2002 Citroen C5 Exclusive from UK and Ireland - Comments

Hello. I was reading your comments and this text you wrote: "false readings, the speedo does not work and I have had to judge speed by using the rev counter, the window winds up then winds halfway back down again, the front suspension groans and creaks, the Sat Nav screen has inference lines across it during night driving, opening the boot when wet results in large amounts of water being dumped in the boot, etc, etc."

I know myself from dealing with my car. It is a 2003 Citroen C5 HDi and it started behave like that as well, and the small monitor inside it was all the time showing new error comment.

Because I have been maintaining it myself since I bought it, including change oil and filter on the engine, I have not been taking it to a garage for those kind of jobs. And there for the service counter (in the speed meter) was never reset at the service points (I didn't know how to do it at the time), and Citroen has a system which will not tolerate this and finally when you have ignore this long enough, it starts play tricks on you like that for that you will take it to a garage.

If the car has been getting its service, you should try reset the service counter. Hold down the trip button and while you do that, switch on with they starter key till you see the lights on in the dashboard (do not start the engine). Now you should see in the trip meter window that it will count down 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 -3 - 2 -1 - 0 and now you can turn the key back. The service counter has been reset and the car should had quit acting like that. But when I was dealing with this problem in my car, I did this 3 times that action the same day (because it continue show some stupid comments) and since then this has never happen again. Try it! :)

I am in Australia and have just read the comments on Citroen in this website. If I had read them earlier, I would never have purchased the vehicle. Unfortunately, I now own a 2005 Citroen C5 HDI car that has been giving me trouble for the last 8 months or so. It has about 80k km on the clock.

The problem is that it won't start - the motor turns over but the engine won't fire.

A mechanic thought it was probably a faulty diesel pump, and so I had this replaced.

The vehicle then behaved normally for about 6 months before the starting problem began again.

The diesel pump was replaced again and the vehicle behaved normally for about a month, then returned to non-starting again.

I have had the vehicle to my nearest Citroen dealer, but they were unable to solve the problem, but did charge me a large sum of money for the honour of looking at it.

I have found through my own experimentation that the vehicle will start if the battery is jumped from another running vehicle's battery. And once I have been able to get it running, it will run as normal all day (no problems stopping or starting the engine). But it won't start the next day!!

So far I have spent over $2000 on the problem, and am about ready to drive the car over a cliff. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be?

There is another strange thing with the vehicle in that occasionally, the dashboard display will indicate a number of errors such as depollution system faulty, engine management system faulty, ESP system faulty. Often at this point the vehicle will completely lose power and will only regain it by pulling off the road and stopping and restarting the engine. Very disturbing in peak hour traffic!!!

Two frequently occurring problems on C5 2.2 HDI.

1. "Unblock diesel filter" message displayed - filter has been replaced and still get message - Any ideas which sensor detects this and causes this message to be displayed, and where is this sensor located? Can it be bypassed?

2. "Anti-Pollution fault" - happens under load, typically on hills when engine under load and full throttle needed, or sometimes after parking up at motorway services, then accelerating up a slip road. Which sensor is likely to be detecting this? Where is it located? Can it be bypassed?

It seems these are common problems, which cannot be fixed even by main dealers, who seem to adopt a trial and error approach. My dealer was recommending a new turbo at £1500 on the basis that oil could be blowing past the turbo oil seals under load.

My preference would be to simply bypass the sensors if feasible.

I have had a Citroen C5 HPi Exclusive 2.L petrol 5 door hatch for about 18 months. The anti-pollution fault has been on and off since day 1, and this car has now been back to the dealer about 6 times - always with the same fuel related faults. The engine will just tick over, but no power, or completely die, as if out of fuel. I have had about 8 sensors changed, a new fuel solenoid valve, new fuel tank pump and valve and this time (fault number 7) they say it was none of the above issues, but it looks likely to be the main engine fuel pump (high pressure pump? mounted on right hand side of engine). This looks like it will cost about £525 plus VAT (15% tax) plus labour charges - on top of the £300 labour they want to charge to get this far! - And this is still no guarantee that this will solve the issue.

This is a great car to drive, comfortable and smooth, but if it costs more than its ticket value each each year just to keep it on the road then I recommend against anyone choosing this car! - Even the dealer has told me they dislike this model because of the engine/fuel issues!

One more disappointed driver/pedestrian... Bought a diesel-engined C5, 2001 2.2, same old thing as everyone else, and boy do I wish I'd seen this forum first.

Engine immobilizer has cut out twice, main dealer fixed it for £70, saying it was "fuses", I suspect they do know more, but are happy to accept the money, because I certainly will never buy another one.

It's not just the repair/towing costs, it's breaking down on the way to work, and losing a day's pay

Walking shoes should be supplied as standard with these cars.

Have also had intermittent window openings, and failure to shut...

It's perhaps a lexical thing, drop the "e" from Citron, and there you are a lemon... a total annoyance, it's a comfortable car, but expensive to repair, and not reliable in the slightest.

I am a car enthusiast, have owned and maintained hundreds, built my own etc etc, never ever put any car into a garage or certainly not a rip off main dealership.

Without being libelous, I would urge anyone considering buying one of these cars to seriously examine their bank accounts, because if you can't afford to fix them yourself, it will break you, and you can't fix them yourself, because they are made that way, and further more the main dealers can't fix them either, although they don't mind charging you for the privilege of trying.

All in all, these cars are the worst in terms of ease of maintenance and reliability, and cost to run. Knowledgable engineers hate them, they lose more money from new than ANY other make, trade in is a laugh, try it, nobody wants them except for pea nuts.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate it minus 2, a to technical pile of junk. Take the computer out of it and it might be a half decent car like the old XM 2.2 diesel, don't know what the new ones are like, but it better be better than this or Citroen are in big trouble,