2.0 HDI c5 110bhp Service at 112,500

[myglaren]

Oil filter
Diesel filter
Air filter

Click on images for larger size, click again for full size

[svesey]

The BANGING in the rear is almost certainly the rear trailing arm bearings. The c5 saloon (hatch) uses the same old bearings as the peugeot 305, Citroen c15, BX etc. Im not sure about the estate but a visit to Service.Citroen.com can confirm if the estate is the same. The bearings and seals you need are available from GSF

N42350 REAR ARM BEARING BX ALL EXC 4x4 REAR ARM BEARING 7.25
N42362 REAR ARM BEARING SEAL BX (EXC 4x4) ARM BEARING SEAL 1.25
You will need 2 bearings and 2 seals for each arm.

There is a BX kit but the parts other than the bearings and seals are different to those used in the C5

In the older vehicles mentioned above bearing failure resulted in the rear wheels leaning in at the top. In the c5 you get an intermittent BANG or loud metallic CLANG most often when crossing something like a speed bump. There will often be no visible sign of failure until the arm is removed and stripped.

[Xantidote]

General comments, based on my DIY on Xantia TD, and previously a BX TD.

I change oil every 6k, with new sump plug washer every time. Re-used old washer once and got weepage - I don't like black oil drips on my drive! Washers are only about 50p from GSF/motor factor.

If you are going to take DIY approach, choose more simple jobs first, such as oil & fliter changes. It's not just the knowledge, but having the tools, & tools are something one accumulates over time. The bigger the job, the more tools you need & can justify buying - consider tools as an investment

IMO, you should think carefully about taking on such as doing the cambelt, or the radius arm bearings. You have a manual? Despite being called Book of Lies, Haynes has helped me do most jobs, and you might find it's spanner rating (a rating of job difficulty) a useful guide

Good luck. It's a learning curve with no end!

[myglaren]

I agree with Xantidote that if you are unfamiliar with car maintenance then you should ramp up to the major jobs.

As the timing belt was replaced at 100,000 miles you should forget about that for the present and hone your skills on simpler tasks.

Put some effort into locating an independent Citroen specialist who isnt into extorsion as an income suppliment. Use these forums to acquire the knowledge you need to go with the practical skills.

[boristhespie]

I did have one mechanic at Citroen Dundee E-V-E-N-T-U-A-L-L-Y telling me it may be the suspension support strut wearing. However when I took it to Citroen Montrose they put it on the ramp and said it wasn't this. There is no movement.

When you have no real knowledge yourself you rely upon these dealers, assuming that as they are Citroen specialist garages they would have the ability to sort things out or at least identify them correctly. Especially when I am paying. (The Dundee garage had the car a few times for this problem, costing a few hundred and they changed the front roll bar???)

Incidentally what constitutes an "independant" Citroen specialist?

The garages I mention are independants (I think) but Citroen dealer garages, selling only Citroen, are these what you mean or are you talking about the local garage who may have knowledge of Citroen?

Also could I change these bearings myself easily?

Re the fotos, not sure what I am looking at. The blue thing is the filer in the top one and the thing in the middle the filter in the second? Not sure I could get into the car and the engine compnartment is so cramped.

By the way the thing making the noise noise is in the fotos. The wheel thing attahed to the silver thing with the copper wiring. I was told this is the powersterring pump.

[Citroenmad]

Servicing the 2.0HDi is really very easy, everyhing is very easy to get to. So the oil, filter, air filter and fuel filter are easy to do.

You say it might need pads, i have not looked at my front ones, but i have had the rear pads out, which was very easy to do. Although i believe the calipers can be difficult to remove but that is not needed just to change the pads.

The banging: Our C5 estate developed a banging noise from the near side rear wheel shortly after we purchased it. It was quite a loud banging/cracking noise, which could be felt trhough the floor of the car and the rear seat. A little bit worrying! This turned out to be the radious arm bearing had became worn, this was replaced by the Citroen indy we bought the car from, and its been fine ever since.

The cambelt i thought is every 100K on the HDI? Even so, its vital that this is replaced on your car now, if that snaps you will be sourcng a replacement engine Id also recommend geting the water pump changed, as this is easily accessable when changig the belt and tensioners.

