will still not work. In this case the odometer is also not moving. I suspect this is an ABS issue, will report back.

[Stirling54]

Hello all, my first post here. I recently acquired a Citroen C5, after a few Peugeot 307's. Anyway I'm here because the speedometer isn't or wasn't working. Per instructions here I did the tacho/ speedometer/swap and all is good, but where to find another stepper motor for the tacho?

But just a few points, you can test to see if the tranny sender unit is functioning simply by seeing if your cruise control works and you get a digital speed readout. Obviously it uses the same electronic feed. Similarly use the cruise control function to calibrate the speedometer. I had to stop a few times on open road to slightly adjust the position of the needle on the stepper motor shaft to get the same reading needle/cruise readout. I did this with just the basic binnacle plugged in, without its plastic surround of course, so I could access the needle whilst on the road. Anyway all good, if anyone has more thoughts on stepper motor repair, appreciated.

[civvie]

If you enter C5 stepper motor into E Bay it will show a few. Mind you this is on the UK site. Don't know where Buderim is.

[GiveMeABreak]

Have a look at this video - there are links in there to his site for spares:

[Paul-R]

Don't know where Buderim is.

There's one in Queensland, Australia.

[civvie]

Don't know where Buderim is.

There's one in Queensland, Australia.

Ah so thats where it is.