Noob with a C5!

[Vulpinity]

Afternoon all!

Thought I'd register here as I've just bought my first Citroen, a 2002 C5 2.2HDi Executive SE. Very impressed with it so far, I think the first owner went a bit nuts and ticked every possible option box when he bought it. I'm sure the novelty of the big colour screen will wear off soon.

Only niggle was the speedo wasn't working, but a quick browse of this forum soon lead to the answer, and a replacement stepper motor was plonked in, and now works perfectly.

Thankfully the particulate filter thingy was replaced very recently and the fluid was done at the same time, so hopefully I won't have to worry about that!

I always do all my own work on my cars, so no doubt I shall be asking many, many possibly stupid questions in the months to come.

~ Steve

[myglaren]

They say there are no stupid questions and if you need to know something then that has to be true.
Stupid or not you will find the answer to most of your questions here.

Welcome to the FCF

[Citroenmad]

Welcome to the FCF

Im sure you will enjoy your C5, im onto my third

[Vulpinity]

Loving it so far - although slightly annoyed with myself that I never even considered one before!

Noticed a couple of little niggles so far, but nothing serious. Bit of a lack of power low down (hills are, um, 'interesting' under about 2000rpm!) and pulls left a bit. Oh, and the drivers heated seat seems to have the heating power of a slightly neglected penguin, bit of a change from the supreme bum-roasting power of my previous Saab!

Loving the HIDs though, never had them before. Spent so much time cursing them on other cars as they blind me, nice to be on the other side for once.

[Citroenmad]

I shouldn't be lacking in power low down, it might be an idea to get it on a Lexia and see if any fault codes crop up which might help you find the problem.

[Vulpinity]

I shouldn't be lacking in power low down, it might be an idea to get it on a Lexia and see if any fault codes crop up which might help you find the problem.

Sounds like a plan. Absolutely loving it aside from the absence of low rev power, which is annoyingly what I most love about diesels. Hit about 2200rpm and it shifts very nicely, but under that I'm in danger of being out accelerated by cyclists.

[Citroenmad]

Sounds a bit like a MAF sensor problem or an EGR valve problem. You could try and pull the vacuum pipe off the EGR valve and see if that improves things. Though it shouldn't be so flat low down, there will be a problem somewhere. If its serious enough the Lexia should help you diagnose it. Thought I have had MAF sensors fail without a fault being logged.

Is yours a manual or an auto?

Is that your C5 in your avatar? You seem to have later wheels fitted, from 2003> VTR & Exclusive. Quite nice wheels!

[Vulpinity]

Sounds a bit like a MAF sensor problem or an EGR valve problem. You could try and pull the vacuum pipe off the EGR valve and see if that improves things. Though it shouldn't be so flat low down, there will be a problem somewhere. If its serious enough the Lexia should help you diagnose it. Thought I have had MAF sensors fail without a fault being logged.

Is yours a manual or an auto?

Is that your C5 in your avatar? You seem to have later wheels fitted, from 2003> VTR & Exclusive. Quite nice wheels!

I tried unplugging the MAF to see if there was any difference, as I've had a very similar low down power loss in previous cars which turned out to be the MAF sensor - the car is flat as a pancake without it in comparison, so guessing that's okay. I shall try the EGR thing tomorrow! I think a Lexia is definitely going to be on my purchase list after christmas, seems like a very useful bit of kit.

Changing the rather clogged old air filter this morning helped a bit too.

Mine is an auto. Mostly why I bought it, as finding affordable automatic diesels with good spec is not easy!

Yup, that's mine in the pic. Thanks for the wheel info!

[Citroenmad]

Don't discount the MAF even though its worse unplugged. One C5 we bought had just had a new MAF fitted by the Citroen specialists who we bought it from. It was so slow, a real slug which had to be thrashed everywhere to get going and fuel economy was rubbish because of it. If performed nothing like our other HDi C5, I swapped the MAF over from one car to another and it was transformed. So I got a genuine MAF from Citroen to replace the new but aftermarket one it came with.

However, you could try remvoing the MAF and cleaning it with a spray cleaner, such as electrical contact cleaner, just be careful not to damage it. Has worked for me in the past.

We had the same problem with our Scenic 1.9DCi, Renault refused that it was the MAF, but after they threw lots of parts at the car it was still no better. So they swapped the MAF with another 1.9 Scenic they had in for a service and gave us our car back, again it was transformed and pulled like a train. I do feel a bit sorry for the people who got our old MAF in their car though! Also giving us a used part when the car was under warranty isnt great, but thats Renault dealers for you.

I also took off the vacuum pipe from the above slow C5s EGR valve, which did give it more pull low down in the revs, it would pull happily from 1200rpm or so. Our current 2.0HDi 110 8v C5 has had the vacuum pipe off its EGR valve for years and years, it pulls very well. Worth doing anyway!

They can make a bargain of a luxury car, these C5s have many plus points