C5 Help urgent with auto gearshift

Progress report:

Dealer doesn't have required part(s) in stock, nor does Ateco. What a surprise. Have to be ordered from France which means the obligatory 2-3 weeks. So far I've managed to finesse it out of Park but I wonder how long this will work and whether I finish up marooned somewhere with a car that can't be moved.

One thing I won't tolerate in a car is "failure to proceed".
 
C5 jammed in Park

Just as an aside: I very rarely use the Park position, but leave it in Neutral both in the garage and at red lights (to reduce the repair bill if shunted from behind).
 
Final progress report:

Car taken to service last Monday. Relay/solenoid/thingmebob replaced, problem solved.
Incidentally, I googled some key words and voila! Seems that this is far from an isolated problem. Dozens of "hits" across all makes of cars.

Imagine that, a problem that french cars didn't pioneer!
 
Just had this problem to day in my 2003 V6 C5, Got into the car after work and could not get it out of park.

Was following steps from GreenBlood got to step: "Remove black gear guide trim." Problem wires to Sport/Snow not long enough to stretch black plate over gear lever. Eventual got it over but in the process snapped 2 wires of the circuit board for the sport/snow buttons very annoying

On the plus side it does just appear to be the spring loaded pin, as soon as I took that out i could get it out of park and drive home.

I think I will be taking it to my local Citroen mechanic tomorrow morning to see if he can fix it, dunno how to get wires back on also don't understand how to get new spring pin in, couldn't figure how to remove blind housing so left it at that.
 
C5 Shiftlock

Many many thanks Chris for your prompt response.
I have it back together again and ready for morning duties. I realy appreciate the help
you gave and the interest of other frogers. I was not too concerned when stuck in Park as
I had a similar experience many years ago in a CX when I had a Solenoid die. Both times it
happened in my garage so not too inconvenient.
However it must be a bit of a scare to the first timers.
Regards,
David:wink2:
 
BigD said:
Many many thanks Chris for your prompt response.
I have it back together again and ready for morning duties. I realy appreciate the help
you gave and the interest of other frogers. I was not too concerned when stuck in Park as
I had a similar experience many years ago in a CX when I had a Solenoid die. Both times it
happened in my garage so not too inconvenient.
However it must be a bit of a scare to the first timers.
Regards,
David:wink2:
Click to expand...

Great result David, must have had you up late looking at the time of your above post^

Cheers
Chris
 
Just used this thread to get our 2002 C5 (stuck in park!) mobile, thanks for the pictures and explanations etc.

Only problem was when I tried to order the replacement guide pin part #240778 ... the part did not exist!

Turns out until now the dealer has been replacing the whole gearchange mechanism @$900, as per parts guide as they did not know about the guide pin part #0000240778 @$13.50 The key was the leading zeros on the part number (must be 10 digits). The dealer parts data does not describe the part #0000240778 as a gearbox guide pin, but at the price they were happy to order it in just in case! As I was collecting my $13.50 part they were deciding to order one in for stock.
 
Want to send a great big thank you for the question and the brilliant instructions. I'm a 50-something woman and this happened to my beautiful C5 this week and my car was set to be towed away, and god knows how much it was all going to cost. Then I did a bit of googling and found this! Phew! Thank you!

I got the spare part for just $17 (the Citroen spare parts guy reckons that they keep these parts in stock because it's a common problem!) and I managed to replace it and get it all back together again. Only problem was the rubber blind that didn't want to go back in position and so it's gone and cracked and split. I'm going to have a go at sticking it together with duct tape and see if that works. I'd be interested to hear opinions on whether it's okay to do without it.
 
Ça me fait plaisir aussi. Sites like this exist to help by sharing. Feedback is always welcome.
 
Great info. My car, C5 HDI 2003 195000 Km - I found this tread after I had diagnosed the problem to its source and found it was the Detent Pin where the plastic part on the bottom where it is it is locked was broken. Now to locate a replacement but during the disassembly the black gear trim cover (part that keeps the dust out) because of age had disintegrated. So will need to see if I can also locate one of these. Also in the process of replacing the 4 Spheres. Looks like the UK is the place to source these from. Again, tx for your very informative, detailed info. Regards, JM (Sydney) NSW
 
Hi Guys,

I have a spare new solenoid for Series 1 & 2 C5's, and as we no longer have those models in our fleet, Happy to sell it to anyone in need.

