c16rkc's mad house

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c16rkc
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c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Chris and I am a new Citroen C5 owner. But I am also a car addict... and my intention is to post all my car goings on in this thread, just like I do on a couple of other forums.

I am relatively new to Citroen, having bought a Citroen C3 as a cheap runaround a year ago... and loved it. This led me to the C5, which will soon by my new daily driver.

But I'll get to that in a bit, first I will post a bit here to explain my background, car history, and how I ended up with the C5 today. I understand many of you will not want to see this part, and for those I hope my future posts about the C5 as a "project" (yes I have lots planned for it) will be of more interest.

So I was born in 1981, back when everyday people did not drive Audi's and BMW's (how times have changed) and when London and the surrounding areas were full of majestic Bentleys and Jaguars. My father drove a Fiat 126 through most of my young childhood, and the young Chris hankered after owning a Jaguar one day.

My first car ended up being a Peugeot 405 1.9GR (this is not the one, as we have no photos). A big car for a young lad, and of course I went off the road one day and it ended up on it's roof... to be young and stupid again....

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I then worked my way through BMW 5 series ownership aged 19... (and this is my only photo of the actual car)

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...to my first Jaguar, a 1992 4.0 litre Sovereign no less! (and that's 21 year old me me proudly grinning like a prat next to it)

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I then proceeded to own four more Jags, because I loved the comfort, style, and luxury. Here are a couple of them (and the Jag fans among you may notice the 2nd one is actually a "Daimler", and the 3rd is a Super charged "Super V8"... they were very nice cars).

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Then in my late 20's I met my wife, we decided to save for a house, and the Jag was sold to help fund the deposit. I ended up with this Renault, which I hated.

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Granted that car cost £250 and was in rather tatty condition, so I was in no position to trash it too much. But it shocked me with cold drips from the sunroof when it rained, and drank like an alcoholic. I did not enjoy Renault ownership...

It did let us buy our first house though, which is an old cottage that needed completely renovating...

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So when we had our house, we bought his and hers Mercedes S classes with LPG conversions...

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We had this briefly and I regret selling it every time I see a picture of it...

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We went on to another set of his and hers Mercedes S classes, this time Diesel.

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Then back to Jags, his and hers again...

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Then in summer 2018 we had our first son, Aston, and life started to change...

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Lindsey wanted something bigger for all the baby stuff she had to cart around, so we bought this wagon for her...

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Nearing my mid-life crisis I bought this rusty heap... and boy was it a heap!

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We got it into pretty good shape within a few months, and we enjoyed some trip in it, as well as taking it to a car show where, to my surprise, it got lots of attention.

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Then one morning all the traffic came to a grinding halt in front of my on my way to work - I was daydreaming and didn't react fast enough, I steered onto the verge to avoid the car in front and ended up kissing this poor tree (yes that's me standing like an idiot staring at my poor car).

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I then went into full idiot mode... and ended up with two more cars, this Mercedes CL as a daily driver, and this BMW 7 series which I bought to use then never did.

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Anyone who has read this far, is starting to appreciate what a problem I have when it comes to cars... yes I am an idiot of the largest magnitude... :(

So at that point we had four cars on the drive, and back then that seemed odd, but it has slowly become the norm in our household.

To be continued....
Last edited by c16rkc on 01 Sep 2023, 11:49, edited 1 time in total.
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mickthemaverick
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by mickthemaverick »

I enjoyed that introduction Chris and looking forward to the next episode. Citrojim and I will be at Redbourn Classic Car show tomorrow if you fancy dropping by. 320 classics on show and other stuff for the kids and live music. 2 until 5 on Redbourn common. Of course that invite is open to everyone!! :-D
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

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So this has bought us up to late 2019...

But in December 2019 something happened that changed everything for our family, when our son was diagnosed with Leukaemia. The NHS were amazing, and within hours of diagnosis he was getting treatment at Nottingham Hospital (we actually live in Wisbech, but this was the closest hospital that had a dedicated Cancer ward).

