Tow bar for my Citroen C5 Tourer 3.0 V6 HDI

[Ainsy]

Hi. I’m trying to get a towbar for my 2010 Citroen C5 Tourer 3.0 V6 HDI. Every place I’ve tried has asked is it’s twin exhaust model and the hydropnaumatic suspension and rear parking sensors, which it is and then I’m told no one makes one to fit. Can anyone advise me where to look to get one, it’s to tow my sons Moto X bike. Thank you.

[Sloppysod]

link

Worth a phone call. I suggestion, when I fitted my tow bar, (C5 Saloon) I also bought the trailer ECU from CITROËN, it senses when the trailer light socket is connected and adjusts the suspension acordingly to give you more control.
Also when loading pay attention to the trailer nose weight it's not like normal cars (50kg ish)
Good lick

[MattBLancs]

Towbar structure relative to exhaust position

I've recently fitted this towbar to my 2.2 HDi X7 tourer. Yes is single exhaust, but you can see how far above the exhaust the structure of the towbar sits. It replaces the bumper crash bar.

How are the twin exhausts arranged? I'd be surprised if so far up into the structure - the cable run (with sexy green cable ties) is fastened to the edge of the boot floorpan, so unless it has a different boot floor on yours I can't see how the exhaust would block towbar installation.

I need to (pick, then buy) a better towbar wiring kit (came with a "universal" wiring kit i.e. 7 pin socket and meter and a half of multi core cable - I'd rather something "plug and play" so it's likely I'll take the bumper off again to route that. If you want any measurements taken just let me know.

Towbar is cheap detachable item, off eBay, direct from Italy. Can dig out the details if interested.

Matt

[Sloppysod]

Towbar is cheap detachable item, off eBay, direct from Italy. Can dig out the details if interested.

Matt

Mine is same from Italy via ebay, never had any reason to think I should have paid more. Use it for either heavy trailer (rubble tip run) or two bikes on bike rack 36kg!

[GiveMeABreak]

Guys: the X7 V6 models are entirely different, not least because of the electrics, rear battery and fusebox locations. There is a specific electrical harness for the DT20 engined Models (3.0 HDI).

Hi. I’m trying to get a towbar for my 2010 Citroen C5 Tourer 3.0 V6 HDI. Every place I’ve tried has asked is it’s twin exhaust model and the hydropnaumatic suspension and rear parking sensors, which it is and then I’m told no one makes one to fit. Can anyone advise me where to look to get one, it’s to tow my sons Moto X bike. Thank you.

I can provide the specific kits provided by Citroen for your C5 X7 3.0 Tourer model. You can then make a decision after knowing what is officially available designed for this vehicle's electronics:

Part: 9428F8 is the 13 Channel Harness which includes trailer fuse board module.

Priced at £168.73 inc. VAT

Description

• This harness is particularly suitable for providing the lighting supply to trailers or cycle-carriers on tow bars.
• This harness has been developed to incorporate all of the vehicle special features.
• It also provides an electrical supply to the fog lights and reversing lights.
• Comes with a 13-way socket to correspond to the trailer socket.
• It incorporates all the features needed for good compatibility with this vehicle and is SAFE, RELIABLE and EASY to fit.
• The functionality of the harness will be obtained by configuration of the BSI (fitting by the network is imperative).

Designed for Citroen Tow Hitch models (9427CV, 9427CW, 9427CX, 9427CY).

If you also need to power a fridge for example, then in addition to the above harness, you will need this additional loom:

Part: 1609732180, priced at £28.02 inc. VAT

• Additional towbar harness to provide power for a refrigerator.
• This harness takes account of the features of the vehicle, thus ensuring safety, reliability and simplicity of fitting.
• Simple connection using the interface connectors identical to those for the vehicle.
• This harness provides power for a caravan refrigerator.

All available from Citroen direct.

[MattBLancs]

Towbar is cheap detachable item, off eBay, direct from Italy. Can dig out the details if interested.

Matt

Mine is same from Italy via ebay, never had any reason to think I should have paid more. Use it for either heavy trailer (rubble tip run) or two bikes on bike rack 36kg!

Ah good to know, mines not been christened yet, so good to hear stands up well.

