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

Unread post by CitroJim »

I had a bit of spare time today to play a bit more with Daigbox on Polly... The sun was shining and lovely and warm in the greenhouse-like interior of Polly :)

Now my diagnostics laptop has oodles of memory, I upped the amount allocated to VMware and found Diagbox runs a bit better... It properly flies.

I do like how you don't even need to know what car it is.. Just plug in the VCI, wait a few seconds, confirm the returned VIN and it then goes away and does a global. I like that :)

In my previous forays into this new and exciting world of modern cars diagnostics I'd not found where all the DeNox (Adblue) stuff lived. I was beginning to question if mine even had it - maybe some enterprising soul had programmed it out... Today I found it, tucked away in the Engine Management ECU pages...

It all looks healthy and good. which proves, as if I didn't already know, that Stellantis were talking bollocks when they claimed the Adblue injector was overworking when they serviced the car.

I was pleased to see an indication of how much Adblue is in the tank and mine's good for a further 5000Km. Allegedly...

I had a good look at the DPF pages and that's looking healthy too... Still lot of DPF additive in that tank and very little ash and rubbish in the DPF itself...

And no fault codes anywhere...

Early this morning, it was cold enough for glowplugs! First time I'd seen the dash light up the 'coils' :)
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
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CitroJim
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Re: Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

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After enjoying the delights of being a passenger in a well-driven Focus ST this morning to and from our monthly Old Boys (retired colleagues from work) get-together at a local Toby Carvery I came home and gave Bluebell some long awaited attention... Despite not having been started in around 6 weeks, after priming the fuel system, she fired up straightaway away and ran beautifully...

It was too salty to take her out today so I just ran her long enough for the cooling fan to cut in and out a couple of times.

Looks like I have a failing rad. Although there's no obvious leaks, loss of coolant, no obvious stains or signs of crystallised antifreeze and no smells, once the thermostat opens and hot water circulates, the rad steams from all over. When the fan cuts in the steaming stops and remains stopped for a while before starting again. It's odd as the steam smells of nothing and I'm wondering if it's just condensation in the rad core boiling out...

I'm now on the lookout for a new rad, just in case... I may try a bit of Forte Stop Leak too as the rad looks to be in good condition all over...

Maybe just the effects of a hot rad on a very cold day...

I also spotted a hole in my garage roof... The scaffolders cracked a tile when they did the barge-boards and guttering and it's got worse with part of the tile falling and tearing a small slit/hole in the felt. I need to get a roofer in to sort it out. Happily, no obvious water damage has occurred although with the car in the way, I can't yet get a good look.
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
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mickthemaverick
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Re: Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

Unread post by mickthemaverick »

Plenty of ads for AX rads on the bay of sin Jim, Nissens around £85 :-D
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I used to ride on two wheels, but now I need all four!
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CitroJim
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Re: Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

Unread post by CitroJim »

mickthemaverick wrote: 15 Jan 2024, 19:52Nissens around £85 :-D
No, that's no good Mick, I need a Citroen one ;) The one in my Nissan is fine :)

( :lol: )





Seriously, yes, a Nissins one will be perfect. Will look later and get an order in...
Jim

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

Unread post by Stickyfinger »

Tis a naughty AX kinda day !..... my Clutch peddle hit the floor today !....think it is the cable that has gone
Alasdair
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mickthemaverick
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Re: Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

Unread post by mickthemaverick »

It obviously knew that the doc was on the way :-D
I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure!
I used to ride on two wheels, but now I need all four!
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Re: Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

Unread post by Stickyfinger »

The "Doc" will likely rob the radiator off it :)
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CitroJim
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Re: Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

Unread post by CitroJim »

Stickyfinger wrote: 16 Jan 2024, 07:12 The "Doc" will likely rob the radiator off it :)
🤣🤣🤣🤣

I'm all tooled up to do what we can Alasdair 👍
Jim

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

Unread post by MattBLancs »

Oh dear!

Much to be said for taking the drivers seat out to give you a more comfortable place to lie whilst doing the pedal box end of a clutch cable swap. Especially as you've no airbags in the seats etc to worrying about
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CitroJim
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Re: Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

Unread post by CitroJim »

MattBLancs wrote: 16 Jan 2024, 08:41 Oh dear!

