KP's growing amount of Citroens...

[kingp]

Well annoyingly it turns out that yes the purflux filter is letting in the tiniest amount of air, very small almost froth like bubbles, the main leak in was the feed pipe that went from metal to rubber at the back of the engine bay. Turns out 16-17 years of engine bay hear and flexing had caused a small hole which I only found by putting a Y piece connector on at the fuel tank end and pressurising the feed and return pipes.

These are not available from citroen either which is just great!

So I've repaired it using a slightly longer piece of hose to help with the flexing and had to use a horrid tie wrap as I can't get my hand and a tool into the small space behind the engine to do up any kind of jubilee clip.

While looking on service citroen it appears later models got an intank fuel pump, so I'm wondering if the wiring loom changed to accommodate this as this could be a nice upgrade to help the main engine pump along when the veg is thicker.

This week she is taking me to saintfield via cairnryan so I'm chucking some extra veg cubbies in the back and enjoying the cruise control and radio. The radio I have found will only take 1gig cards at the max so I have some 2gig ones that I'm going to try and format to 1gig in size and see if that works as I have some podcasts I can listen to on the way up and fit more music on them as currently the 512meg card isn't storing enough for me

She's getting a wash today and a fluid check before the journey and I'll shove a big bottle of water/antifreeze mix in the back as well as 2litres of lhm just incase.

Her front tyres are getting scrubbed I think mainly due to the front end weight and having to negotiate so many roundabouts on my journeys so I'll be looking at a set of winter remoulds for her mainly for the wet weather grip but also to be useful incase of snow as that front end weight certainly won't help it!

[Dieselman]

Well annoyingly it turns out that yes the purflux filter is letting in the tiniest amount of air, very small almost froth like bubbles, the main leak in was the feed pipe that went from metal to rubber at the back of the engine bay. Turns out 16-17 years of engine bay hear and flexing had caused a small hole which I only found by putting a Y piece connector on at the fuel tank end and pressurising the feed and return pipes.

I have a similar problem, so will try that technique as I cant find any evidence of a split, crack or hole in any pipe.

[kingp]

I got it from halfords, it was the largest one they did and the larger pipe was still a little loose on it so ductape came into play.

Just used a foot pump and got it upto 40-50psi and then left it and went looking for a puddle and could see it straight away.

The part is no longer available from citroen though which is annoying as hell.

I'll maybe get some pipes off a breaker and see if pirtek do something that's braided as a replacement bit.

[kingp]

Over 235 from Manchester to Cairnryan I got this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZx3W3QgP1w

The return journey was a bit quicker and i averaged 10mph higher(20% increase) but then lost 10mpg

So sticking to the speed limits really does help MPG and on the way up i tended to sit about 60-65 and had pretty much the same weight in her.

I've also ordered some clear braided fuel lines for the engine bay and a new connector as the one i had used got crushed. Also annoyingly the fuel supply pipes bend and curve in such a way that making up replacement sections neetly would use a few joints and i dont want to do that as each joint is a weak point.

May see if there is something in silicone somewhere that would do the job but i doubt it so im thinking of getting some used pipes and then melting the rubber slightly with some gentle heat to soften them back up.

[kingp]

Passed 200,000 miles on monday not far off 201k already so the car is certainly getting the miles put into it

Still seems mostly well working on one radiator and looking forward to some Jinyu winter tyres soon for the front as they get decent enough reviews for £50 winter tyres and aren't remoulds which i was leaning toward for the softer rubber compound but if it snows at least i can see how well they help.
Also being a silly size of 205/65/15 doesnt help with options

[Charles M]

The wheel size does reduce the choice, especially of mid-range tyres. Still, they're a lot cheaper than 16s!

[kingp]

£49 each Charles and another £5 for fitting, maybe less depending how the feel

Can't complain for less than £100 for some cheap winter rubber that may outlast the car....

[kingp]

Well as the front tyres af been getting more and more close to the legal I had decided it was time to bite the bullet.

Friday night saw me getting some Dunlop SP6 winter 195/65/15 tyres up front.

They are smaller than the standard figment but will be moved to the back soon enough when I get some good 205 winters fitted as I had the drivers rear blow out on me last week on the M60 and had to swap it for the luckily good spare, I will need to get that done as well.

Mpg wise I'm doing a lot of town driving without many runs of late and she's now dropped to 39.2 mpg for this half of the tank which has already taken me 360miles and still has a bit to before it's dead on the 1/2 marker so I'm happy with that considering a tank costs me £65

Cold starting can be a pain but I think at leat 1glowplug has failed as within 5miles of running or less she hors back to super smooth

On 200,800 miles she will be due another oil and filters service again next month.

I still need to sort out the weep from the lhm pump but
That's not a big issue.

New radio is still going well and she hasn't been washed for a good few weeks since my Northern Ireland trip so has plenty of crud on her but will likely get it done at the local hand car wash for £3 as the body panels will need a lot of work anyway to be good

She has been carting round a lot of logs I have been picking up and breaking down and then giving to friends but as my chainsaw has packed up thanks to a renter not using enough 2stroke the bore is scoured and she needs new rings so I'll get a cheap one or good old stihl to get me by and then fix her one day when I can.

The ff has a new 110ah varta battery that just about for in the tray with some fiddling and has it's rough running issue still so I'm working on that and my dads C5 gearbox issue mostly at the moment for which we are renting an engine hoist so we can tilt the gearbox as we lift it in from below

[kingp]

Well after yesterday mornings cold I went out and found the drivers door lock spinning, so hopped in from the passenger side. Having deadlocked the car this also provided my exit point!

I shoved some gt45 down the hole at lunch and it seemed to help as well as the temp increase but alas later on proved to still be an issue.

So following this guide at lunch I'll be taking the lock barrel out. Thank you to the original producer of it.

http://homepages.igrin.co.nz/simon/imag ... _locks.pdf

I may even try and code up the rf fob as it has new batteries in it as well.

[xmexclusive]

That is stolen material as can be seen by the copyright notice.
You can find the original in the self help section of Club-xm.com.
Can you please change the link to point to the original.

The front door locks are identical except for the black and white plastic operating lug on the back.
In photo 4 a black operating lug can be seen separated.
Swapping the type of lug changes the hand of the lock as the lugs have offset operating pins.
Swapping a lock to the "wrong" side without changing the lug type will mess up the operation of the door rods.
Done on the drivers door on a Mk2 it can deadlock you out of the car.

John