Id try servicing it yourself, its really easy, as long as you have a rough idea of what you are doing! However for the cambelt i would put it into a good indy and get that done asap. The knocking from the rear is likely to be the same as our estate, so i wouldnt try that either. General servicing is very easy.

A good thing to do would be to try and find a good indy Citroen specialist. i.e. a garage who specialise in repairing Citroens, not selling them new.


myglaren: What was the reason for fitting washers to the injectors? Is that a routine thing?

[myglaren]

When you say the wheel thingy attached to the silver thing with the copper wiring.

This is what you are referring to:



Which is indeed the power steering pump.
The thing with the copper wires is the alternator.

The oil filter is the blue thing in the centre of the other picture.

The cambelt i thought is every 100K on the HDI? Even so, its vital that this is replaced on your car now, if that snaps you will be sourcng a replacement engine Confused Id also recommend geting the water pump changed, as this is easily accessable when changig the belt and tensioners.

boristhespie mentions that this was done at 100,000 miles so isn't due again yet.

It is a bit difficult to identify stuff reduced to 2D, nothing like getting the bonnet open and having a poke around.

It is a bit awkward to get a decent shot of the air filter but it is the box affair to the left of the battery, behind and below the broad hose pictured here:

myglaren: What was the reason for fitting washers to the injectors? Is that a routine thing?

One was leaking again so he renewed the lot while he was on with the job.
He is a great guy, won't do anything to pad the bill and was very apologetic at the cost of the cambelt change although it was less than half the cost I would have incurred at the dealers. Same with the new clutch and flywheel.

I always tell him that if he finds a problem to just fix it but he never proceeds without calling and saying what is defective and how much it will be.

Quite often he has done minor repairs without charging for them at all.

[boristhespie]

You guys are great. Yeah I had the timing belt changed at 100k in a service which was over 500 quid so am stunned when confronted with a possible 350 quid for the next service, and that was after she looked at the history of the car.

Yeah it is the thing above the alternator which is kind of whistling in a metal on metal was. Quite low but audible. Hope they don't change it. Got no money.

Okay I thoguht that these were the filters. The air filter looks difficult to get off. Do you take off the box and is the filter in that?

Re the diesel filter. it is inside the round housing or do you replace the lot?

How can I check if I need new brake pads/discs?

Re the banging I will be peeved if it is the suspension given the cash I handed to the garage (which was bought out by management and wont be liable) and for the money paid to replace a roll bar which clearly didn't need replaced.

[myglaren]

The £350 for the service is unacceptable. You really must find somewhere else to do this if you don't feel happy doing it yourself.

Yes, the air filter is in the housing. There are four cross head screws to remove to lift the cover off. Just lift out the filter, check that the housing is clean and dry then drop the new filter in and replace the cover and screws.

The diesel filter:
It is recommended that the whole lot, housing and all, is replaced without opening it due to the possibility of fine metal swarf getting through to the diesel pum - you really, really don't want that to happen.
It has been noticed that the lift pump in the fuel tank can start to crack up and the swarf comes from there.
After replacing the filter and housing you should open the old one and check it very carefully for traces of fine metal swarf. If you find any then you need to extract the lift pump and examine-likely replace it before it dies altogether.

If the filter and housing are clean, wash them out with petrol and blow them dry, fit a replacement element and use that for the next change.

Note that you don't need to change the oil/filter, the diesel filter and air filter all at the same time, you can spread it over a few days or weeks as it suits you. Just work cleanly and carefully and all will be well. You should ne able to save around £270 compared to letting the james gang loose on your car.

Brake pads are reasonably simple too.
Crack the wheel nuts.
Raise the car to it's maximum, shove an axle stand under the jacking points at each side of the front of the car then let the suspension down.
The wheels will lift off the ground a and you can remove them and check the thickness of the pads through the "window" in the caliper.

I'm not 100% on removing the calipers on the C5 but in general it is only necessary to remove one bolt and swing the caliper away from the disc, it pivots on the remaining bolt.
ou then pull the pads out, usually a flat screwdriver to lever it out helps. Clean up the caliper, crack the bleed nipple and screw the pison back into the caliper to allow the new pads to fit.

