bloody expensive c6

[DickieG]

You're right there David, he's a dreamer at that money, on Autotrader there's a 07 reg 2.7 Exclusive 55k miles asking price of £8450 so he's a good £2000 over the top in my book, why would anyone take on such a project unless you are going to save a fair few quid for the hassle and potential unknown costs which could escalate significantly. After an automatic transmission fluid change, timing belt and tensioners plus the clips you mention they could well set you back a good £1000 and at the end of it you have a car that's done 80k miles.

I'll still take a look tomorrow then report back.

[jgra1]

David, ouch

It is amazing what a silver plastic panel does / hides.. I would not want to take that one out

Richard, be interested in your report, first thing on my desk .. lovely dream car, but... then again, if my finances and situation were more settled, 'I might'


John

[DHallworth]

David, ouch

It is amazing what a silver plastic panel does / hides.. I would not want to take that one out

John

There's so little space under the bonnet of the C6, the battery is in the boot behind the trim panel on the left hand side!!

David.

[Deanxm]

There was one sold a while back for 6k, ok not top spec and it had the odd scuff but it was road worthy!
It will be interesting to see what you make of it Richard, now its not turning over rather than not starting the plot thickens, does sound rather engine out ish, cant see he is going to get shot of it over an electrical fault no matter how tricky it is to find.

D

[Lighty]

Still think its worth £1500, what if you fix it all up and there is an Auto gearbox fault, also may need brake overhaul etc etc

[DickieG]

Still think its worth £1500, what if you fix it all up and there is an Auto gearbox fault, also may need brake overhaul etc etc

That's the valid point which means that to be a worthwhile project it has to be quite cheap, no way would I like to buy that C6 knowing that it needs an expensive engine then find that having spent almost as much as I could have bought a perfectly running example to then find it has a duff gearbox or say exhaust which on a C6 will almost certainly mean buying very expensive parts from a dealer, pointless.

[Gibbo2286]

Talking about 'old smokers', when I was trading I was asked by an old Paddy if I'd sell his Jeep Grand Cherokee for him from my site, I said "ok bring it in."

The next morning I heard this rumbling noise from my forecourt and went out to see what it was, the moron had decided the beautiful six cylinder petrol engine was too thirsty and had replaced it with a Ford four cylinder diesel tractor engine from one of his JCBs.

The thing had a top speed of about 38mph and absolutely no chance of finding a buyer, even worse though was the fact that it used more fuel than the original petrol engine.

[davoxx]

it's the bottom end gone right? just stating my guess.

[HDI]

2 owners, FSH but stopped dead ??!! Has some numpty run this dry of oil ??!!

[davoxx]

2 owners, FSH but stopped dead ??!! Has some numpty run this dry of oil ??!!

i wonder how much of the fsh is true? i have a sinking feeling that it's a pile of poo ...
i think the owner knows more that he is willing to say ...

[HDI]

Agreed. Very tempting but soooooo much potential for being an epic money pit. If I had the money disposable and the space to keep it without it being a problem I would probably take a punt but I don't on both counts !!

[DickieG]

I went to see the C6 in question this morning, deep breath here we go,,,,

The seller claims he's selling it on behalf of a mate who bought it cheaply then was driving it home on the motorway when the engine "Stop light" illuminated followed by the engine cutting out, having waited for a while the engine restarted but then stopped and cannot been started since. He said he thinks it might need a head gasket sorting out, more info in that later. The original owner was Citroen UK with the present one on the V5 having owned it since 2008, it looks as if it was sold via Sportif in Chalfont to the person shown on the V5.

The last MOT was done in March 2010 @ 80k miles, the present mileage is 86k, there is just one receipt for a service @ 22k, no other history available apart from a sticker at the top of the windscreen from a minicab company stating "No Smoking", there are also additional wires hanging off the battery to substantiate the Minicab theory.

The car has obviously been sat around outside for a considerable length of time as the brake disc's are quite rusty, there is a large amount of bird droppings all over the car and,,,,,,,,,loads of chewed acorns under the bonnet right next to the ECU and on top of what looks like the MAF sensor showing evidence of a rodent infestation which is very worrying especially when you read further down this post!

The four tyres are very low on tread with both front one's showing wear on their inside edges looking as if they need immediate replacement, several of the wheels are scuffed with the O/S/F one having a chunk out of the rim presumably due to kerbing.

Exterior, paintwork generally looks good but the N/S/F window needs replacing as it has a large clouded area due to water ingress between the laminates, engine undertray missing as in lost, not simply just not fitted.

Interior is cream leather generally good but oily boots marks on the mats, seat leather generally good, drivers seatbelt quite dirty and the cloth covering the 'B' pillar has loads of ripples in it where the glue has failed, drivers window is partially open, car not under cover.

Battery is as flat as a pancake as even after connecting it up to my car with professional jump leads and leaving the engine running for 1/2 an hour it still couldn't light up an interior light.

I connected up my Lexia which was quite interesting, firstly there are literally loads of ECU's on C6's but rather worryingly the fault log was over filled several times over (unable to record any more) with the 359 faults it had logged

Loads of the faults related to every issue you could ever think of to do with the front and rear electric seats but more worrying were the permanent faults relating to various ECU's such as the ABS, BSI and several others not being unable to communicate with the Injection (engine) ECU especially bearing in mind the rodent infestation. I went through every ECU and recorded fault (took an hour!) but none of them looked obvious to me as being easy to spot as the cause for non starting, i.e no low fuel pressure faults.

The engine oil level is too high and looks very black, there is evidence of coolant under the radiator/front cross member with the header tank being dry of coolant, no obvious signs that I could see of a substantial oil leak due to say a hole in the crankcase.

Having left the car connected to mine on jump leads for some considerable time attempting to start the car merely causes a click of relays followed by the electrics shutting down completely, whether this is due to the completely flat battery or a seized engine causing the starter to stall I don't know without replacing the battery.

Someone has had a dabble at the engine as a few vacuum pipes have been taken off the engine and are thrown in the boot which is where the engine cover has been left.

I've spoken to a close friend in the trade who informs me that CAP trade on a good condition/working C6 of that age and mileage is £5k but bearing in mind that a new engine needs to be budgeted for in addition to a set of tyres, N/S/F window, battery, maybe disc's and pads plus replacement or repairs to engine looms due to rodents, so a huge money pit means the car must be worth,,,,,,,,,,,,

[CitroJim]

Oh dear What a sad and sorry tale...

so a huge money pit means the car must be worth,,,,,,,,,,,,

,,,,,,,,,,Scrap value. Not a penny more... To be attempted only by the most brave...

[Timmo]

Wow! thats a certain inclination that theres a lot of information hiding in the fault logs!
do agree thye seller knows more than he's letting on!
ive heard in the past that if a battery is allowed to be completely drained it wont charge properly from a jump start but would need a slow charge from a proper battery charger??

[HDI]

Yup, one for the breakers I think !! Been cabbed alone means I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole !!