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C6 FED — my second petrol

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jamescarruthers   
Thu May 27 2021, 06:23pm

Joined: Jan 19 2014
Member No: #1548
Location: Cambridge
Hello again everyone. I used to have a C6 petrol and regretted selling it almost immediately. Thankfully one came up needing some work but seemed okay. I took it for MOT today after some time sitting about. It passed but suffered a massive hydraulic leak on the way home from the test meaning the front went down to the bump stops for the last few miles limping and bouncing home at low speed.

I really hope it is just as simple as the reservoir pipe clip as described on here as it has had new pipes at the front pretty recently. It drove very nicely until it became a kangaroo!

There are a few other issues to attend to once it stops spewing out LDS!

  • New windscreen required
    New L/H front door glass required
    Hydraulic leak from front R/H wheel arch area
    Cruise control inoperative
    One tyre TMPS sensor missing
    Parking sensors switched off as over sensitive
    Balance wheels
    Service










MGmike   
Thu May 27 2021, 09:31pm

Joined: May 21 2017
Member No: #3151
Location: South Queensferry
Hi James and welcome back....
sorry to spoil the party but the clip on the bottom of LDS tank doesn't cause the suspension to drop. I guess you'll need to get the arch liner off to see where the leak is coming from..

Good luck with the window hunt!

oh, and when you want to sell it get in touch please



jamescarruthers   
Fri May 28 2021, 04:22am

Joined: Jan 19 2014
Member No: #1548
Location: Cambridge
Oh dear! Thanks for the advice. Yes, I hope to start looking next week or maybe even this weekend if I’m lucky.
cruiserphil   
Fri May 28 2021, 09:22am


Joined: Jan 24 2010
Member No: #38
Location: Celbridge
Hello James,

You're hydraulic tank may have burst as a result of the MOT if they lifted the car with wheels hanging and then lowered it again quickly. The cap on the hydraulic tank needs to be slackened during the operation to prevent this happening. Citroen have this warning in their documentation. Other members of the forum have had this happen. Sometimes you get away with it, sometimes you don't. When our cars go for NCT(MOT)I have to remind myself and my wife to slacken the cap on arrival and tighten it afterwards.

Best regards,

Phil C.
jamescarruthers   
Fri May 28 2021, 10:44am

Joined: Jan 19 2014
Member No: #1548
Location: Cambridge
Good point. However these guys are old school and do an MOT on a pit at a neighbouring garage. There is a small chance that they tried to be helpful and put it on their own ramp for a look around before MOT. I know the garage owner is aware of not putting it on a two post ramp without loosening the hydraulic tank lid but maybe one of his guys tried to do me a favour.

If it is just the reservoir I guess I’d be happy that it was such a simple fix rather than a pipe that needs threaded in somewhere.
jamescarruthers   
Tue Jun 01 2021, 07:25pm

Joined: Jan 19 2014
Member No: #1548
Location: Cambridge
Topped up with LDS today and took the wheel arch liner off. Looking forward and discovered that the big feed pipe to the sphere was hosing fluid out. It was loose! No idea how.

I am pretty confident that I’ve cured the leak but also possibly I’ve just ran out of fluid! 4L being collected tomorrow morning!
321dave   
Tue Jun 01 2021, 07:31pm
Joined: Sep 09 2011
Member No: #614
Location: Dublin
jamescarruthers wrote ...

Topped up with LDS today and took the wheel arch liner off. Looking forward and discovered that the big feed pipe to the sphere was hosing fluid out. It was loose! No idea how.

I am pretty confident that I’ve cured the leak but also possibly I’ve just ran out of fluid! 4L being collected tomorrow morning!


Well done James and congratulations on your Petrol C6!
jamescarruthers   
Sat Jun 05 2021, 10:53am

Joined: Jan 19 2014
Member No: #1548
Location: Cambridge
Finally got to drive it legally and with out a huge hydraulic leak. LDS fluid surprisingly difficult to get hold of locally (sorted with mix of driving 30 mins and mail order). It feels pretty good to be honest! I’m quite pleased with it.

Slowly doing a home service but only air filter, cabin filter and bulbs replaced so far. Everything else is on order for next week including NGK LPG plugs as it misses a little sometimes I’ve found.

No. 1 priority: The L/H headlight won’t stay on (worked for MOT though!). It illuminates fine at first but after some time extinguishes and the green lamp on the instrument panel starts to flash. Does anyone know if this symptom sounds like a bulb or the ballast or something even more expensive?

I bought a Lexia / Diagbox kit from Easy Diagnostics (+ ancient 32-bit laptop to run it on) with full intent of getting the hydraulic fluid level right. I presume it’s a right of passage to spew the hydraulic oil everywhere during this as it was overfilled (the previous day… by me!

I did run a global scan and found 500 logged faults. I have cleared every fault from every system and will take a look again after a few drives.

