All Things V6...

[DHallworth]

Steve, Will, Bill, etc. What are you guys doing for accommodation? I'm thinking about camping.

David.

[KP]

I'll prob drive back to be honest as it's only about 80mins away even at my speed in the xm and it's one of the worst ones that will be going so I wouldn't want to shame the others with it's presence overnight as it might give them rusty ideas lol

[Mandrake]

David, my old V6 used to have a flaky dashboard temperature reading as well.

Usually it would read just under 90 but sometimes it would drop dramatically to about 60-75 within a second or two when driving on the motorway - often when accelerating up a hill.. Sometimes I would ease off the throttle and the reading would go some of the way back up, then accelerate and it would drop again! I think Will noticed similar behaviour since he had it too...

I never did find the cause, but it can really only be one of a couple of things - faulty temp sender or wiring, or air bubbles in the coolant in the vicinity of the rearmost (blue ?) temp sender that means the temp sender is sometimes not touching water...

As there are three different temp senders in that engine, the green one at the front for the ECU, the brown one at the rear on the side for the fans and the rear blue one for the dashboard gauge, its quite possible for only the one that drives the gauge to be faulty.

If you're concerned about it I'd try bleeding the cooling system first if that doesn't help replace the rear sender for the gauge - I think its the blue one but check with Jim.

I haven't seen this symptom on the new V6 so far...

By the way nearly 100 degrees for oil temperature seems high - my new V6 usually sits at around 50-60 even when I push it hard. It could be that the TCT oil temperature gauge is not calibrated for the oil temperature sensor in the V6 though, as the S2 V6 didn't have an oil temperature gauge...

[KP]

Ah yes your V6 only did it on the journey home. I attributed it to running at a steady speed down the hills so at part/no throttle for periods at higher speeds and with the outside air being cold the water temp was actually dropping that much as it was like a sticky thermostat that then shut closed quite hard and the temp soon came back up within 5-10secs as the water in the block got heated back up

[CitroJim]

Mine does the same thing. It's all to do with the gauge (blue) sender being mounted where it is. It's effectively reading water temperature more at the bottom of the engine rather than the top where it's hottest so can put out odd readings at times.

Just compare the gauge on a Lexia looking at the CTS that feeds the ECU - the green one - which is in the top hose and you’ll see significant differences at times!

Or, at least, I do.

Anyway, it's nothing to worry about David. Another V6 quirk or characteristic.

[xantia_v6]

By the way nearly 100 degrees for oil temperature seems high - my new V6 usually sits at around 50-60 even when I push it hard. It could be that the TCT oil temperature gauge is not calibrated for the oil temperature sensor in the V6 though, as the S2 V6 didn't have an oil temperature gauge...

Having had 3 ES9 cars with oil temperature gauges, the reading varies a lot with driving conditions, and moves around with ambient temperature. On a 20 degree day, at a steady 70 MPH, I would expect a reading of about 95 to 105 degrees. On 35+ day, at 90 MPH on the autoroute, it can edge up to 125.

[CitroJim]

I always reckon it was why they deleted the oil temperature gauge on the S2 Xantias. The oil temperature can certainly look alarming at times as per your observations Mike!

I know I was quite alarmed a few times in my S1 when making brisk progress. I almost think the V6 needs an oil cooler sometimes as per the TCT.

The biggest shock I had was in my old HDi on the first long, fast trip I did in it. The dash had a problem which manifested itself as the oil temperature (and water temperature sometimes) climbing very high.

A thump on the top of the dash restored normal readings and became a regular task on most journeys

[KP]

I was going to say my activa only ever goes above 55' ish when I'm making use of the arcs

[Mandrake]

By the way nearly 100 degrees for oil temperature seems high - my new V6 usually sits at around 50-60 even when I push it hard. It could be that the TCT oil temperature gauge is not calibrated for the oil temperature sensor in the V6 though, as the S2 V6 didn't have an oil temperature gauge...

Having had 3 ES9 cars with oil temperature gauges, the reading varies a lot with driving conditions, and moves around with ambient temperature. On a 20 degree day, at a steady 70 MPH, I would expect a reading of about 95 to 105 degrees. On 35+ day, at 90 MPH on the autoroute, it can edge up to 125.

Sorry guys, I misremembered where the numbers were on the gauge. On the way to David's and back today the oil temperature was steady between 90-100 degrees.

[KP]

Would an oil cooler from a tct be too much to add?

[xantia_v6]

The 406 with ES9 and manual transmission did have an oil cooler fitted, but the Citroen hydraulic regulator is in the same place, so Citroens didn't get them.

I don't think there is much to be gained by cooling the oil (at least in the UK), I have never heard of an ES9 bottom end wearing out.

[BW]

Steve, Will, Bill, etc. What are you guys doing for accommodation? I'm thinking about camping.

David.

Hi David. would have been good to convoy, but we're stopping over in Blackpool on the Friday then on to the narrowboat near Lichfield for Saturday and Sunday. You're welcome to stay on the boat, but the bunks are probably less comfy than camping! Planning to go to the rally on the Sunday.

I wish I'd known that the fluctuating temperature guage is a design feature. i've worried about mine for 13 years now.

[Hell Razor5543]

It depends on the narrowboat. I intend to stay with my Mum on her boat (in the Netherton area), and her boat is comfortable.

[Trainman]

Well, I will be camping, which reminds me I must book it tomorrow

[DHallworth]

Somebody asked me yesterday how many miles I do in my XM and Activa every year and it got me thinking... I wasn't sure so I dug out the old MOT's this evening and had a look.

I've actually done a lot less then I thought I had...

XM Mileage:



I took the XM out for a run today whilst Simon was visiting and fell in love with it again. It really is a cracking car to be in, everything is nice and tight, it drives like new and makes me smile every time I drive it. That's one reason I'm glad I don't use it very often as it makes it a very special car every time I do use it. Last year it only did 323 miles!

Activa Mileage:



I bought the Activa from Southampton in December 2007. It was MOT'd in May 2008 and that summer I used it to commute weekly from Glasgow - Leeds and back so it did about 6000 miles that summer. At this point I decided I was going to wreck it using it daily and I didn't want to use it through the winter so I parked it up that September and later that year I bought the R32. In 2011 I decided to get it MOT'd, it then came home from that and went straight back into the garage under it's cover. Last year when I was looking at buying a 207 GTi my dad reminded me that the Activa was in the garage so I dug it out and started to use it. This summer I've spent somewhere between £2500 and £3000 on it doing the V6 conversion... It's totally transformed the car and has made it a complete joy to drive. It still hasn't passed 52,500 miles though which means it's covered less then 400 miles since it's MOT. I really need to start making more time to use these cars

David.