I'm back! (And looking for a Citroen...)

[DickieG]

Weird. I don't see the point of the curved springy bit then.

The curved spring applies a sideways load onto the caliper effectively bracing the caliper and stopping it rattling around, it's the whole reason for the part and solves the problem.

Surely the whole thing is just working as a big flat washer under the bolt heads then ? Why not just a single piece flat washer with 2 holes in it ?

The bolts are the caliper carrier bolts being used to locate the spring, no more, I can't see what good adding a couple of washers under the bolt heads will do

[Mandrake]

I give up

I'm sure you're right, I just can't see what its doing from the point of view shown in the pictures. All I see is a spacer under the two bolts and a curved bit thats sitting in mid air not touching anything... if it works, great

[DickieG]

I give up

I'm sure you're right, I just can't see what its doing from the point of view shown in the pictures. All I see is a spacer under the two bolts and a curved bit thats sitting in mid air not touching anything... if it works, great

In the two photo's of the spring in place the caliper is swung up out of the way in order to be able to see the clip in situ, when the caliper is lowered into position it presses relatively hard against the spring which stops it rattling around.

[Mandrake]

I give up

I'm sure you're right, I just can't see what its doing from the point of view shown in the pictures. All I see is a spacer under the two bolts and a curved bit thats sitting in mid air not touching anything... if it works, great

In the two photo's of the spring in place the caliper is swung up out of the way in order to be able to see the clip in situ, when the caliper is lowered into position it presses relatively hard against the spring which stops it rattling around.

Ah ok, that explains it then. I'm an idiot for not noticing the calliper was missing

[lexi]

Are you thinking too much?

[DickieG]

I don't have any experience of AEP supplied spheres but have personally tested GS's Amtex and genuine Citroen sphere's which have been sitting on the shelf and have found them to last many years with minimal or no loss of pressure, likewise I've never been supplied with one that was down on pressure. What make of sphere do AEP supply?

[Mandrake]

What make of sphere do AEP supply?

The ones AEP supplied me are IFHS.

As I said only one of them is old, the others are all between 1-4 months old from manufacture, which I think is pretty good. The one that's 14 months old also has quite a but of rust on the inside of the sphere neck, so has obviously been sitting on a shelf somewhere. If I had a pressure tester I would have tested it and asked for an exchange if necessary, but I don't have one and I'm not keen to take it off now that its on the car. I'll be checking other things first - including the front ride height (which looks a bit high) and the mounting of the left hydractive pipe as described earlier. The brake calliper anti-rattle springs are also worth a look if they're not too dear or hard to fit. (Rusty bolts etc) And of course there is the ever present spectre of a worn droplink

Come to think of it, on doing a bit more driving today it does seem to be more the front left than the front right that "clatters" over the broken surfaces... and the left hand side is the one where the hydractive pipe has slipped out of position, so I think its the first thing I'll check, and something I can probably fix without any parts.

[DickieG]

Try pulling up the handbrake just enough to take up the slack, it's an excellent way of finding out if the brakes are responsible.

[Mandrake]

Try pulling up the handbrake just enough to take up the slack, it's an excellent way of finding out if the brakes are responsible.

Will do. Forgot about that test. Mind you I had two passengers in the car all the way who would probably wonder why I was pulling the handbrake on while driving (I already have a bit of a mad scientist reputation as it is, no need to further fuel that perception )

[CitroJim]

All I can say is that those springs on the calipers work. I know as I now own the very car Richard fitted them to... It is silent

Anyway Simon, how are you enjoying the V6? I ask as I ran mine to Somerset and back today and realised what a wonderful car it is. I'd not driven it in about six weeks and I'd forgotten what it was like. It was a very pleasant experience and very different to the ratty HDi I normally pilot

I get the same feelings for the Activa on the rare occasions I drive that one....

[Mandrake]

All I can say is that those springs on the calipers work. I know as I now own the very car Richard fitted them to... It is silent

The ride seemed a lot better today, I'm wondering if there was still a bit of air in the system that hadn't worked its way out despite a few rounds of citroerobics...

Anyway Simon, how are you enjoying the V6? I ask as I ran mine to Somerset and back today and realised what a wonderful car it is. I'd not driven it in about six weeks and I'd forgotten what it was like. It was a very pleasant experience and very different to the ratty HDi I normally pilot

I get the same feelings for the Activa on the rare occasions I drive that one....

Yes I'm greatly enjoying driving it, especially now that the spheres have been done, it now feels a lot more like my last Xantia to drive, just MUCH MORE grunty Also more thirsty. I haven't filled the tank yet, just put a little bit in here a bit in there as money is short this month, so I seem to be topping it up quite often but to be fair I'm only putting in £15-30 at a time, and we've done over 350 miles in the 2 weeks we've had it mostly urban travelling, but also one trip to edinburgh. (don't ask me where all those miles went, I have no idea, and have to take the trip counters word for it )

I can't figure out what MPG I'm getting yet due to putting in small amounts of fuel here and there but it can't be over 25mpg I think. Mind you on my 2 litre auto I only ever got 28mpg at the most around town and 32mpg on the open road...I think part of the mental disconnect is that I'm now having to think in miles instead of kilometres, as well as pounds for petrol instead of dollars, plus the fact that fuel at the pump is nearly 40% more expensive here than in NZ.

