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

Tell us your ongoing tales and experiences with your French car here. Post pictures of your car here as well.
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CitroJim
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Unread post by CitroJim »

MikeT wrote: p.s. If this report means you've got a pump for spares, could I please have the governor idle spring set (at end and outside of governor cage) as either me or the cat's have hidden mine?
They're all rusty Mike and really not fit for service but I'm sure I can find a better set for you.

Do you mean the springs that press on the throttle plate between it and the distributor head? And do you mean the actual governor cage?

I've been a bit busy recently and apart from the visit to Duxford on Sunday, I have been totally occupied with learning Java to enable me to write a web application. last week the only thing I knew about Java was that it was a programming language so the learning curve was very steep!

My first task was to by a book called "Learn Java in 24 hours". Whilst the title was a tad optimistic it did allow me to gain a fundamental understanding and it's culminated in me getting the essential bits of a servlet-based application running on Apache Tomcat. It was a bit of "in at the deep end" as this application needs to query a database from parameters given in the website URL and display the results in a web page. It just needs tidying and exception catching to be completed now before it goes into use.

My first choice for such a job would have been to use PHP (the language this forum is written in) but that avenue was not open to me.

Java is a lovely language once you get the gist of it; the biggest problem by far is that there is an absolute dearth of clearly written documentation. It all seems to be written by semi-illiterate geeks who have a love of big and obscure words. In short, the documentation is pretty impenetrable :twisted: The computer equivalent of a BoL!

The book I mentioned is thankfully one that is very much an exception and for a computer book is surprisingly readable :D Every chapter ends with an amusing question and answer that has absolutely nothing to do with the subject in hand.

I've missed a lot of happenings on the forum as a result but will catch up over the coming days...

I must confess to feeling a tad proud of what I've achieved...

Hopefully, this weekend I can get back to playing cars. I must make sure mine is Ok before taking possession of Robyn's 206 whilst she is in Iceland for a week on a geography field trip (the country, not the shop although I'm sure many women could spend a week in that shop :roll: ) and get it through its MOT.

It will be good to get back to the spanners after my enforced Java immersion...
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
MikeT
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Unread post by MikeT »

Sorry I wasn't clear, Jim. This pic should help overcome the confusion of naming conventions.

Image

See the idle spring on the left end, outside the cage, the bits that hook over and contact the governor leverset? Those are the parts I'm missing, comprises of two cups, a couple of washers/shims, the spring and a circlip IIRC.
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CitroJim
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Unread post by CitroJim »

Ah, that's better Mike!!!

We were really at cross-purposes there :roll:

I'll see what I can dig out over the weekend...
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
jgra1
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Unread post by jgra1 »

occupied with learning Java
on this day, in 1956, FORTRAN was unveiled, rolled out etc :D

a semi-pointless factoid there :twisted:

I got as far as BASIC, but when my brother tried to introduce me to machine code and accumulators that needed loading and things, I think I went looking for girls :lol:
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CitroJim
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Unread post by CitroJim »

jgra1 wrote: on this day, in 1956, FORTRAN was unveiled, rolled out etc :D
The grand daddy of modern programming languages :D And it's still alive and well... I've never programmed in it but being as it's fundamentally the root of all modern languages, It might not take too much learning.

I love its "PUNCH" command. One to start up the punched tape/card writer. I'm old enough to remember those. My computing goes back a loooooooong way. Don't get me started! 8" floppies, 64Mb hard disk drives as big as washing machines... They were the days...

I'm off in a bit to do oil changes on my fleet, including an oil change on my old V6 gearbox...

I'll report back later...
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
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Unread post by CitroJim »

A good and productive day today :D

Oil and filters changed in both old V6 and the Activa, both cars given a good, long hard check ready for winter and all is good.

Doing an oil change on a V6 is a lot simpler and easier than on the Activa. I'd forgotten just how hemmed in the oil filter is on the TCT engine.

Changed the gearbox oil in old V6 as well. Delighted to see the oil flow out absolutely crystal clear and spotless. It was as golden as when it went in :D

I got 8 and a half pints out so that's a good half of it...

The gearbox oil does reek though :twisted: After doing the job, everywhere I went I could smell cat's pee :evil: Even the curry for dinner smelt of it although that might be an ingredient. You never know if that's the secret of Loyd Grossman's Bhuna sauce. Whatever, it makes a great curry :D

Got the garden tidied up and looking good for the oncoming winter (hopefully) and rounded the day by giving old V6 a well-deserved wash. It still scrubs up well.

I took new V6 out for a spin last evening, possibly one of it's last runs before its winter lay-up. It's far too good for winter use...

Xac popped around for a bit of steering rack gaiter replacement tuition. He practiced on a rack that had had the surrounding car removed for clarity and ease.

