C5 2.0HDi (110bhp) LX Est - Trailer Electrics Let Down!

[Zelandeth]

Do make sure that you follow this up with the Council. They are fully liable if they cannot prove that the road had been inspected regularly enough (there are legal obligations for required inspection regimes for different road types), and there are requirements for signage etc set out under a combination of the Transport Act 1985 and the Road Traffic Signs & General Directions (2002) which they can land themselves in serious hot water over if they can't prove they've done their bit - and more often than not, they haven't.

I spent nearly eight years working for a Local Authority involved in road safety issues (I was actually in Public Transport - but worked very closely with the Road Safety, Road Maintenance & Streetlighting teams), and am fully of the opinion that this is a major safety issue and you should hit them with the full force of the law. I should point out actually that despite saying that, I actually very much enjoyed working with the team there, and took quite a bit of pride in what I did...so I'm not one of a lot of people who I tend to see who automatically go after the Council with flaming torches and brandished pitchforks whenever someone fails to fix a pothole and someone gets an alloy buckled.

You clobbered it in your car and did some damage. What would have happened if a motorcyclist did the same? Or a bus with standing passengers on board? It's a blatant road safety hazard that should not have been allowed to happen.

I doubt that they will argue too much provided that you have your facts in order, as you can pretty clearly demonstrate that this has been in this state for a long time. A traffic cone does not constitute it being properly signed - they are suitable for emergency temporary signage only and need to be regularly checked even then given their tendency to "walk" from where they are actually needed.

[wurlycorner]

Yeah, that car is all sorted again and back on the road.
Engine feels a bit different, not 'wrong' but not quite as smooth vibration-wise. Probably because it's had so many mounts out or because the new DMF is a bit tighter? I'll see if it settles down again, if not I might play around with the mounts.
Apart from that it drives spot on and the slight misalignment of the steering wheel is now sorted cause they adjusted the tracking

A claim has been lodged with the council, I just need to send in the final bill now and wait for their allowed 90 days to consider the claim

So, it was back to the upgrades... This time, Stereo.

I'd been collecting some bits for a while.


I prefer the OEM look of the original (just fits the dash properly) but I wanted DAB, the ability to stream internet radio off my phone and use it for calls via bluetooth (and a working replacement for the 'when I want to work' CD player) The mrs also has loads of music on her iphone so likes to use that. The above ticks all those boxes.

First fail I'd decided not to buy a facia adapter, because I couldn't see any reason I wouldn't be able to re-use the outer switch surrounds, around the new radio. As it turns out though, the OEM radio front is slightly narrower than standard DIN and the outer covers attach to the oem stereo, not to the dash itself

Oh well, something to retro fit then...

For reference, back of the oem stereo;

Multi-coloured connector is the CANBUS one connector, the other 2 are standard ISO.


I wanted to keep steering column stalk control, so had picked up this;

The big bag contains this;

Which is the general C5 adaptor for all different kinds of stereo's. The small bag contains the add-on connector bespoke to each stereo manufacturer ;

Plugs into the little box of tricks.

Then you end up with this spaghetti junction;

The adapter plugs into the stereo like this;


The CANBUS loom is unfortunately redundant (no connection to the main display) so I tucked it away neatly, using the existing loom clips inside the dash;

The back supporting bolt at the back of the new stereo was longer than the original;

But it worked fine.

Fortunately there is loads of space inside the dash of the C5 to neatly lose all that spaghetti wiring, without it snagging on anything or being jammed in.
Removing the glove box helped look up to the back in order to do that. Taking it out is unnecessarily difficult due to the outer lower screw being inaccessible For reference, this is what it looks like out;

Found a nicely convenient spot to mount the DAB box - on top of the trafficmaster unit.

