All Things V6...

[Mandrake]

Yes CX's are renowned for electrical faults. Up until the 90's Citroen really didn't have a clue how to design electrical systems, you can tell the wiring and electrical design is an afterthought probably delegated to the intern on a Friday afternoon! One of the few faults I had on my S1 CX was an electrical fault in the ignition system, although I don't remember exactly what it was as it was over 15 years ago...

[DHallworth]

Well, I think the CX might be sorted.

Leo and I had a quite look at it last night, it's amazing what fresh eyes can see! There was a split in a vacuum pipe going down to the turbo waste gate, we cut the pipe and remade the end on it and then found that the cable going into the MAF was being stretched quite tight so we slackened it off and gave the car a try, it appears to be fixed...

I've had it up the lane a couple of times and it's not missed a beat, it's starting first time, every time, so fingers crossed!

I'll give it a few more tries over the next few days before deciding if it's definitely fixed or not, but initial results are looking positive.

David.

[Stickyfinger]

[CitroJim]

Excellent

[Mandrake]

Fingers crossed that its fixed and that you just haven't disturbed an intermittent gremlin... Oh how I hate those...

So now you just need the welding guy to pay a visit before you can get an MOT ?

[DHallworth]

Yup, once it's had the fag packet sized patch welded onto it then she's MOT ready!

David.

[DHallworth]

It's been a while since I updated this and there's actually been a few things happen!

Unfortunately the CX still isn't welded. I've given up on the guy who was going to do it so I'm going to trailer it to a company who have been recommended by a friend of mine to get it done.

The 3.0 HDi C5 threw it's toy out of the pram a couple of weeks ago. Cheryl rang me on her way to work to say that the steering had started to feel funny as she pulled into the car park at work. As I was off that day I grabbed my Lexia and some LDS along with some basic tools and headed down to her work. I depressurised the hydraulics and found that the LDS reservoir was empty. I put 2 litres of fluid in it and the steering was back to normal again. This was on a Thursday afternoon.

As this is Cheryl's daily car I didn't have time to have a look at it as I didn't want it off the road for long so the decision to send it to Citroen Glasgow was made. I dropped it off that Monday and by Wednesday they still hadn't found the leak. Cheryl was without a car as well so I ended up having to MOT the 2005 C5 as the MOT had run out the week before, thankfully that passed with flying colours so she was at least mobile.

Anyway, Wednesday and Thursday came and went, however on Friday I got a phone call to say that the leak had been traced to the main hydraulic module. On the later cars this comprises of an electric motor that drives the LDS pump, the LDS pump and the suspension ECU. The cost was going to be a couple of quid short of £1000.

I was however counting my lucky stars as when we'd bought the C5 I'd put a Warranty Direct premium warranty on it. Citroen Glasgow submitted the claim, Warranty Direct approved it and the car has since been repaired. My contribution to the repair was £170. I had to pay the initial £65 diagnostic fee which considering it took 5 days to find the slow leak I thought was pretty reasonable and then I had to make a contribution towards the cost of the part as the car is of a certain age. I was however quite happy to pay £170 instead of £1000.

The gear change on the 3.0 HDi has always been very smooth but I'm a firm believer in prevention being better then cure, especially when Citroen charge £12k for a gearbox so I've done the 1st of 3 gearbox oil changes. When you drop the oil you get 3 litres out so I've put 3 litres of fresh fluid back into the gearbox. The difference in the gear change is remarkable. The only way you know it's changing gear now is by the tone of the engine and the display showing the gear it's in. The changes are undetectable even when under kick down when the pedal is floored.

I'll let Cheryl use it again for a couple of weeks and I'll do the 2nd change, then after we've been away for the weekend in a fortnight I'll do the 3rd and final change. The oil that came out initially was a very, very dark red, almost black and it was very thin, the new stuff was also very thin but was bright red so I can only conclude that it did definitely need changing.

