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

[CitroJim]

Will do Zel. It wont be until next week now as I'm currently away from home enjoying a little change of scenery...

[Skull]

Man at work

Skull's - Jim at work

I have to say that's a fine head of hair Jim

[Zelandeth]

Will do Zel. It wont be until next week now as I'm currently away from home enjoying a little change of scenery...

No worries. Hope the break does you good.

[CitroJim]

Will do Zel. It wont be until next week now as I'm currently away from home enjoying a little change of scenery...

No worries. Hope the break does you good.

Oh yes, no doubt about that Our overnight accommodation and evening meal were both absolutely superb

The predicted weather may modify our plans a bit today though

[CitroJim]

Man at work



I have to say that's a fine head of hair Jim

That's all down to having a good pair of clippers and lots of practice I've not been to a barbers in living memory!

It's an old family tradition: we've been amateur barbers for generations

It was really great to see you yesterday Skull Hopefully we've helped to narrow the problem down somewhat

Keep us posted on progress

I was intrigued to see a late version (9.129) of Diagbox reverts to being proper old-school Lexia when connected to a Xantia

And the Diagbox version of Lexia runs al lot smoother than any previous version I've experienced...

One day I must see what it makes of an AX

[MattBLancs]

Man at work



I have to say that's a fine head of hair Jim

Come on Skull, you know the drill, the one who's behind has the job of checking

Spoiler: show

Borrowed from https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-1490365-baboons-pick-fleas-off-each-other-grooming?dd_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

[Skull]

Clean as a whistle Matt

[CitroJim]

Matt and Gary, I've just had a great giggle at your most recent posts here

[CitroJim]

As will have been seen elsewhere, I partook of a bit of Xantia therapy yesterday and it was good And delighted to see said Xantia get a new MoT

I thoroughly enjoyed a long drive in it - thanks Alasdair - and marvelled at just what a lovely drive this venerable Sinker is... Proper 'magic carpet'

And the engine runs beautifully - Emissions were almost non-existent... Not bad for having nearly 200K on the clock!

A drive along a fairly sketchy stretch of road I'd not long since driven in my posh van really brought home just how great a proper hydraulic Citroen deals with it and just how badly a 'modern' doesn't

Speaking of my posh van, the 'SERVICE' light has lit up so whilst I was near the Frome branch of Halfords, I popped in and got all the necessary bits to do the job.

Being French, she'll be getting a nice drink of Total oil...

Unlike our MK one, they had all I needed coupled with good friendly, knowledgeable service too. Result

[CitroJim]

A most magical time in the Forest yesterday

My first running event in a long, long time and the furthest I've ran in a while too!

I only went to be social and catch-up with a lot of old friends I'd not seen for a while with the intention of perhaps walking part of the course with my camera. Instead I ended up entering the event and running a decent distance, albeit slowly as I had a lot of talking to do

My legs were not too thrilled about it but they've got over it now

I'm on my way back. That's one third of an ultra marathon ran - my target for 2026 is to run a few of them...

[CitroJim]

In another move to getting back to normal, I gave the posh van an oil and filter change yesterday along with a thorough check-over and basic service.

Using my 'sump sucker' to empty the sump of old oil was a breeze and I believe the sucker gets more out than a conventional drain via the sump plug - it being an 'innie'. Using a sucker really is a game changer and so much cleaner

It was howling down with rain all the while but working under my carport with a side curtain up worked a treat

Today, it is Strawberry's turn for an oil change and basic service...

Now I'm pretty much recovered I can get caught up on a lot of work that had to be deferred...

Amongst much else, next week I plan to start work on getting a new MoT on Bluebell although she'll remain on SORN until the late spring.

Unless the budget changes all of that on Wednesday...

[Zelandeth]

Had to resort to returning to the stone age today to get the oil out the Rover...when it's stone cold trying to get near enough two gallons of 20W50 with the vacuum pump was clearly going to take about a week and a half.

...As it was it still took about 15 minutes to fully drain out the sump plug. Like yours it has the drain not at the lowest point - got well over a pint out by vacuum after it had stopped draining by gravity.

I'd forgotten how much I hated crawling around on my back under the car in winter! At least I fit under the Rover...unlike the Volvo. It's only getting the vacuum drain used because it's way too low for me to get under and it's way too low to drive onto my ramps - oh and I'd have to remove about 7,500 screws to pull the under tray off because there's no access panel in it.

[CitroJim]

Yes, I can well appreciate that Zel, even with warm oil it's not fast but still better to vacuum it out than scrabble around fighting sump plugs

I did same on Strawberry yesterday and she's now good for the winter in all respects...

Now to work on Bluebell and get her MoT'd. She's in the queue. I really must get your amp. done first Bobins. A lot of a busy life is currently getting in the way of that.

[PaulC5]

One of the first things I do when I get a new to me car is to grease the under tray screws. If not done they rust into the flimsy fast clips and then when being undone damage the plastic under tray as the clips rip out of the plastic. Also put some copper grease on the wheel hubs where they contact the wheels, saves them rusting on and being difficult to remove, especially if a puncture and removing at the side of a road.

[MattBLancs]

One of the first things I do when I get a new to me car is to grease the under tray screws. If not done they rust into the flimsy fast clips and then when being undone damage the plastic under tray as the clips rip out of the plastic. Also put some copper grease on the wheel hubs where they contact the wheels, saves them rusting on and being difficult to remove, especially if a puncture and removing at the side of a road.

I was going to say "me too" but now I come to think of it what the should say is

One of the first things I do when I get a new to me car is to...


... Buy and fit the under tray that's gone missing in it's previous owner's hands

But yes, plenty of copper grease on those fittings plus wheel bolts (and where alloy wheel and brake disk contact one another)
Doing the bolts with the torque wrench also gives me confidence I'll not be jumping up and down on the cheap bendy wheel brace at the side of the road!