C5 Leaky Power Steering Pump

[Ben82]

Hi Chaps, been a while!

Have had intermittent issues for a while now, e.g. steering occasionally feeling juddery even at low speeds. And sometimes having a groan when cold.

Anyway, took it to my local guy to check it out. He investigated it and said that the steering pump has been leaking, and basically has said it needs replacing ( that or the whole car ).

Looking online, it seems like Citroen want ~4310SEK for the pump alone (about £380 currently), mister-auto seems to want about 1800SEK (£160), which is a bit more reasonable.

But he also said it'll need a new belt and fluid, and obviously, the time to do it (which he reckons if all goes well will be at most 3000kr ~£265).

He isn't a Citroen specialist but knows it needs special fluid etc. And I trust the guy as well to not being trying to shaft me, (after all, he only charged me about £120 to replace my rear callipers, whereas the Citroen indy I went to previously wanted about £600 in labour - without knowing they would need an angle grinder to take them off )

The car has done about 170,000km (~105,000miles), so one of my concerns is the gearbox, and it's getting closer to the age where that might die. Meaning this might only just extend the life of the car for while.

Also, I don't have DocBackup installed at the moment, so is anyone able to reel off the Power Steering Pump remove/refit document please? Last digits of my VIN is 76509075.

Any words of wisdom greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

Ben

[GiveMeABreak]

4007 CZ is the part number. I'll drop you the docks off later via email.

[GiveMeABreak]

Ok, just sent now - had a network outage (again) so slight delay!

[Ben82]

Ok, just sent now - had a network outage (again) so slight delay!

Very helpful. Thanks a lot

Will report back on how it all goes.

[GiveMeABreak]

No worries, let me know if you need anything else - good luck.

[Ben82]

Just a quick update..
Went into the main dealer today to get some LDS, and to find out how much they would quote for the work.

I don't believe they quoted for everything, as they only quoted for the pump and the labour - I would have thought they'd do what most main dealers do and quote for full bottles of liquid even if they only use a bit.

They wanted about 2820SEK for labour (about £250), so I'm guessing by Citroen standards; that's about 2 hrs work.

I've found a pump on mister-auto that is 1619sek (~£145 after mailing back the old one for about a £100 rebate).

So what I will probably do tomorrow morning is pop down to the garage again, with the parts printed out to see if I have everything he thinks I'd need, along with the Docs from GiveMeABreak, and the quote from Citroen, and see if he feels a bit more confident about the job.

Back to the LDS, when I parked up at Citroen I popped the suspension on low, and tried to see where the fluid was up to, and wasn't sure where it was in relation to where it was, so I Yolo'd it and put some in (after all I was outside a Citroen garage if things went to pot )

Drove off, and things instantly felt better - not perfect, but better, so knew I was on the right track. When I parked up again I checked a couple of videos on my phone and noticed it was meant to be between certain marks in the fill hole after depressurising with a lexia. I didn't have a laptop with lexia on me at the time, so put more in giving some allowance for depressurisation.

I'm pretty sure I still haven't put enough in, but driving home it almost felt "normal" again.

Currently trying to get my old XP Lexia VM working on my work's Macbook air that I have for testing things - as it's the only laptop in our household now with a battery that lasts. Hopefully, I can get that sorted, haven't used Lexia in years

[Hell Razor5543]

You do not need to depressurise the system to check the levels. When you pop the LDS cap off you will see that there are vertical slots in the grating inside the reservoir. So long as the LDS is between the upper and lower slots;

viewtopic.php?t=46325&start=15

[GiveMeABreak]

But make sure the car is on the lowest suspension setting and you have left it running for a good few minutes before checking.

[Stickyfinger]

and on level ground.

[Ben82]

Thanks all, is the "depressurise" the "proper/official" way to go about it though and without is essentially a guideline?
Looking in that thread that James linked there was someone who depressurised and it overflowed?

I got the Lexia running, and verified it can have a chinwag with the car, so I don't mind the extra hassle of using that if it's the way to do the job properly

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes, that's the official procedure, as it can fully depressurise the system. The stop gap method is an alternative to give you a general idea, but don't overfill it.