2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by johnnyj »

Thanks Marc, I have a growing sense of optimism so will try that tomorrow. I know I said it before, but I really appreciate your help. I am a bit of a petrol-head and a member of a number of forums (classic cars, motor bikes etc), but your attentiveness makes the FCF the best by far.

I was going to do an "audit" of all the things which do and don't work on the car, so that I could post them on the forum for the purpose better spotting inter-linked clues. But I'll leave that now until after I have checked the above.

To answer your question about the headlights in a previous post, the headlights automatically switch off when I switch the engine off (but not the ignition) so it is almost impossible to see if they are dim when the engine isn't running. I guess this might be something to do with the car going into eco mode?

What I have noticed when driving at night, however, is that (and this is difficult to explain!) the light thrown out by the headlights does appear to "blink" occasionally. By that I mean a very quick intermittency in lamp strength - they don't go off, but kind of flash/dim for an absolute millisecond - like you would have in a loose connection to a bulb holder when going over bumps (although it isn't related to terrain). Plus, when this happens, there is a faint electro-mechanical sound emitting somewhere from the centre console. A kind of "eigghhh" for the duration of the headlamp intermittency. If you can diagnose that from that description, you are a hero!

Fingers crossed for the Park Shunt Fuse!

All the best

John
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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

That flickering cloud be just the hydraulic pump (for the suspension and steering) running for a moment or so. As it is quite powerful it places a load on the electrics which can cause the headlight to have a drop in power for a moment or so.
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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by Paul-R »

Does the car have HID headlamps? If so then the occasional flicker could be a sign that a headlamp bulb or exciter is on its way out.
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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by GiveMeABreak »

No Paul, not on the Ops model.
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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by johnnyj »

Hi Marc and others

Well, you are a miracle worker. The shunt fuse was indeed in the wrong position, and putting it into the correct position appears to have restored all functions, including the remote central locking!

When I started the car this morning after doing the above, I did notice that the car was "hunting" quite badly at idle, but a blip on the throttle appeared to cure it. Fingers crossed the shunt fuse hadn't been moved to mask some other fault. I haven't driven it yet so will report back later on how it all feels.

I am still getting the air bag warning message, but I guess that could be because there is genuinely an air bag fault. That's one for another day.

Anyway, thanks again and hopefully my next report will confirm that all is well.

Cheers!

John
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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by GiveMeABreak »

No problems John, sometimes it's the 'little things' that make such an impact. As for your airbag issue, the best thing you can do is to get it hooked up to a Lexia and post the fault code (s) here and we should be able to point you in the right direction.
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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by johnnyj »

Hi Marc

I am delighted to say that all appears well with the car, in respect of the central locking and electronics/memory faults. Thanks so much.

As the car is a bit of a project, I'll now work through the other things which don't work. Would I be better to put up individual posts for these? Off the top of my head, they are:

- Reversing sensors are fitted but don't appear to work
- Air-bag fault (point noted about Lexia!)
- The round switch in/on the end of the lighting stalk doesn't appear to do anything
- Try as I might, in the screen which says "Check Control" and gives options of something like "Enter" and "Cancel", I can't fathom out how to initiate either of these options. There are two arrows on the screen, but I have no idea what I should press to go any further in this menu.
- Need to find a new S/H electric door mirror, as the passenger side one doesn't fold in due to some very Greek bodgery after the casing has been crunched. Did I read that the mirrors are supposed to fold in on locking? If so, they don't :)
- The boot fills with water after rain. I think it is to do with the tailgate seal.
- Need to find a new S/H gear knob and trim.
- Ditto some new wheel trims, as it has three of one design and one of another!
- Need to find an owner's manual in English, as some of the screens on the LCD are unfathomable. I have no idea what they are telling me - for example, I assume the picture of what looks like an antenna with some numbers next to it is the real-time output of the Crystal Palace TV transmitter, in kilowatts. Joking, but you get my drift.

Well, plenty to keep me going but I am happy with the car, much thanks to you and other members.

All the best

John
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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by GiveMeABreak »

I'll answer some of these for you off the top of my head - for specific issues, you might want to create a separate post for each main issue if you can't find a solution anywhere - or, if your prefer, create your own blog in the member's section and you can just keep adding to it if it's going to be a project sort of thing.

Reversing Sensors: Yes you do have them fitted as an option. If there is a fault - there are usually associated codes that can tell us what is wrong. Generally, if one sensor is out, the whole system will deactivate for safety reasons. Lexia will help here too. The parking assistance ECU is located in the spare wheel area - so can be damaged if it has been covered in a liquid spill (as happened to my X7 and took me a week or so to clean and dry it up.)

Button at end of Light Stalk
With ignition key in Accessories ACC+ position, this controls activation/deactivation of the automatic lamp lighting function (if fitted), or:
with ignition key at ignition position / engine running, it repeats the last navigation message (only where a navigation system is fitted)

Check Control
That's just displays any simple fault messages (not from a diagnostic check) but where there is a warning message - just press the end of the wiper stalk to cancel it.

Mirrors
Yes, your C5 has folding indexable (in reverse gear) mirrors.
So on the driver's electric window control panel, there is the external mirror switch that moves to the left or right for independent control, but should have a centre position. In the centre position, the button can be moved back and forward to deploy and fold the mirrors. Also, holding the switch back for 3 seconds can deactivate the folding operation. Repeat to reactivate - but caution - it may have been deactivated because of the accident - so beware of this action!

Water in Boot
See my point above about liquid damaging the parking assistance ECU - I'm just going in order here.

As for the manuals - not available online from Citroen given the age, but if you pop up a picture with your smart phone and attach it using the full post editor, I can help you with what it means.
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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by johnnyj »

Guys, you're so helpful. Thanks so much and I will work through some of those suggestions, Marc. Steve, I received the manual via Google Drive and once again many, many thanks.

Is the FCF donation fund still open? If so, I'll make a donation. What you have done for me courtsesy of this forum would have cost me money in garage fees etc so I feel it only right.

I'll start a "C5 in Crete" blog, too.

Here's a pic of me picking up the car at the Tsedakis Citroen dealership in Rethmno, Crete, with some Greek friends. I'm the guy holding the documents. It is the only car purchase I ever made where the dealer gave me two oranges and 2 litres of Cretan Raki. https://creti.co/blog/cretan-raki/

All the best

John
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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by GiveMeABreak »

You’re welcome John. That car looks in new condition! I shall have to move over there out of the British weather.

Donations to keep the forum up and running are always welcome (link at top of page) 😎
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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by johnnyj »

Hi Marc and others

I started a blog at viewtopic.php?t=64540 and made a dontation.

All the best

John
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C5 MK II 2.0 HDi Exclusive Obsidian Black
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Xantia S2 2.0 HDi SX Hermes Red
C15 Romahome White
XM 2.0 Turbo Prestige Emerald Green Pearlescent
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GS 1220 Geranium Red
CX 2.4 Prestige C-Matic Nevada Beige
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Re: 2004 Citroen C5 various niggles

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Appreciate that John - just let us know what type of car stickers you want.
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