R267PGF 2.0TCT - MOT Pass!

[CitroJim]

Wish I'd have known of Dean's topic on ATF changing, could have saved loads of typing

Refilling from the dipstick tube is fine Sam and sometimes the only way.. It's a tad slow though..

Paraffin will be fine for the filters...

[russ92xmsed]

True Jim, sorry, but actually you did add some valuable information. Especially topping up and getting the levels right. I have even written your bit down in my Haynes book of lies!

[messerschmitt owner]

I think it was here in Cheltenham, it was found.

Anyway, Comma AQM, £20 for 5 litres off eBay.

it was in Cheltenham - Lansdown - and Red Dwarfers one was in Hucclecote!

If Sam has been doing his job correctly he will have found the Citroen Assist card for the car when new and with its K1 private plate on it.

[beko1987]

That's what that was! It's on the side in the garage atm. Wonder what happens if I call the number...

[russ92xmsed]

A polite click!


I thought it might have been Lansdown. I think I know where it used to live.

[messerschmitt owner]

It was my estate agent's dad's car and it was in the garage as his dad died and his mum didn't use it.
Down not far from the church.

[beko1987]

Did some citrobatics this morning whilst having a rolly before work, and noticed that 2 out of 4 times I went from right down to right up the stop light came on and the LH display moaned about loss of pressure, brake system warning.
Turning her on and off again gets rid of it, and she rises and lowers a few more cycles. I can't afford to flush her this month, any quick ideas about what may be causing it? Drives fine otherwise. LHM looks full on the level

[CitroJim]

That's potentially nothing to worry about at all Sam. When you go full low then basically you’re exhausting all the pressure from the suspension system and then when you want to go high again you're calling on all reserves to re-pressurise the system and this takes more than the accumulator can store so the stop light comes on whilst the pump makes good..

Also, I'm making an assumption that yours is an anti-sink with the 6+2 pump in which case the suspension is pressurised only with the 2 piston section of the pump and this is not exactly a beefy pump at all as all it needs to do under normal circumstances is maintain pressure and not replace massive amounts of lost pressure as a sinker pump does and is designed to.

Having said all that, not all anti-sinks show this effect although some do even with a good pump and spheres. It is however not a bad idea to listen to your tick-rate (the interval between clicks from the hydraulic pressure regulator) and ensure it's greater than 30 seconds. The ticks are made by the regulator cutting in and out like a thermostat to regulate the hydraulic pressure. Anything less than 30s suggests the main accumulator sphere may be a little weak.

It is also with checking all your suspension spheres too... Roughly this can be done by bouncing the corners when the engine is idling so the suspension is in soft mode. All corners should be soft, the rears much more so than the fronts.. Then switch off, shut all doors and wait just over 30s for the hydractive suspension to time out and switch to hard mode. The corners should feel very much harder and stiffer now although not totally rock-hard - there should be just a tad of movement possible...

If completely rock-hard in hard mode suspect a ruptured corner sphere or two.

[beko1987]

Thanks for the info Jim, will investigate later! It never does it from norm-high say, only when it's fully down so your assumption seems correct.

Where does the clicking roughly come from so I can put my ear near? My hearing isn't too great, and I haven't heard it whilst sitting in the car, but then have no idea what to look for!

Let's see how many odd looks I get from my colleagues bouncing each corner of my car at lunchtime! Campbell did the bounce test with me when I viewed the car, and it has a tad of movement when off as you say above, so hopefully ruling out any foul play. I feel bad I can't afford to hydraflush it now! Not sure what good adding diesel to already manky lhm will do, so will leave it alone for the time being!

[CitroJim]

Sam, the regulator sits just behind the main accumulator sphere (in fact the sphere screws into it) low down on the engine by the front of the gearbox. The tick can be quite soft and hard to hear above the idling of teh engine, particularly a diesel.

Another way is to listen to the pump via a stethopscope which can be either a fancy engineers one or a long screwdriver or even a length of wooden dowel. Place one end on the body of the pump (take care of rotating pulleys and belts!) and the other against your ear. When the pump is idling because the system is up to pressure it'll be more or less silent. When it's actively pumping it will make a rapid machine-gun sort of noise - best way I can describe it- sorry!

So, listening to the pump with a stethoscope you should hear lots of silence interspersed with regular bursts of the machine-gun fire. The silences should be at intervals greater than 30 seconds and the bursts of fire should last three to five seconds as the pump works to restore pressure; the bursts of machine-gun fire are equivalent to the regulator ticks I spoke of earlier.

If you hear more machine-gun fire than silence then assume the accumulator sphere is flat (in need of replacement) or there's an internal leak in the system causing a loss of pressure... The latter is rare but the former is quite common.

Hope that all makes sense Sam. I'd love to see the looks on people's faces as you listen to the hydraulics with a stethoscope - you can always say you're checking its pulse and in a way you are