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

brmartyn · Post by **brmartyn** » 20 Feb 2010, 09:41

Fantastic blog jim. I'm sure the new Activa will keep you busy for a while

XantiaMan · Post by **XantiaMan** » 20 Feb 2010, 10:32

Looking forward to seeing the progress on this one Jim.

If you want paintwork doing, dont forget i can still help. I have a special glue for cracked bumpers for a permanent repair.

Silver has grown on me recently, the new car helps, but certain cars really do look the part in it, and its so easy to clean and maintain.

My old Activa looked stunning when freshly cleaned and polished but it soon got dusty and dirty without really going any where.

Give the rams a good clean up and check how much they are actually weeping. It may be that when the weather warms up, they stop leaking enough for you to MOT it and iron out any niggles, and hopefully come up with a solution.

Will's (KP) green Activa was a very early one, identical spec to your one, wonder what the RP number is on it? They do have a certain back to basics appeal, but i do prefer the fully loaded ones.

Post by **CitroJim** » 20 Feb 2010, 11:24

Thanks Gareth

I'll be after a wheel refurb in the future, that's for sure!

Not looked at the hole in the tailgate yet. It's covered with silver duct tape so is nearly invisible

Going to look at the rams in a bit and get a half-decent accumulator on it.

Be really interested to know the RP number of Will's. See who has the earliest Activa although it looks like Andrew has the edge at the moment...

As I always say, some cars look great in silver whilst others just look bland. The Xantia is in the former camp...

DickieG · Post by **DickieG** » 20 Feb 2010, 12:03

andmcit wrote:does anyone now what the earliest figure
is for the UK then?

I believe the earliest RP number is 6636, 9th January 1995.

Post by **CitroJim** » 20 Feb 2010, 19:04

DickieG wrote: I believe the earliest RP number is 6636, 9th January 1995.

Ahh

So mine's a mere youngster then

It's been another good, productive day today. I started off by opening all windows, sunroof and tailgate to air the car out in the beautiful sunshine today. She is damp

Looks like the interior will have to come out soon. Still, been there and done that job many times now...

Then it was a look at the front ram. The good news is that it's leaking from the leakage return collar and not from the ram proper

I then looked at the roll corrector mechanism and found it seized solid and a leaky roll corrector hydraulic valve (looks like a height corrector on its side). I think the ram and corrector leaks coupled with a seized mechanism may well be connected and the cause, along with flat spheres, a contributory factor in weeping rams. More on this can be found toward the end of this thread.

I then removed, with care, the whole of the Activa roll corrector mechanism, including the rods. All bolts were well tight but they cam out Ok after a drench in Plus-Gas. The rods have to be disconnected from the corrector mechanism before it can be removed and this entails undoing the bottle screws that adjust the rod lengths. One side of each bottle has a left-hand thread. I found a normal open-ender on the bottle locknuts was not really up to the job but a 13mm flare nut spanner is the perfect tool.

The link rods and blocks are in good enough condition to be re-used

Here's the roll corrector mechanism:

Last job for today was to swap the main accumulator. It was very,very tight and access in the Activa is not wonderful.

Pleased to report the score was:

Pleiades Tool and Club Hammer: 1, Tight Sphere: 0

The roll corrector mechanism is currently having a bath in Plus-Gas....

I am having fun

Koukku · Post by **Koukku** » 20 Feb 2010, 20:17

XantiaMan wrote: Give the rams a good clean up and check how much they are actually weeping. It may be that when the weather warms up, they stop leaking enough for you to MOT it and iron out any niggles, and hopefully come up with a solution.

Yup, cold weather certainly makes the ram leak more, I noticed this on my car. The rear ram was damp last winter, but no leaking during the summer. And now it's damp again...

Post by **CitroJim** » 20 Feb 2010, 21:41

Koukku wrote: Yup, cold weather certainly makes the ram leak more, I noticed this on my car. The rear ram was damp last winter, but no leaking during the summer. And now it's damp again...

Curious as to why Koukku....

It makes no logical sense...

