Citroenmads Citroen blog.

[Citroenmad]

The white Xm had been standing for over two months through the cold spell, sat under its fitted car cover being kept mostly out of the elements. Today i thought i best see if it goes and give it a little drive out.

Though the remote locking wasnt even working the battery was so flat. I hooked up the charger and there wasnt even enough power to light the small bulb on the carger which infroms if the polarity is correct. So i thought it would be goosed. I did the usual checks, tyre pressures, oil, coolent etc and left for for an hour. An hour later the car started up fine. WHich i was amased with as usually when a battery becomes so flat they dont take charge.

I planned to take it for a short run, though i couldnt stop driving it so ended up doing a fair few miles. Though its probably done it some good and the battery is still starting the car fine too. Ive left it in the garage tonight so ill give it some use over the weekend and give it a service too. Thankfully the roads are dry at the moment and ive not seen much salt about on the roads.

Hopefully we will get the tractions bonnet back on this weekend too, as its been away for painting, its now in the back of the Xm estate, so thats not really usable at the moment. The C15 is still in hibernation in a garage, its almost empty now too as all the bits are back on the traction, we had been using it as a shed.

My parents C5 estate has been pressed into daily work for my dads business, while his VW has been having some work done. The C5 has been transporting lots of heavy boxes around. So its doing a good few miles and has an awful lot of weight in. Though its doing it well and still returning 45MPG. The plan is to look for another C5 estate to take over for work use and sell the VW, as the grey estate is a family car. Which my mum said she would have but we have had the C5 estate over 3 months and she is yet to drive it, spoilt by a small car she says the C5 will be hard to park. Mind the turning circle on C5 estates is very bad, i think ocean liners have a tighter lock!

Ive now got my leak fixed on my C5 and some other bits done to it. Its not proving that reliable as ive had to use the other C5 for a while while this one was having issues. Though for the second its working Im not convinced at the moment, i really cant settle with a car at the moment.

The 52 C5 is still going as strong as ever, now with 120K and its faultless, i never have to do anything with this car, unlike my VTR. I got some new tyres on it last week and thats it, some more Goodyears, seem brilliant tyres, far better than its previous michelins.

Not a very interesting post, but never the less

[Citroenmad]

My 206 HDi was sold yesterday, so thats one less car.

Quite a quick transaction to say the least! The guy who bought it had a very quick look round it, didnt sit in it, didnt open the bonnet, didnt open the boot. DIDNT want to drive it. Just wanted to pay, sign the reg form and be away.

Suited me, but its very unusual to buy a car without taking a good look at it or driving it. Which was lucky as its engine was worn out and all 4 wheel bearings had gone, oh it had a slipping clutch too. OK, so it didnt, it was perfect in every way, but how was he to know that?

Anyway, its gone.

Still not got chance to take some pictures of the Xm estate since its little make-over, this weather is awful.

The traction is now nearly all in one piece. Its bonnet is on and its grill. Just need to put the bumper back on the front and wire in the indicators. Job done! Will be next month or so before we take it for its MOT though, no need to take it out in this weather.

Chris.

[Citroenmad]

Had a day off today (really should have been doing my uni assignment, though there is alwasy something better to do!), so i took the dogs out for a good walk. It seemed to be a nice dry day so i thought id take the Xm estate for a change, as its not been out for around 6 weeks. It was in need of a good run as the battery had become low. Infact it was too low to even start it. I put the charge on for 20 mins, thinking this would be enough to get it going. It wasnt, then the end fell off the battery charger so i ended up having to connect the jumpleads to the C5 and it started perfectly then.

It was a lovely morning, nice and sunny, dry roads, perfect for a nice drive and walk. I headed over to Captain Cooks monument, near rosberry topping. Though as i got near to where i was going there was 3 inches of snow in places. Its a very steep climb up and the road gets quite twisty. I managed to get up fine, albeit with a hint of wheelspin on the steepest parts. I tried this in my C5 and had to turn around, though it was quite a bit deeper then. I found the Xm very good in the snow, slightly better then my c5, though it has thinner tyres which might be the reason.

