Confessions of a Citroholic

[CitroJim]

Had that on a Renault 5 back in the 70s Richard... Sounded awful and serious... All revealed to be just a tiny road chipping jammed against the disc when I took it all apart - fearing a lot worse!

[Armidillo]

I might have told this before but..............
We had a customer with an Austin A90 Westminster complaining of screeching noises from the front when he went round roundabouts, test drove it quite fast round the said roundabout, couldn't see anything so off with the wheel, top of the brake backplate had marks where the drum had scraped, I said to the guy "the stub axle must be bent." "What's the stub axle?" so put my toe on it to show him and it fell off, metal fatigue right through.

Unbelievable! My wife was given a green one by her great-aunt in about 1973 (she was a uni student) - leather, heater, overdrive...

I only had a motor bike when we started going out, so if we needed a car (such as for trips down to the Snowy Mts) we took the A90. Ran into problems with front wheel bearings on one trip - in retrospect may have been lucky not to lose a wheel - now you tell me we could have snapped a stub axle!!!

[mickthemaverick]

Back in 1969 I was at college in Harrow with a bunch of GPO and Kodak apprentices. 6 of us decided to go into town for lunch and we all piled in Derek's Wolseley 1500, and headed for the pub. Suitably stuffed we leapt in for the return journey to college and as we turned left off Harrow High Street the car jolted to the right and the nose sat down. We piled out to see the nearside front wheel almost laying flat on the road so five of us legged it back to college leaving Derek to get it recovered!! We did explain his abscence to the lecturer after lunch but he wasn't impressed. When we saw Derek the following morning he explained that the stub axle had snapped and pulled the track rod end out of its socket!! The car was scrapped and he had bought a Morris 1000 in the evening so he could get to college!! We never used one of his cars for a lunchtime excursion again!!

[RichardW]

Serviced my Sister's 2011 C4 Picasso at the weekend - 1.6 HDi DV6C. I haven't changed the oil in it for a long time (since before Covid...) so it has done quite a few miles since then; now on 105k, so probably 30k surprisingly the oil still looked oil like, and there wasn't much crud in the filter. I also changed the Air and pollen filters - my Sis has had it for 6 years and before that it was my Parents' who bought it new. The filters that came out were Citroen branded - I doubt it has been near a Cit garage since it was 3 years old, so they have been in there for 8+ years and probably about 75k. They were a bit mucky, it has to be said!! I can confirm that a pollen filter change on a C4 pic Mk 1 auto is much easier than a manual!!

Occurred to me that despite its detractors, the DV6 really is fundamentally a great engine. It has been around now since 2005 or so, and as a family we are approaching a total of 400k miles with really very little trouble. We've had:

07 C4 90 BHP 16v. New for 50k or so, no trouble at all.
07 307 110 BHP 16V. Bought at 80k, scrapped (rust) at 140k over 4 years. Just needed an injector re-seal at 100k or so, otherwise original turbo, EGR and clutch.
08 C4 Pic 110 BHP 16V. Bought at 53k, traded at 120k over 6 years. Slightly blotted the copy book by needed a new turbo and vac pump at 70k and had to replace the EGR valve, and have the injectors re-sealed. However, despite losing the oil pressure on the motorway the engine ran for another 40k without bottom end troubles.
11 C4 Pic 115 BHP 8V. new to 105k so far. Despite the neglect (see above!) apart from needing new injectors, has required no other engine work. EGS, and still on its original clutch (must be on borrowed time...)
13 3008 115 BHP 8V. Bought at 53k, now at 90k, had it 5 years. No trouble so far
17 C4 Pic 120 Blue HDi. New, only at 20k. No trouble.
17 C4 Grand Pic 120 Blue Hdi. New to 53k, No trouble.

My other sister has a Berlingo which I think is 1.6HDi as well, but don't know any detail on it.

So there is at least 392,000 miles with just the one turbo.

[RichardW]

Looks like we are in the market for a new front strut on the C4. For some reason this is a common failure on the Mk2 - whether they cheaped out on the dampers, or there's a side load which wasn't figured in the design I don't know - but they are common failure after 50k requiring replacement of the damper. Had noticed an occasional knock from the OSF, usually when on lock if you go over a bump. Jacked it up yesterday to check the brakes (as I still haven't fitted the new pads I bought when we had the stone issue!, but the MOT is due) - these are fine, but checked for play, and there is quite a bit 3 o'clock to 6 o'clock. Thought it was the track rod end, but on looking closely the strut is waggling about. Difficult to tell, but I think it's the damper rather than the top mount. As it's 55k and 6 years old now, it would want a new spring and top mount anyway if stripped down, so if available easier just to fit a pre-built strut complete. Will have to see what I can find....

[CitroJim]

Good to know you have a couple of Blue HDi engines in the family Richard Still going strong I trust...

Interesting on the strut... I wonder if the same applies to those fitted to the C3 Pic?

