GEEEE'z what an adventure!

[red_dwarfers]

Whoops...

[red_dwarfers]

I had a moment of weakness yesterday and went to have a look at a '93 Peugeot 605 2.1 SRDT with a manual gearbox and 77k on the clock, it's wonderful! Had a good look over it and I cannot fault it. It will complement the fleet quite well I reckon. The numberplate starts 'J605'!

Apparently it's quite unusual as it has the electronically controlled suspension which I'm told wasn't common in the diesels. I don't know a lot about the Peugeot suspension but it does have a hydractive looking button on the dash next to the rather insignificant looking hazard warning button!

[CitroJim]

Oh wow! That's lovely Kev

And I know exactly where the picture was taken too... So very, very familiar...

I do like the 605. Lovely looking and just like an XM without the problems perhaps...

[hattershaun]

I saw that on eBay Kev and was tempted myself, looks very nice and I'm glad it's gone to a good home.
In my mind I reconciled it's purchase as a C6 replacement, now that my C6 has gone to a new home.
When you're ready to move it on let me know please, I'd like first refusal, if you'd be so kind.

[Citroenmad]

Fancy having active dampers on a super-saloon in the 90's. I wonder if that is where Volkswagen got the idea for its Golf GTi!

Looks great Kev

[red_dwarfers]

The 605 project is on hold at the moment. I say project, don't think I've posted why.

After trailering it down to the MoT garage a couple of months ago, all was fine. Half way through the MoT test, a headlight blub blew and the car suddenly wouldn't rev above 2500 rpm. After a good bit of diagnosing, seems like the injection pump needs resealing. I've bought a kit and shaft seal but have decided to have a break from non essential car tinkering over the Winter so it's sitting in the garage looking all (Ron) burgundy. Speaking of which, I'll be interested to see what Anchorman 2 is like. I loved the first one, such a quotable film. I love lamp.

The Xantia is on the road now, it's nice to be back in one, it really should be resprayed, the lacquer is falling off terrible on the roof and bonnet. I'm not too worried though, everything else is okay mostly. Went for its MoT test earlier this week, passed with a couple of advisories. A tiny blow at the bottom of the down pipe and something else silly.

The GSA and XM are in hibernation for the Winter and the 605 is living in the garage.

Owning a 605 makes you appreciate the support for XM owners. Web wise, you're pretty much on your own by the looks!

I'm going to a 2CVGB North Somerset Tin Snails Christmas Meal tonight, need to find a Christmas hat and get a secret Santa present sorted

The CCC Midland Section meal was a good do on Sunday. Lots of people and fantastic food and entertainment.

[Citroenmad]

I was wondering where you had gone, good to see you posting!

Yes, I think a break from car tinkering over winter sounds like a plan. I'm not going to try and do too much either, though I'm looking forward to a project when after the worst months.

Shame your 605 wasn't an easy thing to get on the road, though I'm sure it will be worth it once it is. There are so few around now, they make XMs appear common!

The Xantia is on the road now, it's nice to be back in one, it really should be resprayed, the lacquer is falling off terrible on the roof and bonnet. I'm not too worried though, everything else is okay mostly. Went for its MoT test earlier this week, passed with a couple of advisories. A tiny blow at the bottom of the down pipe and something else silly.

Excellent, pleased to hear your Xantia is still serving you well Kev. They are of course the better of the big Citroens ...

Its a feature of Dantes Red unfortunately and Magenta isn't a lot better either. However, its the mechanicals which count!

[CitroJim]

Kev, good to hear from you Mind you, all the hard work you've done recently you need a rest from it...

When you start up again you'll be doubly fresh and all ready to get that lovely 605 sorted

[Hell Razor5543]

Kev, I don't know if you noticed, but an American has joined to forum with a 605, but a problem re keys. Any ideas (such as if the PP2000 is needed to program replacement keys?);

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... =4&t=46838" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[citronut]

have you had to get the flippers and snorkel out yet young Kev

hope it aint toooooo damp down your end

[red_dwarfers]

It's been a while!

