All Things V6...

[Michel]

When the engine on my Discovery went porous I ended up using my 24v XM as a daily driver.

It got to the point in 2007 where I was guessing if it was going to start or not when I came out of work.

The AA got fed up with me calling them and then started to charge me so the XM became a daft idea to run every day.

I’ve never read the start of David’s blog, it’s very interesting. I also had the same problem with the AA and my last XM, in 2007

[DHallworth]

Well, it’s virtually 2 years since I updated this post last when I bought the Grey 3.0 HDI C5.

That car left here when a friend of mine bought it from me.

It’s strange really… almost 2 years to the day since that C5 passed its MOT, I’ve bought another!

This time it’s a 2.7 HDI Exclusive rather than a 3.0. It’s a tidy enough car though. It does need some work doing to it. There’s a hydraulic leak at the back of the car and it needs the timing belt changed.

It’s an entry spec Exclusive with half leather, no sat nav and no front parking sensors.

The important bit:

Unfortunately, the hydraulic pipe that’s burst at the back seems to be made from unobtainium. When you could buy them they were near as dammit £200. There’s people been waiting for them since 2022 though unfortunately. Looks like I’m going to need to be inventive in coming up with a fix.

David.

[CitroJim]

That's a good looker David I wonder if Pleiades can help with the pipe?

Or maybe Pirtek perhaps?

[myglaren]

Or Chevronics?

[DHallworth]

Chevronics list the pipe I need but it’s showing out of stock.

https://www.chevronics.co.uk/product/c6 ... -10502440/

The one on this car is really corroded so chances of being able to do much with it are slim so a used one that nobody would normally sell would do me just now too.

[Mandrake]

David - in the bottom picture I notice a cut out that looks large enough for the suspension sphere to stand vertically, yet they've put it on an angle joint anyway ?

I haven't looked under the bonnet of an X7 before but that seems odd to me...

[DHallworth]

It's the same on all C5's and C6's, Simon.

I'm not sure if there's enough height or not from memory but they all sit at an angle. No idea why!

David.

[Stickyfinger]

I say scrap it for the gearbox, wiper-motors, steering rack and a couple of struts....you would make quick money

[DHallworth]

Not scrapping a car again. Waaaay to much hassle!

This either gets repaired and used or sold as a project!

[CitroJim]

I say scrap it for the gearbox, wiper-motors, steering rack and a couple of struts....you would make quick money

[DHallworth]

A big thanks to Dunkah for sending me a hydraulic pipe that he took off his C5.

I let it soak in some Deox-C solution to remove the rust from it gently and then painted it. It came up looking OK but when I fitted it to the car and pressurised the suspension it blew a hole in it instantly. In the end I cut the metal pipe saving the unions and flared the ends of the pipe before joining them with cupronickel.

I routed it underneath the car and looped a coil into the cupronickel piece in the hope that it’ll act as a damper now seeing as the rubber part has now been removed from the pipe. I managed to do this by reversing the car to the back of the trailer to get to the underside of it.

After another couple of litres of LDS and a few minutes running the car lifted off its bump stops.

And on Friday evening it was unloaded from the trailer as I needed the trailer on Saturday morning.

[DHallworth]

Last week, Stu-Scotland posted an advert to say he was looking for a new home for his 3.0 HDi C5. The main issue it had was that it needed new power steering pipes as they were leaking. I pondered it for a few days and then remembered that I’d seen the car locally before and it had always looked well looked after when I’d seen it so last week I agreed to buy it from Stu, hence needing the 2.7 off the trailer on Friday night.

Saturday morning I made the 18 mile trip to Kilbirnie with the Range Rover and trailer and loaded up Stu’s C5.

It needed a couple of litres of LDS to get the steering to work so that we could load it but other than that it went without a hitch. Thankfully, I’d taken a couple of litres with me as I’d learnt from previous experience.

I then got the car home and spent 4hrs giving it a good clean as it had been on the roads during winter up here.

I gave the interior a quick hoover too.

I didn’t have time to do my usual under bonnet clean unfortunately so that’s a job for another day.

The trailer is needed for other stuff this week so I had to get the 3.0 off the trailer on Sunday too. There’s some work going on around here at the moment so both of them are currently on the grass until the end of next week.

This is now my 3rd 3.0 HDi C5. The first one was silver, the second was thorium grey and now this red one. The red one is definitely a keeper though. I’ve missed having a 3.0 C5. In many ways it’s more suited to the roads around here then the C6 is as it’s just a bit more composed on the country lanes.

Now I need to find out which pipes are leaking on the 3.0 and get in touch with Citroen to find out what supply is like. There’s no history of it ever having had a timing belt either so that’s at the top of the list of priorities as well.

David.

[CitroJim]

That's quite a fleet of C5s you have there now David! Stu's old one looks lovely...

[DHallworth]

I spoke to Citroen the other day about the steering rack pipes for the 3.0 HDi. Neither the low pressure or high pressure pipes are available any more.

Looks like my 2.7 is going to become a donor until there’s a solution for the steering pipes unfortunately. The part number for the 2.7 is different apparently but hopefully they can be made to fit.

If I can get them off the car I might be able to turn ends on the lathe and look to use rubber in the middle.

David.

[CitroJim]

I'm horrified spares are now unavailable for such a modern car David...

I understand the 'right to repair' and spares availability regulations do not apply to cars... It really is quite disgraceful...