[RichardW]

No Blue Hdi issues here yet Jim. Grabs large piece of wood!

Further checking of the C4 reveals the play is actually in the ball joint, looks easy enough to change out, so will get one on order. Job for the weekend.

I finally managed to make my AC Valve tool work - a small piece of tape in the end of tool grabbed the valve in the 3008 and I was able to change it out, and then add some more gas so we are cold again - just in time for the Autumnal summer weather! I think it's still leaking however.... Might need to see if I can get a better valve, or put a smidge of PTFE on it - at least I can make the tool work now and it's easy enough.

[CitroJim]

No Blue Hdi issues here yet Jim. Grabs large piece of wood!

Excellent! I keep touching my head for the same reason

Pleased the A/C is all good again... These last few days they've been a godsend

[RichardW]

New joint fitted. Easy enough, but on this car you have to remove the undertray first as it covers the entire subframe, so no where to put an axle stand otherwise, and there's no room for any sockets on the joint, so they have to come out a flat at a time with ring spanners. Top nut on the taper is 21mm, a size I don't have, but my inherited 7/16 Whit spanner is a perfect fit

[myglaren]

I saw just within the last couple of days a Wera Joker self adjusting ratcheting open ended spanner that would be perfect for such awkward to reach places. I thought that I had saved it but it was in a format that can't be embedded here.
Not that that matters as I can't find it again. Plenty of interesting Wera spanners but not that one.

[RichardW]

Pre MOT check on the 3008 showed the NS fog light was distinctly orange. I thought about ignoring it since it's not a required light - and taking the bulb out if the tester complained. However, easy enough to get out (2 T20s into plastic that were not rusted to oblivion) and a new one was procured for £13, so it got changed out. As a bonus, the bracket was loose - originally had a plastic pin / rivet to the bumper, but the head was gone - but was easily fixed with a dose of hot melt glue. Also found that the chassis rail along side the silencer was looking pretty crusty, so cleaned up and rust converter added, will get some paint on it later. Stitch in time to save having to weld it in a couple of years!

[CitroJim]

All best with the MoT Richard Shocked a lens should fade like that these days. I thought it was only old Soviet-era Iron Curtain cars that suffered like that...

Maybe Citroen bought the recipe from them!

If push came to shove, you could always have used a red bulb - as my Picasso uses...

[RichardW]

Not the most auspicious car day...

3008 has had a light rattle from the NSF since the MOT - I remember first hearing it very soon after and thinking perhaps the bonnet stay was loose (i.e. that sort of light rattle), but it wasn't, and I couldn't find anything else. Still there, and I finally got around to jacking it up today to have a look, and found, rather to my surprise, that the spring is broken! About 7/8 of the bottom coil has parted company and is sitting loose in the cup, there isn't enough gap to get it out past the strut, so that is what's rattling. So the tester either missed it on the test (seems unlikely) or it broke at the end of the test, or immediately afterwards. This was the spring I replaced only about 3 years (and not that many miles) ago.... was a KYB so not a no brand cheapy, but it hasn't lasted long!

Then as I was putting the jack away Mrs arrives home and says the rear parking sensors are not working on the Picasso - a quick look shows the centre left sensor is absent.... hmm! Had a look about, and then underneath and I see the exhaust is all crooked - so my initial thought is that it has been hit and knocked the sensor out, and twisted the exhaust, but there is no witness mark on the bumper. Get it on the ramps and get under the middle, to find that in fact the flange on the end of the rear exhaust section has rotted off - pretty lucky it didn't just drop onto the road I think! I thought it was SS - the very back part is, and it's all one piece from the back of the DPF to the tailpipe - but no, it's mild steel here. Replacement is in 2 parts, I guess you can't get it out in one piece - so you can just replace the middle section - however this has the NOx sensor in, which are notoriously difficult to remove without ruining the threads, so I guess we're in for a new pipe and NOx sensor.... Not sure I can bothered fighting with it on the floor! Have put a splint on over the joint with a couple of jubilee clips for now to stop it dropping off...

So what's the connection with the parking sensor, well.... I got a bit of access (towbar blocks the way!) and I could see that there was a plastic bracket / clip that is supposed to hold the sensor in place, and which looks to be heat sensitive, and plastic welded to the bumper section. It looks to me like the exhaust failing has caused it to tip round, and instead of blowing on the floor, it has been blowing up inside the bumper, and there has been enough heat (probably from a DPF regen) to melt the clip, but leave the sensor intact! Managed to cut away enough of the old clip to re-position the sensor and then glue it back in with hot melt glue, so that at least is fixed.

[mickthemaverick]

Sounds like a great day of improvisation there Richard!! Well done and good luck with the replacement Nox sensor fitting

[CitroJim]

Gosh Richard! That was all a bit of fun...

I've heard that NOx Sensors can be the very devil to remove. Any reason why? Or is it just normal exhaust corrosion that does for it?