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2003 Citroen C5 estate.....the end


maxxo

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ahhhh yes

seems my rear wiper has stopped working

now, what do we reckon

A: broken wiring going into the tailgate

B: comms2000

😄 wiper motor having a sudden random failure

D :something completely unrelated, probably cos i changed a drop link and it's having a tantrum or the sun was in the wrong position because french

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5 minutes ago, DSdriver said:

Check the wiring plugs to the tailgate for corrosion and then current?

i shall!

will check to see if it's decided to work tomorrow, or if i have a flat battery

then it will be time to check the wiring

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  • maxxo changed the title to 2003 Citroen C5 estate......leaky, electrical fun and brilliance!

Tbh, for what is a £400 car

i am so damn happy with it, really has been riding beautifully recently too

and if time travel was real, i would go back to 2002/2003 and buy one brand new, as i imagine that's a superb experience

if you've never driven one, well you need to

i love the looks, a lot of people hate them but it's what puts a lot of people off what is a superb machine

shame about the wiper pattern

this car just feels right if that makes sense? exactly what i was looking for

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ahhhhh yes a nice drive home from a lovely day at the beach today

oh wait a stone got thrown up

yep, chipped windscreen

£25 for a repair from autoglass!!!

still booked for wednesday, don't want to ignore it and then need a new screen

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1 hour ago, maxxo said:

fixed the rear wiper

checked wiring, checked fuses and checked for voltage

14ish volts were there

also noted how shit the factory wiring is, but that's to be expected

hmmmmmmm

decided to hit the motor really hard with a screwdriver

it suddenly parked!

now it works perfectly

I see you’ve reached the basil fawlty stage of C5 ownership!

 

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2 hours ago, richardmorris said:

I see you’ve reached the basil fawlty stage of C5 ownership!

 

i also see it's stopped working again

i am absolutely surprised that it's the motor which failed

quite relieved in a way, at least theres no horrible soldering to do

best order a motor then

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right some investigations today

doing it properly of course, at the side of a road in a council estate whilst i was waiting to pick up a friend

wiper motor works, for the most part

i can see the circular disc move slightly, i imagine it stops when the glass is opened

so, from looking at it it looks almost as if the little spindle (spring loaded) isn't actually making as good contact as it should with the wiper motor

very strange, it feels alright and the wiper arm isn't sized as i can move that around seperately

i have no idea how i'm going to fix this, i don't see how i can really as it feels as though the spindle comes out far enough yet won't lock into the hole on the motor no matter how hard i try

only thing i can think of it getting a very small metal (or solid plastic) tube to wedge over it just to give it a tiny bit more length

any suggestions are welcome as this has me extremely confused now...........

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  • maxxo changed the title to 2003 Citroen C5 estate.....we have a problem...

Yes, we have a problem

so today i parked facing uphill, well, an incline that wasn't steep at all

all was fine, car had been great all day as always

hopped in the car to drive to meet a friend for a meal,

10 seconds work of cranking, really didn't think it was going to start.....then suddenly fired right up, perfectly

well i say perfectly

i had this beeping at me

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204493530_4173398036050931_7092496129024561834_n.thumb.jpg.34d0ea1a6cd0a7dfd3941c8e6c9f1c4e.jpg

pulled over up the road and turned it off and on again, it started perfeclty and the messages vanished

sooooo

it felt like fuel starvation, my first thought was the in tank pump, but now that doesn't seem to likely as that would cause running issues and it's running beautifully and has all the power still

i suspect, somewhere air is getting into the fuel system as it drains back to the tank, worse so facing uphill as gravity takes an effect

this is the most pressing issue which i need to sort, going to check the pipework around the injectors tomorrow to damage

there is some liquid around the injectors but it must be oil as it doesn't smell of diesel at all

any advice is much appreciated

 

 

 

 

 

sometimes i think i need my head looking at, slightly debated going and buying a dacia with a warrenty

but that would be boring

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Firstly, is the lift pump working?  It's under the back seats and you'll hear it when turning the ignition on.  Bad lift pumps will cause all sorts of poor starting, loads of cranking but not much starting, usually they run fine when going.  Next time it's cranking but not turning over and if it's not whirring give the top of it a few thumps, often it's enough to coax it into life again.    They do have a habit of going, I've changed one on an Xantia and a C5.

Secondly, a BSI reset is a bit of a cure all for oddball status messages.  You'll find plenty of guides online, just don't go and plug the battery leads off.  I've paid for that mistake before.

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9 minutes ago, maxxo said:

it felt like fuel starvation, my first thought was the in tank pump, but now that doesn't seem to likely as that would cause running issues and it's running beautifully and has all the power still

 

I think there's draw from the tank when the high pressure pump is working that you don't notice bad lift pumps when it's running.  At least I didn't on both of mine.