You should use the appropriate tool to screw the pistons back in - there is a post with photo's somewhere around - from vince if I am not mistaken and almost certainly in useful links or helps and tips.
I've never even seen one, just used a large flat screwdriver.

The pistons are 'handed' and it is essential to rotate them in the correct direction. The left and right hand caliper are opposites and I don't know which is which but someone will.

The rear caliper pistons are simpler as they push push back into their bores.
You don't need to swing the caliper out like the front ones, remove the cover and the pads just pull out - you will likely need to

There is a bit of a problem with them though, as detailed here.

Can't find that thread and been appointed to baby sit, will resume this later.

[admiral51]

This is the Caliper tool link but it does say that it is not suitable for the C5

Colin

[boristhespie]

Thanks for being really thorough.

I think I will give the filters and oil change a go.

As for brakes, I noticed how cheap it was were to get pads compared to what I had paid before at eh dealer. The only worry being that, while in france and at the time of my crumpling a customers newly fixed car, they were doing a service on the car and found that the calipers were dust.

I kid you not, they had powered and the minute they touched them they crumbled. The result of living on an island methinks and of two differing metals touching. So hopefully this wont happen for these if I touch them.

Incidentally that was a Citroen dealer too and one who then went on to charge us 1500 euros (for service, calipers and brake pads).

Which would have been more had I listened to the "you need to change the other breaks disck and pads" which when pushed they told me they had another 10,000 miles on them so dealers are they same everywhere I think.

Thanks for the help. I'll get in contact as I go along.

Ps. Can I order from the citroen spare website?

[myglaren]

Ps. Can I order from the citroen spare website?

If there is a GSF or EuroCarParts in your locality the prices are likely to be better there.
GSF do mail order.

The problem with the rear brake calipers is corrosion on the back of the caliper pushing it out of line.
This also makes the very tight bolts even more difficult to get out and they need to come out to remove the corrosion, it only gets worse.

If the corrosion is very bad the calipers can be damaged during removal.
There are quite a few posts devoted to this problem. It affects Xantias the same as C5s.
As the caliper is out of true, it waers the pads unevenly and can distort the disk in very bad cases.

Well worth checking yours while you are working on the car.

It is also very worthwhile to read through the forums as much as you have time to do. You will then be aware of any pitfalls and also the best methods of approaching a task, plus the tools likely to be needed to complete it.

I imagine that the robbers are planning on stealing as much of your pocket money as they can to replace the power steering pump. It looks to me to be a pretty simple job and it isn't too inacessible although I am not too sure about the auxiliary belt tensioner for accessibility.
Worth pricing one and see what the differential is. Even factoring in a few tools to get the job done.
It may even be possible to get it refurbished at a reasonable cost if you can do without the car for a couple of days.
Pleiades may undertake this kind of work.

[boristhespie]

You mention the injectors burning the copper can you tell me where I can see these to carry out the check you suggest re the fumes. My C5 reeks exactly as to say. When stationary it comes right in the car.

Jeeeze, it sounds like I have a lot of problems with my car. Small niggling ones. Guess it's the age. I aint making it up.

[myglaren]

Take the engine cover off and the injectors are sitting right at the front of the engine.
If they are leaking you will hear it and possibly see exhaust issuing from the join between the cylinder head and the injector. There may well be soot and possibly what looks like hard shiny bits of coal.



You can see the tops of two injectors here, one on the far right of the photo and the other to the left, next to the rubber hose. Look for the circlips at the top.

Sorry about the photo. Brilliant sunlight just when I didn't want it, could barely see what I was doing.

As usual, click the image then click the new image for full size.

Looks a bit mucky in there, will have to get the maid to dust and polish a bit (first time I have looked under that cover).

[boristhespie]

Car is in Citroen in Dundee right now. Apparently the noise is the Camshaft pulley which is disintergrating. new pulley and belt £250.

Jeez and what about all the other thingies. I pulled my inner drivers door handle off too today!!! 45 quid. Then there's the banging...the fumes etc.

They tightened the accellerator cable as apparently the car wasn't getting full throttle but not sure this is to do with lack of power.

Camshaft. Is that not related to timing belt? Cos I had that done at 100,000. and am wondering if it would have been visible then.