Citroen C5 VTR 160 HDi fuse box spontanously melted

[wurlycorner]

It's located under the Air & Fuel Supply and is referred to as 'INJ CALCULATOR SENSOR' Iain.

Thanks Marc, good to know!

[Sezza]

It seems that whilst I am kicking my heels in frustration, I am least giving some of you some maybe interesting investigative challenges. Still struggling to get my head round the fact that my lovely shiny metallic grey(black) tourer is unlikely to ever be on the road again - or likely not with me

BTW, nice dealer man said that if one of you did think his statement that BSI not available was wrong and would give him the Part number, he'd be more than happy to stand corrected! LOL

[Sezza]

.. and as some of you also are good at getting clues from pictures, here are the other 3 the dealer took:-

[Hell Razor5543]

Sezza, if you post up the VIN somebody with the right Citroen Service access will be able to find out what your car was wearing when it left the factory (including the precise model of BSi it had).

[GiveMeABreak]

We’ve done all that James in the last 5 pages.

[GiveMeABreak]

.. and as some of you also are good at getting clues from pictures, here are the other 3 the dealer took:-

We’ll just have to wait now Sarah, and see what the outcome is. We can’t really do anymore from pictures. The tech was correct, as per my recent post- the BSI is no longer available unfortunately, unless Citroen can source an alternative, or agree to for a second hand one after it has been virginised by a third party.

[Hell Razor5543]

We’ve done all that James in the last 5 pages.

OK, sorry about being late to the party.

[Stickyfinger]

Cut of date, (Eu wide + imports) only has to be 7 years now for spares production as I understand it.

[Hell Razor5543]

In that case (and if my maths are right) Citroen could well be in the wrong. The car is a 2013 model (if the OP list is correct), and seven years from that date is 2020.

[bobins]

I don't think there are any actual regulations governing how long spares have to be available for. There are 'agreements', but no actual set down laws that are enforced

[Sezza]

.... the car is a 2012 build but Jan 2013 registration - but even then you should reasonably expect parts to be available!

[Eddie Nuff]

(Anyone want to buy a lovely Citroen C5 Tourer great mechanics, just won't start at the moment .... )

When you've got to the end of your tether drop me a PM.

[dnsey]

ISTR when I used to have third party, fire & theft insurance, the term used in the policy was 'fire self ignition', which this surely was.

[GiveMeABreak]

That’s the issue, it wasn’t on ‘fire’ as far as we are aware, it has just melted and smoked from the heat, but has not ignited.

[Zelandeth]

I'd really like to see the underside of that fuse box... potentially start to track down exactly what's happened. Maybe even give a better idea of what systems might have survived...

If it were my car I'd look to get a new or used fusebox, repair the obviously frazzled wiring, and see whether the BSI etc have survived. It's not impossible...just virtually impossible to find out without doing a lot of detective work.

It doesn't look at a glance like there's too massive an amount of wiring damage - it looks mostly to be local heating damage near the connectors rather than "the full several hundred amps from the battery have been sent through this wire" type damage. The loom will need to be changed to properly fix it...but for the purposes of testing trimming things back and sticking new connectors on should be possible.

My gut feeling on this is that the "event" has been local to the fusebox...a dodgy contact has overheated and then caused a short between a 12V bus line and ground, which has then caused the smoke and melting. The fact that the fusebox is made of self extinguishing plastic is why the whole thing didn't go up.

Hoping Citroen come through for you...

Don't know whereabouts you're based - but if anywhere near Milton Keynes I'm more than happy to try to lend a hand in helping out if you're stuck for transportation until you've got your own car sorted. Just drop me a message here if that would be useful.