Agghhhh... rear ended again!

[old'uns]

first one just before we went away, low speed ie walking pace, Transit hits d/s corner bumper - cosmetic only - no problem, slowly getting sorted even with a week lead time just for a quote from 'approved' bodyshop

second one a little more serious although not in the way you might think.....

parked up at a customers yard, tailgate open parked facing forward so d/s 20 yards of parking for trucks available.
go and see boss inside, waiting for him to come see tractor unit and one of his lorries is reversing as close as to car.
stood there thinking WTF but oh well?
come to go, eco mode on so pull down on tailgate....which then collapses with a bang
then notice bumper near towbar is damaged and crumpled upwards, bottom of tailgate is creased and spoiler is pushing upwards.

Yup, idiot in lorry has hit car, not even told me although the boss has said he'll pay.......tore both struts tailgate mounting points off.
whats worse is the damage to the lorry is n/s rear corner, mine is on d/s so he's reversed blind from the wrong direction, realised there's something there and thought oh s**t what's that car doing there?

anyone want to hazard a guess how much a new Electric tailgate strut is from Citroen?
I now know, glad i'm not paying although they do come with the cables to the electric motor

It never rains... yadda yadda

[miked]

Are you fully comp? Ring your insurance company and let them sort it out.
If not then get the other parties details and tell them you are having to hire another car until they get yours fixed, and you need secure storage for your car.

I was rear-ended when I had an early Xsara VTR, The car was scrap, my back was blue, the white van driver who ran in to me suffered as well. I didn't get back what I had paid for the car, but I did get a hire car for the duration while they settled the claim.

[old'uns]

i'm having enough hassle with the first one, company van, all details swapped and as of yet no reply to my Insurance from theirs, apparently they have 90 days to reply.
Ambulance chasers galore trying to contact me, no more needed thanks
Got a car waiting at Enterprise, estate car as like for like although i doubt it will have the ride of the Tourer, they're chomping at the bit to deliver it

2nd one is a good customer of mine, happened on their premises and he's promised to pay so no problem there.

Just paid for the new struts.......£220, should be here Fri so job for the w/e.
job for this PM cancelled so may strip out old ones today.
will take pics for future ref. just in case someone else is as unlucky as me

[old'uns]

Struts went on back order until the 11th but arrived yesterday so sort of a bonus.
Fitted today,well apart from attaching to the motor.
For the life of me I cannot get the motor to go to 'open' position to attach the cables?
Press either buttons and I get the beeps re: eco mode even with motor running.
Tried with tailgate open and closed, still nothing.
Any clues from anyone?

At least I now don't need the 2 x4 piece of wood, the struts work as a gas one would.

[DickieG]

Have you got a Lexia? Not sure that it has it on the menu but I'm wondering whether it offers an actuation test on the tailgate, might be worth a try.

[old'uns]

didn't think of that!

got Lexia, don't recall that option but will give it a go the w/e.

I managed to get motor to the open position to unhook the cables but it's not playing ball although at the moment it is nice to be able to open and close tailgate manually without it beeping at me !! bloody eco mode!

[old'uns]

Finally after many weeks i now have the Tailgate working again many thanks to VB for the info.
tried to do it via lexia with no luck...so with brute force and ignorance i plucked up the courage to take apart the motor.
nothing sprang out it's a bit of a mystery of how it works with whats inside it? small worm drive driving 3-4 plastic gears to then push/pull what looks like a small m/cycle sized chain to which the cables are attached. take apart, rotate chain until hooks are visible, put back together with no left over screws plug in, clear any programming on the Boot ECU with Lexia and hey Presto!

Just need to sort out the Reverse sensors now
had bumper replaced, working when drove out, following morning fault shows when selecting Reverse.
been back to repair centre, sensors are supposedly working OK but Lexia says short out to -ve side.
display shows fault then picture of car appears, sensors pick up objects but then displays fault again and so on....

I've turned them off for now, just need to decide whether to push the Ins co to sort it or is it just coincidence?
stump up for new loom and hope that works or maybe the Bosch Black Box in wheel well is the problem?