c16rkc's mad house

[Rp0thejester]

Yeah, it puzzled me at first but when I tried to change the wiper blades it made sense.

[c16rkc]

Getting down and dirty

Today I did more DIY so not much time was spent on the C5, but with little time Aston decided that engine needed a clean as it was giving him nightmares... he is a slave driver...

So everything we could remove easily came out.



Then it was all dumped on the grass for a scrub.





Then scrubbed the rest in situ.



Much better!











Sadly this screen trim is coming apart, so I'll see if I can buy a brand new replacement or not.





So just a day of making the car a little tidier. There is plenty more to do in the engine bay, but that sorts the most visible parts.

[CitroJim]

That's a bit of very good work Chris, a vast improvement

[c16rkc]

Hopefully the motors will start to work properly. You may already be aware but the wiper motors only really have 2 common failure points. Water ingress onto the circuit boards in them can cause them to fail - you may be very lucky and find you can clean them up and they're good again. The other issue is a small magnet on the wiper shaft by the motor comes loose. This magnet is used to determine where the wiper is in its stroke. The magnet can be glued back into place on the shaft and all is good again until it comes loose again.

Thank you - I had not read about the magnets, I wonder if thats the issue on my drivers side one, as when I tried again today it seemed to start and stop in random places before parking itself, this time at the base of the screen...

[bobins]

There should be a few details about the wiper motor magnet here ------> viewtopic.php?p=673348#p673348

[c16rkc]

Re the bottle of LDS in the boot - this is not necessarily a sign that there's a problem (as a bottle of coolant in the boot would be), it's simply part of being a hydraulic Citroen owner.

You wear a beret, you keep a bottle of LDS (or LHM for us older Cit owners) in the boot, you've become a member of an exclusive club!

Next level is to learn about "the Eye" and "the Bureau de Batardes".

Cheers
Alec
PS - would love an X7 Estate, but very few made their way to Australia.

Thanks Alec - I am pleased to have the Estate as it will come in handy for the family.

Time will tell if the owner was regularly topping up the fluid

[Rp0thejester]

Best thing to do is leave it alone until your Lexia turns up

[c16rkc]

I'd assume fastidious owner (interior in good nick, installed charger connection, free part bottle of LDS for the next owner) rather than a sign of problems to come. (But am massive optimist too! )

Mines a '09 but otherwise similar to yours. My headlights are also cloudy at the top - on the to do at some stage. Big glass roof is great, always amazed how gloomy it seems when I shut my blind! Makes a difference on interior temperature though in direct sunshine.

Electric boot is good and annoying at times - "Economy Mode Active" disables the electric action. Don't force it, if you lift the boot lid manually (say about 50mm or so, a little lift) you should hear a short whirr and the motors are disconnected - it'll then close normally.
Same on way up, if push button on boot or key fob results in two beeps = Economy Mode Active wants you to open the boot manually instead. Obviously normal electric boot action should return when engine is/has run.

My one was also giving inadvertent stopping on closure (the "anti pinch" type safety system kicking in despite no-one in the way!) I managed to get some grease into the boot system and it's cured it for me.

Research topics for you (once the wipers are behaving ) is probably steering rack leaks and corroded suspension pipes, pretty much the X7 C5's Achilles heals, though several are working on solving both issues.

Hope you enjoy it, I should warn you the suspension does have a habit of making "normal suspension" cars feel broken!

I hope you are right about a fastidious owner. Looking at the history there must have been one proud owner as there are lots of receipts. Most people don't keep them so thats always a good sign. The chap I bought it from was no enthusiast, and had only bought it as a stop gap - and I think was caught off guard by all the things going wrong...

I am counting on the suspension being super smooth. Thats a big part of the reason I wanted one of these. I grew up with the 90's Jags for some of my early cars, and I was very put out when Jaguar moved to Air suspension in 2003 and things went all "sporty". Since then most cars feel like a compromise to me, and I was pleasantly surprised by the C3. Many reviewers slate the C3 for its floaty ride, but I think its wonderful.

I'm hoping the C5 will be even better!

[c16rkc]

When you are going to jack up the car (and have wheels hanging) you need to do a couple of things first. The first thing will help you, which is to raise the suspension to full height. The second thing is to loosen off the LDS cap. Failure to do this second step can weaken the LDS reservoir, and lead to it failing. I am NOT joking on this! The added link explains this further.

https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... hp?t=62058

Once you have got the wipers working properly I would do a bit of preventative maintenance, stripping and cleaning the BHi motor (which is otherwise known as the suspension pump). Over time LDS mixes with the carbon dust (the motor has four brushes), resulting in a conductive sludge. This will (given time) cause problems; a new member from Estonia has asked for help as the brushes plate has melted! Last year my C5 (facelift) had this issue, and I ended up having to replace the unit (as sometime in the past a previous owner had fitted a 60A maxi fuse in place of the correct 40A maxi fuse, resulting in the windings overheating). It is not that difficult to do, but it could save you from future grief.

