a series of questions on C5

[chweech]

hi all...
first of all... my car had an accident.. thanks to my gf...
front left headlight, fender, bumper all gone..
luckily, my friend who is experienced in car trading got me a contact and i got it done plus respray less than a thousand...
why i post this up is because there are alot of old model C5 in the scrapyard cut into half.. if you need some accessories, can actually got it from there.. i was lucky to find the parts but was not lucky to find the exact color... got to respray.. if u need the contact, pm me and i'll tell u the address...

had a series of questions and hopefully it's able to be dealt with.. as i'm thinking of driving for another year or so...

1. During cold start, the exhaust make a funny clinking noise.. only for the first few minutes and especially loud when u accelarate... any idea what's happening?

2. my side mirrors auto close when i locked the car.. when i start the engine, the mirrors open with loud creaking sound... like those gears that were skipped... however, it open smoothly when it's raining...

3. the car is super unresponsive to accelerator.. especially in start stop traffic.. which i worried most.. when the car is about the stop or has stopped.. getting the car to go again takes sometimes 1sec.. sometimes even longer... this happens also when i step off the acelerator and then stepped again.. the engine takes a sec or two to react again.. pretty dangerous when there's a traffic jam...

4. the suspension is fine but when going over humps or irregularities, the car trembles like a van.. is there any bushing or parts that i must replace to maintain the "tightness" of a new car?

5. T and Partners or C&C.. which one do you prefer? my car is not under warranty but which will you recommend?

i wish to drive till the car is 5 years old before selling if not.. it will be in this year June....

hope to hear some remedies from you all

cheerio!

[voyager]

hi chweech,

i'm sorry to learn about the accident, but i think we're all glad that no one was injured and that you were able to find a good place which could fix things affordably - thank you for sharing the info with us.

i don't really have meaningful comments to share about most of your questions, but for the side mirrors, sometimes mine creak too. on some rare occasions they also need to be coaxed open (or shut).

best wishes, chweech :-)

[peterlee]

Urm, I drive the facelifted C5 but I can try to make some guesses.

1. Is it the exhaust or engine? Cos if engine, it sounds like the engine mount is worn.

2. Mine creaks too... ::)

3. You can try resetting the accelerator, I've posted it somewhere here before, but it didn't work for me. Alternatively... sprintbooster. :P

4. Mine trembles too... one trick that AA taught me is to lower the pressure of the tyres to 190-200 psi. But the fuel consumption will be affected...

5. Thomas of course... C&C are good, but they are agents, and agents charge agent prices. But I always use Stamford.

[chweech]

Thanks for the info voyager and peterlee...

think i have to see t&p first to access the cost first...
changing my timing belt soon...
8)

[chweech]

1. During cold start, the exhaust make a funny clinking noise.. only for the first few minutes and especially loud when u accelarate... any idea what's happening?

Possible problems...
a. Exhaust (catalyc converter issues)
b. Engine Mounting wear out

2. my side mirrors auto close when i locked the car.. when i start the engine, the mirrors open with loud creaking sound... like those gears that were skipped... however, it open smoothly when it's raining...

Will try WD40 to resolve this first


3. the car is super unresponsive to accelerator.. especially in start stop traffic.. which i worried most.. when the car is about the stop or has stopped.. getting the car to go again takes sometimes 1sec.. sometimes even longer... this happens also when i step off the acelerator and then stepped again.. the engine takes a sec or two to react again.. pretty dangerous when there's a traffic jam...

This is called Throttle Lag?

4. the suspension is fine but when going over humps or irregularities, the car trembles like a van.. is there any bushing or parts that i must replace to maintain the "tightness" of a new car?

No solution yet

5. T and Partners or C&C.. which one do you prefer? my car is not under warranty but which will you recommend?

Compare price first... if T&P less than 20% cheaper than C&C.. then C&C

6. One more issue.... my aircon blowers are loud and the right hand blower has a squeking sound when blower with 3 bars... any remedies?

;)

[voyager]

hi chweech :-)

yes, i would describe (3) as 'throttle lag'. very bad throttle lag, actually. as you say, it shouldn't be happening.

as for (4), (actually i'm directing this to peterlee) peter can you describe the trembling "like a van" that you concur with? i'm surprised that yours should do so, considering its relative youth. i would not say mine trembles le :-P likewise, chweech, how would you describe the trembling (a little more precisely, if you can).

the (6) air con squeaking, my friend who has my first C5 suggested i turn on the 'recirculation'. strangely enough this worked. i don't know enough about the air con system to understand why, though. having said that, i think the aircon system in the pre-facelift and the post-facelift are not totally identical (the user-interface-controls certainly aren't, for one thing). chweech, i cannot remember how old your car is, sorry.

:-)

[lrrp77]

Could the throttle lag be due to a faulty sensor? As our cars are drive-by-wire, i.e. no throttle cable. Maybe it is due to this?

[peterlee]

it actually trembles less than many other cars already... i just expect a more magic carpet ride mah... :P

[voyager]

agreed.

i cannot remember clearly my test-drives of the Xantia and XM way back when, but somehow i think (and this seems to be documented by others on the web) that they rode smoother than our present cars :-P

[hengstock2]

I drove a CX Prestige 2.5L for about 4 years, follow by XM for about 6 years. Test drove 1st generation C5 and I would rate the CX having the best hydraulic followed by XM which I thought was stiffer than the CX.
I did'nt continue from the XM to a C5 because I felt it did'nt perform better than the XM - contrary to some others' opinion who opined that the C5 is an improvement.
I would agree that the new C5 perform better than the 1st generation C5.
A client of mine who had been driving BMs actually bought the Xantia after been driven in my XM. He had nothing but full of praise but unfortunately he met with an accident and the car was scrapped. He test drove the 1st generation C5 and shared my view that the C5 was no better than the Xantia or the XM.
Now he is back to BM.

[voyager]

another factor to consider would be the CX Prestige's super-long wheelbase :-)