C5 2.2 exclusive se

[RustyUK]

My 2.2 was giving gradually worsening performance. I've had the car for 5 or so years. On long motorway trips it'd average 45-47 depending on conditions, my old work commute (about 13 miles each way) 39-40 (mixed with a short motorway stretch) and my new place of work, only 6 miles away, it plummeted to about 33. I have a 'backup' little Matiz just to keep me on the road and alleviate the C5 of little trips, and I discovered I preferred that for the short work commute (mid 40s mpg petrol, driven really carefully about 50). The C5 was feeling a bit elderly. Then after Christmas the clutch release bearing failed on top of other niggles. A search for any comparable second hand car was futile. Nothing but dealers, and they wanted crazy money to sell me what I already had.

So this year I've shown my MK1 C5 (it must have been one of the very first few, Y reg) a lot of love. Engine out, stripped and rebuilt the head (cleaning a horrendous amount of gunk out of the airways), cleaned and relapped valves etc, tested injectors and had one nozzle replaced, new pressure regulator, all seals changed, jetwashed out the DPF (which thus far at 160k miles hasn't really given me any trouble). Couple of weeks ago I took it on holiday, Yorkshire to Cornwall. It averaged about 53 down and 55 back with two people and a boot and back seat chock full of stuff, more on the return trip! The best I ever had before was around 48 on a trip to Scotland. It's now giving around 43-44 on the short work trip. It looked on course for over ~56 down but my journey was screwed for hours because of a coach fire on the M5.

Granted, if I ever buy another C5, it'll probably be a 2.0HDi, but the 2.2's are capable of reasonable mpg and the early DPF system hasn't given me any real pain (yet). I rather like the cleaner exhaust too, and they really are wonderfully smooth engines that oddly seem more eager under load.

Still, I'm looking to ditch the silly Matiz and find some sort of economical ~1.4HDi small car (C2 / 3 / 4, Pug of some sort?) for my lonesome short work commute, and keep the C5 for longer / pleasure trips. Some people think I'm mad, but that doesn't bother me

[cjuk81]

Thanks for that rusty, a good review, your near me too, I'm a Wakey lad myself. Is the dpf still original at that mileage?

[RustyUK]

I don't know to be honest. Car had 1 previous owner when I bought it (maybe 6 years ago, I really can't remember, longest time I've ever had one car anyway!) - it may have been a company car. I've never changed the DPF. The nuts really looked horribly corroded on but it's hard to tell whether it had ever been apart before. It's interesting doing car forensics - I expect the DMF and clutch were not original given both were branded LUK, the aftermarket brand I replaced them with. Clutch seemed in good condition to my eyes but the bearing appeared to slide a little bit over itself, and there was a lot of play in the DMF. I couldn't disengage the clutch anyway which is what finally took it off the road.

I did have to refill the Eolys last year. Easy enough to do, but now I cast my mind back, I couldn't reset the additive ECU, so I kept getting the additive low warning. Curiously having had the battery disconnected for months, that problem's gone away..!

[RustyUK]

Thanks for that rusty, a good review, your near me too, I'm a Wakey lad myself

Ha, Royston is probably nearer me than Wakey even, these days I'm just up the road in Kinsley (I wasn't born round here, just bought a house here, big mistake too, Wakey is nice but this place is... not so nice. One reason I decided to focus on fixing up the C5 was as a distraction from abusive neighbours, ho hum).

[cjuk81]

ah right, yea kinsley, i know of it, a friends dad lived down there so i know what the areas like! im a wakey lad (crigg area) moved to royston about 7 years ago.

yea its interesting working out car forenics, i know Luk do supply oem parts to car manufacturers, but not sure if they put Citroens name on it or not. i think its aroud 80k the filters needed changing, but a jetwash out of them would probably do the trick i guess

[RustyUK]

I've heard mixed reports about jetwashing DPFs and I understand why now. Seems that they're designed so the gasses pass through the filter material, so you can't simply flush them out with water. It took a lot of jet washing from both ends. Water does seem to permeate the filter though. Mostly it seemed to be washing out black oily ash. After half hour or so, the water was clearer so I let it dry out, with some assistance from a heat gun.

Or so I thought. I was sh1tt1ng bricks for a while when I put it back on the car, some weeks after I washed it. A few minutes after starting the engine after months of work, steam was bellowing from the exhaust like a old steam loco! Seems the DPF held onto a lot of water. Eventually it stopped and 1400 miles later runs like a new engine.

[cjuk81]

ah right, so its not a quick thing to do then jet washing it. whats it made of? paper sort of thing?