Sounds like a good idea... though being the coward I am, I might just replace the pump. They look to be about £500 refurbished.

It should take a few hours at most to remove the BHi unit, open and clean the motor, re-fit it, and get the vehicle up and running again. Cleaning the motor is about 30 minutes of this. If I can do it, you should find it a doddle! The hardest bit is undoing/refitting one nut that is out of view (and a right bl00dy sod to get to!). There are guides on the Forum, should you wish to look. If you do decide to do the job yourself, it will cost about £100, based on a couple of cheap washing up bowls (to catch the LDS/clean the motor in), a toothbrush, an abrasive rubber (to clean the motor commutator), 5l brake cleaning fluid, and 5l replacement LDS fluid.

Thank you for the tips! Greatly appreciated. I can borrow my wife's toothbrush for the BHI pump job, that will save a few more quid

This really is a forum full of wonderful members - I have certainly stumbled into the right place!

[c16rkc]

Best thing to do is leave it alone until your Lexia turns up

Yes will do that Ryan - it should arrive tomorrow, though I might not get time to look before next weekend.

[Rp0thejester]

Best thing to do is leave it alone until your Lexia turns up

Yes will do that Ryan - it should arrive tomorrow, though I might not get time to look before next weekend.

Good!! Sit back and enjoy your win! It's not often you win, but you show that C5 love and she'll pay you back untold times...

[c16rkc]

Good!! Sit back and enjoy your win! It's not often you win, but you show that C5 love and she'll pay you back untold times...

Thank you, I'm just looking forward to being able to drive it!

[myglaren]

Since then most cars feel like a compromise to me, and I was pleasantly surprised by the C3. Many reviewers slate the C3 for its floaty ride, but I think its wonderful.

I'm hoping the C5 will be even better!

My eldest daughter is on her fourth C3 now and I agree. In comparison to my Civic and my youngest daughter's Pikanto it does float.
Three of the grandkids have C1s, I must try one of those one day.

The C5s are much more floaty though. When I bought my first I was disappointed as I expected it to be better than my Xantia. It wasn't! And the Xantia was not an improvement on the BX, which wasn't an improvement on the GS. Best of the lot.

If you have the opportunity, beg a ride in a C6. That is an eye-opener and as good as a GS.
I dare say that the CX tops the lot and an Xm is close behind.

[mickthemaverick]

I have never ridden in a CX let alone driven one so I cannot comment on that. However both my BX's were great rides, the TGS Estate and the BX 16V, as it was originally called to differentiate from the 8V GTi, rode exactly as I expected. The Activa was different in character and for my sporty driving in those days outhandled them both of course but was not as exciting as the 16V being more competent at cornering.

However it was the Activa which I wrecked hitting a high kerb hidden under a pile of autumn leaves while pushing it round an open 90 righthander. It bounced off that kerb across the road and into a shallow grassy roadside area where it sunk into mud having shed the fluid from the fractured front sphere feed. You might say the supreme handling had led to overconfidence!! Or you might say if the leaves hadn't been there I wouldn't have hit the kerb, or you might say I shouldn't have been going so fast at all!! I certainly regretted it as the total damage was way beyond the value of the car at the time - if I knew then .........!!

I disagree with Steve about the XM's though, both of mine were exceedingly nice cars with floaty rides but I think the BX Estate had the edge over both of them. My favourite though was the last C5 Exclusive with every extra available and the 2.2 diesel fitted with a tuning board. Brilliant in every way and I was devastated to see it go when my loving eco daughter persuaded me to give up diesel!! It had served me well including our epic tour in the September Stroll which you can find here. I'd have it back tomorrow if it had a different power source!!

[CitroJim]

I'm actually very pleasantly surprised at how my C3 Picasso rides... No way is it on a par with any model of hydraulic Citroen but considering it wears low aspect-ratio tyres that look like they've been painted on the rims, it's very acceptable...

The Hydractive Xantia and XM can ride beautifully but they need a fair bit of 'playing' with various varieties of spheres not necessarily for that model to achieve it. I found, for instance, that an Activa rode best on Xantia Estate rear spheres. All XMs and Xantias need their hydraulic systems to be fastidiously maintained to maintain the best ride.

The best ride I've ever experienced was in a hydraulic C5 X7 Exclusive... Lovely seats too. Only second to the amazing Activa-specific leathers.