CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

ACTIVE8 · Unread post by **ACTIVE8** » 04 Nov 2008, 22:56

DickieG wrote:You've got a lot of those funny green balls littered around the place, you could start a "Spot how many sphere's can you see" competition

Well they do say it takes some balls to run/own a Citroen.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 07 Nov 2008, 21:01

ACTIVE8 wrote: Well they do say it takes some balls to run/own a Citroen.

Oh dear, what a week

It's been crazy. I've barely had time to do the routine forum admin recently, let alone make any reasonable contribution to all the really good threads running at the moment.

All is very happy and good in CitroJim land, just very hectic and busy. The old adge that there are just not enough hours in the day is spot-on for me right now. sadly, the FCF has had to take a bac-seat. Even if I'm not actively posting, be sure I still look in a few times a day and always make time for the backups and routine forum admin.

I've taken on a new role at work and at present I'm doing both my new job and most of my old one as well. It's great fun and teriffically enjoyable and in time it'll settle but for now, both aspects of my job are very busy. I've been working long hours and my new job does not allow such free access to the internet as the old one did

Then there's the family who have been keeping me very busy, both the young 'uns and the very old 'uns - in fact tomorrrow Activa and I have to take a spin down to Somerset...

Over the months I've been getting more and more involved in our local Majorette troupe, the Black Diamonds. Our troupe is going from strength to strength and following our competition success in Clacton the other week we've been considered good enough to join "Twirlers UK". In fact we did not have a choice really but that means we must take part in six competitions next year and host one of them. Busy times ahead and I, by stealth, have become involved in the planning and organisation of all of this. Basically my girls volounteered me and the troupe leader sort of assumed I'd be keen to get involved after generally showiing myself to be a willing and helpful parent in the past. In truth, I had no choice. You don't argue with our troupe leader and live to tell the tale

Nothing of note to report on the Xantia front except to say that all three are going fine. My friend who currently has custody of my 1.9TD loves her to bits

If he were not off on an overseas posting in April I think he'd have her for good.

Let's hope next week will be a bit quieter on both work and home fronts but somehow I fear it'll be even busier..

And then it'll be Christmas. I hate Christmas

Well, not Christmas itself, I love that but all the preset buying, the crowds and general silliness really does my head in big time. I'm the worlds most terrible present buyer - I havn't a clue. Birthdays are the same. Robyn is 16 next week and I'm still struggling for a present for her.

Enough rambling. I'll try to make my next entry a bit more about my cars rather than about me

I've still got a diesel pump in a million bits strewn across my bench patiently awaiting my attention

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 08 Nov 2008, 21:04

Now I can talk about my cars again

Today I had a great run down to Somerset and back. Mme Activa purred like a kitten all the way down and back and she was an absolute and utter pleasure except for just one thing...

She's taken her own stand against global warming and is refusing to keep her cabin occupants nice and warm. In fact she's doing all she can to chill them. She fools you into a false sense of security by allowing nice, toasty warm air into the cabin at the start of a journey and then as soon as temperature is reached, that's it. You'll now have cold air for the rest of the journey unless the slider is pushed right over to max and then she cooks you

On arrival home, a Lexia session on the climate control showed what's going on. The cabin air sensor starts off by doing a good job of reading cabin temperature and then holds at 25 degrees however cold the cabin then gets. I checked the little fan is spinning merrily in the sensor and it is. If you hold your hand over the sensor grille to block airflow, the temperature goes up to 29 degrees and on removal of said hand, it falls again to 25 degrees. So, the thermistor is reading the temperatutre of something that stays at 25 degrees rather than the air flowing through it. I thought it might be measuing the radio temperature but no, nothing so simple. I suspect now it's reading the temperature of its own fan motor!

The Lexia proved the mixer flap is working OK and no faults are recorded in the climate ECU. The other strange thing is the outside air sensor (not the one in the rearview mirror) is rapidly alternating between -10 degress and +14 degrees

This sensor is located in the air intake of the heater box and the airbag/glovebox needs to come out to get at it

In effect, the climate is doing exactly as it should; trying to constantly cool the cabin from 25 degrees to the 22 degrees as set on the slider. This is further proved by setting the slider at just over 26 degrees and hot air issues but then you cook!! Even then it won't last unless the slider is pushed right into the red which effectively disables climate and then she tries to bake you!