It probably wasn't wise to buy a V6 from the perspective of running costs but it was one of those impulse buys, I always wanted the V6 version of the Xantia, haven't had a car for nearly 3 years and said to hell with it, I'm going to get it and enjoy driving it I don't use it for long daily commutes anyway, my work commute is very short plus random incidental trips, probably more so when the summer comes around for things like going to the beach etc...

I love the V6, although its a bit noisier at higher RPM than I expected, certainly noisier than the 2 litre 8 valve which itself was a very smooth and fairly quiet engine... the gearbox does have a couple of quirks though, in normal mode it does seem to drift into "old man mode" as you call it, after a bit of gentle around town driving - where it shifts up too soon and is reluctant to kick down.

I find that if I start off on a steep hill if I don't put my foot down fairly quickly it will shift up and end up wanting to chug up the hill at around 1200 rpm with fairly slow pickup, and even applying 2/3 throttle wont kick it back down a gear, if I press a bit further it will but then it will literally spin the wheels with torque when it finally does kick down. So it seems to be reluctant to kick down a gear when it falls into "old man mode". On the other hand if I engage the sport mode its completely the opposite - it will hold the revs very high before shifting up. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground if you leave it in normal but drive sedately most of the time...

Another thing I notice with sport mode is that as you slow down towards stopping there is quite a lurch as it changes from 2nd down to 1st that isn't there in normal mode... Is this normal ?

I have also noticed a little bit of intermittent idle speed when first starting the engine, but only sometimes. The idle will drop, then recover, drop then recover etc, sometimes stalling, but its fairly rare and goes away after warming up a couple of minutes. Most of the time the idle is dead steady at just under 900rpm.

Overall, loving it. Haven't had a full tank of petrol and a chance to give it a really good drive since the suspension has been done - sadly the trip to Edinburgh was before the spheres were done, so it was a somewhat careful trip...

[Mandrake]

Here's another one for you V6 experts

The temperature warning light at the top of the temperature gauge comes on when the car is cold and first started, then flickers in and out intermittently for the first bit of driving, also bringing the stop light on. After a while it goes out, and it seems to be related to movement, coming on and off with engine movement. Obviously the engine is not overheated when its cold so its a sensor problem.

I had much the same problem on my 2 litre - which had a temperature sensor at the top of the radiator, and all it was was a dirty connector near the top of the radiator which I cleaned to fix the problem. I assume there is a similar sensor somewhere on the radiator on the V6 ? Can anyone tell me where the connector for it is so I can try cleaning it ? (or suggest what else it might be)

[lexi]

On the 2 V6 I have had low coolant level can do that with warning light.

although its a bit noisier at higher RPM than I expected,

Yes but what a lovely noise

The other thing with fuel Simon..........it is just so expensive. You would even have noticed the difference had you got another
2 litre from last time you had one.

I liked your remark about "impulse buy" and the V6. You are young.........enjoy it! Keep those buys going...........all else are boring transport diesel buys and those may come along with old age and /or kids

[Mandrake]

On the 2 V6 I have had low coolant level can do that with warning light.

Yikes, I better check that then.

Next question is recommend coolant/mix etc, since the owners manual is missing... back in NZ if it was a small top up required I probably would have just added some distilled water if I didn't have a bottle of coolant handy as conditions never went below freezing but here I wouldn't want to dilute the mix and raise the freezing point...does it have a green glycol based mix in at the moment or one of the orange ones ?

The other thing with fuel Simon..........it is just so expensive. You would even have noticed the difference had you got another
2 litre from last time you had one.

I know, petrol is hideously expensive here. Petrol has risen a lot everywhere in the last 3 years since I had a car but even so petrol back in NZ is about 30-40% cheaper than it is here. How, when it has to be shipped to the bottom of the world, I don't know... the difference must be in tax, everything is taxed far higher here. (Just look at 20% VAT vs 15% GST in NZ, which until last year was only 12.5%...)

Edit: ok so the gap has closed in the last couple of years, largely due to the NZ dollar being much stronger against the pound than it used to be. (It's currently $1.93 per £1, when I moved here it was $2.70 per £1 )

95 octane in NZ is currently $2.24 / litre, which is £1.16. Still cheaper but not by as much due to the NZ dollar strengthening...

[lexi]

That car Simon was changed out with the standard Blue ethylene glycol from Unipart at 50/50. I think that is correct type for engine.