I'm not all that familiar with key problems on the 605 apart from the fact that they mustn't be lost!

It's all drying up a bit down here now. Surprising as it may sound, my local area suffered much worse last year. I think they spent a bit of money of flood prevention around here, dredging out the drains.

Xantia:
Recently the scuttle was leaking causing misted up windows and a damp rear passengers side footwell when parked on a steep hill nose up. Looks like it was down to a crack or cut in the scuttle about half way along allowing water to drip in and run over to above the blower inlet on the passengers side before dropping down. For the time being I've used some sealant to patch up the crack. Proving successful so far but I don't expect it to last forever. Hoping to pick up another at some point.

The water cause the remote central locking to cease working. The wire from the IR unit between the sun visors runs to a connector underneath the carpet in the passengers footwell, two of the contacts in this connector had corroded to almost nothing, the water must have been there a while. I decided to use a chocolate block type connector rather than soldering as I had no electricity nearby.

Also I noticed that when I opened the drivers door, the interior courtesy light wasn't coming on unless I played with the connector in the door shut. I bought some replacement door switched from eBay (Item No. 220615271172). They do the job but aren't a perfect fit, they sit a little too proud of the door shut. For the price though, I'm not going to complain.

I took the Xantia to Reims, France to a car show with a friend a couple of weekends ago, it was an excellent event. T-shirt and shorts weather too. We spent Saturday outside in the visitors car park looking at the hundreds of cars and on the Sunday we went into the main ticketed event which contained the autojumble and stands.

Some of the car club stands really went for it. A few sang songs, others acted while dressed up in highly amusing outfits. While I was walking around casually, a pouting man dressed as a woman ran past caked in makeup with a massive wig chasing after another bloke who had his face covered in lipstick marks! It was all excellent fun!

XM
The XM is still hibernating. The engine needs pulling out again as the oil feed on the turbo is leaking. Hopefully it's just that I haven't tightened the bolts up properly. It will be a good excuse to put the downpipe on, turns out I didn't do the bolts up tight enough. Last thing is the sunroof. I resealed the glass to the metal carriage a couple of years ago but the bond is failing again in certain places so I need to have another go. I'm looking forward to driving the XM again with its refurbished engine. It still hasn't done more than a couple hundred miles.

605
It's not exactly turned out to be one of those purchases where I could just jump in and drive it. I thought it would be but that would have been too easy. I'm really enjoying the challenge though. Basically it wouldn't rev over 2200rpm. I ruled out everything up to the high pressure pump. If I applied positive pressure to the fuel inlet the car would run okay. I resealed the Bosch pump thinking there was an air leak, bled the system through and nothing changed. When putting everything back I replaced all the fuel hose with clear reinforced piping and a disposable filter.

It wasn't long before this filter started catching gloop. I pulled out the in tank strainer from under the back seats and it was covered in this gloop. A wonder how anything was getting through at all. The metal pipes that run into the tank were like clogged arteries. A useful bit of information here was that the car hadn't been run much in the last few years and there wasn't a lot of diesel kept in the tank. We reckon this gloop was old diesel. Didn't really smell of veg. I had a look at the Bosch pump strip down photos again and the insides of the pump did look at little worse for wear.

I acquired a mechanical Lucas pump from another 605, tried rotating it by hand and it didn't appear seized so went about fitting it, changing the cam belt sprocket, injectors, pipes and mounting studs. Went to prime it and nothing would enter the pump. I took the pump to bits with some tips from CitroJim, its almost back together after a decent clean up and a new seal kit. Hopefully the engine will run okay once its back on the car. If it does, I need to move on to getting the tank cleaned and fuel lines replaced.

Once the 605 is on the road, it puts me in an exciting situation, can't imagine many people have the chance to drive an engine and gearbox matched 605 and XM back to back!

[bxzx16v]

It's good to read your fleet update Kev, that 605 is a testing beast .

Mark

[red_dwarfers]

About time for another update after my absence!

I've now flown the nest and moved up to Taunton in Somerset along with starting a new job. I've been working here for two weeks now and am really enjoying it, my colleagues are great and it appears to be everything that I wanted my previous job to be. I'm also earning more money for less responsibility, less hours and more potential for career progression.