Had a very pleasent walk in the snow, very few people around and nice secnery:

Snow:


The snow was very patchy:


And the terrors:


Though i thought id post a couple of pictures of the Xm in the snow:







I didnt intend to even get it dirty but its now pitted, so ill have to give it a good clean on sunday. Ive not driven it since way before Christmas, since before it got its bodywork done, so i had a very nice drive in it. I forget how much of an occasion it feels to drive an XM! Looking forward to the better weather so i can drive one more often.

My C5 is going very nicely at the moment, no further problems to report.

Chris.

[CitroJim]

They're some stunning pictures Chris The XM looks good too..

That looked like a tremendous way to spend a Friday. Don't worry about the Uni work, a good day out like that will help you concentrate better in the long run. You have to have a bit of relaxation sometimes..

I've really enjoyed being out in the open air today and down here it was sunny most of the day and hit a high of 7 degrees at one point. Tropical!

Doesn't a bit of sun really restore your spirit?

[Citroenmad]

Its not been cleaned for 2 months, i tend not to use the Xms when there is salt on the road, so it just stands around. Ill give it a good clean on sunday. Dull days it looks like a very dark red, but in the sunshine its a lovely deep rich metallic red. Odd colour, i realised im my Citroen colour brochure from the mid 90s that there are a few Xm reds, so im not sure exactly what this is now, ill have to have a look at the colour codes.

It was a nice day, though ill have to spend the weekend at the computer doing my assignment, still ive made a start and its not due in until thursday

A nice day really makes oyu feel better, i agree. The Xm recorded 8 degrees at one point, the snow was melting fast by midday. Though with lows of 2. Supposed to be cold tonight, mobile sand blasters are out in force

[Citroenmad]

Jims thread has got me looking at our old Activa pictures, so i thought id go back im time and post some up, as i dont think ive mentioned it in here and it deserves to be mentioned.

Before anyone gets excited, im going back to 2005 here:

My dad used to look after this Activa for its owner, as my dad used to be a citroen specialist. One day, after my dad changed jobs, its owner rang up and said he was looking at selling it, he was wanting to trade it in for a Mon.deo. The Ford dealer would only give him £350 in part ex, so my dad paid that and bought the Activa. It was in fantastic condition, but the front bumper was quite scraped so we sent it to the bodyshop to have that fixed.

It was a very tidy Activa, only 63K miles, full history and it drove very well. We had it around 6 months, it was totally reliable until, after a few months the rear ram started leaking, it was slight and still usable but needed fixing. We looked into getting a new ram but then spotted an Xm which was for sale at a garage. It was a late VSX with most of the options, so like a fool we traded in the Activa for this Xm.

Which was a massive mistake, we liked the Xm and thought it would be nice to replace our white XM and get rid of the activa at the same time too.

However the Xm never felt quite right, it was on the pricey side, infact very much so, but it seemed like a good car. It wasnt great and it didnt stay with us long at all.

However the poor activa is now not taxed, id love to know where it is (if its still here) and get it back, as it was a huge mistake to get rid of it and i didnt fully realise what an interesting car it was at the time.

Here are a few pictures, the camera was really rubbish so it looks like a bright solid red colour, it was infact the Activa Dantes red and looked superb. It seemed to change to a golden colour in bright sunlight, lovely.












That puddle is just water from me washing it, and the strip on the back door is the Xms rear bumper in the reflextion.


If there was a car id wish we had kept, its this one. Id love one myself at some point, though i do keep saying that and never get one. When the time is right ill have one, i have to.

Chris.

[andmcit]

Hi Chris, a part ex on the red estate is out of the question then?

Andrew

[CitroJim]

That's it Same as mine bar the colour..

Your interior picture really shows just how black it is inside! No tricks of the light there....

I still think Dantes' Red is the colour though.

Only £350 in part-ex for a Mondy in 2005 That's outrageous

[Citroenmad]

Yes it was nice and dark inside, i liked the interior very much, i like most Xantias interiors actually, especially the VSX with the nice green tartans.

I cant understand why the cars colour came out as flat red in those photos, it was very odd, the camera was pretty bad at doing high light photos, so maybe thats why. Shame as its a very nice colour and those are the few pictures i have of it.

