C5 X7 rear tailgate strut oil leak

[Argos69]

Hi again,
"Her" latest challenge is oil leaking from the driver's side tailgate strut.
The tailgate is the "motorised" variety, which basically means you stand in the rain waiting for the stupid thing to open or close, instead of just opening it the old fashioned way.
Anyhow, I've not found anything after a search, so is this a "rare" issue?
Question.....
Is it (economically) fixable, or can I entertain the notion of "doors to manual" and convert it to manual? At the risk of pre-empting the answer to that last question, would it be a case of New Struts, New Lock, New keeper, then Lexia?
As ever, all advice warmly welcomed and appreciated.
Thank you

[GiveMeABreak]

I think I responded to a recent post from another member on the motorised strut issue - although his was not leaking, but to reiterate here, the motorised struts are about £190 each inc. VAT new. The manual tailgate have different struts, which appear to be a different size and the bolts are different too. There are quite a few different parts between the versions.

I suspect that raising or lifting it when in 'commanded' mode can mean working against the system so can weaken it. Or it may just have developed a leak, but this is the first time I have heard of a leaking strut on the X7 with motorised tailgate.

[Argos69]

Hi Marc and thank you.
Yes, it's leaking oil. Dried it off yesterday and saw a little fresh oil today.
Still opens but needs a slight "helping hand" to start it off.
Anyone know if it's an easy replacement or a "stinker" of a job?
It has a thick-ish black tube coming from the end of the strut. Is that electrical, hydraulic or whatever?
I'm too busy with work to get the socket set out this week, but I shall dig a little deeper when I have the time.
Thank you once again.

[GiveMeABreak]

It is hydraulic and electrical.

Please check your PMs

[GiveMeABreak]

Here you go Graeme:

C5 X7 Motorised Tailgate Strut Replacement

[MattBLancs]

Here you go Graeme:

C5 X7 Motorised Tailgate Strut Replacement

Hi Marc,

It might be worth also (perhaps as footnote to that excellent guide?) Be useful to put a link to this:

viewtopic.php?t=71516

Essentially, if the boot strut ball joint on the body is unscrewed and the captive nut inside the D pillar is loose, it would be free to drop down and you'd have a whole world of pain from that point on! It was bad enough "creating" an access hole to then blindly waggle a ring spanner through to just re-tighten the nut!

Hopefully my own experiences were a freak unusual failure (and I suspect perhaps result of previous owner / maintainer attempting to drive a somewhat rusty ball joint bolt thread into the captive nut and the increased torque shearing the nut of inside. At which point they just left it loose! )

[GiveMeABreak]

I have done now Matt, thanks for the reference.

[GiveMeABreak]

Hi Graeme

As per your PM, here are the parts for the motorised Struts:

(6) Motorised Tailgate Strut (Left), part: 8731R5, £214.27
(6) Motorised Tailgate Strut (Right), part: 8731R4, £214.27

Direct from Citroen inc. VAT.

[Argos69]

How time flies!
I can only apologise, as the original poster of this thread, for despite the help, not doing the job and letting nearly a year slide by!
I noticed the other day that the strut "oil leak" I originally spotted and which appeared every couple of days, has now dried up. It looked like oil and kept appearing, but now nothing.

So where am I now?
I've carried out the procedure to disable the oversensitive "economy mode", so the only issue I'm left with is that the tailgate will not lift from the closed position without a bit of help to get it started on its way. It then behaves itself, closing and locking as normal.
No Diagbox errors of any kind.
I'd thought of replacing the strut/s but I don't suppose there's an oil reservoir that may be low and needing topped up somewhere is there?
Every fault with this car has been an absolute swine involving parts prices akin to those of a Eurofighter, so this will no doubt be the same, BUT I like the darned thing and the level of comfort is absolutely great.

I heard anecdotally, that the motorised tailgate can be disabled in Diagbox. Does this mean a "normal" tailgate results or simply a "dead" tailgate that won't stay lifted?

Keep up the good work and thank you for any help.