It's been a while (C5 Adventure)

[Mandrake]

Glad to see you back Steve, although sorry to hear what happened to the DS4!

Between that and the Xantia you have certainly had a spell of bad luck! Hopefully that will change now.

As others have said above, I've always found the best way to avoid scrapes, dents and theft is to drive an old car that already has a few scrapes and dents! Pristine looking cars always seem to attract more attention from other peoples doors and bumpers, as well as thieves and keying numpties, naturally...

[Trainman]

Good to see you've still got that "special" Xantia Simon, I'm beginning to think you're right, the C6 is a keeper and that's one of the reasons for choosing the C5, another is we now have a 12 month old Labrador and there's no way he's going in the C6

[Mandrake]

Yes the Xantia is still going well. (not sure if you have read my blog recently)

I have had a few trials and tribulations with it in the last year though, including a failed wire in the under radiator wiring harness (that killed the engine and central locking completely and took me a week of after work tinkering to find and apply a work around) a leaking heater matrix (fixed with Forte, fortunately!) and most recently a sticking thermostat causing overheating when it would stick closed, which turns out to be a 6+ hour job to replace on the V6. Almost a year after getting 4 brand new Michelin's I'm still yet to find someone that can balance the centerless rims so I'm having to put up with some significant imbalance at motorway speeds (Will have another go soon trying to find somewhere - fortunately I don't drive at those speeds often)

Other than that it has been a good car, unfortunately while I have been able to keep up with the maintenance I haven't been able to keep up with the bodywork and interior as much as I would like, due to a combination of money and time (a 10 month old takes a lot of my time!) and crappy weather, so that I never seem to have a fine weekend align with one when I have time on my hands.. It's pretty filthy at the moment and needs a proper spring cleaning inside and a jolly good clean on the outside. I don't think I'll ever get a chance to repair the original dents and scrapes that the car came with...

Because I now have to drive for some of my daily commute to drop of my son with his gran each day I'm racking up the miles too and I'm worried that I'm running a classic car into the ground on the daily grind. Odometer Mileage has gone up from 65k when I bought it to 82k now in under 3 years, so it can't really be considered to be a low mileage car now!

As I've talked about in other threads I'm seriously considering buying a little electric C-Zero or similar for the daily grind both to lower my running costs, (drastically!) but also give the old girl a rest so I can keep her in a bit more fettled shape and prolong her remaining years, so she can be a weekend car instead of a commuter and daily dogsbody... That will all depend on whether I can make the numbers work with a C-Zero...

[CitroJim]

As others have said above, I've always found the best way to avoid scrapes, dents and theft is to drive an old car that already has a few scrapes and dents!

True The only additional scrapes and dents on my Gabriel have been added by me

[citroenxm]

Ah ok.. fair enough

[Trainman]

And so it begins, I've discovered the original radio in the side panel in the boot, except it's not the original radio, how do I know? It bleeps every other second. Not a problem, out comes the Lexia, to code it to the car, except Lexia won't talk to the car in anyway, shape or forum.

I decided to try the OBD2 code reader and that doesn't work either, although there is power to the socket, as the lights on the code reader flash. I decided to 'test' the Lexia on the C6 just to eliminate that issue, and it works on there. So it looks like a fault on the OBD port on the car.

I've already ruled out the fuse, as there's power going to the code reader......... I've been told that a BSI reset might cure it, can anyone think a of anything else?

[bxzx16v]

It's nice to have you back Steve , I'm French carless at the minute though myself . I've got pretty attached to the Freelander and can see it staying for a while seeing as it's a non dpf model and suits me fine .

Mark

[Hell Razor5543]

Fingers crossed in that you get the diagnostics port working properly.

Does the C5 have automatic wipers (it looks like the sensor is there under the rear view mirror)? If she does, it is likely that the wiring is there for an automatic rear view mirror (so will adjust itself as and when needed). I also got such a mirror from the scrappy for £10. Slide the old one down off the mount, go fishing around the headlining for the wiring (two wires going into a blue connector, probably covered in that foam crud tape Citroen love to use, so will need cleaning), connect it up (but make sure the wiring is neatly routed), slide the new mirror into place, and Hey Presto; automatic mirror.

[Trainman]

Yes James, It does have auto wipers, so thanks for that tip......

I'll try the BSI reset later when I get home, hopefully that solves the problem with the OBD socket....

[Trainman]

So I need a plan B, I did the BSI reset yesterday, and it didn't work. so lexia is still unable to talk to the car, I must have done something wrong, but I followed the steps set out here https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... 11&t=40407 am I missing something?

[Mandrake]

Is your Lexia perhaps one of the clones that is known to have difficulty with reading certain models of C5 ? Many of the clones are missing a few components in the interface that are needed for certain ECU's on some models of C5.

[Trainman]

Hmmm..... didn't know about that, It can't be, because it worked on MyGlarens C5 when he wanted his CD player coded, im thinking it could be the latest version has an issue, I wonder if I go back to an older version that could resolve it?

[Hell Razor5543]

What version of the Lexia software are you using? According to Easy Diagnostics anything later than 7.57 (IIRC) appears to need to connect to the Internet (for whatever PSA do).

[myglaren]

Hmmm..... didn't know about that, It can't be, because it worked on MyGlarens C5 when he wanted his CD player coded, im thinking it could be the latest version has an issue, I wonder if I go back to an older version that could resolve it?

Indeed - it appeared to find all ECUs and was able to display and delete fault codes with no problems.

[Trainman]

Right, I've gone back to Lexia 3.45 and it will talk to the C5, so I've now managed to code the radio to the car and clear the fault codes........ only problem is that the radio is faulty, so I now need a new secondhand one.

I'm going to whizz the door switch out first and have a play with that, then a trip to the scrappy