Koukku · Post by **Koukku** » 22 Feb 2010, 09:31

CitroJim wrote:
Koukku wrote: Yup, cold weather certainly makes the ram leak more, I noticed this on my car. The rear ram was damp last winter, but no leaking during the summer. And now it's damp again...
Curious as to why Koukku....

It makes no logical sense...

I wouldn't know... It would've been better if the ram on mine had properly failed last winter, as the prices have gone up again...

Post by **CitroJim** » 22 Feb 2010, 13:45

Koukku wrote:It would've been better if the ram on mine had properly failed last winter, as the prices have gone up again...

They are inded getting very expensive now, which is why I'm keen to see what can be done to ressurect those weeping from the leakage return collar but not leaking from the ram proper.

I know this sounds bizarre and worrying but last night I had a dream and in this dream I devised a method of fixing this kind of failure on a ram. Luckily, I awoke soon aferward so I could recall and commit to concious memory what I'd drempt. I'm saying nothing more until I have a chance to see if my dream method will work and I still have to engineer some fine details.

This is not the first time I've drempt a solution to a problem. In fact it has happened many times.

Once, I had a dream in which I solved a problem, woke up and went straight to the garage to see if the solution worked. At 1:45AM

It did

I did not get much done to the project yesterday but have started to strip the interior out as it is very wet. It does not look, feel or smell like anti-freeze so maybe the heater matrix is a red herring. All I know is the front passenger footwell is sodden and there's a guilty looking crack in the scuttle panel above the blower intake. The scuttle itself is well bonded but the crack looks big enough to have caused water ingress over time.

XantiaMan · Post by **XantiaMan** » 22 Feb 2010, 14:19

CitroJim wrote:
Koukku wrote: Yup, cold weather certainly makes the ram leak more, I noticed this on my car. The rear ram was damp last winter, but no leaking during the summer. And now it's damp again...
Curious as to why Koukku....

It makes no logical sense...

I'm no engineer, but i know rubber is far more supple in warmer weather than it is when cold. I'm sure the tolerances are pretty tight, but if the rubber seals were cold, less supple and they also shrink a little with age, i can see that being a feasible explanations as to why its more common in cold weather.

lexi · Post by **lexi** » 22 Feb 2010, 21:11

As long as you are dreaming Jim you unwind the tape It`s when people don't sleep and don`t dream that the issues arise. I am like you....I think of one liners that
I have never heard of in my life.......yet they come out rapid in a dream

...........Let this be our secret

Ooops........I had to pull up my Freudian Slip there

Post by **CitroJim** » 22 Feb 2010, 21:33

I just have to turn a dream into reality now lexi

I dream a lot. Normally a good sleeper. They say it's healthy, sort of filing away the days activities and putting things in order.

So many of my dreams are technical. Must be a good indication of what goes on in my head most of the time

Post by **xantia_v6** » 22 Feb 2010, 22:11

XantiaMan wrote:
CitroJim wrote:
Koukku wrote: Yup, cold weather certainly makes the ram leak more, I noticed this on my car. The rear ram was damp last winter, but no leaking during the summer. And now it's damp again...
Curious as to why Koukku....

It makes no logical sense...

I'm no engineer, but i know rubber is far more supple in warmer weather than it is when cold.

You should read Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman (the book, not the wikipeadia article), It gives the story of how it was discovered that cold seals caused the Space Shuttle Challenger to explode.

I foresee someone designing an Activa Ram heater

I once designed an electronic circuit in a dream, woke up and drew the schematic, went back to sleep. That design worked when built

Toby_HDi · Post by **Toby_HDi** » 22 Feb 2010, 22:23

I don't know how you people do it.

I very, very rarely dream. If I do its just a mash of rubbish.

Might explain a few things mind... :lolhit:

Post by **CitroJim** » 22 Feb 2010, 22:56

xantia_v6 wrote: You should read Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman (the book, not the wikipeadia article), It gives the story of how it was discovered that cold seals caused the Space Shuttle Challenger to explode.

Now there's a book I know I'd thoroughly enjoy Mike

Must try and get hold of a copy...

Good bedtime reading...