C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

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martinwiseman2000
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C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by martinwiseman2000 »

Hi,

The heating has now given up the ghost on the driver sides as well as the passenger side of my C5 2.0HDI (57 plate) so I can't really put off fixing it for any longer. I have verified that the servo motor on the passenger side is working fine and the that shaft in the heater box is loose, rotates really easily, and doesn't affect the temperature, so it seems pretty obvious that the fault is the heater flaps themselves.

I have a heater flap repair kit on order, however can anyone point me to a definitive procedure for doing this work?

Failing that can anyone answer the following:
1) Do I need any special tools? e.g. a particularly large socket for removing the steering wheel, or perhaps a steering wheel puller?
2) Once I have the dashboard off, is it obvious how I go about accessing the insides of the heater box? If not, what is the procedure?
3) Does the work require either the aircon or the cooling system to be drained?
4) Do i need any special materials or parts other than the replacement flaps? I have seen grease mentioned in at least one place, but what sort and for what purpose was not clear.

I'd really like to get this job done this weekend, and I really don't want to get half way through only to discover I can't proceed because I lack some vital part which needs to be specially ordered.

Thanks for any help or pointers to existing documentation.

Martin Wiseman.
martinwiseman2000
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by martinwiseman2000 »

Thanks for those links, but they mainly deal with motor replacement, not flap replacement. If only my problem was that simple :-(

When it comes to flap replacement, I'm still looking for guidance on the following:
1) Do I need any special tools? e.g. a particularly large socket for removing the steering wheel, or perhaps a steering wheel puller?
2) Once I have the dashboard off, is it obvious how I go about accessing the insides of the heater box? If not, what is the procedure?
3) Does the work require either the aircon or the cooling system to be drained?
4) Do i need any special materials or parts other than the replacement flaps? I have seen grease mentioned in at least one place, but what sort and for what purpose was not clear.

Thanks,
Martin Wiseman
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by sthsth »

I made earlier a guide for replacement of heating flaps on a Citroen C5II (Danish guide)

C5 II "Amateur" Guide to replace both heat flaps in 2 zone air conditioning :
In this guide, do not drain the fluids of either air conditioning refrigerant or engine coolant. Heater box is not taken out of the car, and neither the steering wheel or any airbags must be removed.

Tools you need: Torx10 Torx20 (screwdriver), Torx30, Torx40. Socket Sets by 5.5 mm top, 10 mm, 13 mm top, and 16 mm top, pliers, lamp, "Bosch multi-cutter".

:arrow: http://citronik.prophpbb.com/topic50.html (Danish Citroen forum)

sorry for my bad English :? :oops:

/sth
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by Gibbo2286 »

I can't help other than to say the steering wheel is held on with a torx bolt and you don't need a puller. (If it's the same as my 04 C5.)
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by vborovic »

If I recall correctly, for the central steering wheel, the torx used is T-50 ... I've marked the steering wheel and the inner column with a marker line, to know where exactly to put the steering wheel back ... you'll also need to release 4 smaller torx screws (T-20 maybe or smaller), that hold the square silver bracket, that slide in with the steering wheel to the column ... I can't find the photos, the closest photo from when I took out my steering wheel is this (I focused on other procedures, not the wheel at that time):

Image
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by RichardW »

57 plate could be either Mk2 or 3....

Danish guide has some scary looking pics, just as well I couldn't understand the text!!
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by vborovic »

RichardW wrote:57 plate
You Brits and the "plating" system ... not only do you need to drive on the wrong side of the road, you have to complicate the car identification as well ... :P
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by RichardW »

It's easy really.... started on 1st Sept 2001 with '51' (Number plates of format XY51 ABC - where XY denotes the area it was registered, 51 the period of registration, and ABC 3 random letters). Year identifier changes on 1st March / 1st Sept - 1st March change is same as year, so 1st March 2002 went to 02. We are currently on 65, and will go to 16 on 1st March 2016. Will get confusing after 1st Sept 2051 (if any of us are still around!) as we will back to 51 - I guess they will reverse the order ie ABC 51 XX which is what they did on the last system when it ran out. Or maybe we will not be allowed cars by then....! You can't use a plate that makes the car appear younger than when it was registered, but this doesn't stop a car not being registered initially, and then getting a later plate (there are some Xantias on 02 or even perhaps 52). So, a 57 C5 will be reg between Sep 07 and Mar 08 so could be either. Anything 07 or before will be a MK2; most 08 and later will be X7s, but a few Mk2s could have crept onto later plates. Nothing to stop someone swapping an X7 to an earlier plate just to confuse matters even further.