After the clearing of faults I still have some! These are the main ones that grabbed my attention:
The Diagbox read out did flag up that it could not communicate with the R/H headlight beam corrector. I presume this means I won’t have adaptive swivelling headlights until I fix it?
Also it says that it cannot connect to the steering wheel angle sensor (U1125). Also to do with lights and firming up the suspension à la Hydractive?
And also Suspension ECU data not valid fault (U1116).
jamescarruthers   
Sat Jun 05 2021, 05:31pm

Joined: Jan 19 2014
Member No: #1548
Location: Cambridge
Suspension ECU
321dave   
Sun Jun 06 2021, 09:25am
Joined: Sep 09 2011
Member No: #614
Location: Dublin
Morning James,
Well done. Good job so far! Good idea getting the Lexie/diagbox setup for yourself. It will help a lot especially with your suspension setup later.

How is the charge/state of your battery in the boot? Best to have a good, sorry, very good and strong battery as all the electric anomalies will turn up on Lexie/diagbox later on from a bad battery.
Most can be ignored as they are communication errors only from the battery causing trouble. As i was not using my car regularly i went out and bought a ring smart changer. Battery’s getting healthy again now.

Then after that will be the actual issues that need your attention. As a lot of forum members mention the steering angle sensor never worked properly and all C6 have this error. Coming out of the factory they had the error it seems.

So i guess when you fix the leak issue(s), cracked tank or lose tank pipe or something else. You can use the Lexie to reset the height as well.

CruiserPhil did a deep dive on how to setup your suspension! Here’s the link in case you haven’t read it yet.
MGmike   
Sun Jun 06 2021, 09:54pm

Joined: May 21 2017
Member No: #3151
Location: South Queensferry
jamescarruthers wrote ...


After the clearing of faults I still have some! These are the main ones that grabbed my attention:
The Diagbox read out did flag up that it could not communicate with the R/H headlight beam corrector. I presume this means I won’t have adaptive swivelling headlights until I fix it?
Also it says that it cannot connect to the steering wheel angle sensor (U1125). Also to do with lights and firming up the suspension à la Hydractive?
And also Suspension ECU data not valid fault (U1116).



R/H headlight communication: you are correct, no swivel until sorted. You get this error when the light unit is disconnected but I'm guessing yours isn't?

As Dave says, ignore the angle sensor as they all do that!

The suspension ECU fault;
U1116 Absence of communication on the CAN with the suspension ECU

Q; does your pump run when you unlock the car?
One of mine was reporting the same error and, in my case, the ECU was U/S. However, if your pump is running normally it doesn't sound like an ECU fault and you'll need to look at other potential causes.

Given the R/H light and pump ECU are in the same corner of the engine bay, I would start looking there for wiring damage.
cruiserphil   
Tue Jun 08 2021, 08:43am


Joined: Jan 24 2010
Member No: #38
Location: Celbridge
Topped up with LDS today and took the wheel arch liner off. Looking forward and discovered that the big feed pipe to the sphere was hosing fluid out. It was loose! No idea how.

Great news James.

Best regards,

Phil C.
jamescarruthers   
Tue Jun 08 2021, 10:24am

Joined: Jan 19 2014
Member No: #1548
Location: Cambridge
Thanks both of you.

To answer your question: The pump runs when the car is unlocked or if the door is opened.

I have driven it a bit more and all seems well on the suspension front. It gets caught out on hump back bridges more than my previous ones but this could just be rose tinted specs looking back!

Currently prepping my Avantime for sale but the big plan is to give the C6 an oil change this week, change the front headlight bulbs and then give it a 500 mile shakedown ride as I have to go to Newcastle from Cambridge and back on Friday.

I still haven’t had a chance to read the faults again after clearing and then driving it again. Hope to get time for this in the next few days.

Still no replacement glass but apparently it is on its way!
jamescarruthers   
Fri Apr 01 2022, 01:41pm

Joined: Jan 19 2014
Member No: #1548
Location: Cambridge
Car running and driving well— most jobs from when I first got it are done. Mostly at a pampering session at BL Autos last year and spheres regassed at Pleiades with some basic work by me too. MOT passed today with advisory for numberplate light, one rear tyre worn on the edge and corrosion to the subframe— should probably look in to getting this protected on time.

I believe poor rear tyre wear can be adjusted by installing some sort of later adjustable rod to the suspension in place of the original fixed one?

Is subframe protection possible in-situ or is this as major as I think with the need to fully remove each subframe to treat, protect and repaint it?
MGmike   
Fri Apr 01 2022, 02:34pm

Joined: May 21 2017
Member No: #3151
Location: South Queensferry
Corrosion on which subframe?
They're both cast aluminum! And corrosion just shouldn't be a factor unless they are referring to the body at the mounting points?

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