C6. Was dead. Now the general "Daily use of the UK's cheapest C6" thread.

[N Dentressangle]

Brilliant news on getting it (kind of) sorted.

Whenever I have looked at a car with starting / electrical issues recently it seems to have had a Lion battery. Total shit, and deffo worth dumping out for something better. Sounds like a tidy up of the wiring would be straightforward and effective too.

[Talbot]

There's definitely something not right about that area, as another look in there this morning shows covers not fitted and cables in all directions.  The amusing* thing is that to get to the battery, you have to remove the boot trim in that area, as the "access hatch" is about half the size of the battery.  Seems somewhat pointless really!

But, the good news is that it drove me home this morning as if nothing had happened.  Bastard thing.  Even the driver's window, after a mile or so of driving, decided to respond to the switch and close properly.

[cort16]

I remember the battery looking like not a lot of fun to remove . Do you think it’s maybe your wrong battery size and that’s why the wires are stretched ?

[hairnet]

fire

teach it a lesson

[fatmanblue]

Citroen used to do a fixed price battery replacement - same price for all models, C1 to C6.  £120 or similar.  The service manager looked a bit downcast when he explained to me that not only is it an hour's labour to fit, what he had to pay for the battery itself was more than I paid him to supply and fit it. But did cheerfully admit that it wasn't my fault, and it wasn't his either.

Note that battery stores tend to suggest a smaller battery than the C6 needs. You need a Varta H3 or equivalent.  

Good luck tidying the wiring, I'm sure the problem is in there.

[Talbot]

4 minutes ago, fatmanblue said:

Good luck tidying the wiring, I'm sure the problem is in there.

Thanks.  I am convinced it is too, as I (stupidly!) prodded it at lunchtime, and the car died again.  Another jiggle and it came back to life.  It's astonishing it's held together for as long as it has.  I suspect whomever fitted the battery has not quite put it all back together again correctly.

[wesacosa]

12 minutes ago, Talbot said:

Thanks.  I am convinced it is too, as I (stupidly!) prodded it at lunchtime, and the car died again.  Another jiggle and it came back to life.  It's astonishing it's held together for as long as it has.  I suspect whomever fitted the battery has not quite put it all back together again correctly.

if you are anywhere near Eltham (SE9) and need to borrow some tools give me a shout 

[Talbot]

A follow up to this, as it is now fixed, and I always like reading when something has been sorted:

The car died completely again a few days ago, however as I now knew it was an issue around the battery, a firm whack brought it back to life.  So I got it on the driveway quicksmart to get it fixed.  The trim panel on that side of the boot was held on with precisely zero fasteners (should be about 8), so came off easily enough.  Turns out the battery has a distribution board attached to it, held entirely on the battery clamp, which was of course loose.

Take that off, clean up the terminal and then put the clamp back on properly, and all sorted.

How very frustrating!

[jamescarruthers]

There is the added fun with the C6 that lots of battery look up charts have the wrong battery on them and they end up with one that is too small!

[Talbot]

Given that this has turned into a C6 fixage and general waffle thread, it seems sensible to put updates on here.

After tightening the battery clamp up, it has been generally reliable, and I've been using it for various journeys here and there.  This is a car I rather like driving, as it is supremely comfortable, and things like the HUD are just wonderful to drive with.

The battery location, however, is bollocks.  The "access hatch" looks like this:

Which is like trying to do keyhole surgery without the right tools.   A lot easier to have the side panel off to gain access:

8

And you can see the absurd distribution board which is entirely held on with the positive battery clamp.  Ah well, fixed now.

 

One thing that has been a constant source of worry with this car are the tyres.  The front ones were Michelin, but were the wrong size.  The car should take 245/45/18's, but it had 235/45/18s on.   It was clear they were wrong as there was a bit of VW Pineapple Stretch about them, and I am sure it wasn't helping the handling.  The rears, by contrast, were the correct size, but not a brilliant brand, the NSR needing inflating every few days, and both of them had gone quite hard, so even with about 5psi in them, they still kept the car held up and looked fine.  When I first picked up the car I didn't check them, drove it 150 miles and then found the NSR at 8psi.  Still drove OK though, as the rubber had turned to concrete.

Anyway.. having now done about 4k miles in this, it seemed like it would be a good idea to put some rears on it.  So I had a look at them, only to find that both rears were through to the cords (And beyond) on the inner edge, and were about to de-laminate quite badly.  Ah shit.  OK, well that's two tyres needed.  What about the fronts?  Well, they're both very close to the wear markers, and beginning to go through to the softer compound on the edges, as the tracking was out when I got it (since fixed) and they're pretty crap.  OK, so 4 tyres needed.

