25th May 2010, 16:43

I own a Citroen C5 2.0 SE 2001 model. This car is lovely, but bloody useless. It always costs me a fortune when that dreadful "fuel anti-pollution system faulty" message comes on. I wonder how much I can trade it in for, as all these problems have made me skint.

Emma

Milton Keynes.

20th Jun 2010, 16:58

Wow - so it is not me! My 2001 car has been fine for the first five months - now it is awful. It cuts out as I am driving along, as if it thought there was no oil or water or fuel in it - who knows! On top of that it refused to recognise the key. I am thinking of cutting my losses after reading above and just dumping it!

22nd Jun 2010, 13:27

Hi everyone, I've had my 2002 C5 diesel, semi automatic for 3 months, and even when I got it there were, and still are, 3 messages that always come up:

1-airbag fault

2-ABS fault

3-automatic gear fault

When I got it, I was told they can be removed via a computer, so I didn't think anything more of it, however there are other niggling faults, windows as mentioned in previous posts, but the most annoying is my lights come on and off all the time. This could be dangerous, as a car might think I'm letting him past, so have to drive with side lights on.

I am going to swap it for something else. It's a lovely car, but after reading this forum, it is obviously very expensive when things go wrong.

Does anyone else have these issues?

8th Jul 2010, 15:51

My girlfriend and I have just read 10 or more pages of posts Re the infamous C5. Hers is a 02 model that has every single fault listed except the windows!!! We are off to the bank tomorrow, and the car will be gone down the road if it is able to be started!!!

However, it's spacious and the most comfortable car she has every owned, and for an ex taxi driver to say that, it must be good.. any ideas for a reliable and cheap to run replacement???

10th Jul 2010, 08:47

Hello everyone. I may be able to help some of you.

I own an 02 2.2 HDi. I have had pretty much all the above mentioned problems; speedo not working, loss of power, going into 'limp home' mode, warning lights all over the place.

The issue with the C5 is they linked every sensor to the main system, so pretty much any fault, regardless of if it's electrical, fuel, whatever, will result in the anti pollution light coming on and the engine service light also, which in turn usually results in the car going into limp home mode.

To sort out what the actual issue is, you need to find someone with a Lexia machine. Only the Lexia system will clarify the actual problem.

Now, I found most of the cures by going to a site called frenchcarforum.co.uk and look under Citroen C5. There are all the answers on there, and hundreds of guys like me who have had these problems and are very good at helping, even to the point of bringing a Lexia to your house to help out (as they did with mine).

With regard to 1 of the issues I saw here, if your car starts and runs for about 5 minutes, then shuts down, it is most likely the turbo vacuum valve which has packed up. The simple cure for this is to wire it open permanently as I have done; it means you pull away up to 10 mph a little slowly (I have auto box, I imagine you can get around this with manual) but then the turbo kicks in and away you go, and no more problems with warning lights etc.

10th Jul 2010, 08:55

Oh, I forgot to mention, you can clear a lot of the problems with the C5 by disconnecting the battery for a while. As it has clip fitting, it is quite easy; just disconnect it and leave it for half an hour, reconnect and reset the radio/clock, and some if not all of the faults should clear.

On frenchcarforum you can find instructions to clear all the fault system, and also a cure for the windows, which involves disconnecting the battery in a sequence of other things.

Good luck.

14th Aug 2010, 08:54

Hi, I've had a 2001 C5 2.2 HDi for nearly 3 years now, and have experienced most problems as detailed in other people's posts. Difference is, I have a brilliant mechanic locally who really knows Citroens and can solve most problems. So don't give up hope!

To switch off auto headlamps, turn key to position one (no lights on dash) and depress the end of the left hand steering column stalk until a beep is heard. Hey presto, no more headlamps coming on!

20th Aug 2010, 11:18

Hi everyone - I bought a C5 HDI in Nov 2001. I had very few problems, and put 115000 miles on it, when the brake master cylinder went. The only recurring problem I had with this car was the engine immobiliser fault. Sometimes it would reset itself right away, others I had to leave the car for an hour. Once when it happened, I had parked the car near an electrical substation - I backed up in reverse gear on the starter motor until I was 100m away, left it for 10 minutes, then it started OK.

The brake job was going to cost nearly £1000, so, foolishly I traded it in for a new 07 C5 Exclusive 6 sp automatic. I love the car, but I am constantly getting error messages - the most common is Speed Control System faulty and the cruise control disengages. No big deal (although I do use it a lot on long journeys), but it usually corrects itself after the next stop and start. A couple of times the car has gone into limp home mode for no apparent reason, and I've had to take it in to be fixed.

The latest fault is the front tyre pressure sensors have corroded away under the valve cap, and when I had two new front tyres put on, the tyre shop had to put on regular valves, so now I have no tyre pressure monitoring. Again, no big deal.

The question I have now - this car has 50000 miles on it. Should I keep it, or get rid of it? I am now retired, only do about 6000 miles a year now, and any advice would be appreciated.

19th Oct 2010, 08:28

Hi.

I own a 2006 C5 2 litre petrol. It's done only 28k, but last week for the first time a fault developed. It takes about 4 minutes to get it started from cold. It is as if the automatic choke is not engaging. The engine shakes as if it is only running on 2 cylinders. But once warmed up is fine. No error messages.

Any ideas please?

Dave.