c16rkc's mad house

Tell us your ongoing tales and experiences with your French car here. Post pictures of your car here as well.
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GiveMeABreak
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by GiveMeABreak »

Indeed, not helped also by the fact that there are RHD and LHD versions of each of the motors, which has thrown people ordering from European sellers.....
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Marc
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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

Brand new Genuine right hand side wipers motor ordered from the same Citroen dealer Ebay store as last time... :shock:

Thats another £320 then :lol:
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GiveMeABreak
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by GiveMeABreak »

Let me have the VIN for your C5 when you get a moment, then if you need live part numbers / diagram / pricing I'll have it already (it'll be masked from the public when you post it, but I'll be able to see it). :wink:
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Marc
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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

Yes I'll do that - will have to look it up and post it.
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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

What a chequered past she has!

While I knew I was buying a completely unloved, abused, and sickly example of the Citroen C5; I tend to do a car history check anyway. If nothing else I like to check its not been in any known recorded accidents. This helped my confidence in the purchase, as there was nothing major to tell. But it did also highlight that the chap I purchased it from had literally just bought it. When I spoke to him he cited his reasons for sale were all the work that needed doing on it, and the fact that he did not have the time, knowledge, or money to do it. It was also alarming to see this Citroen had seven previous owners, which is rather high even for an old car.

But until now I have not really delved into the owners, and how long they had the car etc. Now I have it's quite an odd set of figures.

- Owner number 1 owned the car from new for just 9 months. I wonder if this was a main dealer using it as a demonstrator?

- Owner number 2 had it for 2 1/2 years, which is relatively standard, and they put quite a few miles on it; over 20,000 miles per year. I can guess this was a company car at this point.

- Owner number 3 had it for a year... that is rather odd, and I can only wonder if it started to play up at this point, despite being less than 4 years old when they bought it. They appear to have put a rather average 10,000 miles on it in their year.

- Owner number 4 had it for a year and 10 months, again rather odd. Did they also get sick of it going wrong? - They transferred a rather posh "M44 LTT" private plate to it when they bought it, so I can only assume they intended to keep it longer originally. They put relatively high miles on it, around 15,000 per year.

- Owner number 5 had it for a whopping 8 1/2 years! My gut instinct thinks they may have looked after the car rather well, as the paintwork still shines and the interior is pretty decent for the age. They appear to have put a pretty low amount of miles on it - around 6,000 miles per year. I think the car was probably very loved in this owners care. Though, I do wonder if they sold it when lots of things went wrong and they felt the repair costs were not worth the car value.

- Owner number 6 had it for a month, before selling it to the chap I bought it from. I can only assume they quickly realised how much the repair costs would be.

- Owner number 7 had it for 2 months, and was using it as a daily runaround despite the faults, with no intention of fixing them and no intention of keeping the car very long... he sold it to me.

- Owner number 8 is me! I have had it just a couple of weeks and am desperately trying to fix everything wrong so I can keep it for many years!

So what am I going to do with this sickly steed...

So to give a list of what needs doing, and the progress I have made so far...
  • The naughty windscreen wipers are not working... The owner claimed to have replaced the drivers side, but it looks in awful condition so must have been a used part. I replaced the passenger side (left) with a brand new item (Part 6405LE at £320) and have ordered a replacement for the drivers side (right) another brand new one (Part 6405LA at £320) as my Dog box diagnostic software says it is still faulty. I wonder if the previous owner was fibbing about the replacement...
  • The front end insists on staying in super high 4x4 mode. My the diagnostic dog box software appears to point to a faulty front ride height sensor which I have purchased (Part 5273J4 at £88.99) and will fit soon.
  • When I forgot to raise the suspension first, and jacked the car up with the power steering fluid cap off, the car took a wee and expelled around half a litre of LDS fluid. I found a deal on 6 litres of Mannol LDS fluid and have bought it (£42.49) so I can top it up when I need to.
  • There is no history to show the CAM belt has ever been changed, so it is booked in with M&W Autos (Citroen/Peugeot specialist) in Wisbech for Wednesday 13th Sept to have this done.
  • The MOT runs out 6th October 2023 - I'll need to get this sorted
  • The car needs a jolly good clean!
  • The tyres all look a bit low, and the wheels are a bit scabby. If I get the car running nicely I spy a wheel refurbishment and fresh set of tyres on the horizon.
  • I need to remove both headlights and polish out the dull patches.
Then these are the things I'd like to do, which are a little less important...
  • Add a Brodit phone plate, and a phone holder.
  • Wire in a permanent fast charger phone cable, with workings hidden in the centre console and cable poking out at the phone holder, so that I do not have to use the cigar lighter and a trailing cable to charge my phone.
  • Fashion a new front armrest top cover, with an integrated pop out cup holder assembly. (a pretty big project, so it might never get done and always be something I'd like!)
  • Add one of these (yes I know they are marmite to people) Android head units, so I can have updated maps and music.
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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

Hi Marc, my VIN is VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]
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Rp0thejester
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by Rp0thejester »

So only 16 fault codes, that's good going, I thought there would be 20 at least
Ryan

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Yes I ask the stupid questions, because normally it is that simple.
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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

Guess I'm just lucky :roll:
Hell Razor5543
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by Hell Razor5543 »

Now you can see why you should have raised the suspension. It appears to be a trait of the C5 (and, probably, the C6) to trap jacks if they were not raised to full height before removing a wheel!
James
ex BX 1.9
ex Xantia 2.0HDi SX
ex Xantia 2.0HDi LX
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.2HDi VTX+

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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

:lol: Yes I won't forget that one!
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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

A little more progress on the Citroen...

