CitroJim's Citroens

[CitroJim]

Heater matrix anyone?

No thanks, I've done enough to last a lifetime

[Eddie nuff]

I've only ever done one heater matrix, on my Xantia. Never again!!!

[xmexclusive]

For matrix changing you cannot beat a LHD XM.
All work is in the passenger footwell, nothing in the way.
French design perfection.
IMHO the Xantia matrix fit was designed after he got his P45 and was made to work the months notice.

John

[CitroJim]

IMHO the Xantia matrix fit was designed after he got his P45 and was made to work the months notice.

That'll be right John

The rumour is that Xantia manufacture started with a heater matrix dangling from a cord and the rest of the car was assembled around it!

[CitroJim]

Had a visit from a poorly V6 Xantia today. Owner complained of poor performance, misfiring and popping in the exhaust...

A test drive confirmed all was true... Owner came equipped with new plugs and a new manifold gasket...

The car had starting difficulties too..

The starting difficulties were traced to the 12v ignition switched supply to the coil of the start inhibit relay. It was found to be only 0.5v. A loom trace showed there was a splice in this wire in the loom that runs under the rad and this is the most likely cause of the issue. A 'workaround' has been performed for now...

On the engine issues, the owner removed the coil and inlet manifold and found one of the front bank plugs had taken up diving - the plug well was as full of oil as it could possibly be. All three rear bank plugs were keen swimmers due to a slight oil leak ovr a period of time on the exhaust cambox and we also noted the rear bank plugs were older and of a different type to the front bank ones. The conclusion was that some lazy previous owner had swapped the fronts but not the rears. Finally, the manifold gasket had been home-made from something like a cornflake packet.

We were concerned about some large cracks in the (pattern) ignition coil but in the event it seems OK. ELIT showed equal and good charge times and owner now reports the car runs much better following the work. If the problem reassert themselves then the coil is suspect.

Last job was to check the front spheres. The corners were a bit down but the centre was good. Owner made an error in refitting the centre, the seal slipped as he was screwing it home, and that resulted in a very large puddle of LHM on my driveway

Finally, a persistent water leak was pinned down to a bodged joint in a hose that goes off to the gearbox cooler. The original must have gone at some time and someone then faked up something that is basically OK bar the joint in it. At some time in the future the owner will replace the joint...

A good day. I did nothing, just sat, watched, handed tools as needed, cleaned up, made tea and gave advice as an when

[CitroJim]

All I've done today is checked over the cars and washed them...

I really do hate washing Monte Carlo wheels. Shame as I love the looks of them but keeping them looking nice is a complete pain..

Another little job I did was replace a clutch bearing in a Xantia aircon compressor for a friend.

This is the clutch assembly disassembled showing the bearing:



The special puller shown in the picture I knocked up on the lathe ages ago...

To do the job requires a hydraulic press and an old XM or Xantia front wheel bearing. The wheel bearing provides three perfect mandrels for pressing the old bearing out and pressing the new one in

[CitroJim]

Yesterday I washed my two cars. I thought that was it for car washing this weekend...

Sian's Nissan Pixo is due an MOT so this afternoon she called round so I could do a pre-MOT on it.

I found no problems but we both agreed it could do with a good valet inside. It looked a bit like a McDonald's skip and had straw in it. It was also a bit mucky outside so we set to between us and tidied and hoovered it inside and washed it outside.

A great bit of father/daughter bonding very enjoyable!

The Pixo is now four years old and after it's spruce-up it looks like a brand-new car.

It may be a cheap Suzuki Alto clone made in Mumbai but I've got to say it's jolly well made and is standing the test of time very well. Not the heap of rubbish you might first assume it might be. The paint is particularly good and hide the number plate and you'd have a job distinguishing it from a brand-new car...

However it does fall down badly in driving dynamics... It feels very wooden to drive but is nippy enough...

Earlier I went to see Chris (570) and amongst other things we tried to see if an ES9 engine would fit into a Mazda RX-8. Sadly we now know it won't. The cooling system presents intractable difficulties as well as the overall engine being a bit too big to clear the subframe.

I have some pictures of our attempt and I'll get them up on the server at some point.

All in all, a very good day.. The run over to Chris's in the XM was incredibly enjoyable as was a trip out in the Activa last evening...

[CitroJim]

It been a very quiet time on the car front. I've not been doing much really, generally taking it very easy and very much better for it too...

I did give the Activa, now firmly established as daily driver, an oil and filter change but done precious little else except work since then.

Today has been gorgeous and for one coincided with my day off (I work part-time and have Wednesdays off) so being it was nice I felt like a bit of gentle spannering and attacked a problem I've known about on the XM for a while - a seized retainer on the spare wheel carrier. It meant that the spare wheel was impossible to drop out of it's carrier if I should have needed it on a journey so it was concerning me a little.

I'd been Plus-Gassing the thread of the retainer for a few weeks now and today, after grinding up a tool to fit the slot in the top of the screw in the boot that i could get a decent bar onto the thing finally loosened and undid

I was still stuck because the spring-loaded safety catch was also seized solid and more Plus-Gas and Percy-Whatsit* was needed to release that. Eventually it did and I could check the condition of the spare wheel and jack - both good...

I tried to remove the whole carrier but the hinge bolt is very tight at the end of it's thread so for today that job was abandoned for next time as my energy budget was a bit depleted by then.

I gave both the retainer thread and the safety catch a good greasing and am happy now I can get at my spare should I ever need it.

Earlier I woke the Xantia V6 briefly from hibernation and took it out for a warm up and battery charge. The car has been untouched for about three weeks and only just started. I fear the battery is getting a bit weak so for the winter I'll likely replace it.

On the drive I felt a small clunk and didn't really think or take a lot of notice until I went to pull away at a junction and was amazed at how gutless the car was - the gearbox had dropped into third emergency and I could see the sport and snow lights flashing.

An ELIT check on returning home revealed the reason to be an intermittency in the multi-function switch that tells the ECU what gear is selected on the gear selector lever.. It cleared OK and touch-wood it's not re-appeared despite much exercising of the selector from P to 1 and back again. Maybe just lack of use.

These old Citroens don't like being laid-up at all Still, she'll be back in daily use once the winter returns...

* An FCF term meaning much persistence and patience

[Dieselman]

You've done quite a bit more than me today Jim, I had good intentions but am so knackered I just laid in the garden.

[CitroJim]

You've done quite a bit more than me today Jim, I had good intentions but am so knackered I just laid in the garden.

To be honest Will I'd say you did the best thing of all. It was really too hot today to do anything tremendously energetic...