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

[CitroJim]

A most excellent day today I went to see dad down in Somerset in Gabriel and she performed absolutely faultlessly

However she did suffer a little accidental ding to her rear wing today



It happened when I arrived at the Southwick Country Park ready for this morning's Parkrun... I reversed into the big rock at the left of the picture... I did not realise it really protrudes into that particular parking bay!!

The damage is very slight and looks worse than it is... I was lucky not to take the rearlight lens out...

It's just added to Gabriel's character and bar touching up the cracked paint I won't do anything about it...

The Parkrun was really good. I scored a new PB and it just remained dry... Just after the end it really started to rain hard...

All the way down this morning I got repeatedly flashed by oncoming drivers due to my high dipped beams. This has happened many times in the past so I thought I'd better look at it. I stopped off to see Alasdair today and tweaked them down a bit... No more flashing but now they're a tad too low and simply bloody atrocious. They're not bright. I'll do the relay mod and check their earths very soon as coming home in the howling rain this evening they were almost dangerous...

The reflectors look fine so I reckon it's just voltage drop making them so bad...

One good result is the source of the leak that caused puddles under the rear seats is now definitely confirmed as the rear washer jet. In all the rain today the underside of the seats remained bone dry

The other good result is that the cambelt work I did last week must have been OK...

Best news of all is that dad is very well indeed as he approaches his 93rd birthday... He can hear again so for the first time in months I could have a normal conversation with him He remains as bright as a button and has not a sign of any mental degeneration at all We had a great catch-up today...

[demag]

Good news Jim apart from the ding! Yes I don't enjoy driving in the dark at the moment. I wonder I could have voltage drop as well. I never thought to check.

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[Stickyfinger]

Fantastic your Dads hearing is much better Jim, the loss of a primary social sense is a dreadfully isolating thing, but eyes and ears, that must of been really tough for him....hearing again, what a fab Christmas present !

[myglaren]

Good to hear your dad is OK Jim, must be very comforting to you and the girls.

[Zelandeth]

Plus side Jim is that it's on the quarter that's already damaged!

I've noted that the lights really aren't great - probably not helped by the headlight switch having a not inconsiderable amount of miles on...

Had the Lada out briefly this evening, and the difference between the lights on that and anything else in the fleet is astonishing, you can see for miles! Do need to adjust the driver's side one though as it's a bit low.

Glad to hear your father is doing better!

[CitroJim]

Plus side Jim is that it's on the quarter that's already damaged!

True Zel And you know, today it does not look as bad as it did yesterday!

That car park is cursed... It's where Gabriel's battery finally failed last time... Must be very careful on my next visit there

Thanks all for the best wishes for dad... That to me is the best Christmas present ever I was so happy to see him so much better yesterday it truly made my day...

I'll be looking closer at the lights today...

[CitroJim]

Happily, not a spot of coolant or oil used yesterday and the oil is not yet black

I checked the voltage drop to the headlamp bulbs and almost 2V is being dropped... The relay mod will be done...

I put a little touch-up paint on the dent where the paint had flaked... Looks better already...

[CitroJim]

I meant to say earlier. On Saturday whilst descending a very steep hill on trailing throttle Gabriel's Engine management Light briefly illuminated...

I popped the ELIT on the car yesterday and the ECU had recorded an intermittent Needle Lift Sensor fault... It cleared fine and all is working perfectly... The pump was following the timing commands from the ECU perfectly and all is running very sweetly...

I remember DickieG having this problem on occasion on his 'Goldie' 1.9TD under the same sort of circumstances... It had done it since new and the dealers could find no problem, reason or solution....

Anyone else ever noticed it?

[Zelandeth]

Yep, I've spotted that a few times Jim.

The place I usually managed to provoke it was on the long downhill 40mph bit as you head into Moulsoe from the Cranfield side, but always on longer periods of coasting.

I did a bit of digging at the time both on here and elsewhere, and the general response seemed to be "some of them just do that, don't worry about it."

Given that the light never appeared at any other times when it shouldn't, didn't have any effect on engine running and remained consistently predictable the whole time I had the car I filed it under the category of "funny things that happen that I'm not going to worry about right now."

[CitroJim]

That's it Zel, during long periods of coasting...

Given that the light never appeared at any other times when it shouldn't, didn't have any effect on engine running and remained consistently predictable the whole time I had the car I filed it under the category of "funny things that happen that I'm not going to worry about right now."

Precisely what I'm doing... I'll just treat it as a useful 'Lamp Test' every now and again...

[Zelandeth]

Meant to say Jim, finally unearthed my label printer yesterday evening (I'd buried it in the garage), and have a label for your timing belt/water pump change made up. Let me know the date and mileage you did the oil and filter and I'll do you one for that too and drop them off next time I'm over your way.

Pretty sure that a fuel and oil filter I found this afternoon when hunting fuel pumps are both for Gabriel as well, so may as well pass them on to you for the future...

[CitroJim]

That's fantastic Zel Really appreciated! The oil and filter was changed the day after so that would have been the 3rd if it was the 2nd I did the belt.. I think it was - seems ages ago now...

I was thinking I ought to get a fuel filter in stock so that'll be very welcome indeed

[demag]

Has anyone seen the Lada on Autotrader?

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[Zelandeth]

Nice, but that's too expensive I reckon.

Saloons are relatively easy to get hold of provided that you're willing to wait a bit for the right car to come along - in the few months I had the "I'm looking for a Riva Estate - cash waiting!" feelers out there, I must have come across half a dozen saloons. The really sought after ones are the earlier models which pre-dated the Riva, or the Riva Estates which are really quite hard to find now.

Being an import vehicle it's worth remembering that the fit and finish on this car is poorer than the cars originally destined for the UK market (which is one of the reason so many got dragged back to the home market in the 90s and early 00s). Interesting to see that it's still got a km/h speedo as well...that technically should have been changed.

Does look to be in pretty decent shape from the photos, though there are a notable lack of any of the underside. Also looks to still be wearing the original soviet tyres, which obviously I'd want off there sharpish!

1300 engine is the oddball in the family as well in that it has a timing belt rather than a (stupidly over engineered, double row) chain, do wonder when (if) that was last changed.

One other question which also springs to mind, given that this is a low mileage car is has it been in continual (albeit low mileage) use, or has it spent a lot of its time in storage, and if so has any necessary recommissioning work been done properly?

It's a tidy car. Don't know whether there is actually some work needed or if it's just that the ad could do with some more info added. Being an LHD car though, and a relatively (by Lada standards!) easily obtainable model I reckon it's overpriced. £2-2.5K would probably be my upper estimate for what it's worth.

This one does however wear the older style front grill which I really do need to get for mine!

[CitroJim]

Just had a bit of a result with GSF. I got a '12 days of Christmas 40% off' email come through.

I've used it to good effect and bought a Valeo clutch kit and a heater matrix for Gabriel for just under £80

In stock for when I'll be needing them...

These emails seem quite frequent now so with the next I'll see if I can score a good deal on some gearbox oil...