Total wipeout

Following my previous discovery that fitment of the brand new passenger side wiper motor had not fixed the issue, I placed an order for a brand new drivers side (right side) wiper motor on Thursday night. It was dispatched on Friday, and to my absolute amazement it arrived on Sunday!! I was very pleased!

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We were actually at a family christening on Sunday (don't get me started on why people who have no interest in God have their children christened..) so I was not released and allowed to do some work on the car until around 4pm. But when I was I had that motor fitted fairly quickly.

A quick test without the wiper blades fitted, and both motors were turning beautifully - a perfect result!

Two important things I noticed when getting them working:

1) When you put the wiper stalk up in the car to do a single wipe, it only activates the drivers side. When you pull it again it does both. This confused me and at first I thought the passenger side was not working.
2) You really do need to disconnect the battery before you fit the wiper blade arms, after ensuring the car has turned the shafts to the lower position. Otherwise you run the risk of the car moving to the upright "maintenance" position, which is exactly what happened to me... and then when you try the wipers they will try to move downwards into the engine bay instead of up to the screen!

I was very annoyed to see I had lost one of the bolts... so luckily I had a stainless steel Nyloc in my cupboard... but it looks awful!

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Question for anyone who knows: Should there be a cover over these bolts?

As I mentioned before, I also need to source a new plastic scuttle panel for the bottom of the screen, as the seal is hanging off...

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So then with the car fully back together... I was so excited, that I decided to get rid of that cable thingy (turns out to be a trickle charge socket) that was annoying me, poking out of the bottom grille in the bumper... it's now in the bin!

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That sodding front height sensor

I made a separate thread for this one, but rewinding back to Friday I fitted the front suspension height sensor. The thread is here, and mostly shows me panicking, probably while all you lot were in the pub ignoring me... I had a nice conversation with myself before managing to do it anyway... :lol:

viewtopic.php?t=75981

But to catch things up for those who do not read the Citroen section, this is the sensor I needed to fit:

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It's hidden right at the bottom, but on top of some big metal things, that I would not dare remove. So I eventually managed access through the passenger side wheel arch.

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I got the old sensor out, and managed to fit the brand new one.

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When I put the car back together it sank to it's lowest setting and would not let me have my trolley jack back...

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Then worse still, the battery was too flat to start the car... so I had to put that on charge... :oops:

Then later that night I went and tried it - and hooray! The car started and the suspension went up!

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There is an improvement, because normal ride height is no longer all the way up. But I am sure the car still sits too high at the front.

This is it... very nearly there, but just a tad too high. I'll let the garage sort this out when it goes in on Wednesday for the CAM belt and service.

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So it's hardly a success... but at least an improvement. :mrgreen:

Sneaky but clean fun

After I fixed the wiper blades Sunday night, I got a little carried away and decided to do a little cleaning. The car really is dirty inside.

First I chucked all the car mats in the boot.

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The carpets needed a super hoover front and back, but I decided to focus on the drivers side.

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So I hoovered out the drivers footwell, and all the little bits of loose debris from the drivers seat. But the seat really needed a good clean.

I used Meguiars super degreaser with water (50:50 mix) and sprayed on and scrubbed with a soft horse hair brush.

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It got rid of a lot of the surface muck, and the shiny layer that I hate to see on leather faded somewhat. I am pleased with the slight improvement, and will follow up with leather dye to repair the scuffs, leather cleaner and then some conditioner - but I'll do the rest of the seats first.

Before...

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After:

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I then naturally progressed on to some cleaning of center console.

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Drivers door card...

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All scrubbed with degreaser and wiped.

But then I was cut short as Lindsey said dinner was ready... and it was getting late. That's why there are not many pictures, as I rather rapidly tidied and went in. :)

So that wraps up the weekend, and I am pleased with the progress... at least the car is back together and driveable now! :lol:

I will see what happens on Wednesday when the garage take a look at it.
Hell Razor5543
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by Hell Razor5543 »

Something that might be worth doing is a Citrobics session. Basically what it does is to 'exercise' the suspension, making sure it is moving freely. Take the suspension to full height, and wait a minute. Then take it all the way down, and wait again for a minute. Then repeat this about a dozen times, ending up with the suspension at its' normal height.

Are you CERTAIN the LDS spill came from the cap? There is (IIRC) a simple valve in the cap that will let air in, but nothing out (which is why you should loosen the cap when lifting the car off her wheels). It is possible a pinhole leak has formed in the seams around the LDS reservoir. Getting hold of a replacement reservoir can be a bit tricky, what with the added Brexit Customs protocols.
James
ex BX 1.9
ex Xantia 2.0HDi SX
ex Xantia 2.0HDi LX
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.2HDi VTX+

Yes, I am paranoid, but am I paranoid ENOUGH?
Out amongst the stars, looking for a world of my own!
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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

Thanks James - I take it the "Citrobics" session is just playing with the buttons to raise/lower, and not something you would do with Liexuia diagnostics?

Yes I know the fluid came out of the cap, because the cap was unscrewed and I saw it escaping... I should not have unscrewed it I guess.
Hell Razor5543
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by Hell Razor5543 »

Yes, you just use the buttons. On my Xantia I would 'Citrobics' the suspension and brakes together (as they (and the steering) were powered by the same pump). It helps to keep everything moving smoothly.
James
ex BX 1.9
ex Xantia 2.0HDi SX
ex Xantia 2.0HDi LX
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.2HDi VTX+

Yes, I am paranoid, but am I paranoid ENOUGH?
Out amongst the stars, looking for a world of my own!
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c16rkc
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Re: c16rkc's mad house

Unread post by c16rkc »

Thanks - I'll give it a work out when I get home then.

I wonder what workout music a Citroen prefers?

"Ecore une fois! maybe?



Or anything by David Guetta?