In contrast, the climate in my 2.1TD works perfectly and holds a set temperature doggedly; a good test is to open a window to let cold air in and hear the blower accellerate almost immediately accompanied by a blast of hot air from the vents until equilibrium is re-established.

Rain has now stopped play for the day

Looks like a partial dismantle of the dash is on the cards to check a few things.

Don't you just love Xantias. Always a new problem to investigate and resolve!!!! Personally, I'd have it no other way

ACTIVE8 · Unread post by **ACTIVE8** » 08 Nov 2008, 21:30

citrojim wrote:I've just been out doing a bit more on the diesel pump and taking a few pictures. I took some general views of my workshop.

It looks so cluttered in the photos and a mess too but this is where I do a lot of my work and spend some very enjoyable time.

In reality it is quite tidy and organised but somehow it just does not come across in the pictures

Look carefully and you can see the diesel pump in it's jig mounted in the old blacksmiths vice.

Wish it was bigger

Hello Jim is that a big clock on the wall, in picture 1 above the pillar drill, and /or a job timer?

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 08 Nov 2008, 22:12

Yes, it's an old radio clock I rescued from a skip. Originally it was synchronised to the atomic time signal from Rugby. That bit no longer works since the transmission protocol changed so it free-runs. It's hard to set so it stays on GMT all year round. Even though it free-runs, it still keeps remarkably good time.

It serves a second purpose of leaving a bit of residual light in the worshop so I can find the main power isolator in the dark. I alway kill all power in the workshop when I'm not out there.

I rescue a lot of stuff from skips 8)

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 09 Nov 2008, 09:25

Speaking of rescuing stuff from skips, last week I rescued a quantity of industrial carpet tiles. They're going to be used to carpet the workshop

XantiaMan · Unread post by **XantiaMan** » 09 Nov 2008, 10:57

citrojim wrote:Speaking of rescuing stuff from skips, last week I rescued a quantity of industrial carpet tiles. They're going to be used to carpet the workshop

If you have any left, i'll have some for the van

ACTIVE8 · Unread post by **ACTIVE8** » 09 Nov 2008, 14:23

Looks like a useful clock for the garage. 8)

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 10 Nov 2008, 08:53

I had a look at the climate problem on my Activa. I had the cabin sensor out and all seemed OK. The thermistor read about 12K at 20 degrees and this was more or less the same as a spare MK2 one I have, I couldn't swap them as the MK1 and MK2 sensors are totally different physically. I dod not compare with my 2.1TD as to get the sensor out is a bit of a dockyard job involving the removal of the wireless.

Half way through the job, I noticed my central heating timer had died

One of those fancy all-singing all-dancing electronic jobs. Cue a quick trip to my version of hell (DIY shop on a Sunday

) for a replacement. I took the Activa despite no wireless and the sensor dangling out of the dash. Warm air all the way

After reassembly (in the dark and wet) it still seems OK. All I did was clean the sensor and refit it... I'm not convinced but it seems better.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Paul (Isisalar) to have a look at his hydractive problems as described in this thread. Paul is a great character who has a very tasty early VSX Estate in dark green.

We went through diagnostics and as expected, the Hydractive ECU was full of stored faults which all cleared and did not return. We noticed the hydractive electrovalves were permanantly on with the engine stopped and Paul did observe if the car was left a week, the battery would be found to be low. The problem was the little switch in the tailgate. We deactivvated it and the electrovalves then switched off as normal.

Generally, we found the hydraulics very healthy. The air Paul could see in the feed pipe to the pump might well turn out to be insignificant. Certainly there was no air apparant during running and no froth in the LHM reservoir.

Can the fact the tailgate switch was signalling a permanant door open signal to the HA ECU cause all the porblems Paul was experiencing?

Paul took me for a spin in it and we traversed some really quite rough roads I know and the ride was excellent. These hydractive Xantias are seriously good.

Makes me wonder the feasability of fitting hydractive to my 2.1TD...

