Citroen C5 suspension failure problem

[31mev]

Hi GuzziG
I am looking to buy a c5 Estate. My son has a phase 1 2004 110 and it has been as good as gold. You mention DW10 stage 4 engines in glowing terms.Are you referring to the 2.0 16v euro 4 138hp engine in the 2004-2008 cars. Some advice please. I guess I am wary of the fap business and the extra complication that comes with it.

Andy

[GuzziG]

Hi Andy, sorry for the 3 month delay I don't check this site that regularly. I'm referring to 2003 or earlier DW10 engines without DPF joint developed by PSA/Ford for C5/406/Focus/Mondeo/Volvo etc. etc. of that era. If cared for these engines do 200K + no issue. They don't make them like this any more! More modern diesels with DPF [and now urea/Adblue systems] have to over-fuel to meet CO2 emissions and as such are less fuel efficient with stressed turbos/EGR due to regen requirements. They are prone to constantly failure if only driven short/local journeys. Also, avoid later DV6 engines at all costs due to turbo failures. If you have a pre-2004 Citroen/Peugeot/Ford/Volvo 1.9 DW10 look after it!

[Paul-R]

Also, avoid later DV6 engines at all costs due to turbo failures.

I would qualify that by saying that the later DV6C engines, which went back to an 8-valve head are very reliable (so far!) and give a very nice balanced power output - certainly in 1.6 120BHP guise.

[sibonez]

Hi all. My c5 estate went In before Xmas to have power steering pump changed. Not long after every morning the suspension would lower by the morning. When opening car it would be ok.
End of Jan a smash the front of car. It goes in and they fix it but tell me my suspension pump needs replacing as it was getting hot. Replaced this and since then the suspension won’t rise and is stuck virtually touching the floor. Since then I took it to Citroen specialist who said the wrong fluid is in the tank. This is all green and I know this should be orange LDS. Garage said scrap it as system will be contaminated etc.
is there a way to flush the system out and get this going again. I also suspect the new pump is goosed as sounds funny. Any advice will help. Many thanks

[myglaren]

Don't worry unduly about the green fluid. It is possible that they have used LHM which wouldn't be very good but Comma make an LDS that is green. I had to use it when the suspension pipe from front to rear in order to get the car on a low loader and it was OK after that.
If you have the old pump, check it over, clean it up if needed and put it back and see if it works as it should.

There are some collected threads dealing with the pump and how to dismantle, clean and reassemble it, also how to drain the system and refill it here