See, told you it was easy!!
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by vborovic »

I've already found an "explanation" of the system (http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/ca ... lates.html), but it is still an odd concept to me ... can't see the reasoning for the link between the car's age and the plate it has ... what about custom plates, how do they work then? Over here, we have the first two letters the city (34 cities currently, although we expect to receive new designed plates with having all 128 of our cities as the first two letters) ... after that you have 3-4 numbers and two letters ... can't say about the total possible number of combinations, but enough for our needs ... of course the UK is roughly 15 times larger in terms of the population than Croatia, but our plating system is more or less devised from the german system ... and they still haven't done any modifications to it ...
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by RichardW »

Why? Dunno.... we've had a dating system since 1962, and when the old (in fact the second!) date system ran out in 2001 there were proposals to go to a non-dating system, but there was a bit of an outcry from the public, and the Police - who were adamant that a lot more people can recall the colour and year identifier of a car they have just glanced.

You can put any plate on any car - as long as it doesn't imply the car is younger than it is, but the plates still have to be one of the proper formats; and you can't just get any plate off a wreck, it has to have been recently MOT'd to allow a transfer.
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by vborovic »

RichardW wrote:who were adamant that a lot more people can recall the colour and year identifier of a car they have just glanced.
Disregarding the car population difference, in our case, we don't have a year, but the city (+ car make + color) ... and if the car is from a different city, even the next closest to us, it will somehow stick in your head ... and then you can have a chance that the numbers are round (111, 333, 789 etc ...), those who don't completely shut down their brain while driving can fairly accurately remember the plates in question (of course, if you're not under shock from an accident as a victim, etc.) ...
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by myglaren »

I can rarely remember my current car’s number. Usually have to look out the window when I need to know it :(
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Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by RichardW »

Sadly I can remember all of mine; most of the dates I had them; mileages at start and finish. And a good few of my parents' reg numbers as well....

Mine: F24 BPS, F778 GPP, J527 NSM, N895 YST, R140 OKV, X867 WAB, SL07 VDR. Hers: A590 CSC (The Decap!); M137 DNS; M363 EWK, SO52 KZF, BW57 HKX . Parents: AMY 274H; BDL ???L JEO 343P, SUG 41W, A292 CDL, F239 MJH, L719 WDL, PL02 XLY, PJ11 BZW, MEO ???J, WDL 734K, TDL 690S, SDL 20X, RJH 822Y, L919 WDL.

Must get out more!!
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Re: RE: Re: C5 broken heater flaps - what equipment do I need to do the job

Post by daviemck2006 »

RichardW wrote:Sadly I can remember all of mine; most of the dates I had them; mileages at start and finish. And a good few of my parents' reg numbers as well....

Mine: F24 BPS, F778 GPP, J527 NSM, N895 YST, R140 OKV, X867 WAB, SL07 VDR. Hers: A590 CSC (The Decap!); M137 DNS; M363 EWK, SO52 KZF, BW57 HKX . Parents: AMY 274H; BDL ???L JEO 343P, SUG 41W, A292 CDL, F239 MJH, L719 WDL, PL02 XLY, PJ11 BZW, MEO ???J, WDL 734K, TDL 690S, SDL 20X, RJH 822Y, L919 WDL.

Must get out more!!
I could do that as well. It's sad! Mine you my dad had 4 that were J14MCK, my brother had 5 that were A10MCK and I had 5 that were M33DJM. my five were a Nissan Serena 1.6, a ford mondeo 1.6, a ford galaxy 2.0, a Peugeot 806 1.9td, and citroen Picasso 2.0 hdi. I let the plate go on the Picasso as it had to go when the marriage broke down and the only car I could afford was a k plate zx which I couldn't put the plate on. We also had a n plate metro that the ex took, I should have kept it, the plate would have gone on it. Here's Dad's ones that I can remember BSE365C, FRS331D, ESE785E, KSE278J, OSE121L, GSE591N, TSE599R, WSE365S, TSE801X, A524CSE, J14MCK x4, K806DSE. Most of them vauxhall Victors, astras, cavaliers, and Bedford minibuses. I odd Leyland princess which I learnt to drive in, and 1 VW caravelle.
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