Ordered 4, and spent an afternoon at my tame mechanic's garage changing all 4 tyres.  Which is quite a bit of work when you're as unfit as I am:

Oh dear:

Oh dearie me:

Oh shit that is quite bad:

Holy shit that was lethally bad:

 

Err... you didn't see that and nor did anyone else.  Ahem.

So the car now sits on 4 brand new tyres.  And drives a lot better for it.  Softer sidewalls, less noise, handles a bit better and most of all doesn't give me the anxiety that any second one of them could go bang.

I am absolutely staggered how bad they had gotten, with the car still driving just fine.  I remember stories about Xantia VSX models back in the day having some rather odd tyre wear patterns due to the Hydractive 3+ that they ran.  Given that the C6 is the absolute pinnacle of Hydropneumatic suspension (and drives like it) I wonder if it can also have some odd wear patterns.

Or maybe the old tyres were all just shit.  Yep.  Probably that actually.

[MrBig]

On 29/03/2026 at 22:10, Talbot said:

Oh shit that is quite bad:

Probably for the best that you changed those 🫣

The combination of that particular brand of tyres (I have experience of them -and very much not good experience) and them being old was potentially a very bad day waiting to happen.

I assume maximum waft has now been resumed?

[Schaefft]

Oof, that was really about time, I planned to get a set of later C6 wheels with tyres since the ones on the car needed a refurb anyway but couldn't really find a set. You definitely got your money out of them!

[Missy Charm]

On 29/03/2026 at 22:10, Talbot said:

Given that this has turned into a C6 fixage and general waffle thread, it seems sensible to put updates on here.

After tightening the battery clamp up, it has been generally reliable, and I've been using it for various journeys here and there.  This is a car I rather like driving, as it is supremely comfortable, and things like the HUD are just wonderful to drive with.

The battery location, however, is bollocks.  The "access hatch" looks like this:

Which is like trying to do keyhole surgery without the right tools.   A lot easier to have the side panel off to gain access:

8

And you can see the absurd distribution board which is entirely held on with the positive battery clamp.  Ah well, fixed now.

 

One thing that has been a constant source of worry with this car are the tyres.  The front ones were Michelin, but were the wrong size.  The car should take 245/45/18's, but it had 235/45/18s on.   It was clear they were wrong as there was a bit of VW Pineapple Stretch about them, and I am sure it wasn't helping the handling.  The rears, by contrast, were the correct size, but not a brilliant brand, the NSR needing inflating every few days, and both of them had gone quite hard, so even with about 5psi in them, they still kept the car held up and looked fine.  When I first picked up the car I didn't check them, drove it 150 miles and then found the NSR at 8psi.  Still drove OK though, as the rubber had turned to concrete.

Anyway.. having now done about 4k miles in this, it seemed like it would be a good idea to put some rears on it.  So I had a look at them, only to find that both rears were through to the cords (And beyond) on the inner edge, and were about to de-laminate quite badly.  Ah shit.  OK, well that's two tyres needed.  What about the fronts?  Well, they're both very close to the wear markers, and beginning to go through to the softer compound on the edges, as the tracking was out when I got it (since fixed) and they're pretty crap.  OK, so 4 tyres needed.

Ordered 4, and spent an afternoon at my tame mechanic's garage changing all 4 tyres.  Which is quite a bit of work when you're as unfit as I am:

Oh dear:

Oh dearie me:

Oh shit that is quite bad:

Holy shit that was lethally bad:

 

Err... you didn't see that and nor did anyone else.  Ahem.

So the car now sits on 4 brand new tyres.  And drives a lot better for it.  Softer sidewalls, less noise, handles a bit better and most of all doesn't give me the anxiety that any second one of them could go bang.

I am absolutely staggered how bad they had gotten, with the car still driving just fine.  I remember stories about Xantia VSX models back in the day having some rather odd tyre wear patterns due to the Hydractive 3+ that they ran.  Given that the C6 is the absolute pinnacle of Hydropneumatic suspension (and drives like it) I wonder if it can also have some odd wear patterns.

Or maybe the old tyres were all just shit.  Yep.  Probably that actually.

Blasted kids going round slashing tyres 😉.  Lock 'em up, I say.

Incidentally, I saw a Toyota van yesterday, parked, which appeared to have even worse tyres than those.  They looked free of cuts and bulges, but I thought van tyres were supposed to have tread...  

[Talbot]

Well, as much as I like this car (and I do) it's now up for roffle.  Or outright purchase.  I need it gone!