Auto box question

This is the Forum for all your Citroen Technical Questions, Problems or Advice.

Moderator: RichardW

Post Reply
User avatar
swiveleyedgit
Posts: 72
Joined: 19 Sep 2014, 19:22
Location: The glorious Kingdom of Thanet
My Cars:

Auto box question

Post by swiveleyedgit »

Hi all, I would like to change the gearbox oil in my C5 but having crawled under the car and taken a look at the drain plug I'm not sure how to proceed. The car has an AL4 box fitted according to Service Citroen so my understanding is that the drain plug should have 2 hexagons, one being the drain plug and the other being the level plug, one within the other. The drain on this box however looks the same as the filler plug, ie. a single disc with a square hole in the middle. I'm not keen on going any further until I'm sure what I'm doing with this, does this mean there is a separate level plug somewhere else on the box? Any advice gratefully received.

Image
Bob

Current Citroen
2004 C5 2.0 Litre HDI VTR Auto
wheeler
Posts: 6848
Joined: 21 Sep 2002, 19:07
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:
x 717

Re: Auto box question

Post by wheeler »

On later AL4's the drain part is actually under the single hex you can see. If you undo the plug you can see some oil will come out, you then unscrew a kind of tube from inside the hole you have just revealed with an allen key & that drains the rest of the box.
I dont know if ive explained that right but its really just the same as the double hex plug except the bigger outer hex is internal now.
User avatar
swiveleyedgit
Posts: 72
Joined: 19 Sep 2014, 19:22
Location: The glorious Kingdom of Thanet
My Cars:

Re: Auto box question

Post by swiveleyedgit »

Thanks Wheeler, that makes sense. Just got to find the right size spanners now. Anyone know what the allen key size is for the drain plug? and the level plug now I think of it.
Bob

Current Citroen
2004 C5 2.0 Litre HDI VTR Auto
User avatar
swiveleyedgit
Posts: 72
Joined: 19 Sep 2014, 19:22
Location: The glorious Kingdom of Thanet
My Cars:

Re: Auto box question

Post by swiveleyedgit »

Finally got around to changing the oil on Wednesday afternoon, being as it wasn't raining, took a couple of hours from start to finish. Now I know what I'm doing I reckon an hour tops next time. The old oil was black as expected after 100,000 miles, I got 2.9 litres out and replaced it with the same amount. My driveway has a slight incline so I thought replacing like for like would be the simplest option for now. When I find the second set of axle stands I'll level the car up and change it again, hopefully in a month or so. I had noticed an occasional thump when coming to a halt which, from reading through some threads on the forum, would probably have been something sticking in the gearbox. Just one oil change has stopped it completely, it also much smoother, the changes are now barely noticable, I'm well chuffed!
Bob

Current Citroen
2004 C5 2.0 Litre HDI VTR Auto
User avatar
CitroJim
A very naughty boy
Posts: 49526
Joined: 30 Apr 2005, 23:33
Location: Paggers
My Cars: Bluebell the AX, Polly the C3 Picasso, Pix the Nissan Pixo, Propel the duathlon bike, TCR Pro the road bike and Fuji the TT bike...
x 6160
Contact:

Re: Auto box question

Post by CitroJim »

That's excellent :-D

Shows the value of doing it...

Did you use a Lexia session to reset the worn oil counter? If not it's a good idea to do so. If not eventually the gearbox will log a fault to basically say the oil is worn out and in need of a change.
Jim

Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
User avatar
swiveleyedgit
Posts: 72
Joined: 19 Sep 2014, 19:22
Location: The glorious Kingdom of Thanet
My Cars:

Re: Auto box question

Post by swiveleyedgit »

No I haven't reset the counter yet might do it tomorrow if I get time. That's if I can find it in the program, I've plugged the laptop in a couple of times so far and then got lost in all of the sub menus, will take some practice before I can navigate my way around everything.
Bob

Current Citroen
2004 C5 2.0 Litre HDI VTR Auto
User avatar
CitroJim
A very naughty boy
Posts: 49526
Joined: 30 Apr 2005, 23:33
Location: Paggers
My Cars: Bluebell the AX, Polly the C3 Picasso, Pix the Nissan Pixo, Propel the duathlon bike, TCR Pro the road bike and Fuji the TT bike...
x 6160
Contact:

Re: Auto box question

Post by CitroJim »

Yes, I don't believe it's in the diagnostic menus but in the after-sales or replacement parts menu or something similar.. Second option down from Diagnostic if memory serves...