Last jobs before winter really rolls in will be a coolant change in both and a slosh of the old rustproofing jollop around sensitive areas.

Next week I'll be giving Robyn's 206 a close check over ready for its MOT. I know already it will need tyres. Then tax and then insurance..

That's going to hurt the wallet. If you see me busking on a street corner in Milton Keynes in the near future you'll know why :roll:
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
jgra1
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Unread post by jgra1 »

rack that had had the surrounding car removed for clarity and ease
:twisted:

good stuff Jim.. I managed a final cut on the grass last week, just at the end of season I got the mower to run properly for the first time :shock: very rich and a diaphragm for the carb sorted it :D
Deanxm
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Unread post by Deanxm »

much the same myself today with a service on the xm and taking the last fruit off of my pear tree........winter is on its way

D
XM Prestige PRV6 92
Talbot Express Autotrail Chinook 89
Mitsubishi L200 Trojan 14
Xantia Activa 95, sold (missed)

Service Citroen is awesome, it shows me pictures of all the parts i used to be able to buy............
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Unread post by MikeT »

CitroJim wrote:....nThen tax and then insurance..

That's going to hurt the wallet. If you see me busking on a street corner in Milton Keynes in the near future you'll know why :roll:
Hopefully that won't be necessary. My nephew got a quote from Admiral with his well-earned first year's NCB and it came back a pleasing £650 as opposed to last year's £1200 odd, so finger's crossed.
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CitroJim
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Unread post by CitroJim »

MikeT wrote: Hopefully that won't be necessary. My nephew got a quote from Admiral with his well-earned first year's NCB and it came back a pleasing £650 as opposed to last year's £1200 odd, so finger's crossed.
Hopefully Mike :) £650 is a figure that has already been bandied about but that's just part of it :roll:

Yesterday I gave Robyn's car a good check over for the MOT and apart from tyres, the only issue I found was a split CV boot. It must have just happened a few days ago :twisted: :twisted:

I HATE doing CV boots so I had a natter with the local garage that's doing the MOT and they are going to do the job at MOT time for a very reasonable sum of money.

The tyres on Robyn's car are horrible, cheapos that are barely legal and one has a slow puncture so I've dug deep(ish) and I'm having a set of BFGs fitted this morning. I really want my girl to be running around on at least half-decent tyres this winter.

I gave the little 206 an oil and filter change and found the sump plug had been done up by a gorilla last time. I needed a breaker bar to undo it :evil: The same gorilla ad tightened up the oil filer too. A Pleiades tool would have struggled but by webbing filter removal tool did the job, albeit with a big dent in the filter.

As is typical of a TU engine, it has the normal oil weep out of the head gasket but it's not too bad just yet. It's damp but not dripping.

Finally, a good clean inside (lots of pop bottles and KFC wrappers) and out saw the little 206 looking very tidy indeed.

The MOT is booked for Thursday, the day Robyn arrives home from Iceland (the country, not the shop).

Then it'll need taxing and insuring. My insurance is also due in November.

Christmas is cancelled this year :twisted:
Jim

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red_dwarfers
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Unread post by red_dwarfers »

Slam a big chunky screwdriver right through the filter and twist it, if that don't shift it nothing will 8-)
My insurance is better this year not quite £650/year yet but getting there!
Kev

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CitroJim
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Unread post by CitroJim »

red_dwarfers wrote:Slam a big chunky screwdriver right through the filter and twist it, if that don't shift it nothing will 8-)
Tried that once Kev, never again :twisted: The filter was so tight the can just ripped completely apart and then it was a devil of a job..

You also have to watch the sharp, jagged edges. I know from bloody experience, literally :evil:
Jim

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Chris570
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Unread post by Chris570 »

red_dwarfers wrote:Slam a big chunky screwdriver right through the filter and twist it, if that don't shift it nothing will 8-)
My insurance is better this year not quite £650/year yet but getting there!
Nice idea the screwdriver one but it does leave you with a dead engine until you get the filter off. Seen it before where it just sheers and nothing will shift it. Problem is then you can't start the engine to take it to a tamed gorrila.

I was most unimpressed with insurace this year (being 24) i'm used to it coming down each year considerably but this year i spent a good 7 hours looking and only got it down by £20. although my old insurers wanted to increase my premium at renewal from £700 to £2318!!! (Best price they could get, sir) Needless to say ibuyeco are without my business while swiftcover are :)
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CitroJim
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Unread post by CitroJim »

Have you tried Admiral Chris?

Good when you have a fleet...
Jim

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vince
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Unread post by vince »

The screwdriver approach is dying off somewhat as some oil filters now hve a central core running down into the filter body. a screwdriver would damage that not then allowing refitting of a new filter.

Certainly the case on some Saab's now based on Vauxhall running gear.
1993 Citroen xm 2.1td, silver/grey, bowling ball wheel trims, 210k and climbing...