CitroJim's Citroens

[CitroJim]

Like all electronic boxes, it then takes too long to select lower gears on kickdown.

Just no pleasing you is there Will

But yes, you're absolutely right and at times it's bloody annoying. It's like it needs the order to kickdown to be submitted well in advance and in triplicate

[Dieselman]

Like all electronic boxes, it then takes too long to select lower gears on kickdown.

Just no pleasing you is there Will

But yes, you're absolutely right and at times it's bloody annoying. It's like it needs the order to kickdown to be submitted well in advance and in triplicate

If I had hit kickdown when driving your car I'm sure i would have noticed it, but seeing as I drove like miss Daisy was in the back...

[CitroJim]

but seeing as I drove like miss Daisy was in the back...

You have more restraint than me then Will. That car demands to be driven with a bit of vim and vigour and I give in to its demands regularly!

[Dieselman]

but seeing as I drove like miss Daisy was in the back...

You have more restraint than me then Will. That car demands to be driven with a bit of vim and vigour and I give in to its demands regularly!

Your car must be incredibly fast, as even driving with M-D in the back, it still managed to hold off a Renault Megane Sport.

[CitroJim]

Your car must be incredibly fast,

It is Will, for a soft old barge it really is

I pre-MOT'd the Xantia V6 and found nothing of concern except a possibly border-line flexi-hose. I shall present the car with a note to that effect and a spare one sitting on the seat. If they care to fit it then it saves me a job... Apart from that it should be OK.

Checked the other cars and all is good. The Activa rear ram is now completely leak-free so that means summer is nearly here. The Activa is doing a splendid job of being the daily driver and I'm enjoying it too

Took the XM for a joy-ride this afternoon. So much better the brakes are no longer binding! The cruise control is good and in fact all is good, Climate is working well and aircon is keeping things nice and cool..

Joy-riding along with the CD player playing, a track came on called 'Take My Breath Away', a song most associated with the Pug 405 and burning cornfields - possibly the best car advert ever that one, second only to the Hundustan Ambassador turns into a Pug 206 with the help of an elephant one. Peugeot used to make good cars once and advertise them with some good adverts. Shame they do neither these days

Anyway, I digress. I couldn't hep thinking the song is also very appropriate to the XM. It's a car that still takes my breath away when I've not driven it for a few days...

[Dieselman]

I think my XM took Mrs Dm's breath away yesterday. We went for a jolly down some country lanes and single track roads and found the ride and handling to be very impressive, especially when rounding a bend going over a cattlegrid and were faced with a Freelander approaching in the middle of the road. Without thinking about braking I turned left and went onto the grassy field and round the Freelander.

The Freelander driver was still just sitting there as we disappeared up the road.

There was less drama than an episode of Corrie.

[CitroJim]

That's brilliant Will, love it

I can picture it too and guess what thought went through the mind of the Freelander driver...

'What the f...... was that?'

[CitroJim]

Bloody unreliable XMs They can't be trusted. Just gone and moved mine to its weekday resting space and I find it's broken

The sodding bulb behind the gear indicator display has gone out

Great heap of steaming junk. Never had all this grief with a Xantia....

I'll have to have the bloody instrument panel out now

Still, good excuse and opportunity to fix the missing lines in the LH Display Every cloud and all that...

Speaking of which, just seen this LH Display repair guide posted in XM-L by the person behind the Citroen Technical Guide. Looks good. That special glue looks interesting...

[captainhaddock]

Always stay calm! A failing light bulb is of course some reason to panic, especially if you don't have a clue about anything mechanical, but I can talk you through this repair! Won't cost much more than 15 minutes, maybe 20 at most!

My list of Xantia troubles:

broken clutch cable thingie (to be towed home with a 2cv that couldn't go uphill with a xantia on a rope behind her..
Broken clutch cable (a CX turbo to the rescue: that was not issue but it was a long trip in the dark..)
A badly leaking anti sink whatever (got home on the handbrake... )
2 times broken linkage of height corrector)
broken exhaust clamp (rotted through) came home with ever body looking odd
Twice engine running on 3 spark plugs (you really should change them regularly!
Frozen grease in a drive shaft gaiter causing the steering to almost fail during the big freeze winter and being abroad. Gaiter wasn't broken at all!
Failed clutch bearing - home on a recovery truck, thankfully at work when it happened.
Broken door hinges (twice)
Rotted wires in the wiring loom underneath the radiator. Causing me to buy an even more rotten xantia which is a longer story of failures..
Anyway out of action for 3 months..did get home with it thankfully.
Broken thermostat wiring - fans wouldn't kick in no matter what I changed/built over from the other xantia (wiring - fans - etc.etc.)
Failing starter motor - just where it was dangerous...
Broken window cable...
A broken petrol pump - towed home with the other xantia.
A rotten spark plug thread - swopped head from earlier xantia just before -
a mysterious leak caused by sunroof drain...figured out soon enough but not before my guests got quite wet (always check your back seat)
a failed dasboard bulb I never bothered to fix and
and than finally a serious rot problem in the wiring loom (or was it a mouse..)

The rest I've forgotten for now, but you do have a serious problem but it can be resolved Jim I even have a spare bulb for you if you so wish!

[CitroJim]

Gosh Jaap That's unusual for a Xantia. You must have had a Friday afternoon car there. So-called because the workers that built it were in a rush to start enjoying the weekend... Years back such bad cars were also called lemons but when applied to a Citroen, well all Citroens are lemons aren't they

Truth is I don't know how to change that bulb and I'm going to study how to do the job in an S2. I do in an S1 but not yet in an S2...