The cable was a nice length to run through some existing loom clips, which gave a nice run up to where I had mounted the unit;



So then on with the aerial. Windscreen side trim off;

Need to rub back the paint in a small area, to get a good ground for the aerial;

The one I'd bought looked like this;

Mounted like this;

I looped the aerial lead up round the top clip so it wasn't under strain;

Then ran it down in the existing clips again;


Extra length coiled up and stowed away to the left of the fuse box;


All finished;


However, here was my second fail
DAB didn't work and some research >> here << it seems that not all DAB aerials and modules are created equal... and... I've bought one that doesn't work with my radio module
So I've got to get another one and in the mean-time drive around with glove box missing (can't face refitting and removing it again)

But never mind, onwards...

[CitroJim]

Pleased to hear the car is all sorted Iain and let's hope the council comes good on the claim...

[Xantianut]

All that spaghetti reminds me of having to fit a "new" radio to my C5. It was tuning and playing CDs but the amplifier was fritzed. I fitted an elderly Grundig unit with a cassette player (showing my age here!) that works well but sometimes does not tune the radio well. Must try a new aerial, is that one just for digital?

[wurlycorner]

Yep, that's just a DAB aerial, no good for fm.

[Xantianut]

Fair enough!

Now, where is Google? Oh, oh, here comes the wallet.

[sounds of violence and destruction]

Maybe not such a good idea......

[Hell Razor5543]

Get Otterchops to have a word with that Yorkshire Wallet. Remind it that her tyres are wide enough to smother the screams!

[Hell Razor5543]

Just a quick comment. I got two Cruise Control stalks from the scrappy; one with Limit, the other without. When I went into the relevant section on the Lexia (driver switch module) there was nothing relating to the Limit function (and I tried switching between absent and present), which would indicate the Limit function is not available on a C5 Mk1.

[wurlycorner]

Not updated this in ages... (but then again, I haven't actually been on the forum proper for months and months either - sorry! Too much life going on...)
Anyway, by way of update, this was mid-August;

Can't find the pics from when I fitted a second (different) DAB aerial (which works fine with my radio) but never mind.

Anyway, it needed a bit more love. Last time I was under it I had spotted a couple of holes in the exhaust and that the gaitors on the rear suspension cylinders had holes/nicks in both sides also I hadn't chagned the coolant, the new front undertray was missing some fixings and hanging down not fitted properly by the garage, noticed the steering had a bit of movement in it and there was a slight knocking when driving over the fields at Goodwood FOS, so little things were starting to mount up and time to get them sorted...
Exhaust holes;

(back of cat)

(Front of cat - I had already put putty round it when I bought the car, but it had spread and was rotten all round the weld tbf, so beyond saving)

Rear gaitors;



Hunted round for the best price on a cat (it comes complete as one section from the front flexi to back box) and the best I found was with autosessive, with a discount code one weekend. Great service, ordered one lunch time, turned up the next afternoon, on a supposedly 2 day delivery service!
Old and new;


after-market details of the replacement for any other C5 owners out there



Piece of p**s to change


Told you the old one was rotten!


Next up was the suspension gaitors. Gratuitious flying shots, just 'cause the novelty of being able to do this still hasn't worn off ;






Disconnected;

Removed (next to new one in bag);

What it looks like up inside the cylinder - self-centring bush for the push rod visible in the middle.

And this is the push-rod;

Cleans up a bit better!

First side fitted;

(The spring clip was a total sod to fit, until I got hold of the right tool, whereupon it was an absolute piece of p**s! Discussed that, here
One of the push rods was siezed in the trailing arm (see down inside here) so needed some persuasion with a hammer to remove...


Didn't bother photographing the other side (got it all done too quickly) but what was annoying is that it was obvious that both sides had been 'patch up repaired' with glue. It hadn't worked and what really annoyed me was... Why?! The job took 30 mins start to finish (once I had the right tool for the clip) and the replacement gaitor costs about a fiver! That is taking cheapskateness to extremes...

