Kenny Carwash wrote ...

Has anyone else replaced their FAP yet? The handbook says that is should be replaced at 75,000 miles, which I'll hit in the next 12 months and I'm trying to work out how much it will cost. I gather that a new one is about £600, but I've heard that they send the old ones back to France where they're cleaned out and made available as 'reconditioned' units for about half the price. I know they did that for the old C5s with the earlier type of FAP, but I'm not sure if they still do it.

Has anyone been able to get a recon particulate filter for the C4?

If it's still possible to get one then I'll set the money aside now, but if I'm looking at full whack then I'll have to seriously consider offloading the car in the next six months.

Tomo1971 wrote ...

If your car is a later model, it may have the pouch, rather than a refillable container.

Mine was a Sept 08 model and had a pouch, so the following applied.....

The fluid is supplied by Citroen in a bag, like a blood bag or saline bag you see at the hospitals. They may supply it 'per litre' but that will be for other models.

When I did mine, I cant see any way of refilling the existing 'bag'. They are also prone to leaking.

So, yes, they are a VERY VERY simple job to do yourself.

*Jack the car up at the rear passanger side safely, using axle stands etc.

* Near to the fuel tank is a plastic container that has a honeycomb pattern on it and a metal bar helping to secure it to the underside. This is the box where the fluid bag is housed.

*You will see an electrical connection and a fluid pipe going into one end, there is a cover over this (or should be, it could of been damaged). Think it slides off. Once off, disconnect the electrical and fluid pipes. From memory they are on spring clips, with areas where you press in and then pull to remove (will be obvious once you see)

*Remove the screws you see affixing the whole assembly to the body work, noting if any are different sizes. Think there are three.

*Once on a bench, you will see the honeycomb part is actually the lid and is secured on with several long bolts. Apparently, these are known to seize. You may want to consider replacing these.

*Once open, the bag is attached in a similar manor to the external pipe to the pump. Release this, release the obvious securing clip and then remove.

*Fitting the new bag is basically the same.

I never did my own, but shortly after getting a dealer to do it, the container was damaged while off road, so had to replace some of the sections of the container. I did wear gloves but there was no fluid leakage at all from any of the pipes. There was however some residue from when the previous bag had leaked before expiry.

Going bag to the honeycomb section... the 'lid'... there is a metal cover that's now available that goes on top, to help protect the container. You may want to consider buying this as well, or indeed make one yourself.

Once back together, you may need to get the counter reset at a dealer if you do not have access to 'Lexia'.