Citroenmads Citroen blog.

[DickieG]

Re the insurance not covering a car that's failed an MOT even though the old certificate is still current, I have the feeling that there's a bit of the story missing there, if the failure is for a safety critical item such as say brakes then understandably an insurance company would be well within its rights to withdraw cover, however in this instance I believe they'd have a job justifying withdrawing cover for a slight crack in the exhaust.

I can't help thinking that the story as reported in the car magazine is a prime example of not letting the truth get in the way of a good story, just dribble out a small part of the whole story to obtain copy rather than tell the truth

[Citroenmad]

That does sound very likely. I believe that insurance companies will try anything to get out of playing a claim. Though this should be more widel spread knowledge if it is true, as how are we supposed to know?

Im certainly not going to stop driving the car, I need to drive it to get the exhaust replaced

[andmcit]

Im certainly not going to stop driving the car, I need to drive it to get the exhaust replaced

Not so much rebel without a cause, as rebel who MAY be without an MOT??

It is really confusing isn't it!? I had the same dilemma recently and worried about
the insurance as effectively you're driving with a car that has known defects that
make it officially unroadworthy. I had a chat with my friendly MOT tester and he
suggested that most Police traffic guys only really take a notice where there's zilch
brakes or wires sticking out the inner shoulder of the tyres - as the 3yo 7 series
Beemer in front of us had with Mr ignorant git driving it when I was there. After a
fail, a VOSA marker will pop up against the car's registration so through their
central number recognition software I believe it's going to be at the discretion
of the officer following what action is taken as there's no specific data saying
"it's a seriously badly deteriorated tyre" or a "crack in the main exhaust pipe" etc.

That's not to say of course that those sharks at the Insurance company won't drop
you like a lard coated tonne of bricks...

[Citroenmad]

Indeed, insurance can be a risky business. Hopefully I'll have a new exhaust on tomorrow and maybe even an MOT pass.

[CitroJim]

I can't help thinking that the story as reported in the car magazine is a prime example of not letting the truth get in the way of a good story, just dribble out a small part of the whole story to obtain copy rather than tell the truth

Absolutely Richard and I did allude to that in my original post. About the only thing strictly accurate in that comic is the cover price.

If you'd have swallowed all their 'news' then by now we'd all be enjoying free road tax despite all cars over ten years old being banned from urban areas; we'd all be running on ethanol and all MOTs scrapped for cars over 20 years old. I can't think of one of their news items that's become true yet...

I could go on and on but you get the picture. I posted it as a bit of a 'for what it's worth' and just in case thee was any truth and if it's as you say Andrew that VOSA put a 'marker' on the car then that gives old bill a lovely excuse to make their crime figures look a little better for the week

'Evenin' All! What 'ave we got 'ere then? I see, a cracked exhaust! That's disgusting, you should be banged up for driving a car in that state lad. You're a danger to the public. Here's three points for having a duff car, another three points for having no insurance and a nice, big juicy fine 'cos our tea club is a bit short this week. Oh and I think we'd better have this death trap off the road right now so come to the station in the morning and pay an extortionate fee to have it released. Good evenin'!'

[RichardW]

Chris

On the exhaust front....

Early cars had a 3 part exhaust, with a joint after the cat - I expect this is what yours has. Later cars went to a 2 piece exhaust - single piece from the turbo to the back box. The price for this, including the cat is £££££, so luckily you have avoided that - mine has this set up, I've already welded it back together once, fitted a cat back repair pipe and I see it is probably going to need another patch for the MOT just in front of the cat.....

Anyway, you've proabably got some options on the exhaust (other than replacing the whole pipe most of which is probably in good nick!)....

If the pipe is otherwise good, then get it off and just weld it back together. Simples (if you have the kit / know a man that can!)

If the break is close to the flange, then you could chop it off and replace it with one of the kits that Simon (Mandrake) found on e-bay: Repair sections - in fact Simon has got a spare one he might send down.... The slight potential difficulty here is that the inlet to the back box is smaller than the pipe diameter - now, I don't think it will be a problem, as I'm sure the repair pipe is not swaged down at the box inlet, and the difference is taken up with the flange.

You could buy the HDi repair pipe - which is intended I think for the later cars to avoid having to replace the cat - not sure exactly where it would fall on your car vs the centre box, but it could always be shortened to suit (but then you would need to figure out some way of connecting it together which might mean more fabrication. I got the repair pipe for <£30 including a clamp.

PS: Piccies here on the bosal site: HDi Exhausts

[Citroenmad]

Thanks Richard, that is very helpful Mine is an early one so hopefully it has the 3 part exhaust, though I have not checked this myself.

Strangely I was only quoted a £10 difference between an early car and a later one, but they wanted to see my car to see which it was ... I guess they would cut it off just after the cat if it was a 2 piece exhaust.

I think I'll take it to the place I went with my Activa and see what they say. They replaced a part of the pipe which comes out of the cat on that and they did a very good job. At the same time they replaced the centre pipe and that too is of good quality.

The rest of the exhaust is in very good condition on the HDi, its just that crack. So hopefully it can be repaired.