It was a silly trade in price, he didnt want to sell it privatley as he thought he might have people turning up just to drive it and see what its like. Im glad we got there first, still didnt do it any good now though Same thing goes for our old TRS CX, which was a local, lovely mint, one owner, low milage CX saloon with the GTi interior, one of the last registered too. Had that about a year and sold it on. Since we had it around 7 years ago ive seen it on ebay twice. The last time, about 18 months to two years ago now it was looking very sad and rusty. Which is why i really hate selling cars now, but you cant keep them all

Edit, having just checked on the DVLA site, the CX is still taxed, until 11/2010, excellent! The Activa is not coming up with any records now, its either on a different plate or is no longer around ...

[Citroenmad]

It turned out to be a very nice day today, cold but sunny. I decided id get some of the cars cleaned, as they had been very much in need of it. Managed to get two C5s cleaned today and our little town car, the Seat. All washed, hoovered etc.

I gave the Seat a good blast and gave some brakes some abuse as they were a bit rubbish as it mainly does town driving. Its quite a fun little thing to drive, especially on some good B roads. Though the brakes didnt like it, they work much better now. Its going for MOT this week, hopefully it will pass no problems. Its been a great car over the last 5 years, much easier to nip around town in than the C5s etc.

A couple of pictures from today:







My VTR scrubs up quite well:



I always fit mudflaps to my cars, though i cant find any front ones for a S1 C5, Citroen dont sell them now and none have appeared on ebay. I got the rears but then thought id try some aftermarket fronts mudflaps. They probably do more to keep the car clean, as the normal C5 ones are pretty useless, but not sure if i like them on the car.



Went for a drive, thought this would make a nice picture, until i saw how much pollution there is in the air!





So that wasy my day today, cleaning and driving, excellent!

Yesterday i got some more little jobs done on my C5, fitted the drop link, fiddled with the handbrake etc. Ive got some chromed indicator bulbs to go in the front, to get rid of the orange glow from the front lights.

[Citroenmad]

Well, its been a busy time of late, what with work, uni and uni work.

Ive also bought another car, a Non-French car! A Seat, ill say no more!

I bought it as i have had one before and know them to be very reliable, cheap to run cars. However its difficult going from the comforts of a C5 to the basic-ness of a shopping trolley. So, since i got it for a very good price and they do sell rather quick, im planning on doing a few little jobs with it and selling it on. Its the same car as the one in the above picture, but its black and a 1.4TDi - excellent engine!

In the next few weeks i need to get a few jobs done on my C5 too, handbrake cables, battery and a driveshaft. Ive still not got round to getting any of these little jobs done, so thats my plan for the easter break.

We are having a family trip to Scotland next week for 8 days. 5 people, 2 dogs and 4 bikes - requires two C5s. So the estate will be needed for the dogs and the C5 SX for the bikes (it has a tow bar).

However the SX has been a little ill lately, well the past few months ive noticed its not been right. Its so much slower than my VTR (i put that down to the VTR being newer and having less miles) but the SX is also using so much more fuel, doing around 35MPG. So i eventually got round to taking it to get the fault codes read, expecting nothing to be found. However it brought up a fault with the MAF sensor. Ive just got a call from the dealer to say its arrived, so ill go and collect and fit that later. Hopefully it should be back to its lively self again, as it always used to go very nicely this SX.

Its now done 121K miles, creeping up slowly. My VTR has done 72K miles, odd as i didnt think ive done many miles in it, but thats 5K miles in 3 months and i use the other cars too. I think someone must use it as a Taxi when im not looking!

I swap between the SX and my VTR for my 70 mile round trip to uni which i do a few times a week, so i should notice a difference once its got its new MAF fitted.

They do seem to go through MAF sensors these C5s!

The estate is serviced ready to go, but i still need to do an oil change on the SX. Its done 5K miles but with it using so much fuel lately id better get it changed before we go.

Hopefully ill have some good pictures to put on here of the C5s when i return

The traction is still hiding in its garage, we need to sort the bonnet out as the middle hinge is very tight and put the front bumper on. Then its all good for the road again hopefully. So it should be at some CCC events soon. The C15 is also still garage and will need to resurface soon, what with this slightly better weather it can be used.

[Citroenmad]

Had a very nice week away in scotland, both C5s went very nicely. Weather was a bit wet and windy, with the house we had located about 200 yards from the sea it was a little blowy! So many flooded roads and rivers bursting. Had some good bike rides and walks though, despite the weather.