Steering feeling odd was the nearside track rod end and the knocking was the ARB drop link on the same side. No play noticeable in them, but the balljoint on both was sort of 'sticking' when I twisted it back and forth.
Bought decent quality ones rather than cheapo, but bided my time till there was a decent discount code from GSF/eurocarparts (track rod end from one, ARB drop link from the other);

Track rod end all came apart nicely, but the drop-link didn't The nut was tight as (-expletive removed-) on the thread to the point where the hex in the bolt (so you can hold the thread still while you undo the nut) was stripping.
So... out came a friend!

DIE!!!


First time I had used that tool in anger and it's brilliant. It has no torque, so unlike a big electric disc cutter you get absolutely no 'kick' on start up and it doesn't 'grab'. Means you can get it close into tight neat spaces without any danger of damaging anything. Big fan
Barely a scratch where I got in behind the nut

TRW new replacement;


All fitted;

Also spot the new heat shield round the track rod end - the old one was missing, which is why the ball joint had failed I think (cooked by the heat from the brakes)

Speaking of which... I knew the back ones were coming up for some attention. When I bought the car, one of the calipers was slightly on the p**s (usual corrosion between the Al caliper and steel arm causing it to twist off square) but it wasn't that bad...
Had a look to check on progress, because it's felt like the back brakes are doing nothing recently (back of the car lifting badly under braking) and...
Front didn't look bad still;

The back though...



The other side is not much better either;


So it's not just new pads and retaining bolts needed, it's now a full set of pads/discs and calipers (clearly some sticking going on there, 'cause the other side is still perfectly square mounted).

Whilst I'm on with mentioning bodges...

WTF is going on there with the 2 screws that have been driven into the cylinder body around the pad retaining bolt?

After that the car had a full coolant change (the old stuff was obviously WELL old) and I ran out of time to sort the undertray fixings. Left that for another weekend...

[wurlycorner]

Next up was to try and sort the windscreen washers. They have been continuously blocking up ever since I've had the car. Probably because the cap was been broken when I bought the car and the filler is right at the front of the slam panel, so I think the bottle probably has loads of grit in it.
Used an air line to blow out the nozzles and hose that I could get at and, in my wisdom... :k decided to try and blow back down the hose into the bottle...
BANG!


Left it and drove home in a sulk.

2 weekends later I decided to tackle it. Bumper off and bottle removed;



Fortunately the bottle was undamaged. This was the culprit;

It's crappy rubber hose and where it had got oil on it, over time it had gone soft, so hardly had any strength in it.

Consulted the stock pile of broken prelude bits and...

a bit of 3rd gen prelude hose (better quality nylon stuff) exactly the right length

Gave the bottle a good wash out;

All refitted and working spot on


While I had the bumper off, I took the opportunity to finally fit the HID lights I bought earlier in the year;

It was a bit of a mission tbf, with seized mounting bolts and the captive nuts shearing off, in really innacessible locations to get a loose nut back on afterwards
Mine came with the washer jets, but I haven't got the bottle, extra pump and the cut-outs in the bumper to go with it, so I haven't connected it up. Not sure how the hose for the washers is meant to be routed, so cable tied it up behind the bumper bar.

There were a couple of nice little recesses in the plastic liners either side under the headlights though, so I assume it is meant to be reouted through them;

Much brighter



Now I just need to plug in LEXIA and tell the suspension ECU that it has HID headlights (so it communicates with the self levelling motors in them).

In doing all this, found more evidence of annoying s**t previous mechanics. I think it's had the hydraulic pump replaced before - found only 1 of the rubber suspension mounts fitted in properly (5 second job to fit the others back in the slits ) the boot over the electrical connections that stops them getting wet hadn't been refitted (15 second job) and various clips for the low pressure hoses not refitted. (10 second work)
Just... Why? why the hell do so many mechanics do such a s**t lazy job?!

