Yup, I just bought her, and yes she’s my first Citroen… Seems to me the hydraulics and suspension (perhaps wheel balance too) needs some attention, but not sure…
Symptoms in order of obviousness…
Hydraulics:
1. So far, there’s always a sudden and very nasty smell in the cockpit when the engine is turned on or revved high whilst in motion. I suspect this is LHM dripping (or recently spilled) onto the block somewhere. For those who have ever dabbled in electronics I would liken this smell to that of an old brown Vero board, or any old and heat damaged circuit board. For those who haven’t dabbled in electronics I would say this smell is like a combination of stale urine (pub toilet), carbolic soap, and burning cardboard. Nice eh? [:p]
2. The brake pedal is somewhat “fidgety”. A little pressure on the pedal that feels right just isn’t quite, and a little more is often too much. So the resulting braking action is somewhat jerky. When the pedal is released it makes a squelching noise that seems too loud.
3. The fluid level indicator on the hydraulic reservoir is pushed all the way to the top of the plastic (or is it glass) bubble. I don’t know whether it’s just jammed up there or there really is way too much LHM in the reservoir.
Suspension (wheels?):
1. There’s a slight wobble in the steering at about 65mph
2. The overall ride seems a bit harder than I’d expect for a car of this type, but cornering seems fine.
That’s enough to be getting on with I’m sure... I was thinking I should forget about the smell thing for a while because it could merely be something that got spilled on the engine recently. The previous owner excused the smell saying it was one of those magic cleaning fluids that he had used all over the car.
I thought I might use a syringe to take some LHM out of the reservoir and see what happens to the indicator. Or maybe you guys can tell me how to check if the indicator is jammed.
I guess I’ll have to get the wheel balance checked at kwik-fit or some such. Naturally I am concerned most about the brakes.
OK, so maybe I’ve bought a very nice looking lemon, and it was that thought which inspired me to call myself Le-Mans. Har har!
FYI: She has 99k on the clock, and according to the service book she was serviced properly up until 54.5k at which time the timing belt was changed. After that, who knows? But she damn sure looks good inside and out!
All comments welcome. [:)]