While i was on the motorway yesterday a front brake stuck on my C5 VTR. I slowed and carried on to the service which were just about a mile away. As i stopped at the roundabout i could hardly see for the smoke coming from the brake.

I dont know why it decided to stick on as it was free when i set off, anyway, i parked up at the services and left it to cool. A RAC mechanic was there, he came over and said i probably shouldnt drive it, since im an RAC member he said he would get it recovered. Though that would have been an hour tuntil the truck could get there so i decided against that. After having an ice cream i returned to the car and the brake was now free and cool, so i drove it the few miles home without any problems at all.

The handbrake has been a bit floppy lately, i had thought the cables were getting a bit sticky but the brake had not stuck on before.

Ive just had the brake to bits and the pads and discs are scorched and still very smelly but ive cleaned them up and they are fine. Though i dont think its the cables which are the cause. It seems to be the spring return device which puts the brake on when the handbrake is used and should pull the handbrake cable back through when its realeased has started to seize up.

Ive had a good luck at it and cleaned it up, but its no better. There is a split seal which must be letting water into the calliper and its seized up. Looks like it will be needing a new calliper.

Ive got handbrake cables on order as one is a little bit frayed, but they are still moving easily.

Really need to get rid of some cars at the moment, ive got the C15 back and now im one space sort. Need to get my finger out and get some advertised shortly. I think both Xms will be advertised, id love to keep the white one but it really needs rehoming.

Chris

[Citroenmad]

edit: double post

[Citroenmad]

A little news on the 6H:

We have been getting the Traction finished these last few weeks, final things which needed to be sorted out. Yesterday we had it all back in one piece washed and ready for its MOT today.

Which it passed!

So its all ready and road going again. Though can't tax it until monday, which is annoying as there is quite a big classic car event on here tomorrow, 200 cars expected. Shame we wont be able to take the 6H.

It needs the brakes looking at as they are not as effective as they used to be. So were planning on having a look at those today.

Which means we should have it down at weatherby next month and hopefully a few other citroen events this year too.

My C5 is up to its usualy tricks. A new issue arrived yesterday. I did quite a few miles in it yesterday, everything which has been normal was. The fuel gauage had been dropping at the normal rate from about half to almost empty over the day, normal for the miles i had done. The fuel light was just ready to come on and the car was telling me it had 65 miles left on the tank. I parked up at the bodyshop to collect the tractions bonnet and when i started the C5 up again it had over a quatre of a tank of fuel on the gauage and was now telling me i had 245 miles to go on the fuel in there.

The gauage had been dropping as normal before that, it should have very little fuel in now. But after a bit of town driving and driving too and from work this morning its dropping at the normal rate and has just under a quatre in now.

So i best go and fill it up and see whats going on with that, as it shouldnt have anywhere near as much fuel as its telling me it has. I think its just trying to con me into thinking it has more until it runs out

Really is very difficult to like this C5, its a very difficult car to live with. Ive never owned a car which has had so many on going issues. I might end up getting rid of this one soon, though when it all works its a lovely car and i dont know what id replace it with. Maybe a facelifted C5 or a C4 HDI.

The C15 is now out of its winter garage and back with us, needs a couple of brake pipes though, which might be the job for tomorrow.

Anyway, must get back to this uni assignment!

[Citroenmad]

After the above comment about my C5s fuel gauage behaving oddly, i filled up the car today and sure enough it was empty, even though it said i had between empty and a quatre left and 120 miles on the trip computer. Its gone back to rnormal now and is telling me the correct miles to empty too. Very odd, its not to be trusted this thing!

Its going into a citroen specialist tomorrow for new handbrake cables and guide pipes. Hopefully it will be ok, though i never can tell with this car.


I fitted a set of genuine mudflap to the C5 estate at the weekend, looks so much better, however its stopped the rattling and banging from the rear. The arch liners wer very loose and the bumper wasnt very secure (no idea why, every estate ive looked at is very flexy on the rear bumper and wheel arches. Seems the mudflaps have tied the bumper and arch liner together and the noise has stopped. Wasnt a major noise but i hate rattles and knocks on cars.


The traction is now Taxed. Though not using it as its running a little rough at the moment. We think its the old fuel, which is now 4 years old and it has over half a tank. So will have to drain that out, put in fresh and see how it goes from there. Cant see it being anything else, well i hope not anyway.