I've needed to replace the solenoid on both our previous Series 1 & 2 cars.

Our X7 has the Shift Relay problem, and I have a new one to fit, but I'm yet to find where its located, but I have it on good authority that it's between the BSI and the firewall. Isn't it great that Citroen make these things so accessible? They don't seem to have learnt anything since the CX?

Best regards,

Greg

Our
 
I have the same problem with my 2002 C5 V6 Auto

Did you manage to find the part anywhere Johnannes2018

If so please post or PM me as I can't find one anywhere
 
That detent pin is best bought via the part number 240778 from a dealer. See post 27 above.
In Sydney, Trivett's Parts division and Continental Cars (now an independent specialist) would be most likely to have it on the shelf.
 
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The part that I am trying to locate is the Rubber that is fitted around the SILVER GEAR COVER.
Be careful when removing this as it may break apart due to aging.

Ok, car written of in a accident (I'm ok) so no longer needed. 05Nov2018

Bought a C5X7 2010 Comfort 2L HDI 87000Km regularly serviced by a Citroen dealer in Sydney.
Great car, no problems, touch wood :citplak:


Screen Shot 2018-04-18 at 10.28.25 AM.jpg
 
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Hi froggers, I'm in need of some advice and came across this thread some weeks ago.

I have a 07 C5 Auto that has been giving me troubles actually engaging Drive, getting the shifter out of park and into neutral and reverse and all is not a problem but it will not go into drive unless i give the shifter one nice knock with the side of my fist once resting in the drive position. It drives like normal once in but it has progressively getting harder to engage drive i.e the fist hits are getting harder.

I ordered the indent ball and changed it as it was cheap and quick (thanks to the instructions contained on this forum) but it has not helped at all. The one thing I did notice while I had the shifter gate off and switched on the car, I could get it into Drive without problem allbeit that the shifter was still awfully close to the black exterior shifter housing when pulling it towards me. Once I screw the shifter gate into position with the four large phillip screws, it becomes difficult (near impossible) to catch Drive.

So the question I have is, has anyone experienced the same problem i have explained and what did they do to resolve? I'm considering it to be, quite possibly a stretched shifter cable (if that's even at all possible that it can stretch)

Does anyone have any idea or suggestion on what I can do next?

Thank you
 
Has the blind broken? This is the thing that looks like a narrow roller door. It has a track fore and aft of the lever and when it starts to break up, it snags on the track and prevent the lever moving the full range. Try removing the blind.
 
Cheers David, the blind is in good condition. Part way through the reassembly of the shifter fix (installing the 240778 part) there is a stage where you can have the grey shifter gate screwed into position and not have the blind on at all. It's at this stage that the shifter appears to be fouling, even before the blind is put on.

Its a tricky one.

The one thing I forgot to mention is that about 6 months ago I had a good look to see if the cable had any adjusting point in it, which I have discovered it doesn't. At the transmission end of the cable there is a mounting plate onto the gearbox that I managed to loosen of and move towards the bulk head ever so slightly. This made the shifting much easier, somewhat back to normal however the celebration was short lived as it went back to fist banging the shifter leaver withing a couple weeks. This is what leads me to believe it quite possible stretched cable or worn connector somewhere.

I'm still open to ideas.
 
Hi :)
Just a couple of comments as I am no expert here.
The cable will not stretch. There is no force involved in the shifter and it is only moved once every drive. The connectors may wear a minimal amount but that has not been my experience.
Is there is a switch box at the gearbox shaft under the cable connection. It has to be aligned to the mechanical selector so the electrical contacts are correct for the ecu to work correctly. I am not sure what gearbox is in your car.
The detent inside the box may not be set properly or is not tight and it has moved a bit. Has anyone been into it and done some work on the valves ?
Jaahn
 
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