C5 2006 2.0 HDI Exclusive - aircon flap repair

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estateFan
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C5 2006 2.0 HDI Exclusive - aircon flap repair

Post by estateFan »

Hi,
I drove my C5 2005 dual climate all last winter without driver side heating, just using a blanket on my lap.
I've recently replaced the flaps so this is what I did.
The dash needs to be pulled out. I have seen a post where a fix was done without removal but I would say removal is the only way to go now that I've done it.
I bought some trim removal tools made of plastic for about a tenner. I recommend buying some to prevent leaving marks on bodywork and trim. Don't forget to have wiper pullers and star T10 long shaft (not socket) handy as well.
Follow the Haynes Manual but note the following.
1 ) It's a two person job.
2 ) The plastic covers (6 inch/ 15cm long) at the bottom corners of the windscreen have a pin and slide. The pin near the top needs to be disengaged , ie. pushed away from the metal pillar, then slide up towards the back of the car to remove.
2 ) The driver knee air bag can be left in place. It will come out with the dash, just watch out when pulling the dash away. The cables are long enough to not need disconnecting but the plastic cable fixers need to be prised off their fixing points when the dash is being pulled back.
3 ) The steering wheel, controls, airbag can be left connected to the dash. On the universal joint at the floor , the nut that holds the bolt is accessible by turning the steering wheel 90 degrees.
4 ) The radio retaining screws are T10 star but need a long shaft, a normal T10 socket bit is too short.
5 ) It looks like the dash was inserted at the factory before the windscreen was fitted. This allowed someone to tidy the cable harness and fix to the top of the heater box while the dash was almost pushed into place. As you can't reach through the windscreen now, you will need to unclip these cables and harness, where they are clipped to the heater box, when the dash is being pulled away and similarly when installing. It is a bit fiddly.
6 ) There are other fittings and cables to disconnect but most are obvious as the dash is being pulled away. The automatic wiper sensor was easier to completely push up out of it's hole and then disconnect the cable when out. It is keyed so only goes back in one way.
7 ) I decided not to remove the heater box. Mostly because of lack of clearance in the engine bay. The picture in the manual was clearly taken with the engine removed. Can't imagine how difficult it would be with the engine in place. I drilled a circle of 2mm holes roughly 45mm max across, around the flap shafts and happened to have a jewelers fret saw to cut between some of the top 2mm holes. Then pushed the plastic out. All the stepper motor mount points were left on the heater box. This gave just enough clearance to slide the flaps sideways and access the flaps from the top. To glue it back together, I pressed two part epoxy resin into the cut edges/ drill holes. This worked well for me because the jewelry saw blade was 0.2mm and was a clean cut at an angle which wouldn't allow the plastic to fall into the heater box.
8 ) The star shaped slot in the flap shaft for the driver side had a slightly different angle to the original even though the new flaps were genuine Citroen. This made it difficult to mount the stepper motor as it was off by about 5 degrees. I just had to force the motor onto it's mounts but it hasn't cause any issues.
9 ) Reconnecting the steering universal joint at the floor was a pain but we got there in the end.
10 ) the glovebox has a hidden retainer screw that screws out towards the engine. All the others screw out towards the cabin and are obvious. The manual mentions it but I didn't notice.

There were micro cracks in the flap that hadn't broken so make sure you replace both flaps.

The dash removal took a Saturday to remove and another Saturday to repair and replace, but 2 hours of that was working out how to disconnect the knee airbag before I realised it could stay in place.

If you do ever need to disconnect the knee airbag connector, it requires a small screw driver slid up the back of the connector. YOU DON'T PULL THE RED PART UP ! It was almost totally inaccessible until the dash was actually out and we could see the connector clearly. The manual was lacking in this respect.

I think I have covered everything.

Regards,
Tom.
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Re: C5 2006 2.0 HDI Exclusive - aircon flap repair

Post by admiral51 »

Cracking write up and as with most cars they put the heater matrix and associated controls in place and then build the car around it :evil:
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mickthemaverick
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Re: C5 2006 2.0 HDI Exclusive - aircon flap repair

Post by mickthemaverick »

I'll second Colin's comments. Thanks for that Tom, I may have to do mine but as it is the passenger side that is broken it's not so important because I seldom adjust it!! :-D
I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure!
I used to ride on two wheels, but now I need all four!
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