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Our son Aston was permanently in hospital for most of the start of 2020. My wife gave up work to care for him, our finances tanked, and I started to plan to sell stuff off. Aston had a 3 to 4 year treatment plan and we just got on with it.

First the Mercedes was sold, then the BMW, and eventually we ended up with these sensible cars.

Audi A6 estate, 2.0 Diesel estate.

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Peugeot 508 Diesel Hybrid

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We had to spend some money on the Daimler, as it had no MOT and needed some work. My intention was to sell it.

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Then COVID happened and I did not even need a car as I worked from home for a few months, Lindsey used to go our several times to visit Hospital with Aston, and she always commended how empty the roads were.

With a lot of changes to our spending, we wrestled our finances back inline, and paid off our debts (which were not much luckily) completely. So then we decided to keep the Daimler, and Aston and me did a lot of work on it together through 2020.

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In our house it became known as "Aston's Daimler".

in February 2021 we welcomed our second son Spencer into the family!

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Things seemed to get better and better, and I ended up treating Lindsey to this:

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...and I bought this for myself (That's my son Aston posing in front of it)

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But those who fly too close to the sun, often get burnt... and then did something stupid.

Seeing as Lindsey could not go back to work, and hatched a cunning plan even Blackadder's Baldrick could not have bettered. I used what money we had to purchase an investment property (with a 60% mortgate) in the local town, and was then intending to use funds from the same bank to refurbish the building from an old commercial unit into three flats. We setup a company named after our sons, and thought we'd be building a business our sons could inherit.

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This turned out to be a complete fiasco... but we'll get to that.

I took in another stray, in the form of this 2003 Mercedes CL500.

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I designed and built the garage I'd always dreamed of (when I say build, I mean paid for.... real men came in and built it :mrgreen:).

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Then as the investment property I bought got more and more hungry for cash, the strain started to tighten our finances again...

Our Lexus and BMW changed into an Audi A6 estate (for me), and an Audi A7 (for my wife).

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Between Aston, Spencer, and me, we managed to finish the Daimler. It was an amazing car.

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So naturally I sold it :lol:

Then in Summer 2022 fuel reached £2.00 per litre, and given I do over 400 miles a week just to get to work, I had to get something more economical. I bought this sickly little Citroen.

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With a good service at the local Citroen specialist, and a good clean... and some new wheel trims!.... it was presentable. It was also the 1.6 e-HDi Airdream version, and it has done incredibly well on fuel.

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This is what I have experienced over the last year in fuel consumption. It has saved me a fortune, definitely more than I paid for it.

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Then in February 2023, with fuel going down in price again, I bought this Mercedes S class with the intention of it being something to drive occasionally instead of the Citroen.

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This is a special Mercedes, in a rare colour, but also with so many extras you rarely see, such as radar cruise, keyless go, powered bootlid, heated/massage seats, softgrain Nappa leather etc.

This should really be my pride and joy... but I have to say, while it is a nice car... I have grown to hate it.

I just find it feels too big, and the controls are all too clumsy. I think it does not help that I often drive my wife's Audi A7, and that car feels so much better thought out.

So I have spent a small fortune doing bits to this Mercedes over the last few months, but it's actually going up for sale soon.

In April 2023 Aston's chemotherapy treatment ended, and this was the best news ever!

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We are so happy to have this behind us!

Back to cars, and recently Lindsey's Audi came up with a fault message about the steering a couple of times. The garage indicated the steering rack was on it's way out, so rather than wait we decided to get that sorted. So she's using the Mercedes S class at present, and also hates it :lol:

Over 2022 and 2023 I spent a lot of time on the Mercedes CL500, and I have renewed every part in the Hydraulic suspension other than the struts and pipework... but I must have made an error as the car will not even try to raise and is grounded in the garage...

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More on that to come as I still need to fix it... and am struggling!

So then back my daily driver.