[RustyUK]

Not sure, some rigid sort of semi-permeable material. It's a "grid of grids" as I remember, which interlock with each other from both ends. Sort of like a square section honeycomb. Each section runs the length of the filter but is blocked off at the far end, so the gasses have to pass down its length through into an adjacent section to exit the filter. Annoyingly I don't think I took a picture of it.

Figured I had nothing to loose trying to wash it out anyway, as it could have been one reason for some 'sluggishness' that never used to be there. I'm really not convinced removing the system is hugely beneficial over a working DPF, so if it ever blocks, I'll probably just replace it. I'm yet to have that message flash up.

Something that does occur to me whatever model C5 you're looking at, if it has dual climate control, the motors that operate the flaps have gears that tend to wear out. Mine went some while ago, so it's either fully cold or fully hot as the motors struggle to move the flaps anywhere. It's probably a dash out job to fix that, and god knows what the parts cost.

That can wait until next year!

[RustyUK]

Oh and removing the DPF was a real pig, but other people seemed to find it easy. If the nuts aren't too corroded I guess it's quite simple, laying on your back with the car on your chest, and appropriate length bars to reach the deeply recessed top two. I ended up un-clamping the downpipe flexi from the turbo (was impossible to insert a tool to remove the clamp at the closer cat end of the flexi section), disconnect the temperature probes from the cat, and remove the DPF / cat / flexi as one unit. Then the copper nuts came off easy with a little heat and it splits away from the cat.

Wire wheel all faces smooth before putting back together, fit new gasket and nuts. I replaced the exhaust clamps for good measure but after putting the old clamp bolts on the wire wheel the old ones could probably be re-used just fine. Kept for spares.

[cjuk81]

lol, i always thought the dual climate thing was jsut silly in a car, but every C5 above a LX seems to have it. in someways im tempted to look round for a cheap C5, see if its any good, but if it breaks then so be it lol ive not been in a 2.2 so not sure if they ride differently from the hydractive 3 cars, i know some people say they can tell the difference

[cjuk81]

Oh and removing the DPF was a real pig, but other people seemed to find it easy. If the nuts aren't too corroded I guess it's quite simple, laying on your back with the car on your chest, and appropriate length bars to reach the deeply recessed top two. I ended up un-clamping the downpipe flexi from the turbo (was impossible to insert a tool to remove the clamp at the closer cat end of the flexi section), disconnect the temperature probes from the cat, and remove the DPF / cat / flexi as one unit. Then the copper nuts came off easy with a little heat and it splits away from the cat.

Wire wheel all faces smooth before putting back together, fit new gasket and nuts. I replaced the exhaust clamps for good measure but after putting the old clamp bolts on the wire wheel the old ones could probably be re-used just fine. Kept for spares.

sounds like you did a good job then

[Peter.N.]

lol, i always thought the dual climate thing was jsut silly in a car, but every C5 above a LX seems to have it. in someways im tempted to look round for a cheap C5, see if its any good, but if it breaks then so be it lol ive not been in a 2.2 so not sure if they ride differently from the hydractive 3 cars, i know some people say they can tell the difference

I find the dual climate control essential, I am always cold and my wife hot, the problem is it doesn't always work properly in fact it has a mind of its own.

My 2.2 gave a better ride than my present 2.0. in spite of the fact that I have fitted all new spheres.

Peter

[cjuk81]

lol, i always thought the dual climate thing was jsut silly in a car, but every C5 above a LX seems to have it. in someways im tempted to look round for a cheap C5, see if its any good, but if it breaks then so be it lol ive not been in a 2.2 so not sure if they ride differently from the hydractive 3 cars, i know some people say they can tell the difference

I find the dual climate control essential, I am always cold and my wife hot, the problem is it doesn't always work properly in fact it has a mind of its own.

My 2.2 gave a better ride than my present 2.0. in spite of the fact that I have fitted all new spheres.

Peter

id imagine with dual control then the temperature sensors must have a nice time working it all out lol

[qprdude]

"id imagine with dual control then the temperature sensors must have a nice time working it all out" lol




I think they only work with a difference of up to 4 degrees. Still handy when the boss is always freezing and I'm always sweltering.

[SaabC5]

Re cleaning out the DPF, if you take it off the car and then spray an alcaline cleaning solution down both ends and let it sit for 20 mins you will find the DPF gets incredibly hot as a chemical reaction takes place. You can then put a high power jet wash through the pipework and spray all the carbon/crud out; stand it upright and allow it to drain/dry out for an hour or two.