Veggie and Activa tales but now rental reviews blog!

[CitroJim]

You more than likely have a flat rear centre sphere Will. Hard mode is hard in an Activa but soft mode should be OK.

I run Xantia estate Hydractive spheres on the rear of mine and it's not too bad at all..

The V6 too is stiffer than a standard Hydractive car.

[KP]

Well i had a look at the radios in the cars this morning after a quick hoon round a loop ive made up for the activa as the rain had stopped and the roads had mostly dried.

The tyres were down in pressure, some down as bad as 24psi! new tyres deffo needed and the rims sealed or my other plan of some nice 16/17 rims could be easier.

First up was the V6. cover panel popped out and radio out. Antenna cable was connected ok and didnt feel broken anywhere. I looked at the roof trim and thought better than to try and pop it out to access the antenna base.
The CD Changer was next. CD's out and put the right way round and job done, CD's now work

The activa was next. I'd tried before with the steering controls removed to no avail but this morning after removing them the unit was acting fine for me. Wonder if a stiff button was shaken loose on this mornings run! Ideally it will just play stuff via the LINE IN although the tape and radio part work!

Diags on the V6 showed the odd fault but nothing major, steering angle sensor and a gearbox fault picked up when changing from 1st to 2nd but that has vanished and not come back.

I'd like to do the gearbox adaptive reset and take it for a spirited run but a quick search on my phone couldnt find the exact driving procedure for after the reset so i left it be until later.

At some point i think i'll go outside and look over the XM faults but need to recall where the diag socket is as i found it once but haven't seen it since and cant recall its position, DOH!

More bird poo wiped off the activa which is tempting me to shimmy up the lampost i park it under and lay some spikes to stop birds stopping on it

So tyres/wheels for the activa, driveshaft CV boot still, ABS sensors at the front still...

[CitroJim]

Will, the XM Diag socket is under the steering column, roughly where on a Xantia you'll find the bonnet release. Under a little door..

Steering Angle sensor faults in the Hydractive ECU are more or less normal and expected! I'm surprised when they don't show

[KP]

Cheers Jim, with today's weather I'll probably go have a nosey at it now

[Mandrake]

The CD Changer was next. CD's out and put the right way round and job done, CD's now work

Told you the CD changer worked fine...

Diags on the V6 showed the odd fault but nothing major, steering angle sensor and a gearbox fault picked up when changing from 1st to 2nd but that has vanished and not come back.

What was the gearbox fault ? The only ones I've seen are engine speed signal missing (caused by cranking the engine with the engine ECU accidentally unplugged) and brake light switch faulty - caused by forgetting to press the brake pedal during the test.

Despite all my concerns over the gearbox I've never seen a real fault code of any concern...same with the engine ECU - never a useful fault code (or any fault code!) when the engine was running like complete crap... (shows how useless using computers to diagnose faults can be... )

[KP]

I'll upload the pics later but the brake light was one of them but they weren't anything to major IMO

[KP]

And yeah the CD's were my own dumbass fault

[Trainman]

And yeah the CD's were my own dumbass fault

NO COMMENT..............

[KP]

HA HA!!

Anyway the replacement bonnet has been fitted and is a massive improvement on the last one

Many thanks to Richard.

The old one is in my dads garage but will be going off to the tip by next weekend as we dont have the space for it at the minute s if anyone wants one its there FOC just needs picking up and it does fit in a C5 estate with one rear window down so should fit in an XM or Xantia easy enough

[Mandrake]

Ah, so you did get the bonnet then...did you just drive up and collect it ? How is the colour match ? From memory both cars had the exact same paint code.

I bet Richard is glad to have it out of his already over burdened garage. I felt guilty that he had saved it for me but I then didn't use it because I'd decided to scrap the car before we got around to swapping it over!

[RichardW]

I cleared up the garage at the weekend - now I have dumped 30 litres of old engine oil, and a pile of old metal parts (although I still have some exhaust to make a repair on your new one Simon!) I can see the Visa again. Bike trailer currently in for repair though....

Bonnet left here via a Discovery courier.... BTW Will - you have changed over (or at least recovered) the heated washer jets from Simon's old bonnet? They are something like £80 EACH if you want new ones

Edit - not quite that bad, they come as a pair, and are a mere £74....

[KP]

A member of the disco forum brought it down for me which was very very kind of him. Took about 10mins to swap over.

Not perfectly aligned but that's me being really really fussy.

Forgot the car has the winter pack and wondered for a few seconds what electrical cables were doing near the washer jets!!! Cos it has the winter pack of course lol!!!

Also spent about 90mins tonight using 240grit and then 1200grit sandpaper on the front bumper corners. Drivers and passenger side almost completed and can see where the marks and filler are now so think I'll get a rattle can made up to do them and some lacquer.
The next one to get the treatment is the rear bumper mid section.

I think a good few years ago the car has had these bits touched up and now you can see they just don't match so I'm doing some work to get then to match and look good for it's next owner as it will bring the outside of the car right upto scratch, pardon the pun!!!

She's been performing great and chewing thru fuel like no ones business and I've just secured some genuine new front pads for her as well so they'll get fitted when they arrive in the next week or so and then the last thing before she goes up for sale with a near fresh MOT and super emissions

[CitroJim]

That's excellent progress Will...

Sadly yes, that's the only problem with Activas - they do like the fuel

[KP]

Certainly is

Now hunting for a rattle can place that can match up without costing both kidneys and an arm...

[CitroJim]

Now hunting for a rattle can place that can match up without costing both kidneys and an arm...

Isn't the V6 just el-boggo Quartz Silver Metallic (EYC) Will? Every other Pug and Cit was painted that colour so even the most poorly stocked Halfrauds should have a rattle can or 6 in that shade...