[wurlycorner]

I forgot to say that I also sorted out all the undertray fixings (full replacement set bought from eBay for under a tenner) and un-lowered the car (put it back to proper ride height).
Looked better at the height I had it running at, but affects the ride quality (not the handling though) especially when towing the car transporter when unloaded (unloaded twin axle trailers/bumps just make the back jiggle up and down unless the height is right). plus what's the point in having a hydraulic Citroen that doesn't ride like a Citroen should?
So, childishness over and maturity to the fore on that one!

[wurlycorner]

And this was end of August;

So, what do you do when you have a load of unused holiday from work to use up..?
Take a day off to work on the C5, of course! Last Weds was rear brakes day.
Correction: Last Tuesday was meant to be rear brakes day, but when I unpacked the calipers to look them over before fitting, I was not impressed with one of them;



Not confident about that weld repair on the casting.

But that aside, I was really not impressed with the cavities on the pad slides;


I could just see that building up with crap and making the pads stick, rattle or squeal.

Basically, I was not impressed and not prepared to fit it. IMO, the castings were life expired and should have been consigned to the bin. (Especially considering the other one I had bought for the same cost was obviously new! )


So I went back to GSF and they immediately agreed to exchange it without any problem and got the replacement in next morning - which was another brand new one

So, Wednesday it was...
Old left hand;


Old right hand (note the contact area is off to one side, not over the correct part of the surface);
Reason being the misalignment of the caliper in relation to the disc, caused by disimilar metal corrosion between the mating faces of the caliper and arm bending the mounting bolts and pivoting it away. See the gap between disc and caliper here;

Compared to the other side;


I meant to take some pics of the back of the discs to show just how little braking was being done on that side, but I didn't got round to it (see earlier post for pics on the car).

All removed and cleaned up first side;

The caliper retaining bolts have a reputation for being impossible to remove. They were no match for the ingersoll-rand impact gun
The brake line union was an arse though. Had to take my time and be very, very delicate. No problems with rounding off, but it was stuck tight on the tube, so it was touch and go to get it off without shearing the pipe (twisting).

Having got the old caliper off, I could see the reason for the weld repair on the previously supplied refurb caliper;


Not sure what the hell Citroen have done to the design here, because (from what I recall) basically the same caliper has been in use on the Xantia, XM, BX, CX etc... and I haven't ever had this problem on the Xantia or various CX's? Presume for the C5 they've either reduced the quality of the alloy used, or saved material by slimming down the web that the retaining bolt goes through???
It explained what the 2 self-tappers and oversize washer was all about on the outside half of the caliper though - it was actually a very ingenious way of getting round the broken casting and still holding the pad retaining bolt!

Anyway, all built up, lovely shiny new stuff





Gave me a chance to try out my new toy


Brilliant bit of kit and changed all the fluid as a result.

So nice to have the car back braking properly (not diving). The rear brakes on a C5 are actually really big - same diameter (282mm) as one the front of my Preludes, so they really do make a difference!

[wurlycorner]

And to bring it up to day for today...

Today was MOT day.
Pass with zero advisories (ok, chip in windscreen, but I don't count that!)
11,350 miles done last year in this Most I've done in a single car in a single year, for a long, long time (and considering I don't ever drive to/for work, it's a lot)

Tester commented that I'd obviously been doing some good stuff on it and that the exhaust section I'd fitted was really good quality in comparison to a lot of the pattern cats he sees.


Hopefully I'll have a chance to catch up on the rest of the forum in the not too distant...

[daviemck2006]

Good work on the back brakes. I was going to do the back brakes of both my c5s but couldn't move the bolts on either of them. Ended up selling the first with next to no rear brakes and wrote off the second one so that saved me a job! Got the activa ones to do, keep finding excuses not to try them lol.
Result on the MOT, it does pay in the long run to use decent parts, saves on labour doing stuff twice.

Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk

[CitroJim]

Excellent update Iain Thoroughly enjoyed reading that