2003 Citroen C5 estate.....the end

[maxxo]

4 hours ago, lexi said:

C5 mk 1 spares inventory. Maybe of interest to you or not.

    Rear suspension bearing kits.  Two of the full kits for swinging arm bearings.  Everything you need for full replacement.  

     3 Purflux oil filters.  One Lemforder droplink in sealed bag.  Lemforder bottom ball joint.  Also the joint on the swinging arm.  2 gaitors and clip springs for rear suspension units. There are other sundries like o rings etc.

  It would be £45 plus post for the lot.  Thought I would offer you first as you have just got your car.

absolutely! i shall PM you

[maxxo]

4 hours ago, richardmorris said:

I may have a gear linkage cable in the garage if it’s of any use?

This is an automatic so i don't think it would work

thanks for the offer though

[maxxo]

did a bit of work today

headlights first

so here is the before, passenger side is fine as the previous owner replaced that due to the original being defective

so the drivers side being original has yellowed and faded quite badly

so an awful lot of wet sanding and the polish the kit came with

could feel the sand paper working tbh, which surprised me

and here we are, not perfect by any means but still a massive improvement

wacked the sealant on and tbh you couldn't tell it was still a bit faded from a distance

whilst i was doing that i happened to notice someone has scuffed me.......or i scuffed someone and didn't realise

nothing too bad, note my previous repair up close, not perfect

i suppose this is a weird technique but it's always worked well for me

and here we go, all done, also spent some time tidying up the stone chips and the rest of the marks on the car

[maxxo]

heater blower has stopped working on speeds 1 and 2

works on 3 and 4

resistor?

been an entertaining week....

[tooSavvy]

4 minutes ago, maxxo said:

heater blower has stopped working on speeds 1 and 2

works on 3 and 4

resistor?

been an entertaining week....

Look at the ebay image of 'your' resistor.. I bought a rover one for £6 to fit *straight into ToMM© £30

*OK.... I hacksawed a 1/4" all around face but it was like chocolate

[maxxo]

was investigating why the rear wiper wasn't working and decided to pull the rubber tube off the wiring properly

yeah that'd do it

oh so you decided to break right in the join to be awkward

why of course, you're french

and yes that wiring is as shit quality as it looks, really impressively bad

also note the hilarious amounts of previous repairs

oh boy the french are great

i has bodged it

bodge feels alright

shall solder tomorrow

don't worry i have wrapped it in crap quality tape

BUT LOOK

WE HAS SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!

HOT WIPER ACTION YO

going to take the blower resistor out tomorrow and inspect it for damage

no doubt it will never work again once i do that

[beko1987]

Same issue I had on my xsara, just with less broken wires! Good luck putting all the rubbers back! I left mine out as I'm sure the wires will snap again, and it'll make the job easier next time! 

 

[maxxo]

7 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Same issue I had on my xsara, just with less broken wires! Good luck putting all the rubbers back! I left mine out as I'm sure the wires will snap again, and it'll make the job easier next time! 

 

that bastard rubber cover won't slide back over, oh and the trim covering it is now broken cos french

not going to put it back properly cos it will just break again

i mean, look at the utterly hilarious amount of previous repairs

[High Jetter]

If it's any consolation, Piaggio-built Hijets and Porters suffer the same at the tailgate link. Also a wire from the battery, but that's another story.

[maxxo]

16 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

If it's any consolation, Piaggio-built Hijets and Porters suffer the same at the tailgate link. Also a wire from the battery, but that's another story.

i've heard it's quite a common issue among several brands

still, glad to finally have it sorted

[beko1987]

Although have you checked your washer jet works? I had to battle to refit it all and not have the pipe kinked (part of the reason it's not reassembled properly because it kinked every time!)

[richardmorris]

22 minutes ago, maxxo said:

i've heard it's quite a common issue among several brands

still, glad to finally have it sorted

Some car manufacturers seem to have blind spots. Citroen =wiring looms and hinges.

[maxxo]

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

Although have you checked your washer jet works? I had to battle to refit it all and not have the pipe kinked (part of the reason it's not reassembled properly because it kinked every time!)

yes it works perfectly, which was a relief as the rear screen is filthy

[maxxo]

1 hour ago, richardmorris said:

Some car manufacturers seem to have blind spots. Citroen =wiring looms and hinges.

this car is going to be some work, not as fucked as i first thought

but not a simple project......mind you i paid very very little for it

[myglaren]

On 19/07/2021 at 19:08, maxxo said:

did a bit of work today

headlights first

so here is the before, passenger side is fine as the previous owner replaced that due to the original being defective

so the drivers side being original has yellowed and faded quite badly

so an awful lot of wet sanding and the polish the kit came with

could feel the sand paper working tbh, which surprised me

and here we are, not perfect by any means but still a massive improvement

wacked the sealant on and tbh you couldn't tell it was still a bit faded from a distance

 

 

 

 

Mine were very yellow and looked like they had been sandblasted.

Spent hours on them with little improvement - Autosol, toothpaste, a glass polishing/scratch remover from work, wetordry - nothing seemed to help.

It actually had but what I was seeing was inside - looked like some kind of algae growing in there - weird as there was never any condensation.

Bought a replacement pair from eBay, fifty quid.  Much better.

[maxxo]

3 hours ago, myglaren said:

Mine were very yellow and looked like they had been sandblasted.

