GEEEE'z what an adventure!

Xantic · Unread post by **Xantic** » 22 Jun 2009, 21:57

CitroJim wrote:
davetherave wrote:
Citroen appriciators really are the nicest of people, it makes it all worthwhile owning them
Agreed!

Absolutely spot-on Best thing about owning a Citroen and certainly the best thing I ever did, getting into Citroens and it was all by accident really

I often wonder if there are any other makes of cars that have the same incredibly friendly, sociable and helpful band of owners?

I found the members on the Omega owners forum were a good bunch too, In saying that i find this forum to be good also..

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 24 Jul 2009, 14:19

Just a quick update.

A bit later on this afternoon, me and a couple friends are off over to Southampton until Sunday evening.
Typically the forcast isn't great for Saturday and the small leak which I think is from the radio ariel is getting leakier

Cheerio

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 24 Jul 2009, 20:20

Do enjoy Kev and I hope the weather will be a bit better than here today. It has been shocking. Driving along the A1 this afternoon in what could only be described as a monsoon deluge was fun; ther lightning was very entertaining.

What did surprise me was how many drivers decided it was too much and pulled into laybys. Every one was full of sheltering cars. Maybe they were all broken down?

Still, no fear of a water shortage

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 02 Aug 2009, 20:53

Decided to have a break from tractor restoring this evening and have a looksie at the alarm problem that was put on the to do list just before the Midland Section rally last year.
To rule in/out the volumetric sensors the plan was always to take them out of the equation using the button on the right hand side of the steering wheel rather than disconnect them so that I could find out what was wrong with this button which didn't really do much...well anything apart from looking interesting

I managed to get the button's trim half out without removing the top steering wheel cowling (a sod on the S1s as you have to remove the steering wheel) using some allen key type torx bits, these also helped when removing the trim.
After lifting the trim I found that a cable to the non-functioning but nevertheless interesting looking button was non existant along with the cowboy looking missing screw and small parts of snapped/scratch plastic

The thing that worries me slightly is that there is a direct cable coming from the alarm ECU according to the offical Citroen diagrams so if I don't find the cable cut off at the alarm ECU, then it must have been cut somewhere in around the dash or the plug maybe hiding away. After experiencing a spark from live wires dangling below the steering wheel when stripping for the blower mod and the problem with one of the sidelight/lights on warning wires being trapped and grounded behind the fuse box, its something I want to look into fairly sharpish even if it means removing part of the dash.
If it did come to that, I could get around to putting a cable in for the footwell blower (something else missing from the what now looks to be a very botched dash out job) and replacing a couple of blown bulbs in the instrument panel.

Not quite a quick fix after all

EDIT: Interesting...just been out to tidy up for the night and poked a torch in behind the trim and found a plug that looks like it will fit into the button but the pins are in the wrong place...investigations will commence tomorrow!

Unread post by **admiral51** » 02 Aug 2009, 21:11

Hi Kev
From memory on the S1 (never looked at a S2

) the wiring for this particular button is very tight and can get caught under the instrument panel on refitting if care is not taken.Not saying how i know but....

It could well be that this particular connection has not been made due to this very reason.

The only time ive delved into this area i have always removed steering wheel and all the other usual bits and bobs.I would not be suprised if the wiring has been caught under the instrument cluster and chaffed(sp?) through

Colin

Unread post by **admiral51** » 02 Aug 2009, 21:13

Hi Kev
just seen your edit i believe there are a couple of plugs that are in behind the panel but dont have a specific button.I believe this is probably to trim level wiring in place but not actually needed

Colin

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 03 Aug 2009, 20:21

I found another square plug this time grey with numbers on the wires that matched those on the alarm wiring diagram tucked over by the steering wheel. The wire to it was very short and had been caught by the instrument cluster, so spot on Colin!

As I had to loosen the instrument cluster to get this wire free, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and pull it out to change the dipped headlight bulb which has never worked whilst in my ownership.

I plugged the 'silence' button back in to the loom and now when holding the button for a couple of seconds I am greeted with a solid alarm light indicating that the volumetic sensors have been temporarily disabled

I could then continue my investigations by locking and arming the Xant to narrow down the faults in the alarm system. After approx five minutes, the alarm went off showing that there must be a fault in the perimeter security. As this uses the same sensors as the lights on warning system, I turned the lights on and went round to open the passenger compartment doors and found that the NSR door was a bit hesitant about setting off the warning beep. I will go and see if this can be cleaned up and most probably see if any of the others are due cleaning. After this is properly sorted I'll then put the volumetrics back into use to see if they need replacing.

Unread post by **admiral51** » 03 Aug 2009, 20:37

red_dwarfers wrote: The wire to it was very short and had been caught by the instrument cluster, so spot on Colin!

