Gold 2.0Si

[citroenmad]

It AMAZES me that soo many people still dont know about the suspension rise!

The b l o o d y system has been round since 1954 for gods sake! Where have they been hiding!

Thing is there are less hydraulic Citroens are now than there have been for many years. People simply don;t know about them and it will get increasingly so that you get interested comments. Ok so the proper C5 is hydraulic too, however that hides it very well.

Good blog here Neil, good to hear that your XM is proving dependable in daily use, all of our XM had been brilliantly reliable.

[russ92xmsed]

Your quite right, and even the newer hydraulic ones are all anti sink...or now use electronic pumps to keep them up. So people clearly forget or don't know.
Rising my car up still stops people in the street. The looks on their faces is priceless.
It is amazing how people have such short memories. The amount of BX's and early Xantias in their days, would have all been popping up and down and almost everyday thing.

I have also found how the car sits really changes the apprearance and proportions. It really does look small when hunkered down, and grows when risen. A new shape ford focus makes it look small. And have you seen the size of a new Mazda 6... They're huge!

Makes the Xm look like a sensible sized car!

[Eddie nuff]

I've enjoyed the past couple of weeks with Goldie. Initially it was an unfortunate necessity that forced me to use her as a runaround for work but it has shown me that she is reliable and trustworthy and doesn't have the leak problems that other members cars are suffering from. There is work to do over the winter months but they fall into two categories - a full strip down of the rear end as described earlier and a few minor glitches that just need a wee bit of time to rectify before the test.

Goldie's tucked away now, sorned for the winter, somewhere dry and safe(?) I'll go up every week to kick her up and make sure that everything works okay, but until I do the rear end that's where she's staying.

[citroenxm]

Nice one Neil.

Are you wanting to collect some mechanical parts for her..?

I know where theres a Starter, altinator, radiator and exhaust system..

The fella who had the manderin one has broke it and is selling the bits. Exhaust is almost new.

[Eddie nuff]

Oh him, yeah he's a star! I've been in touch with him since the middle of September, inquiring about the parts he has - and have got absolutely nowhere!

Told him last week that I would have some parts off him, even to the point of Norman (normantilbury) agreeing to collect on my behalf, and he still hasn't got back to me to say he's got the bits ready.

And as for the exhaust I think it's expensive at £125 when I can have a stainless one made for under £300.

[citroenxm]

Well Neil, im possibly going down end of the month to collect a load of manderin panels, so COULD pick some bits up for you neil....

[Eddie nuff]

First Saturday I've had off in ages so, after the grandkids have gone, time to get some work done, on mostly non-Citroen marques.

First take the Focus over to a guy I've found by coincidence, purely through work. It took me 10 minutes to get the clocks out and even less for him to strip them down. The digi reader for the odometer is playing up and he found the problem and had it soldered in no time. The speedo has stopped working so he stripped out the cogs, threw the motor, fitted a new one and working and back together in a lot less than a hour. He plugged the computer in, wiped the faults, and got just the one fault - the ecu counting as it searches for the now non-existent dpf due to the new cat. Problem solved in no time and the Focus can now go up for sale, hopefully to sell before Christmas.

Back home to whip off the alloys on swmbo's Saab, bought needing a new clutch and dmf to replace the Focus. Having too much work on I had someone else fit the clutch, and was glad I did, he never stopped moaning about what a pain it was. Wheel acid over the outer and inner wheels and then blasted with the jet wash has brought them up very nice. I've always been a lover of Saabs (and Volvos), especially before they were bought out, and even though this is a Vectra with a different dress on it is still a very nice car, for a very nice price.

Then up to the garage to check Goldie over. Water was fine, it always is, oil was as normal, the tiniest little drop on the end of the stick, and the lhm at the right level. Started up first time, suspension rose nicely, moved her around the yard and all seems well. One of the tyres has lost 1lb of pressure but the rest are the same as when I parked her up. Happy bunny.

[CitroJim]

Fantastic stuff Goldie is also one very happy bunny by the sounds of it...

[citroenxm]

CAREFULL Removing DPF's Neil, not sure if you know, it IS MOT Fail to have the DPFs removed now!

They are clamping down on these now... Sorry if I mis read and its a replacment NOT removal..

[CitroJim]

It's OK Paul, I think Neil was speaking of a DMF...