Confessions of a Citroholic

[Mandrake]

I'm with you there Jim - I plan to keep the Xantia as long as I can until it becomes a burden to keep it on the road (which may well happen due to a lack of available key parts!) and I have the same plan with the Ion!

I'm paying the Ion off over 4 years so obviously I want to keep it at least that long, but beyond that if it keeps working, isn't causing me too much maintenance bother and has the range I need for my commute then I will probably keep it as long as I can! By the time I've had it for 4 years it will be turning 10...

[RichardW]

Another Isle of Wight coincidence tomorrow... we are flying Kirkwall to Papa Westray - which includes a landing at Westray, and therefore the shorted scheduled flight in the world at < 2 minutes! Logan air fly Islanders up here - which were built on the Isle of Wight. A bit of digging suggests the ones they are running here were built around 1984, so would have been when were living there!!

[CitroJim]

That is a very short flight Richard! It must be take-off and then an immediate landing....

Why? Would it not be just as easy (or easier and just as quick) to have a ferry?

[daviemck2006]

I looked at that a couple of weeks ago, just to say I have done the shortest flight. However we didnt do it. I think the next time I am up there I will do it just for fun. My sister lives less than a mile from Kirkwall airport. I hope you are enjoying your trip. Before you get on your ferry from st margarets you should try a wee cafe/restaurant in st margarets called Robertsons. Lovely food, really friendly staff, and aslo a little gift shop.

[Hell Razor5543]

I believe that Westray - Papa Westray is the shortest commercial flight in the world. IIRC it has taken 53 seconds from take of to landing once.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westray_t ... ray_flight

[RichardW]

Boo.... flight was cancelled due to the weather that just means we have to go back and do it some other time!!

There is a ferry, but the air service goes to all the Islands at least once a day (weather permitting!), and makes it faster getting to/ from the 'mainland'.

The flight is apparently shorter than the main runway at Heathrow!!

[RichardW]

Can confirm that ABS and brake assist is alive and working well in the 307, given the rather rapid coming to a halt that was required this morning up the road from the house when a large deer decided it wanted to be on the road as well!

[CitroJim]

No venison for dinner tonight then Richard

[RichardW]

It seems PSA are unable to invent new ways for cars to fail....

Seat height adjuster on the 307 was all floppy, I assumed as it is a long lever on the outside of the chair that one of the boys had stood on it getting in the car. However, a close look revealed some threads in the mouting boss, and a rattling handle so I popped the outer trim plate off, and found ...

Yep, 2 small screws, one out and the other loose. A quick dab of thread lock and nip them back up and all is good again! Now, where have I seen that before....

[CitroJim]

That looks remarkably flimsy for what it has to do Richard...

And yes, There's a French saying for it isn't there that roughly says however much things change they always stay the same...

I'm thinking of Xantia seat height adjuster levers here They are always loose due to the same (albeit a bit bigger) screws...

[myglaren]

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

[CitroJim]

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

That's the one

[RichardW]

Fixing stuff again...

Had to strip the kitchen floor out again as No 1 Son spilt milk, and it ran under the edge of the cupboard, and then under the laminate flooring. Repeat of what No 2 son did a few months back! Put it all back together today.

Then onto the dishwasher - been a long running saga with water collecting in the bottom. Some was certainly getting past the door seal - a new seal and cleaning out the bottom of the door seems to have fixed that. Turned it over and took the bottom off, but could see no obvious witness mark. Stood it back up and ran it with the access panel off - as soon as the water inlet was opened, a cascade down the side. Ah-ha! Took the top and side off, ran it again and water weeing out of an O-ring seal on a solenoid valve. Been leaking some time going by the crud on the insulation, but must have got worse recently. Took it out, no obvious sign of distress on the O-ring, just a bit hard. Wrapped a couple of turns of PTFE tape round it, shoved it back in and ran it again and bingo no leak. Pleased with that. Given that it's 15 years old, if it still leaks then it will get sealed in with silicone; if the solenoid gives up after that and can't be got out, the machine can be recycled!

After that I WASHED my car - well, it had got to the stage where the crud could be chipped off in lumps and you couldn't get in and out of it without getting flithy!

Then my Sister came round and I stuck her Picasso on the Lexia. It's an EGS, and a couple of times recently it has refused to select N at key on, and therefore won't allow a start. It's 6.5 years old, and on its original battery, so that was my guess - and the fault recorded was something about clutch jammed, but tellingly the voltage recorded was only 9.9V. Hmm. Checking the battery via Diagbox showed only 12V standing, and it dived when I cranked it, and it was only reporting 70% charge, despite having been driven 40 miles to get here (although there were a couple of starts after that). So, I think it's new battery time. Another job to add to the list!!

All of which meant I didn't get to the decorating I was supposed to be starting on. Shame, really

[CitroJim]

Had to strip the kitchen floor out again as No 1 Son spilt milk, and it ran under the edge of the cupboard, and then under the laminate flooring. Repeat of what No 2 son did a few months back! Put it all back together today.

Been there A job that can't be neglected... Nothing stinks worse after a while than old milk!

All of which meant I didn't get to the decorating I was supposed to be starting on. Shame, really

I imagine you were utterly gutted

[Mandrake]

Fixing stuff again...

Had to strip the kitchen floor out again as No 1 Son spilt milk, and it ran under the edge of the cupboard, and then under the laminate flooring. Repeat of what No 2 son did a few months back! Put it all back together today.

When you say "spilt milk" I assume you mean more than just a glass - did he drop an entire bottle with the lid off ?

Joshua is not old enough to carry a full size bottle of milk yet but I'm sure our turn is coming. Our kitchen floor is lino and most of the plinths are removable to get underneath so cleaning up shouldn't be too bad if it did happen. I hope...

Then onto the dishwasher - been a long running saga with water collecting in the bottom. Some was certainly getting past the door seal - a new seal and cleaning out the bottom of the door seems to have fixed that. Turned it over and took the bottom off, but could see no obvious witness mark. Stood it back up and ran it with the access panel off - as soon as the water inlet was opened, a cascade down the side. Ah-ha! Took the top and side off, ran it again and water weeing out of an O-ring seal on a solenoid valve. Been leaking some time going by the crud on the insulation, but must have got worse recently. Took it out, no obvious sign of distress on the O-ring, just a bit hard. Wrapped a couple of turns of PTFE tape round it, shoved it back in and ran it again and bingo no leak. Pleased with that. Given that it's 15 years old, if it still leaks then it will get sealed in with silicone; if the solenoid gives up after that and can't be got out, the machine can be recycled!

Yours is doing better than the old dishwasher that was in our house when we moved in - it sort of worked but had a leak, I thought I had the leak fixed, it worked for one day and then BANG! I happened to be in the room at the time and saw a god almighty bright flash from under the dishwasher (the cupboard plinth was not in place yet so I had a good view) and bang, and the fuse was blown. I didn't even try to fix it as it was who knows how many years old so we got a new one of our own which touch wood has been good..

After that I WASHED my car

Pics or it didn't happen.

- well, it had got to the stage where the crud could be chipped off in lumps and you couldn't get in and out of it without getting flithy!

I'd let the Ion get really, really dirty recently to the point where it would have been in direct competition with yours, I finally got fed up with it and gave it a good wash, and here is my evidence:

It does clean up nicely. It stayed lovely and clean for about 3 days and now it's filthy again. Oh well, winter roads...

All of which meant I didn't get to the decorating I was supposed to be starting on. Shame, really

Oh the shame! I bet you were gutted, I know I would have been.... not...