Sorry I'm being so vague... It's one of those things I can never remember...
Jim

Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
User avatar
swiveleyedgit
Posts: 72
Joined: 19 Sep 2014, 19:22
Location: The glorious Kingdom of Thanet
My Cars:

Re: Auto box question

Post by swiveleyedgit »

Well I found the reset page within the gearbox diagnostic menu on my copy of Lexia, the counter is at 22,000 ish out of a possible 32,000 odd but the oil wear line at the bottom of the page is at zero. I can't see how you reset the top line (where it's got the 22,000 bit) to zero, if I click on validate I get a message that says 'counter reset faulty' Not sure where to go from there. The good news is that the gear changes are even smoother today than they were yesterday, it's going to be interesting doing another oil change soon and seeing what effect that has.
Bob

Current Citroen
2004 C5 2.0 Litre HDI VTR Auto
User avatar
Mandrake
Posts: 8615
Joined: 10 Apr 2005, 17:23
Location: North Lanarkshire, UK
My Cars:
x 664

Re: Auto box question

Post by Mandrake »

How old is your Lexia software version ?

According to the AL4 documentation the ability to reset the "old oil" counter was not added until later versions of the Lexia software:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/782 ... AL%204.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Simon

1997 Xantia S1 3.0 V6 Auto Exclusive in Silex Grey
2016 Nissan Leaf Tekna 30kWh in White

2011 Peugeot Ion Full Electric in Silver
1977 G Special 1129cc LHD
1978 CX 2400
1997 Xantia S1 2.0i Auto VSX
1998 Xantia S2 3.0 V6 Auto Exclusive
User avatar
swiveleyedgit
Posts: 72
Joined: 19 Sep 2014, 19:22
Location: The glorious Kingdom of Thanet
My Cars:

Re: Auto box question

Post by swiveleyedgit »

It's version 7.49.
Bob

Current Citroen
2004 C5 2.0 Litre HDI VTR Auto
User avatar
Mandrake
Posts: 8615
Joined: 10 Apr 2005, 17:23
Location: North Lanarkshire, UK
My Cars:
x 664

Re: Auto box question

Post by Mandrake »

Diagbox 7.49 ? That's plenty new enough.

Is there anywhere to enter a number ? You can actually set the old oil counter to a number other than zero - this is intended for transferring the current oil counter value from one ECU to another when changing ECU's. So I think you have to enter zero as the new oil counter value if you're changing the oil.
Simon

1997 Xantia S1 3.0 V6 Auto Exclusive in Silex Grey
2016 Nissan Leaf Tekna 30kWh in White

2011 Peugeot Ion Full Electric in Silver
1977 G Special 1129cc LHD
1978 CX 2400
1997 Xantia S1 2.0i Auto VSX
1998 Xantia S2 3.0 V6 Auto Exclusive
User avatar
swiveleyedgit
Posts: 72
Joined: 19 Sep 2014, 19:22
Location: The glorious Kingdom of Thanet
My Cars:

Re: Auto box question

Post by swiveleyedgit »

The only number that I can change is the 5 digits on the bottom line of the page Simon, at the moment they are set at zero. Going to fiddle around with it again this weekend, I've been putting Windows 7 on the laptop and reinstalling Lexia today, it had Vista on which was so unbelievably slow I kept thinking it had stopped working. It goes like the clappers now, well worth doing.

On a slightly different note, I tried downloading version 7.53 from the website link that Vehicle diagnostics provide in the setup instructions but according to the computer it's got 'malicious file content ' and won't let me run it, anyone know if it can be got elsewhere?.
Bob

Current Citroen
2004 C5 2.0 Litre HDI VTR Auto
Dave1987
Posts: 37
Joined: 10 Oct 2014, 08:55
Location:
My Cars:
x 1

Re: Auto box question

Post by Dave1987 »

Here is the link for different diagbox version download.
http://www.redown.se/fff/diagbox" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Is there any difference between higher version and older version. I got the version V7.14
User avatar
Ben82
Posts: 1086
Joined: 03 Dec 2012, 07:47
Location: Sköllersta/Örebro, Sweden
My Cars: C5 V6 2004
x 7

Re: Auto box question

Post by Ben82 »

Dave1987 wrote:Here is the link for different diagbox version download.
http://www.redown.se/fff/diagbox" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Is there any difference between higher version and older version. I got the version V7.14
For Diagbox, yes, but I don't believe Lexia has been updated at all in the V7 series of diagbox and has remained at the same version throughout (though I haven't downloaded any recent versions).

So if you only have cars that use the Lexia interface, ie this one:
Image
then I don't there isn't much point in updating.
2004 Citroen C5 3L V6 Auto
Brit living in Sweden with an imported from Germany French Car!
User avatar
CitroJim
A very naughty boy
Posts: 49526
Joined: 30 Apr 2005, 23:33
Location: Paggers
My Cars: Bluebell the AX, Polly the C3 Picasso, Pix the Nissan Pixo, Propel the duathlon bike, TCR Pro the road bike and Fuji the TT bike...
x 6160
Contact:

Re: Auto box question

Post by CitroJim »

I like the graphical presentation of oxygen sensor signals and what looks like the reading of lambda... Nice!
Jim

Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
Post Reply