I swapped the nuts for Nyloc versions, but otherwise installed it as intended (though bumper cutout hugely oversized, worked it out myself and chopped much less off!)

Marc has provided good info (as usual) but the question from me is - ah, but is the actual structure different as well as the electronics? I guess (big chunky V6 diesel starting) battery box may be bulky enough to change the floorpan? And is in the rough area of the towbar side fixings so could be bad news?

Matt

[Sloppysod]

Hi Matt, the kit I bought for my 2.0 HDI was9428 F7 /F8, the basic one it includes the towing ECU. - just plug and play, well almost you have to tell the can it's fitted. I still have the fitting instructions if anyone wants a copy just PM me and I will scan and send a copy.
As for installing, I didn't remove my bumper just the lower panel and it fixes to the bumper bolts, but I surely the twin exhaust body is the same,

[GiveMeABreak]

Please note kit 9428 F7 is NOT compatible with the 3.0 V6 C5 X7s. Only the 9428 F8.

[MattBLancs]

Thanks Marc for clarifying the situation relative to the original poster's question - I'm not trying to derail every post I contribute to, honest!

Thanks Stu for showing how you did it. I didn't realise that lower panel was (easily?) Removed.

I took the full bumper off as pictured above and pleasantly surprised - pretty straight forward really.

The little "flap" of plastic (pinned by a M6 stud and a flange nut on the spare wheel well) was unattached at the bumper end on mine. Also there's a plastic support structure either side behind the bumper - mine was cracked in two, so not offering much support.

Both fixed with pop rivets and offcuts of (ex broken recycling bin lid!) Black plastic and some aluminium. So worth removing the bumper to access and fix these.

Plastic flap reattached

Side support fixed with pop rivets and piece of aluminium threshold door plate, shaped to fit profile of plastic

Can you tell why any "quick job" tends to take me a while!?

[MattBLancs]

Actually, I am misremembering. Rear bumper flap was also aluminium to reinforce it. It was further forward the bin lid was repurposed:

Undertray adjacent to exhaust tunnel - repaired with bin lid plastic and pop rivets

FRONT bumper underpanel repair

Other side of the repair

Matt

[GiveMeABreak]

No worries Matt / Stu. I'm just trying to keep the topic relevant to the thread title concerning the 3.0 V6 engine

[Jay-Bruce]

I was asked to post this pic in here, which I had originally posted in a thread where someone was selling a 2.2 towbar. The pic piqued matt's interest as it shows the remnants of a towbar that is present on our X7 v6 HDI....



I don't know how helpful that's going to be, but I'll be lifting our X7 on my two poster in a couple of weeks to do some hydraulic work, so could take more pictures if needed? Just let me know if there's anything specific you want to see?

[Jay-Bruce]

Now it's not 3am, and I've had a few hours sleep, a couple of coffees, and done some errands involving driving to think more clearly, I thought I'd better explain that battery on our V6 is above the boot floor level, tucked into the left side "door card" / trim panel of the boot, between the back left (N/S/R) wheel arch and the light cluster. This means that after looking at Matt's picture from instilling his towbar, I see no reason why a towbar in the same style as his shouldn't fit a V6 model like mine, as none of that towbar's metalwork would interfere with the battery compartment as it is all on the vertical face of the tailgate sill, and also thus above the exhaust. So mechanically a towbar like the one Matt pictured should fit, wiring might different than his as his tow bar electrics seem to go in towards where the V6 has it's battery, I don't imagine they'd have the splices and the battery in the same nook on the V6 as it'd get pretty congested in there, so maybe on a V6 the tow bar electrics would need to go through the body on the right hand side / off side. Hope that helps , cheers /Jay

[GiveMeABreak]

That's why there is a specific kit for V6 engines Jay. The fuse board and connections are designed for the layout of this vehicle.

[Jay-Bruce]

We might have had to go a bit around the houses to get there, but we got there, and not only have we established that @Ainsy can get a towbar for his V6 C5, but we've also ascertained that nearly any towbar will physically fit, the devilish details are the wiring, which Marc solved by giving us the part number for the correct Citroen harness. I'm gonna call this another win for the FCF team