Should I scrap my 2001 Citroen C5 2.2 Hdi or fix the engine?

Question

Hi,

I have a Citroen C5 2.2 Hdi estate that has just ticked over 100k miles without any significant problems. However for the last 9 months the engine has been gradually losing water resulting in me having to top it up every few days or week. My mechanic couldn't find any leak so I continues to drive it. He now says that he thinks it may be the head gasket but he's worried as the engine has overheated a few times and he thinks the it may be irreparable. The car isn't in particularly good condition so it wouldn't be worth much if sold and the engine work may cost 1k to 1.5k apparently, and that would all go down the drain if the engine couldn't be fixed. Any Citroen techs out there who may be able to advise?! Many thanks

Answer 1

right any car in uk over 5 years old is nowadays scrap.

if u say the body is tired and the engine needs 1000 to 1500 pounds of work then i would say the car does not owe u anything & say good bye but if the body is a one and everything else is a one then spend the money, but be care full this week headset next week clutch or shocks or brakes.

Answer 2

I say scrap it, most scrap yards will pay you to let them have your car,

it wont be much (£100 to £300) but thats better than paying £1000 you not sure that you will get back.

Answer 3

Get rid of it.

Buy a good reliable Lada for trouble free motoring

Answer 4

If you are going to scrap it, find out how much a scrap yard will give you, then put it on ebay first with that price as a reserve for a week. That way it might go to someone who has a suitable donor car, eg one with crash damage but a running engine and who can make one good car out of the pair of them.

If you do go for an engine swap from another car, be aware that the mileage of the car can be stored in a number of places on the car, so if you swap the computer too, the mileage storage places will choose the highest mileage and load that into all of the other places.

If you want to try the additive route, I have had success with the CarGo SealUp brand of head seal liquid. Note that this is incompatible with glycol antifreeze. Where I am, I can run without antifreeze, so I can use SealUp in the radiator full time along with an anticorrosion additive (ie only water, sealup and corrosion inhibitor). If you don't need antifreeze,  try this. First flush your cooling system well, add the sealup as per the directions, watch the water for the up to 20 minutes that it takes to seal, then add corrosion inhibitor and drive! If it starts using a bit more water, add another bottle of sealup. Sealup is a clear liquid and it has copper particles inl as well.

Just remember that although your car may be a writeoff for you or for your mechanic, it may not be for someone who wants to play around with it themselves, so sticking it on ebay (or similar) will give them a chance.

Answer 5

Scrap it, Parents had one and from experience..  Its a bad engine and gearbox. Poor fuel economy and sluggish.  

Answer 6

A third option would be to have the engine replaced with one from a scrap car, would probably be cheaper than getting the current engine fixed.  Last year I got an engine replaced for £500 but the price will depend on the amount of work on that model of car and availability of the engine.

Answer 7

Before you scrap it or sell for peanuts, you might want to try one of these coolant liquid additives that stop radiator leakage by containing special composites that harden when they contact with air. These can fix any small holes on your coolant system that would be otherwise impossible to find, and they are fairly cheap too.

It's worth a try ;-)