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 13 Nov 2008, 10:37

Not a good week

No problem with the cars (as far as I know) but problems aplenty with me, hence my apparant absence for a few days.

Happily all is getting back together again now

Those that know me well will know I suffer a long-standing health issue. One that's not physical and not in any way life-threatening and It's a bit of a funny one; I cannot tolerate stress of any sort. I'm better nowadays than I was say, five years ago but as this week goes to show, it's still there, always waiting in the wings, dangling like a sword of Domacles.

Mostly, I can feel it coming on and take the necessary steps to avoid but every now and again it strikes without any warning at all and bosh! I'm down big-time. That happened on Monday evening. Just a little thing happened and that was enough, the last straw as you might say. When it happens, I just go to pieces. A bit like a Windows Blue Screen. I then have to reboot myself. That's done by hiding away for a few days and taking things very gently, usually in close proximity to a deep and absorbing Xantia problem but this time I couldn't even find one to get lost in

The past few weeks have been very busy and in retrospect, pretty stressful, especially at work, so I should have seen it coming but in all honesty, there was nothing to see coming. In fact, early Monday morning I was congratulating myself on how well I was coping with life in general. famous last words

As I say, I'm better now and the reboots take an ever shorter time. I do however, push the limits from time to time to see how things are and I guess that's what I've been doing recently. I certainly know how things are now

Ahh, such is life. I think now I must accept that this is something I'm going to have to live with for the rest of my life and adjust accordingly. Something I've been unwilling to really fully accept but I guess now I must

I've now got a lot of new threads to catch up on...

XantiaMan · Unread post by **XantiaMan** » 13 Nov 2008, 10:46

Hi Jim,

Sorry to hear you've been down a bit recently, your more than welcome to give me a call or talk on MSN.

As for Xantia problems, dont forget my TD needs your special touch on its bushes in the next month

I picked the old girl up last night, not driven it for nearly 2 months and i've missed it greatly, it runs great, lovely and smooth, and free revving.

The Activa has its MOT today, after a saga with waiting for some tyres it had been delayed so i hope to have some good news later!

Gareth

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 13 Nov 2008, 10:51

Jim sorry to hear that and glad the OS is up and running again

If you fancy a trip up north next weekend come with? (should be able to get dads car running)

Unread post by **RichardW** » 13 Nov 2008, 11:25

Jim,

Sorry to hear you've been off colour...

On that temp sensor - I had one like that. It would appear that the fan was running on start up, but would then stop some time later. Heat from the stalled motor / radio then turns the climate off. I couldn't see any way of repairing the motor (it's a brushless DC affair, and I guess some of the tiny electronics had gone phut) - but your electronics skills may win out! Concluding the only way out was a replacement sensor at £80 odd, I ended up with it hanging out of the dash next to the radio for about 40k miles - I sold the car 15 months ago, and it's still there AFAIK! I thought the Mk1 and Mk2 sensors were the same (but I'll check on service.citroen) - but on the MK1 you have to separate the fan / sensor from the LED / grille.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 13 Nov 2008, 12:16

Wow

Thanks all!

Richard, that's an excellent thought. I've seen the fan running on start-up and on a restart but I've not looked to see if it continues to run. I'm off out in a bit so I'll take the Activa and a bright torch and check that

The MK1 and MK2 sensor is very different. I have one here in front of me

It's available to swap for a good MK1 sensor...

Repair might be possible Richard, I know there's a big electrolytic in the motor circuitry and these are always prime suspects in anything electronic..

Gareth, no worries, a bit of Xantia bush therapy is just what I need right now. When do you want to attack the job? Both suspension bushes and the engine mount? My press is ready and waiting. This and next weekend are out but from then on, no worries. When's the MOT due on the TD?

Good luck with the Activa MOT today. If it fails I shall be dining on hats this evening...

John, That could be good fun! If I have a fairly quiet, peaceful week next week, I'll be up for that

KP · Unread post by KP » 13 Nov 2008, 12:30

Jim if you want i can donate you my V plate to help you through further issues in the future

Glad to hear your on the mend now as such things are sometimes downers but getting thru it and feeling better afterwards is the harder task and always worth it to be honest as you learn something new about yourself and other people