The Perils of Replacing a C5's Battery......

[frenchcarnut]

......perceived, actual or otherwise!

Well, the colder conditions have exposed a weaker cranking force than experienced for the last 6 years, so I'm wondering if the battery is about to splurge on me any time soon.

I don't want to get caught out on a winter's morning just as I'm about to embark on an important day at work, so am thinking about getting my battery changed. I suppose I could just get it charged to full when I'm leaving it for weekends, or only using it on short journeys, and see how that goes.

But apart from the usual resetting of clocks and computer choices related to automatic wiping, speed warnings etc, are there any impending, doom laden consequences I should be aware of?

And what do people expect from their battery? Is 6 years an average life expectancy, or have people got more out of their beloved's electrical heart?

Preemptively, it's also probably a better time to buy before supply and demand dictates more ludicrous pricing schemes.

[wheeler]

To make sure you dont cause any problems when changing the battery make sure you let the ECU's power down properly 1st, to do this turn the ignition off & remove the key & wait at least 5 minutes before disconnecting the battery, during this 5 minutes dont open or close any doors/tailgate or operate the plip as this 'wakes' the system back up, if you have to do this for any reason you would need to wait again. If the car has built in satnav you must also make sure the little LED on the CD drive is out before disconecting the battery or damage to the navigation unit can occur. The battery is now safe to disconnect.
When refitting the battery once you connect the leads up wait 2 minutes before doing anything dont open any doors/tailgate etc or operate plip. Turn the ignition on & wait a few seconds before starting.
Apart from the usual settings you already mentioned you will also need to reset the anti pinch function on your electric windows by putting them in the fully up position & holding the button up for a few seconds & you may also need to re-sync the plip's by turning the ignition on & holding the lock button for 10 seconds (repeat for each plip).

[frenchcarnut]

That's a great help wheeler, thank you

[addo]

I'm presuming the bonnet is left up during this reversion to "sleep mode"?

[JohnD]

...... Is 6 years an average life expectancy,.

My C5 is still OK but it's only 5. However daughter's Xsara HDI is still on its original battery at 8 years old.

[kenhall1202]

I can recommend this outfit for an overnight delivery of a new battery to your door:
http://www.performancebatteries.co.uk/
I used them recently for a replacement battery for my father in law's Rover 45.

Battery life seems to vary a lot but 6 years seems about right for a diesel application. My 2.1TD XM was caught out by last years cold winter, the battery had been fine during warmer months but after standing out in hard frosts there just wasn't enough reserve power in the battery to turn the engine over after the glow plugs had taken their share. I bought a replacement Bosch battery from a ebay seller for around £80.

[Chris570]

i actually found gsf to be very good, bought a new bosch battery (096) for £57

[KP]

Why notuser jumper leads from the battery clamps to the new battery that way when you take the old one out it still has power going to it? bit of extra faff and can be tricky when connecting the new one in but served me well the few times i have done it

[Clogzz]

When the battery is disconnected, the boot locks until the key is back in and turned.
The bonnet doesn’t have any locking; it always opens with the handle under the dash.

First time that I disconnected, I left the driver’s window down, for in case it went wrong.
I have disconnected since without due procedure, and haven’t been caught yet.
The worst I’ve had this far were the windows not knowing which way to move, and sorted it as per Wheeler’s post above.

[wheeler]

I'm presuming the bonnet is left up during this reversion to "sleep mode"?

The bonnet/boot/doors can be in the open or closed position during the procedure, as long as they are not opened or closed while the ECU's are shutting down as the action of the doors opening or closing wakes the BSI back up.
I would normally do it with the doors closed, the drivers window down & the key out of the ignition. Im not saying that it will always mess up if you dont follow the above but it can & does happen (as a few Xsara owners over on CXOC have recently just found out), most common causes of disconecting the battery while the BSI is still 'awake' are The key memorys being erased which require a Lexia to recode them & also the plips to loose their coding & they wont recode using the normal re sync procedure.

[frenchcarnut]

Great advice all. Does anyone recommend a rating for these off hand? I'll take a look at the original battery later if not, but I'm looking at a 63Ah, 610A cold start as an initial specification whereas Citroen seem to be recommending a variety. Obviously bigger the better, but I don't want to waste money on redundant battery power:

L1D 50/420 - BATTERY L1 300 AND AGE >= 5
L2D 50/480 - BATTERY L2 400 AND AGE >= 5
L1D 50/420 - BATTERY L2 400 AND AGE >= 5
L3D 70/640 - BATTERY L3 450 AND AGE >= 5
L2D 60/540 - BATTERY L2 400 AND AGE >= 5

I thought about getting one of these (click on image):



And then noticed this thread to cement my ambivalence to such a scheme. So it's probably just faffing around and clutching at straws

[myglaren]

There was something mentioned recently about one of those solar chargers actually draining the battery - should be reasonably simple to overcome that though.

[spider]

There was something mentioned recently about one of those solar chargers actually draining the battery - should be reasonably simple to overcome that though.

Would assume it is missing a diode, as you say easy enough to 'fix' to prevent reverse current flow.

The tiny forward voltage drop (0.4 or 0.6 volts, cannot remember which) is nothing to be concerned about for this kind of application.

[nick]

Im not saying that it will always mess up if you dont follow the above but it can & does happen (as a few Xsara owners over on CXOC have recently just found out), most common causes of disconecting the battery while the BSI is still 'awake' are The key memorys being erased which require a Lexia to recode them & also the plips to loose their coding & they wont recode using the normal re sync procedure.

Yep, exactly what happened to my old Xsara after a Halfrauds monkey whipped the battery leads off whilst the BSI was shutting down. Xsaras do seem particularly prone to this for some reason don't they? More so than other multiplexed PSA cars it would appear?

[spider]

I think so yes, although the design of such systems I find (myself at least) not 100% happy in that you can cause damage by doing this. It is my second most reason for trying to avoid multiplexed cars, although its likely my next one will be multiplexed.

Having said that, I read somewhere some type of Nissan keys (I believe they have changed them) could sometimes lose their code if left next to a mobile phone)