Spent hours on them with little improvement - Autosol, toothpaste, a glass polishing/scratch remover from work, wetordry - nothing seemed to help.

It actually had but what I was seeing was inside - looked like some kind of algae growing in there - weird as there was never any condensation.

Bought a replacement pair from eBay, fifty quid.  Much better.

honestly, i'm thinking of just buying a replacement

only need the 1 as the passenger side has been replaced previously

[maxxo]

we went to a citroen dealer today

bought some new clips, £4 for 10 which wasn't that horrific

anyway my plastic pieces are now reattached, which is nice cos i kept tripping over them near the front door

also regarding the starting issue

did it today and i happened to be listening carefully

oh, the starter sounds a bit weird when it's doing it

seems the starter is my main suspicion now

[maxxo]

quick check on how many left

approx 2,500 mk1 C5s left registered

45 of those are VTR HDI autos like this

i'll just assume that most of those are hatchbacks, as that's what i've seen from personal observation (not seen a single estate since i got this, and about 3 hatches in that time)

say 15-20 left in estate form

how many are red......

very very few i imagine, less than 10, probably 4-5 including this

see i was going to change the wheels to 15 inches to see what happens to the ride

but now i'm not, it's about the rarest C5 spec out there seemingly and i'd like to keep it original

[Spurious]

I think the difference between 16 and 15s wouldn't be that much in the grand scheme of things. 

[maxxo]

On 7/23/2021 at 2:54 PM, Spurious said:

I think the difference between 16 and 15s wouldn't be that much in the grand scheme of things. 

agreed

might get them professionally refurbed

[richardmorris]

On 7/23/2021 at 1:21 PM, maxxo said:

quick check on how many left

approx 2,500 mk1 C5s left registered

45 of those are VTR HDI autos like this

i'll just assume that most of those are hatchbacks, as that's what i've seen from personal observation (not seen a single estate since i got this, and about 3 hatches in that time)

say 15-20 left in estate form

how many are red......

very very few i imagine, less than 10, probably 4-5 including this

see i was going to change the wheels to 15 inches to see what happens to the ride

but now i'm not, it's about the rarest C5 spec out there seemingly and i'd like to keep it original

There’s a red series 1 VTR estate at work! I’ll take a pic. The bumper was held on a while back with a ratchet strap and it has lost its headlamp washer covers.

[richardmorris]

On 7/23/2021 at 12:17 PM, maxxo said:

honestly, i'm thinking of just buying a replacement

only need the 1 as the passenger side has been replaced previously

Weirdly both my headlamps were original. But the n/s was completely crazed and yellow and the o/s perfect when I sold it. I’d tried polishing kits etc too. I also had the headlamp protection / eu adaptor kit from Citroen with the correct masking. ( even though, yes, the hid bulbs have a perfectly flat projection- my French was simply not up to explaining to Le flic the intricacies ).

[maxxo]

5 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Weirdly both my headlamps were original. But the n/s was completely crazed and yellow and the o/s perfect when I sold it. I’d tried polishing kits etc too. I also had the headlamp protection / eu adaptor kit from Citroen with the correct masking. ( even though, yes, the hid bulbs have a perfectly flat projection- my French was simply not up to explaining to Le flic the intricacies ).

it does almost seem as if only 1 side seems to suffer most

i'm relatively pleased with my results, will give it more work before no doubt replacing the headlight

[maxxo]

9k miles into this car now

and to be honest it's great, and it's been great

few little things to sort but really is dependable

[maxxo]

pointless stick on tat arrived today

but, it was missing it's original

i mean, how are people supposed to know that Citroen prefers Total without this sticker?!

plus i think it looks good

[maxxo]

ha

when you decide just to take a look at your heater resistor to see what it looks like and check for wiring damage

wiring is fine, you have your phone on with the ebay page for a resistor open that you are sure is the correct one, cos you know it seems the common one

haha

cos french

what in the fuck kinda resistor is this? never seen aything like it before, certainly not what i've seen on other C5s etc

of course, i can't find it for sale anywhere

great

[maxxo]

but in other news my package arrived today

tomorrow should be interesting then!

correct fluid of course

[Fumbler]

44 minutes ago, maxxo said:

ha

when you decide just to take a look at your heater resistor to see what it looks like and check for wiring damage

wiring is fine, you have your phone on with the ebay page for a resistor open that you are sure is the correct one, cos you know it seems the common one

haha

cos french

what in the fuck kinda resistor is this? never seen aything like it before, certainly not what i've seen on other C5s etc

of course, i can't find it for sale anywhere

great

It's a giant resistor bank that's been bonded in ceramic or something. All the terminals on it will consist of a common, full speed and then the resistor combinations to give you the speeds the dial gives you. You should be able to find a blower resistor for your car but it'll probably look different.

[maxxo]

had it in the garage today having a service and trans fluid change

wow

massive difference! not a single rough shift

only time will tell, need to see how it behaves when cold in the morning

[maxxo]

24 hour update

it isn't silky silky smooth, it never will be

however, it's indescribeably better!

weirdly much quieter too, only slightly rough when cold, nothing like it was but otherwise once it's done it's first 2 shifts it's fine

also, been talking to the owner of an absolutely beautiful 07 plate facelift C5 today, diesel auto exclusive spec

lovely motor