Xac's adventures with Cassy (and friends + wife)

[Xaccers]

Well, last weekend I replaced the hydroflush with nice bright LHM.
The hydroflush came out the colour of cola!
I do love Activa alloys when it comes to bleeding brakes

Juliet's back is still staying high and hard on startup, flooring the brakes or revving the engine for a while can often stimulate it to drop.

I'm guessing it's linked to the front spheres, considering how flat the rears were, they're likely to be just as bad.

I took her into London on Thursday as had some equipment to take down with me that was just too awkward to take on the train.
On the M1 in the outside lane, just south of Luton airport traffic slowed to a stop, not particularly rapidly and I could see the line of red lights heading towards me from quite a distance.
The car behind me indicated and moved into the middle lane as that was still flowing at least for a little longer.
I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a silver Laguna II hurtling towards me braking hard, I floored it and pulled as far to the right as I could, and he swerved into the middle lane sweeping through the area Juliet's passenger side just was!
What is it with people not looking ahead of them?
Then there were the idiots on the way out through London, like some prat with a deathwish on a mini motorbike swerving top heavily through traffic deliberately aiming for pedestrians crossing the road. Grrr

I've got her booked in for a free MoT at the local PSA garage. If she fails and I can't put her right on site, then a retest is charged at the full amount, so the plan then would be to book a test with Mr Clutch as I've used them before, and they're doing them for £21.

Tomorrow I'm off to my parents to whip the starter motor off the old LX's engine which hopefully will sort out Cassy.

[Xaccers]

Took Juliet to the local pug garage for a free MoT
Thankfully I arrived an hour early to go to the parts dept for a hydraulic pump o-ring as I noticed hers is weeping.
They asked me for the letter. What letter I asked? The one you get emailed/sent after filling out the booking form online.

Dashed home, went online, filled out the form, got the email, printed it off, sped back, got there just as they were ready to take her in
That'll teach me for not reading the website fully!
Sneaky website, if you go straight to the "find the nearest dealer offering free MoT's" link, then take the Free MoT logo on your chosen dealer's details page as just a logo, you're likely to just phone up and book and then miss out.
You have to click on the logo and fill out the form.

So anyway, they did the job, she passed with only 3 advisaries.

1. Airbag light flashing - knew about that
2. Weeping PAS pump - knew about that
3. Number plate lights dim - didn't even think to check them! They are very dim, so it looks like a dodgy earth or something reducing the current. Will have to investigate further.

Emissions:

Fast Idle Test @ 2662rpm

CO 0.05 (0.20 limit)
HC 10 (200 limit)
Lamda 0.998 (0.97-1.03 limit)

Natural Idle Test @ 805rpm
CO 0.12 (0.30 limit)

I ordered two o-rings, one for Cassy as she's weeping a little bit too.
They should arrive on Tuesday so hopefully I will have a job in MK during the week so I can go and get them.

[CitroJim]

So anyway, they did the job, she passed with only 3 advisaries.

Brilliant Delighted

She's thanking you for all the sterling you've you've done on the forum Xac!

[Xaccers]

Would you have time for me to pop over on Sunday to say hi to everyone and have a lexia session to find out which component is causing the airbag light to flash?
Can I also pop off my front spheres and check them?

[CitroJim]

Would you have time for me to pop over on Sunday to say hi to everyone and have a lexia session to find out which component is causing the airbag light to flash?
Can I also pop off my front spheres and check them?

Yes, of course

[Xaccers]

Popped round to Jim's this afternoon for a lexia session and to say hi to Toby and Paul.
Also hoped to try and find out what was wrong with Juliet's sport mode button as the light wasn't coming on when pressed.
It was this which Toby and I tried to sort out.
Jim had a broken one which we dismantled to check which contacts went to what.
I checked the plug on the dashboard, three wires, two gave 12v (obviously the normal illumination feed), one gave about 3v.
I checked the corresponding contacts on the switch for the illumination, there should be a circuit between them as the green LED (S2 have LEDs not bulbs which is an improvement) lights up when the car's lights are turned on, but there was nothing.
Then Jim pointed something out, when we took the dash apart to do the heater matrix, we may have gotten the sport and alarm plugs the wrong way round.
We had noticed the red LED lighting dimly on the alarm button.
So I popped that out of the dash, a heck of a lot more wires were in the back of the plug, swapped the switches over and hey presto, all working as it should.

[Xaccers]

at finmere with danielle and juliet.
replaced the o-ring on the back plug of the hydraulic pump as it was weeping too and now my steering is nice and light.
will have to order two more for cassy

while she was up on the ramps I gave her correctors a good lube and her arc a good manual workout.

rocking the car produced a clunking from the osr.
Jiiiim, can juliet have a ram bush please?