This has left me with a small problem, whereas before I had 2 garages and a driveway within 100m, now I only have off road parking for one car and not a huge amount of on road parking. I've put the XM and 605 in the garages and declared a SORN on them, kept the G at a friend's and taken the Xantia with me as my business vehicle. I have no intention of shifting on these cars on any time soon. I had hoped to complete a few more car tasks this year but priorities changed with more important car tasks coming up, such as the GSA engine rebuild, and an unexpected downturn in my mental health.

Fortunately after a bit of time off work, a holiday in Turkey and a course of CBT group therapy, things are looking more rosy. Its not easy this CBT but its proving effective for my situation.

XM
The XM still has a leaky sunroof and now a suspected leaky heater matrix but being in the garage with the seats and centre console out and the carpet propped up along with a dehumidifier container in should at least stop things getting worse. The XM also has an issue with the heater blower fuse getting melty again. It has a 40 amp fuse to replace the 30 amp in the engine fusebox, which was also replaced as recommended in the InfoRapid, a couple of years ago. The last issue with the XM is that the coolant temperate gets a bit warmer than I'm comfortable with as the fans don't seem to be kicking in correctly. This is something I've not really done too much digging in to yet.

GSA
The G certainly does leave an impression with some but that impression was also usually in the form of a puddle of oil on the floor and it was getting a bit silly the amount of oil I had to keep topping it up by. I ended up buying a complete gasket and seal kit along with a Valeo clutch kit from Chevronics. When I started sorting it out, it soon became apparent that the rear piston on the passengers side (its a flat four longitudinal engine remember!) had gotten a little bit toasty and had chunks missing. Interestingly, I hadn't noticed any drop in performance or odd running, just goes to show how great the G is! After looking at the state of the oil cooler and the general muck around the engine, we weren't surprised that something had happened. Added to the list was a replacement piston and bore. It was all fitted and up and running the night before the G rally so the test run was the drive over to Tilford in Surrey!

Thankfully the journey up was uneventful. Unfortunately, on the way back the oil feed pipe failed on some pin hole leak so that was replaced with a new one.

A few weeks ago, we took the G and the earliest Visa Diesel in the UK over to Boulogne Sur Mer and Le Torquet for a potter about, as expected, the G performed admirably!

605
I had a couple of attempts refurbishing the intended replacement Lucas injection pump but it turns out that it was not kicking out enough pressure. I moved on to try and refurbish the Bosch, again I had two goes but didn't have much joy. A friend kindly offered to help out and went through it with a finer toothcomb than me. Unfortunately, I've not had time to fit the pump back in to the 605 and its looking likely that its not going to happen for a few months unless I get some time at Christmas. It will get done. I've got a gear linkage to make up and fit as the rubber has perished on the ball joint, sidelights to replace and a mirror cap to clip back on then it should be back in business.

Xantia
The Xantia gets the special recognition award this year for not causing me much trouble. That award went to the G last year and the XM in 2012!
There does seem to be a judder when braking in the Xantia, I'm not sure what it is yet. I think its also due to have the corrosion build up between the rear callipers and arms sorted out. I'm not looking forward to that job and do wonder how it will do in the MOT test coming up...

[CitroJim]

Hi Kev,

Pleased you're really happy in Taunton It's not a bad place at all. Shame it's meant a bit of a loss of time and space for working on the cars but very soon that'll resolve.. Look for a nice place in Taunton with a big garage attached...

I was down very near you yesterday when I nipped down in the V6 to see dad in Langport...

Sorry to hear your mental health took a bit of a dive. I know only too well all about that but I'm delighted you got to the problem quickly and got it sorted. Let's hope it's all gone for good and tat's the end of that...

Excellent news on the G and the Xantia. Looking forward to updates on the XM and 605 in due course...

Take care Kev!

[bxzx16v]

At least the fleet is tucked away for the winter Kev ready for when you've got the time. Hope you settle in and I look forward to some updates too on the fleet.

Mark