Apparently the gearbox is sealed for life but this car has only just ticked over 70k miles and the benefit from doing an oil change is massive so I'm incredibly glad I did one now

David.

[DHallworth]

After driving the C5 a few times I decided that I really liked that 3.0 HDi engine, it's a lovely, smooth and economical unit and doesn't have the typically narrow power band that a lot of diesels have.

So... last week I ended up with another one! Only this time it's not in a Citroen!!

A plan was hatched as it was the North West Group's technical weekend at NFC Autocare in Thornton Cleveleys. I looked at getting the train to Sleaford to collect the car, however the price of the train was ridiculous. I spoke to Steve and a plan came together. I got the train to Preston on Friday night, then at 6am on Saturday morning Steve and I set off for Sleaford in his C6. We got to the garage at about 8:45 and the car was sitting at the front door ready for us.

We had a quick test drive, paid the man, and then Steve and I headed back to Thornton Cleveleys in convoy. Everything on the 407 is perfect apart from the air conditioning, it was totally dead. Leo attempted to recharge the air con and it appeared to be holding pressure, then we started the car, the compressor kicked in, and then high pressure gas started pouring out from the front of the car. It looked as if there was smoke coming from under the bonnet.

After the under panels were removed it became apparent that there was a hole in the condenser. I've since been in touch with the dealer I got it from and he's agreed to cover the cost of the condenser, the labour to fit it, and the cost of having the system recharged again.















As stupid as it sounds, the only thing was annoying me when I collected the car was the exhaust. It was filthy and the muck was pretty stubborn! I spent 20 minutes giving it a polish and the results speak for themselves.





It makes a change for me to have a car that does sensible numbers to the gallon! Over the 400 miles between Sleaford and Glasgow it averaged 46mpg and only used 2/3 of a tank that cost £75 to fill with premium diesel

It feels a little slower then the C5 though as it's chipped and this one isn't

David.

[Ocellia]

Despite the 'wide-mouthed frog' look, it's a sleek motor!
Nice addition to your fleet!

[CitroJim]

I like the 407 Coupe a lot David Side-on it looks like a shark!

Looks stunning in sliver...

Do enjoy!

[bxzx16v]

Very nice example David , as Jim says its the best colour choice too .

Mark

[Zelandeth]

I don't usually go for silver (not least because it feels like every car you see these days is silver), but have to admit that it really does suit that.

Always did fancy a 406 V6 Coupe. Preferably black with red leather. Had a shot of one more years ago than I care to think about and remember A: that it went like a rocket and B: that it made a truly fantastic noise. ...sadly my student income wasn't really up to the £10,995 pricetag in the window!

[daviemck2006]

Looks a good addition David!

Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk

[DHallworth]

In true Citroen/Peugeot fashion, everything on this car was optional, the same way that it was when the C5 we've got was built.

The 407 has rear parking sensors, but not fronts, and it's got self levelling Xenon lights but not the directional Xenon lights. I had a look around it with Peugeot Planet last night and found out that these can be switched on.

Today, I managed to find a front splitter including parking sensors and the wiring loom on eBay from a car being broken, I also managed to get both front directional headlights too. Interestingly, because the V6 has the adaptive suspension, it's already got the steering angle sensor that the headlights follow and again because the suspension is adaptive and because the old headlamps were self levelling I don't need to retrofit the body height sensors either.

Seeing as the front bumper has to come off to install the air conditioning condenser I'll get these bits & pieces fitted at the same time. They're not essentials but they will make the car that little bit nicer. The adaptive lights are actually very good and once you've had them you do kind of miss them, and when sitting in the car the dashboard is a long way forward and you can't see a thing in front of the windscreen washer jets on the bonnet so it's very hard to judge when parking so the parking sensors will be very handy too.

Once all the parts are here and I've started fitting them I'll post up some more pictures

David.

[Stickyfinger]

Ummm, maybe start thinking of "other things" to do, a certain date is looming ....

Car sounds spot on.