[CitroJim]

Jiiiim, can juliet have a ram bush please?

Yeeeesssss

[Xaccers]

Thank you Jim

Well, as darkness fell on Finmere, and everyone else departed, I had a go at sorting out the headlights as there is a dark patch in the beams on the near side, as though the headlight on that side is doing nothing.

Well, it's as though someone has aligned the headlights for the continent, the OS is slightly to the right, the NS is even more to the right!
Yes, the beams cross!
In order to adjust the NS beam, I had to remove the battery, which makes the job much more long winded, as the long allen keys I own have balled ends which is great if you have to undo something at an angle, but not great if you have a plastic hex socket to turn and it's stiff.
Anyway, the adjuster was all the way to the right by the feel of it, so I've managed to bring it back a bit, but it could be the mechanism is broken (there has been a prang at the front on that side before - or it could have been clumsy fingers of a previous owner/citroen mechanic).
God knows how it passed the MoT!

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a chance to get new bulbs to see if that improves the beam quality, and a long normal allen key.

[Xaccers]

Well the local aldi didn't have any bulbs, so the only choice was Halfrauds.
In the car park I managed to get the old bulbs out, all four of them just to check.
Two lost their filaments on taking them out, so obviously were nearing the end of their life, and one had what looked like a crack inside the glass in the same plane as the surface.
I popped off the covers of the number plate bulbs and they looked burnt and dark, until I pulled them out and saw rather than being clear, they were silver capped! Why they were fitted I have no idea.

So I had a look at the bulbs on offer.
First off, the bulb sheet says pre 97 Xantias use 448 bulbs (H1), and post 2000. Between 97 and 99 apparently they use 477 bulbs (H4).
Perhaps Halfrauds are in league with Haynes?
Preparing myself to be seriously ripped off, I spotted basic bulbs for £10 a pair, which looked like the unimpressive ones I'd take out and thrown away.
For £15-20 they had bulbs ranging in 30%, 60% and 90% brighter than standard, so I went for the 90% gulping at the thought of spending £80 on bulbs, I noticed on the way to the till (wishing I hadn't checked my bulbs until I'd bought new cheaper ones) that the superbright bulbs are on 2for1 so at least I saved a bit of money.
The bulbs are definitely brighter, they just need aligning now.

[Xaccers]

Well, the new bulbs are very bright, too bad they're ruined by MK2 headlights!

Even after adjusting them so the light is directed ahead and to the left rather than the right, they're best described as "adequite"
Too many dark lines and patches.

Give me the flood lights of a MK1 anyday!

Did someone once say that you can convert a MK2 front end into a MK1?

[CitroJim]

Did someone once say that you can convert a MK2 front end into a MK1?

I believe you can Find the owner of a silver MK1 who wants it to look like a MK2 and job's a good 'un It's all bolts...

You'll need the MK1 "fat" wings though...

[xantia_v6]

Doesn't make sense to me, the mk2 optics appear to be identical to the late mk1. Maybe you just have a faulty lamp unit?

[RichardW]

Xac,

Those Halfords bulbs are horrible.... I had some, and they were really taking the micky for £20 each! This is probably why you've got all the funny light output. I've got Phillips Nightbreakers in mine, and they make the Halfords jobbies look like toys - esp at £20 a pair from Powerbulbs - they can be a bit short lived though. I rate the Mk2 lights as much better than the Mk1s - however, driving in fog mine appears to be boss eyed - the OS lamp is lighting up the kerb, and the NS lamp the middle of the road. One day I'll get around to tweaking the alignment a bit. They're all still rubbish if the lights are dirty, and I think a relay mod might be in order on mine too.

Still if you think Xantias are bad, try a Picasso - they use H4s, and when you switch to main beam, all the bottom light on the road in front of the car disappears - you almost need to wind the level adjuster up and down every time you go from dip to main

How hard can it be to make a decent set of headlights????

[Xaccers]

Never actually had a problem with Halfrauds' bulbs in the past, and looking around equivalent bulbs would have set me back the same or more.

My beams were definitely crossed (obviously a previous owner had never watched Ghostbusters!), with the OS lighting directly in front of the middle of the bumper and the NS lighting up the white line in the road!
Maybe the lenses are duff, I've not driven another S2 to compare, but they're not impressive in pattern.
Sure they're not as bad as the last Vauxhaul I drove, now they were bad.
Next time you see Star Wars A New Hope, check the square screen on the console of the X-Wings, there's a star like pattern, it's about the same shape as the light pattern the Vauxhall.
Ah, here's a photo