Much to be said for taking the drivers seat out to give you a more comfortable place to lie whilst doing the pedal box end of a clutch cable swap. Especially as you've no airbags in the seats etc to worrying about
Yes, that's very true Matt... And after doing so many Xantia ones...
Jim

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

Unread post by mickthemaverick »

Jim a perfect business opportunity has come up for you :-D

https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/auct ... f800d4477e
I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure!
I used to ride on two wheels, but now I need all four!
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Re: Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

Unread post by myglaren »

Flog hotdogs to his fellow runners and slow them down?
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CitroJim
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Re: Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

Unread post by CitroJim »

mickthemaverick wrote: 16 Jan 2024, 17:40 Jim a perfect business opportunity has come up for you :-D

https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/auct ... f800d4477e
:lol: Love it :D
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
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CitroJim
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Re: Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

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A very special day today... As many of you will be aware, I love parkrun and particularly, volunteering with timekeeping being my favourite role and one I've made into my speciality. I've now done it 95 times.

For a while I've been wanting to give my timekeeping skills a stern test at a big, premier parkrun. Today I did just that at Milton Keynes.

In the bitter cold I timed 631 parkrunners across the line with 100% accuracy :-D That's over twice as many as I've ever done in the past... At times the adrenaline really flowed...

To prove, here's a screenshot of my stopwatch app. at the end...
IMG-20240120-WA0000.jpg
And here's the tail of the published results... They match!
Screenshot_20240120_115623_Chrome.jpg
Next week, I do an even bigger job at this big premier parkrun... THE top job!
Screenshot_20240120_063301_Chrome.jpg
True bucket-list stuff :cool:

And after that, I came home and played cars :D

I added a bottle of Forte Stop Leak to Bluebell's cooling system and she's no longer all steamy from her radiator... Looks like it might have done the trick :D Despite the cold she started easily today.

I then gave Polly and Pix a good check-over and all seems fine with them two... Polly has quite a lot of work to do in the coming days...

After that, a friend who shares her Welsh name with my younger daughter brought her Berlingo around for pre-MoT checks and a diagnostic session to erase the 'service spanner' and a general check on health.

After swapping a couple of gone-white rear indicator bulbs, failing it on a tyre right down to its TWIs and giving it an advisory for a slight oil leak from the engine I pronounced all the rest to be good and worthy of a pass...

I like the Berlingo a lot and I could happily give one a home. Up against Polly, they are a lot bigger - surprisingly so... I fear that when I need to replace Polly, the current evolution of the Berlingo may be the only PSA vehicle that might suit my requirements.

My DeWalt rattle gun made very short work of some very tight wheel studs and in the process terrified a passing pedestrian with the noise :lol: It really is a brilliant little tool :cool:

And Diagbox made very short work of running diagnostics and resetting the spanner... No faults found on this very tidy 16V DV6 engined vehicle.

I noted it has the 'inny' sump drain plug... I suppose it was to keep the drain plug flush with the bottom of the sump but it seems a bit ridiculous. It makes me all the more want to get an oil sucker for routine oil changes on Polly...
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
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CitroJim
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Re: Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

Unread post by CitroJim »

A great day yesterday :D

Mick and I took a trip to the West Country to deal with a clutchless AX and an Activa with an urge to shimmy...

The AX had a broken clutch cable... Prima-facie it looks a horrid job almost as bad as a Xantia 1.9TD clutch clip :twisted:

The old cable had a split outer sheath which allowed water in and over time the inevitable happened.

Happily, if the front seat is taken out (easy) and you are small and lithe like me, have a special long hook and an able assistant, it's an absolute piece of cake...

We also discovered the Series 1 and 2 AX have a slightly different cable but they are interchangeable...

The owner of the AX reports the clutch is now a lot lighter...

The Activa was found to have a well below-par Accumulator sphere (20 bars down) and an Activa accumulator getting on for soon needing replacement. An accumulator was on hand and was swapped.

The particular Activa V6 in question is such a pleasure to work on, nothing tight and no corrosion anywhere :D

On our way home we stopped for a bite to eat...

A very nice place and I ordered from my usual choice of menu...
20240125_174241.jpg
It was great to do a bit of spannering and spend a day with the owner of the above cars :cool:
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...