C5 estate headlining.

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Peter.N.
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C5 estate headlining.

Post by Peter.N. »

Has anyone been brave enough to remove one of these, mine has got the dreaded weak tailgate struts so I'm just wondering how easy or difficult it is.

Peter
JohnD
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Re: C5 estate headlining.

Post by JohnD »

I haven't done the job, but maybe I'll need to it soon as my tailgate lowers itself 3 or 4" after opening. This piece may help which I've copied from another site.
"Finally did this slightly arkward job myself recently after 3 years of putting up with a sagging tailgate. (Finally got to point where it would only stay half open even in hot weather!) Had no luck in end with getting a company to re-gas the struts as they said they would not fit their jig, so had to buy 2 new ones from Citroen dealer who sold them at a 'cheaper' price than the German manufacturer's UK agent. The job entails getting the plastic trim off the tailgate glass hinges first, so doing the rear window 'fix' was the first step, or just get to the solenoid to manually pop the glass open if you're not bothered about an opening rear window if yours has stopped working. Then I also got the large black plastic trim off that runs the whole width of the back end of the roof, but I'm not sure that was really necessary now. Easy to unclip with the usual careful force though. Gas struts for tailgate itself (ie not glass) are the outer ones, use small screwdriver to prise under metal clip to pull it fully off as you'll be binning the strut anyway, then use very big flatblade screwdriver to prise end of strut off ball, will pop off easily, and no danger as strut is fully open. Getting to other end means removing the two rear luggage net / dog guard fixings in the roof lining, then pull back the plastic trim at the bottom of the vertical piece of trim in the rear corners so can then pull off those vertical pieces of trim that hold up the roof lining at the rear corners. It all just pulls off with a bit of careful force. Then you can gently pull the roof lining down at the rear corners, as held up with adhesive pads which will can substitute with strong double sided sticky pads when re-assemble. You then can just about get your head in to see the end of the struts. (Reading glasses required for me at this point as its close range, and also mini head torch too as a bit dark.) I had to buy a pair of circlip pliers too here as I could not remove the circlip that secures the end of the struts without the right tool. Once they are off keep hold of them as the new stuts do not come with circlips. The struts are now free. Installation is reverse of removal, except it takes about one tenth of the time because you know what you're doing now. I have posted this because I've never found an account of how to do this job anywhere yet, but seen plenty of posts about sagging C5 tailgates."

"
2010 C5 X7 VTR+Nav 160
1998 1.5 Saxo
1998 Pug 306 1.9D
2018 C4 B7 VTR+
2011 Citroen C1
Peter.N.
Moderating Team
Posts: 11563
Joined: 02 Apr 2005, 16:11
Location: Charmouth,Dorset
My Cars: Currently:

C5 X7 VTR + Satnav Hdi estate Silver
C5 X7 VTR + Hdi Estate 2008 Red

In the past: 3, CX td Safaris and about 7, XM td estates. Lovely cars.
x 1199

Re: C5 estate headlining.

Post by Peter.N. »

Thanks for that, very informative. Its difficult to do a job when you can't see what it is :?

Peter
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