I am pretty happy I can retire the C3, as fuel has reduced in price substantially, but what I wanted has plagued me for a few months. The trouble is I don't like the newer Jags, I think BMW's in my price range are ugly, and I don't really fancy yet another Audi A6.

I did lots of research on different cars, and the more I thought about it I liked the idea of another estate so we had room for lots of stuff. A little week's holiday illustrated how much we struggled to fit all our stuff into Lindsey's Audi A7.

The Citroen C5

Owing to the reliability and comfort of the C3, I considered something French. I initially considered a Peugeot 508. Then I read about the magic carpet ride quality of a Citroen C5 exclusive, and then when I saw the incredible specification they have I went on the hunt for one. I was ideally after an Estate with the Nav screen, full leather, and the sunshine roof (I thought the kids would love to look up/out when we visit places).

I found one last week, and bought it... sadly I have not even taken a photo of it yet!

I paid very little, but it has the following (known) faults:

- Suspension sits high at the front.
- Windscreen wipers not working (owner has replaced drivers side motor with no change)

It also needs a service, and has no signs of a Cambelt change, so that needs sorting. It is booked into the Citroen specialist garage for the 13th September to get these issues sorted out, but I am hoping to sort the wipers and suspension out myself beforehand; as the garage said they were busy and did not seem very enthusiastic about the suspension.

So that's it, and that's where I am now.

I hope this thread will be of interest to some people, and I will update it periodically with updates, like I do on a couple of other forums I like to visit.
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by mickthemaverick »

Quite a story to tell there Chris, so glad it's working out for your son, fingers crossed it stays that way. Now I realise you are at that end of Cambridgeshire the trip to Redbourn is not just down the road as it would be if you were in Cambridge itself. However if you fancy a day out it will be fun!! :-D
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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

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Work starts on the C5

First of all the non working windscreen wipers. The previous owner had visited the garage, who advised him that because both were not working it had to be the drivers side, as that's where the master ECU is. This contradicted a lot of what I have read online, where owners report that the passenger side wiper motor can also stop both.

The previous owner advised me that the drivers side motor had been replaced, and because that had not worked they suspected a relay. I have decided to replace the passenger motor, and I have ordered a brand new one from a Citroen dealer on Ebay. I'll fit that and am hopeful that will solve the issue.

So then the Hydractive suspension, sitting high at the front...

The symptoms were rather odd.

- If I set the car to height 1, both the front and rear go all the way down.
- If I set the car to height 2, the rear raises a little, then the front goes sailing all the way up to maximum height.
- If I set the car to height 3, the rear raises a little more, and the front stays at the highest setting.
- If I set the car to height 4, the rear goes up to max, and then matches the front.

After a kind suggestion from Marc, I cycled the car up/down a few times (about 10 times I think) but the above seems pretty consistent.

So I did a bit of research... and I found the Citroen C5 workshop manual is here:

https://www.allcarmanuals.com/data/file ... 7-2017.pdf

At first glance there is no index, and no search function. But the PDF actually has bookmarks to help you navigate to the bit you need to.

These are the main Hydractive components at the front (4 cyl models):

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This is the same for the rear (4 cyl models):

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Once again Marc has been incredibly helpful; and I see that's a trend on here :mrgreen:

His thought first ran to the front ride height sensor, and my own thoughts were that since the suspension seemed to be going up/down very well it had to be a sensor issue of some kind.

So after a bit of googling, I found that the sensor part numbers are:

- Front 5273 J4
- Rear 5273 J9

I found a brand new genuine one on Ebay, and I ordered that. I also ordered the Lexia (sounds too much like google Alexa for my liking :lol: ) so that I can set the suspension up afterwards.

