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

[xantia_v6]

I have a battery charger which is more than 100 years old. It is in NZ, so I can't take a photo right now, but it has a mains-synchronous vibrating reed rectifier.

I am back in NZ and I dug out the old charger, which turns out to be in a worse state than I remembered. I last saw it 25 years ago, and my dad partly dismantled it 40 or 50 years ago....

Having see the name plate, I did a web search and there is an almost identical unit on ebay.com which is much more photogenic:



Now here is my sorry example:




I am now hoping that I find another box containing the ammeter and screws. I am not confident. The transformer on mine also needs rewinding....

I ventured to the back of the garage today and on the top self was a wooden box with the label "Good Meters" in my dads writing. Fortunately it was one of the few boxes which had not fallen in the 2011 earthquake. I rummaged though the box and found this, which is only about 60 years old, but looks like it has been in use for 100 years.

I rummaged some more and found this, which is period correct, and even the corred make, but the range and mounting are wrong.

Getting right to the bottom of the box, I found....

[mickthemaverick]

Excellent Mike!! The restoration can begin!

[CitroJim]

That's superb Mike Will be delighted to see this one fully restored and operational again!

[CitroJim]

Another good day in the workshop

After a lovely 8 mile run early on, I fitted the new alternator brushes:

Then the alternator was reassembled and crudely bench-tested by connecting a battery between its frame and the big B+ terminal and taking the ignition (charge) light terminal to the battery positive via a 2.2 ohm resistor. Spin the alternator by hand with the battery disconnected and observe it spins easily. Connect the battery and note now how much harder it is to spin it - indicating the rotor is now nicely magnetised by the excitation voltage produced by the regulator module. Disconnect the resistor whilst leaving the battery connected to B+ and frame and it will spin easily again as the magnetic field collapses.

If that happens then chances are all is good. A further test is to connect a voltmeter across the battery and see the voltage rise as you spin the alternator. You don't need to spin it very fast at all to see it start to charge the battery.

The ignition light circuit is essential to excite the alternator. The test resistor above effectively takes the place of the ignition bulb on the dash and its bypass resistor.

Those tests passed, I installed it into Strawberry for the ultimate test

All is good It was interesting to note the alternator on Strawberry was a Mitsubishi. It's the first TU engined car I've ever seen to not have a Valeo/Paris-Rhone alternator fitted...

That done, I addressed Strawberry's irritating lack of instrument pod illumination. Steering wheel off and fuse box cover lifted to give access to the Speedo drive and the connectors. All very easy to disconnect with girly fingers like mine.

So much easier in a Series 1 AX; in a Series 2 it's a right old hand-shredding faff

Pod out and on the bench, I replaced the blown bulbs and tested before reinstalling:

The result

That's better!

And finally, a test of all warning lights

I'm happy now

[mickthemaverick]

Good day's work there Jim, I reckon you deserve a break!!

[CitroJim]

Good day's work there Jim, I reckon you deserve a break!!

Now that would be a very good plan indeed Mick I'm just about due one I feel

[myglaren]

[CitroJim]

Yum

[Stickyfinger]

Ahh a KitKat.....thank god for that I first thought about a bloke called Barry

[myglaren]

Lost me there I'm afraid.

[Skull]

Ahh a KitKat.....thank god for that I first thought about a bloke called Barry

Amazing how he put up with that

[CitroJim]

Ahh, got it! The Barry in question certainly had a lot of breaks... It was said he had so much metal in his legs he used a blowlamp to keep them warm between races...

In his case, 7 was quite lucky, in a way...

[mickthemaverick]

Makes me wonder what a similar picture of Evil looks like?

[Stickyfinger]

Barry's last win....

[CitroJim]

Nothing done on my cars since Wednesday... My re-brushed alternator is happy and all seems good on my fleet

That said, I've been helping a friend with a 2.2 Diesel SkyActiv Mazda 6 coming up with frequent MAF Sensor errors.

This despite the MAF sensor having been replaced in the last year. The EML is now coming on very soon after clearing the MAF-related codes with the same codes.

It seems the car may be suffering from EGR-induced inlet manifold carbon clogging which causes reversion pulses in the inlet tract and confuses the MAF Sensor...

It's amazing just how functional a little Bluetooth OBD2 dongle is in conjunction with an app. running on an Android 'phone. It's even remarkably functional on my Picasso although no Diagbox...

Huge thanks to Mick who magicked up a dongle from thin air when my friend messaged me whilst we were in Coleford asking if I had an OBD2 reader; I said no as Diagbox won't (as far as I know) and he was flabbergasted when a few hours later I told him we had one!!! Within a further two hours of me arriving home and downloading an app. we were reading his car... What a result

It took three attempts to find a decent app. in the Giggle Play store though...

After our morning club run tomorrow we plan to investigate further...

Today I went out for a long run with a good friend. Running to her house I noticed a big pile of (mainly Ford) Haynes Manuals outside a house about a mile from mine being offered free...

I took one there and then and left it at my friend's place for later collection. Any guesses which one? A little clue is it's the one with great personal significance to me.

We then enjoyed a superb long chatty run and on my run home, with one manual under my arm, I helped myself to another three

Running with a pair of Haynes manuals under each arm for a mile is hard work - they're surprisingly heavy... Good upper-body training though