I got something right

Ok so it was not very technical but never the less......

Glad you are making headway with it Kev

Colin

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 04 Aug 2009, 21:48

I cleaned the sensors of both the NS doors in the end the the front one was a little hesitant today. Stripped it all down and it looks a little like water damage, cleaned it all up with some fine sandpaper and so far the alarm hasn't gone off. I did also check the boot sensor with a multimeter and that appears to be fine.
I'll bring the volumetrics back into play in a couple of weeks if the alarm doesn't go off

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 13 Aug 2009, 18:57

Lovely day out today with the family to Lydford Gorge, nice and chilled under all those picturesque trees and the sparkling and soothing water. The Xantia was doing me proud with the boot containing food/jackets/sunglasses and snowboots

and 3 passengers. The suspension does appear to be more comfortable with a few passengers and after I cleaned the rear height corrector yesterday. I can also report that the rear HC linkage can be removed without disturbing the hydraulic side of things with relative ease. After around 7 months and 3-4k I also changed the oil and filter. Yes, im expecting this Xantia to be around for quite a while yet

Going back to our visit to Lydford Gorge. We had taken two cars as there were 8 of us. After finishing the day off with a fantastic cream tea at 4pm we trotted off to the cars I reversed out of my space and was putting the clutch down ready to go into first and BANG stuck in reverse...

First time in a breakdown situation and I was blocking one of the exits from the car park

I was on a downhill stretch so a few people pushed the car forward so we could stick it in neutral and rolled right back into a space next to a C5.
I was contemplating putting the clip that I had in the breakdown bag in but after taking a torch to the location I decided that it would be best to tackle it at home and so rang the very helpful people at Autonational Rescue

got through to them immediatly and shortly after recieved a text message containing details of the local garage that would be taking the Xantia back home and when the estimated time of arrival would be. A couple minutes after that I had the local breakdown firm ring me asking for more details of location etc, all very helpful. About half an hour after that, Lifton Down garage attended with a chirpy chap who had a soft spot the suspension design.

Im going to attempt to replace the clip this evening/all day tomorrow/full time for the next 5 days (delete as appropriate)

Im rather glad that it happened in a car park at the destination

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 13 Aug 2009, 20:05

UPDATE:

After taking a more indepth look, the clutch clip (both plastic bit and metal retainer) are still there all intact albeit without a cable. Also around the gearbox end after taking off the airbox I find that the lever at this end is rather slack, a few inches, surely this should be quite solid?
The plan at the moment is to unclip the cable from this end, and reclip the cable in with a new metal retainer and see if it works.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 13 Aug 2009, 21:23

Hi Kev,

Sorry to hear of your calamity

Good job it happened where it did...

Sounds like the cable has broken perhaps? That movement at the arm end is normal if the cable is not anchored to the pedal.

All the best for doing the job. It's not really as bad as it seems

Where's Lydford Gorge then Kev? The only Lydford I know of is a village in Somerset on the A37 between Yeovil and Shepton Mallent that is home to a rather good scrapyard. I don't recall there being a gorge there

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 13 Aug 2009, 22:10

Thanks Jim

I'll be cracking on with it tomorrow morning.

Lydford Gorge is a National Trust place just to the west side of central Dartmoor, between Okehamptop and Tavistock. Lovely place for a day out walking

Unread post by **RichardW** » 14 Aug 2009, 08:13

This movement you are talking about - is it the operating lever for the clutch on the top of the gearbox? I wouldn't expect much (a few mm?) slack movement in this - it is permanently engaged with the release bearing. The movement of the operating end of the cable (the outer remember on these infernal pull clutches!) is only about 2" for normal clutch operation. If you have lots of movement on this arm, then sadly I fear the release bearing has parted company with the clutch, and it's gearbox out time

If the play is in the bracket for the end of the inner cable, then this has parted company with the gearbox - might be able to fix it back on, depends on the damage to the mounting bolts on the box casing.

Steel yourself for the worst! At least the foreacst for the weekend is not bad!

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 15 Aug 2009, 12:16

Hi Richard
*cough*

It turns out I was looking at the wrong bit of the gearbox. It took me a while to find the cable

It turns out that the plastic clip is intact and it was the metal retainer that had snapped

Once I got going, it didn't take long to take the pedal off with an allen key type torx and a 13mm ratchet spanner. My nut was on the brake pedal side which I presume is the right side. I slipped the new metal clip partly on with the pedal off, stuck the bolt back in, unclipped the cable from the gearbox end, pushed it through so the bullet poked into the passenger compartment, lined up the plastic clip using an open ended 13mm spanner, lifted the clutch pedal to push the white clip onto the bullet, pushed the cable through from the gearbox end and clipped the new clip on with some VERY long nose pliers

Took about an hour.