So fingers crossed, after a bit of work, a cry, lots of tea and maybe even some colourful language... I may end up with a working C5 I can drive to work soon! :mrgreen:
Last edited by c16rkc on 01 Sep 2023, 13:07, edited 1 time in total.
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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

mickthemaverick wrote: 01 Sep 2023, 11:32 I enjoyed that introduction Chris and looking forward to the next episode. Citrojim and I will be at Redbourn Classic Car show tomorrow if you fancy dropping by. 320 classics on show and other stuff for the kids and live music. 2 until 5 on Redbourn common. Of course that invite is open to everyone!! :-D
Thank you Mick - you got in there before I finished the 2nd part :-D

I have not been to enough car shows in the last few years, that sounds like a great day. There are some fantastic photos on their website, I hope you have wonderful weather.

I've already a full weekend of DIY and car stuff planned, so I'll give this one a miss on this occasion - but would be great to meet at an event one day in the future!
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

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c16rkc wrote: 01 Sep 2023, 13:05 I've already a full weekend of DIY and car stuff planned, so I'll give this one a miss on this occasion - but would be great to meet at an event one day in the future!
There is the Chevrons rally in Little Horwood, 08/09/2023 - 10/09/2023.
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

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That's a great start to what is going to be an awesome blog Chris :) I enjoyed that hugely and my only thought reading it was ' Sod the cars, I just hope Aston is going to be OK...' and I was delighted to see he is :D Excellent!

That's quite a crop of cars you've had there :cool:

Looking forward to the next episode ;)
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by Hell Razor5543 »

:welc: to the Forum, Chris. I hope that it is both useful and entertaining. I also hope that Aston remains in good health.

Just a couple of warnings about your C5 X7. First (real), there is a known issue with the steering rack, in that it was built to a price, using sub-optimal steel. There are companies who can recondition them, and (through a lot of practise) can swap them out in half a day. Some companies will (if the 'faulty' rack is good enough) recondition it and then chrome plate the pinion assembly (where the failure occurs). Forum members have also slapped a load of waterproof grease and then a gaiter over the pinion. Previous models of the C5 do not suffer from this problem. Second (joke!), Citroens have been known to get confused if everything is working properly. The ECUs cannot handle a situation where there is absolutely NOTHING wrong! The way to prevent this happening is to leave a simple fault you can live with (such as a failed boot light), so the ECUs cam see there is a fault, and relax!
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

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Hell Razor5543 wrote: 01 Sep 2023, 17:32The ECUs cannot handle a situation where there is absolutely NOTHING wrong! The way to prevent this happening is to leave a simple fault you can live with (such as a failed boot light), so the ECUs cam see there is a fault, and relax!
:lol: :lol: I can believe that James! Thing is, I have a modern Citroen that's totally faultless - so far and touching wood :wink: Should I be concerned?
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by Rp0thejester »

I enjoyed reading that, main thing is family is okay. So you've done your apprenticeship in German engineering and know have gone to doing an apprenticeship in French electronics, it's a harder course but alot more enjoyable when you get it right imo.
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

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mickthemaverick wrote: 01 Sep 2023, 11:32 I enjoyed that introduction Chris and looking forward to the next episode. Citrojim and I will be at Redbourn Classic Car show tomorrow if you fancy dropping by. 320 classics on show and other stuff for the kids and live music. 2 until 5 on Redbourn common. Of course that invite is open to everyone!! :-D
Tempted by this myself Mick, what time are you and Jim planning on arriving? Might have a ride up..
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by mickthemaverick »

We'll be there around noon, 12.30 for certain. It depends on how Jim's Parkrun goes. Be good to see you if you can get there, all the details are on their website- Redbourn Classics :-D
I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure!
I used to ride on two wheels, but now I need all four!
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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

Thanks guys - lovely to see a bit of humour lives here, I'll fit in better if there are more nutty people like me amongst you all! :-D
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CitroJim
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

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c16rkc wrote: 02 Sep 2023, 18:05 Thanks guys - lovely to see a bit of humour lives here, I'll fit in better if there are more nutty people like me amongst you all! :-D

You must come and meet up with us one of these days Chris :) You can then decide for yourself how nutty we are :lol:
Jim

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