C5 Tales from the Electronic Side

[MULLEY]

Today i removed the missing lens number plate light & fitted a nice shiny brand new unit instead, i don't think the actual lens covers are sold seperately

Also fitted some brand new bosch wiper blades, a 19" & a 26" one, £12 off e-bay which i thought was a fair price for good quality one's. Again, what should have been a simple task ended up taking a lot longer, i tried putting the sweep on to get them central to make the job easy, but with a C5 it would appear that even with the ignition switched off, they return to their correct position So i opened the bonnet to see if that gave me a bit more room, nope, then decided to just remove the wiper arms, but they wouldn't bloody budge, so a bit of force & the 26" one with the bonnet up would come inside the bonnet so i could do that one. The 19" one, the bonnet was closed & i heaved on it for it to come off & then the new one had to go on at a funny angle for me then to wiggle it into position, what a fucking ballache, but at least i know how to do them for next time.

There were also some little tabs in the roof rail guttering which should be flush which weren't, so i removed the trim & re-positioned those to cover the bolt holes should a roof rack be fitted to stop shit getting onto the threads.

Spotted some bodgery with driver side rear indoor door handle, i wondered why the door handle trim wasn't fitted, which upon checking would appear to have the important tabs broken off it, arrrgh. It may be easier just to buy a 2nd hand interior door handle again. The interior has really taken a serious battering by the previous owners, i think it was used for skip carrying duties, does drive well though.

Also noticed the plastic engine cover grommets had become unseated again, so i'm going to order 4 new one's from e-bay, but a superior looking alternative to the shite plastic citroen one's. I've been warned about this cover, when it comes loose, it can wear out the shitty little coolant bleed nipple which then means catastrophic engine failure, it's one of the most stupid design faults i've come across, so this will get sorted sooner rather than later. I've not calculated the latest mpg, but the last tankful i got approx 46mpg, which i suppose for an extra large barge isn't bad?

[mat_fenwick]

46 mpg - I'd be pleased with that from the BX!

[demag]

Yes the newer they are the worse they are. They're designed so us "numpties" can't work on them and they have to go back to the dealer for their "skilled technician's" to sort out.

[MULLEY]

To be fair, the engine bay has a lot more room in it than an XUD Turbo one, just with a lot more electronic gubbins thrown into the mix. Hopefully it will remain reliable, still need to get it lexia'd though to check for anything amiss.

[mds141]

If the C5 is like most modern PSA stuff, then the trick to parking the wipers, is to turn off the ignition, then press down the wiper stalk.

[MULLEY]

Cheers for that Mark, i'll give that a try Last tankful gave me 47.76mpg, it's getting better.

[MULLEY]

The top plastic engine cover has been loose, ever since i've had the car which can be a problem if it rubs against the plastic bleed nipple & then bang goes your engine as the coolant pisses out I got a temporary fix until i ordered these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peugeot-2-0-H ... 3f35ac4976 & fitted them today. Hopefully a better design than the original stupid plastic clips ala citroen & at least they've secured the cover correctly & i have 4 of them, rather than the 3 broken one's with one missing altogether.

[MULLEY]

Last tankful gave me 48.33mpg, slowly creeping towards the magic 50mpg I'm sure if i drove at 60 instead of 70 i'd achieve it, however, its so quiet at faster speeds it does make it difficult to go slowish

[bxzx16v]

They certainly are great cruisers Mulley , I had a 2.2Hdi which really was a mile muncher .

Mark

[MULLEY]

I'd echo your comments Mark, just need to see if i can fit cruise to the car & then it would be spot on for distance work

[mds141]

The wiring and associated gubbins are already in place Matthew. Just need the cruise stalk and a Lexia session to initialise it. If you have a look on the FCF a number of people have had it done.

[MULLEY]

Is that deffo for a 2002 LX spec car? Are there any other items which i could pinch from other cars to effectively make mine a better spec such as the electric seats & onboard computer?

[mds141]

The electric seats will be leather or Alcantara, so you'd need the whole interior to match, plus electric seats are VERY heavy. The wiring harness should already be in place though. Not sure about the trip computer. The tip of the R/H stalk operates it. Again, the wiring would probably already be in place. I'd have a look on ebay for C5's of the same era being broken for spares.

This is the link to the FCF http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... =3&t=47809 I know it's for a later car AND a C3, but the principles should be the same.

[citsncycles]

Is that deffo for a 2002 LX spec car?

I know a guy in Bristol with a similar age and spec car got it done last year. From memorr I think he had to get it connected to a computer to activate the cruise control once he'd fitted the switch, but other than that it was straight forward.

[jeremyC5]

Last tankful gave me 48.33mpg, slowly creeping towards the magic 50mpg I'm sure if i drove at 60 instead of 70 i'd achieve it, however, its so quiet at faster speeds it does make it difficult to go slowish

I've been going up and down the A1 recently, and have tried 60, 70 and more, but the fuel consumption seems to remain about the same, surprisingly.
Although one trip to northamption, from cambridge, once I got on the A14, I did 50mph all the way (annoyed other drivers), trying not to pause for the roundabouts ! - - -and got around 60 mpg !!
It's accelerating out of roundabouts, etc, that really hits the mph.

I've got the 1.6 version C5 '57 plate.
You can get better miles per gallon if you DON'T use the cruise control, since it throttles on hard when it comes to hills, but if you're in control you can ease off, save the gas up the hills, you lose a little speed, but then make up the speed again on a downward slope, without too much gas.