Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

[citroenxm]

Keep your eyes open Mike, V6s do come up for sale quite regularly and they tend to go for quite silly money mostly as people are scared of the engine size and potential running costs. That works nicely in your favour... I'd be happy to vet one for you...

Prestige and I took a trip to Reading today to pick up Robyn and her friend from the Reading Festival. Reading was stacked out, both with youngsters - all looking completely knackered - and traffic. Full marks to the organisers though, the pick-up point was very clearly signposted and despite being heavy, they kept the traffic moving as well as they could. Semi rather than total gridlock.....

I may well take you up on that offer, if one turns up at the right money. I'm not worried about the engine size, they seem to be more economical than an Activa and have more power, so that will suit me fine.

if you mean a V6 Xm then there's two versions of these too.. Prvs Auto 12v ones and s2 v6 24v auto ones ah la xantia...

again i have a S1.5 v6 seize auto 12v but she too is also a restoring project....

[CitroJim]

Maybe I didn't spot the cat on my quick look - not been under the car properly yet - but checking the MOT regulations if the car can meet the requirements there is no compulsion to have a cat fitted. I understand that if the MOT tester has the engine running on gas the emissions are very much lower in any case.

If worst come to the worst I have a couple of ex-Activa cats here but I'm happy that if she's passed MOTs with the present set-up she will again with no problems at all.

I am sorry you have found an exhaust leak on the manifold, that is not something I had clocked.

No worries at all Chris. I've replaced one on an Activa before now and it was a right hoo-ha because access was so terrible. Looking at the XM though, there's more room at the back of the engine and the whole job looks a lot more straightforward... Bring it on!

The XM has already brought a lot of admiring looks from neighbours. It's always the interior and steering wheel in particular that steals the show

I shall be stopping off at our local factors today to get some Dex for the gearbox. Shame I can't use LT in it as I have a good quantity of that in the workshop...

[Chris570]

Just as a note here Jim, i'm 99% sure that if a vehicle is fitted with LPG it only has to pass a smoke test. But you are right that technically no cat is required if the vehicle can pass the emissions test without it.

[citroenxm]

Do i detect a sense of hanging up on me here.. Im only saying what the recent new mot laws have been added.. no doubt your regular friendly mot man who knows you well enough would be happy if your car passes the emissions on the machine. I was only informing that new reg state a car should have original fitments... when i used to take my v6 sei xm for mot the tester had to tell the machine which fuel he was testing on lpg or petrol

[Chris570]

Do i detect a sense of hanging up on me here.. Im only saying what the recent new mot laws have been added.. no doubt your regular friendly mot man who knows you well enough would be happy if your car passes the emissions on the machine. I was only informing that new reg state a car should have original fitments... when i used to take my v6 sei xm for mot the tester had to tell the machine which fuel he was testing on lpg or petrol

Oh now that you mention it that rings a bell. although i wonder if they know if it should have a cat or not....

[CitroJim]

Paul, no. not at all..

I checked the regs again and the law you speak of seems to apply only to Y reg cars and newer (i.e. those that fall into various VED bands depending on CO2 emissions). As I interpret it, a car older than that can run catless quite happily if it can pass the emissions results set for that car and the fuel it is running on.

Chris, interesting a car running on LPG only has to pass a smoke test. My limited research suggest a car running on LPG when presented is subject to the non-cat test. I need to do further research...

That is why the MOT man has to inform the machine of the fuel I guess. Also, the emissions tester has to know as gas HCs are chemically different to those of petrol...

Interesting stuff...

[CitroJim]

A quote from the MOT tester's forum...

Thomo, you will be OK this year and next.

Next year we are asked to check: On vehicles that qualify for a full cat emissions test, check the presence of the catalytic converter.

Failure will be: A catalytic converter missing where one was fitted as standard

If you vehicle is running on gas when presented then it does not require a full cat test so will not fail for cat missing.

Hope that helps

Seems clear enough...

[citroenxm]

Fantastic.. nice find Jim.. Im pleased to read that..

lpg is brilliant.. its worth removing the rocker cover just to see how clean it is inside the engine.. it burns so cleanly..

[CitroJim]

A good friend of mine popped over last evening...

She's christened the XM 'The Hearse'

She's just taken delivery of a brand new Poxhall Agila

It's a good car as it's not a Poxhall at all but a Suzuki Splash with a Poxhall badge on the front... That as far as I can see is the absolute limit to Poxhall's involvement in the thing...

I knew it was a Suzuki as soon as I clapped eyes on the dash and engine as it's awfully like the Nissan Pixo which is just a Suzuki Alto wearing a Nissan badge...

I drove the Aglia. It seems just a tad less wooden than the Pixo but otherwise feels identically bland. It's billed as a mini-MPV. You sit awfully high in it.

[Citroenmad]

A good friend of mine popped over last evening...

She's christened the XM 'The Hearse'

It was known as the batmobile or spaceship at my work Still, they are uneducated people .... I had to convince them that I had a new car, they thought the grey Xantia was the black XM ...

[citroenxm]

People round here need educating too, when I was XM driving they all thought it was a Xantia...

[Deanxm]

Ive never had that problem i must admit, the Activa draws 0 attention, the XM would always get comments, people comming over to ask what it was or to say that they had one as a company car and how fondly they remember it or that they had one and now have a C5 etc etc, they do look simila though.

D

[Northern_Mike]

A good friend of mine popped over last evening...

She's christened the XM 'The Hearse'

It was known as the batmobile or spaceship at my work Still, they are uneducated people .... I had to convince them that I had a new car, they thought the grey Xantia was the black XM ...

My Silver P-reg XM 2.1 was also known as the spaceship, even though the S1 I had was far more spaceship like and sinister looking. Those disc wheel trims, spoiler and light metallic blue colour made it look really cool.

[Northern_Mike]

Oooerrrr Jim.. there SHOULD be a cat on her.. under new mot laws if one was fitted when new it needs to be there for the new mot.. so you may need to get one fitted else she's an mot failure.. i agree though the lpg would probably get her through the emissions.. but the cat should be there....

You may be intreaged to know that front and rear sensors are identical in shape!! However the rear sensors are a Bugger to remove...

As we all know, XMs sold like hot cakes here in the UK, so is it not possible that Jim's car was actually built pre the 1992 cat law came in, but registered after?

[CitroJim]

I like the name 'Spaceship' and from now on that's what she's known as

I shall have a check of the RP number and see when she was made but being a Prestige, which I now know was a name for the SEi as a run-out model before the S2 came in I doubt she's a 1992 model.

Anyway, running on gas she doesn't need a cat for the MOT.

Got plenty of time for checking RP numbers and things like that as I'm now on full-time sick leave