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7 minutes ago, Spurious said:

Firstly, is the lift pump working?  It's under the back seats and you'll hear it when turning the ignition on.  Bad lift pumps will cause all sorts of poor starting, loads of cranking but not much starting, usually they run fine when going.  Next time it's cranking but not turning over and if it's not whirring give the top of it a few thumps, often it's enough to coax it into life again.    They do have a habit of going, I've changed one on an Xantia and a C5.

Secondly, a BSI reset is a bit of a cure all for oddball status messages.  You'll find plenty of guides online, just don't go and plug the battery leads off.  I've paid for that mistake before.

as far as i know the lift pump was running, i'm 99% certain i heard it

i'll re visit the location tomorrow, leave it for the same amount of time and see what happens.....especially listening out for the lift pump

i think the oddball message was from the battery voltage dipping....now....why it's dipping to the point of causing random messages when a bit warm and after a 15 mile journey is another question

apparently had a new battery a month before i got it, could it be the battery? going to use my tester on it and see

it's weird, it runs beautifully constantly, never had a single running issue, certainly worth checking the pump though

god knows how much that'll be to change

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Lift pump is a DIY job all day. It's a little smelly, do it outdoors and do it when the tank is in reserve. 

You'll need a big strap wrench maybe to undo the locking ring but otherwise it's a simple job. The system is self priming too. Just keep cranking and it'll fire into life eventually. 

And yes, low voltage will cause all sorts of weird ECU issues. They do not like running on sub 12v 

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I would consider doing it myself, but i really don't like working on the fuel system

quite tempted just to take it to my usual place and ask them to sort it

will plug lexia in tomorrow and take a look at the readings to see if anything looks off

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If you don't hear it and it's not starting that's a guaranteed way. If it's not whirring or it's very sluggish sounding than it's than it's likely to cause starting issues. Once it's going and running it's hard to tell. They are common problems, especially as lots of the pumps are now 20 years old and have been sucking up variable quality fuel for years, it's on the unfiltered side. 

I don't know if the ECU monitors the low pressure side of the fuel system so I don't know if Lexia would pick up on it. 

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11 minutes ago, maxxo said:

I would consider doing it myself, but i really don't like working on the fuel system

quite tempted just to take it to my usual place and ask them to sort it

will plug lexia in tomorrow and take a look at the readings to see if anything looks off

I did this on my BMW E46 and it was smelly and not the most pleasant for about 10 mins but it was do-able, even for me. And I'm an AutoMoron. 

I mean, i can tell you about music history and instruments and tunings and scales all day long but not so much doing jobs on cars. But I did it.

Albeit not very well.

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10 minutes ago, Spurious said:

If you don't hear it and it's not starting that's a guaranteed way. If it's not whirring or it's very sluggish sounding than it's than it's likely to cause starting issues. Once it's going and running it's hard to tell. They are common problems, especially as lots of the pumps are now 20 years old and have been sucking up variable quality fuel for years, it's on the unfiltered side. 

I don't know if the ECU monitors the low pressure side of the fuel system so I don't know if Lexia would pick up on it. 

now my worry is i am rather terrible at working on cars, and i'm concerned if i replace the pump it'll piss diesel everywhere

£80ish for a bosch pump is tempting

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For balance, I did some playing around with the fuel sender/in tank pump on the Rover 75 and it was an utter disaster. I spilt diesel on the carpet, so that was nice, and spent ages trying to get the pump to sit nicely in the tank again. Even when I thought I'd done this correctly, I still failed and the subsequent diesel leak almost caused me to oversteer off the road. Local garage sorted it out but I was horrified by the notion I'd been leaking diesel onto the road. (Thankfully it wasn't much and it was just seemingly aimed at one rear wheel).

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Regarding the air bag fault, my 307 HDi does similar things if I’ve left it for ages and the battery is a bit flat. I think the airbag module doesn’t like the low voltage and throws up a fault. This is why it clears next time you restart. It looks like your excessive cranking dropped the battery voltage too much for it. 

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6 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

For balance, I did some playing around with the fuel sender/in tank pump on the Rover 75 and it was an utter disaster. I spilt diesel on the carpet, so that was nice, and spent ages trying to get the pump to sit nicely in the tank again. Even when I thought I'd done this correctly, I still failed and the subsequent diesel leak almost caused me to oversteer off the road. Local garage sorted it out but I was horrified by the notion I'd been leaking diesel onto the road. (Thankfully it wasn't much and it was just seemingly aimed at one rear wheel).

and that's why i'm very reluctant to do it myself

also really don't want to put diesel on the road either, not good for bikers

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