[Citroenmad]

Well the exhaust place deemed my exhaust repairable, they cut out the bad section, welded in a new section and £30 later it was all done. I dropped by the MOT place on the way back and its now got an MOT PASS! With no advisories I'm very pleased with that!

[CitroJim]

Excellent Chris

[bxzx16v]

Great news Chris on the Mot , I'm looking forward to some nice pics when you have the time

Mark

[Citroenmad]

Excellent Chris

Im over the moon with that!

Great news Chris on the Mot , I'm looking forward to some nice pics when you have the time

Mark

Yep, its on my list of things to do I need to get it cleaned up and machine polished then to somewhere nice for some pictures. This weather is not helping with any of that ... it currently looks almost as dirty as this one! Its my daily driver now, its done over 1,000 miles with me already

It'll get a clean this week but it has been hoovered today and the seats have been fed again. I always keep interiors clean even if the exterior is a bit more of a mission over the winter.

[Citroenmad]

I was quite interested in Pauls thread about fitting a trip computer, they are something I have got used to with C5s. I had thought about doing what Paul has done and fitting a 406 trip computer screen and wiring it in. However I'm not very experienced with wiring and electrics so this put me off. This did get me thinking though!

As the Series 2 Xantias have the 16pin OBD ports, you can get plug in trip computer/code readers. Which is what I did

The one I have is a ScangaugeII, all info is on the website link there. The downside is they are about £100+.

On the plus side they act as a trip computer, recording:
- Average MPG
- Instant MPG
- Actual MPH (satnav style)
- Average Speed

Along with lots of other things, air intake temperature, engine load, trottle position, alternator charge etc etc. It does do basic code reading and clearing also. It holds information about MPG for a each journey, a full tank of fuel, a day, yesterday etc. If you set it right it will show miles to empty and so on. Its colour screen can be adjusted different shades and brightness’s of red, blue and green. It uses the cars live data, its not guess work like some phone apps etc.

The display on the 'gauge' setting can be adjusted to show any 4 parameters you want. I have mine set to average MPG, instant MPG, real MPH and engine load. But you can swap these about very easily. The 'Trip' display shows either the current MPG for that one journey your on, or the MPG for the tank etc. It also shows how much fuel for those miles has been used etc. It obviously turns on and off with the car.

So then, I have fitted mine into my HDi Xantia. The plug obviously goes in the OBD socet in the drop down door to the right of the drivers right knee. The plug is such that the door still closes with it plugged in, however the service book would no longer fit in. I have threaded the lead behind the dash, above the pedals and round the back of the heater panel. I made a hole in the back of the oddments tray (where the keypad code is on an S1) and I have mounted the display in there, stuck to the back of the oddments tray. This is easily seen from the drivers seat without having to move your head, if you are tall like me and sit well back .. I set the display to the correct green shade to match with the Xantias dash lights and hey presto, its in!

(Warning poor quality pictures!)
This is it in position:


You can see it here, bottom left in the picture. Matches quite well with the dash lights:


The 'gauge' display. I have average MPG on the top (lower case letters), instant MPG bottom left (not moving so not recording), engine load top right (ticking over) and actual MPH


The 'Trip' display:


Impressive MPG:


Its fairly neat looking, as it hides under the ash-tray/dash. There really isn't anywere to put a trip computer otherwise, I did look around for other places on the dash to put it but this seemed the best. So no wires are on display anywhere, it is hidden behind the dash with a small hole through the oddments tray into the back of the screen. The screen is held in place with doubles sided tape. Simples!

[citroenxm]

You spent 100 quid on that?? I like it actually, it takes much less space then mine.. How did you plug it in Chris, some Pics please!! I know theres not a lot of space between the ODB and the cover...

Piccies please of the plug!!

The advantage of mine, the guage cost me just 18 quid! I have Temp guage (I use it for internal temp), Range, Instant MPG, Average MPG, Average Speed, Trip total miles...

I have the reset wired into the indicator stalk, which is off a late S1 with front and rear fogs on the stalk along with horn.

[Citroenmad]

You spent 100 quid on that?? I like it actually, it takes much less space then mine.. How did you plug it in Chris, some Pics please!! I know theres not a lot of space between the ODB and the cover...

Piccies please of the plug!!

Actually no! I had it already, I was bought it for a present as I was often moaning about one of my old cars not having a trip computer I forgot I had it actually, it did take some finding!

I can take a picture of the plug, however it is quite small. The wire comes out at a right angle, so the door to the fuse compartment closes up against the end of the plug. It fits perfectly.

The advantage of mine, the guage cost me just 18 quid! I have Temp guage (I use it for internal temp), Range, Instant MPG, Average MPG, Average Speed, Trip total miles...

Yes, this one does instant MPG, Average MPG, Average Speed, Total miles and so much more. Its all live and actual data, so its the same MPG (instant and average) that you will get on your 406 display.

I would like a proper built in unit, but thats never going to happen and if it did it would be down to a lot of reforming of some kind of dashboard plastic area. This suits me.

[citroenxm]

nice one chris... i prefer it!