wurly's gf's C2 Loeb - various (belated) updates

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wurlycorner
Donor 2024
Posts: 1456
Joined: 30 Oct 2012, 23:37
x 79

Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

For christmas, the old romantic in me :luv: bought Lisa some new headlight bulbs...

I'd noticed a mis-match in colours on hers when I bought it;
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Pax side had a blueish bulb while the drivers side was traditional Halogen colour.

I researched before hand (everyone seems to automatically buy Osram Nightbreakers) and the most recent product tests seemed to recommend Phillips Racing Vision, so I got a set of those instead.
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WELL pleased with them.

Before;
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After;
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So much brighter and a much better/consistent/well defined beam pattern.
:bl:

The latter made me suspect that the blue bulb was probably a crappy generic Chinese one and sure enough...
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The white Halogen is a pukka GE bulb;
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Blue one completely unbranded;
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GE has gone into stock as a spare, blue one in the bin :lol:
--
Iain

1x '85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (metallic blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (metallic silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (metallic light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & metallic green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
wurlycorner
Donor 2024
Posts: 1456
Joined: 30 Oct 2012, 23:37
x 79

Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

After all that work (plus now two new Uniroyal Rainsport tyres due to one being bald and one having that nasty structure failure) you'd think the car would be grateful but... no...

It developed a nasty clonk. I checked over all the front suspension and found some bad play in a bottom ball joint.
Replaced that, which was also a sod of a job - it's one of the rare ones where you read the Haynes manual and you think 'I don't really need to do that just to get the ball joint out of the arm' so you set about your usual ways and... fail.
Then you try the Haynes way (get a long bar in line with the bottom arm, brace the inner end under the front subframe, chain it mid-point under the outer end of the arm and then stand on the outer end, outside the car) and... voila! Pops straight out! #-o =D>

Thought I took some pics of that job, but can't find them...

Anyway, while I was under there I spotted yet more previous mechanic cock ups...
Passenger side;
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Drivers side;
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:roll:
Some plum has replaced a top mount and fitted it 180^ out, throwing out the alignment of the strut (and therefore the camber)
#-o
So that will have to be sorted.
--
Iain

1x '85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (metallic blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (metallic silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (metallic light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & metallic green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
wurlycorner
Donor 2024
Posts: 1456
Joined: 30 Oct 2012, 23:37
x 79

Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

Annoyingly, the ball joint - although knackered - didn't fix the knock :roll:

Between Christmas/New Year, I took the car back and put it on the ramp, wheels free and gave it a really good going over with big pry bars, Lisa working the steering etc.
Found lots more things on the car I didn't like, but nothing concrete for the knocking sound.
Driving it, it had sounded to me exactly like an ARB drop link (but felt bad enough to be a subframe mount), but I couldn't get any movement on them at all. The only think I noticed was that when the steering was operated, one side ARB behaved differently to the other (twisted in a different way) so I earmarked that for a change.

Found lots of other things I didn't like while I was under the car though;
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Yes, that's a crack in the steering rack casting - which is sandwiched between the subframe and chassis (now idea how on earth that has happened, but there will be more on the saga involved in fixing that, later...)

More s**t from the £400+ stainless exhaust fitting;
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Downpipe-gearbox bolt left out, causing the bracket to rub
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:grr:
Looks like it doesn't line up quite right, so they obviously thought they couldn't be bothered...
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Also not impressed with the quality of a couple of the bends (the 'kinks' in it);
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And the welds haven't exactly been dressed/cleaned up!;
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I intend to take it back to them and see what they have to say (when the car is properly fit to drive again...)

Wiring loom not secured where it runs under the engine (previously over-tightened and split the plastic, but someone also obviously can't be bothered to even refit another bolt!);
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This will be the guys that did the cambelt last year...
I sorted that out by custom grinding a washer to fit in the narrow gap but with enough width to support the cable loom.

Notice the sump plug drips slightly - yes, I think that's been over-tightened at some point in its life and the thread is weak... :roll:
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I could go on, but that will do for now... Basically although I have receipts for everything done on this car, at various places, it's the usual story - 90% of mechanics out there are lazy-arse bodgers these days, so it's no surprise I don't trust them...
Last edited by wurlycorner on 27 Feb 2018, 22:06, edited 1 time in total.
--
Iain

1x '85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (metallic blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (metallic silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (metallic light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & metallic green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
wurlycorner
Donor 2024
Posts: 1456
Joined: 30 Oct 2012, 23:37
x 79

Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

Anyway, next stop was to replace the ARB drop-link.

Encouraginly, although I still couldn't feel any play in it, I noticed a slight nick in the boot on the joint that had been behaving differently under steering;
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So, hopeful...

Simple enough to replace?
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Nope... That bolt was not shifting!
Out came mr tiny air disc cutter again;
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So satisfying doing that and not getting a scratch on the bit you're leaving behind :)
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I don't buy cheap crap so Lemforder replacement, it was;
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Worryingly, it came with a leaflet saying not to mix plastic and metal ARB's on alternate sides...
:eek1:
So there are now PLASTIC ARB Droplink's out there fitted to cars? 8-[

Anyway, while I was there, I made myself very dissatisfied with the condition of the bottom of the shock absorbers;
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Looks about ready to fail?
Fortunately it actually isn't anything like that bad!
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Amazingly, the drop link has proved to be the cause of the horrendous clunk - I still can't 'feel' a problem with the old one, but just replacing that, has definitely fixed it!
--
Iain

1x '85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (metallic blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (metallic silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (metallic light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & metallic green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
wurlycorner
Donor 2024
Posts: 1456
Joined: 30 Oct 2012, 23:37
x 79

Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

Hands up then, who spotted another problem while I was in the wheel well...







Nope?







Ok...

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#-o

Yes.

Another broken spring - front near side this time.

*sigh*


Oh yeah and the brake pads that Formula One had reported as 'nearly worn out' when we had the tyres replaced...
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Think you'll find they're basically new, mate! :roll: :grr:
There was a problem though - A stone stuck in the top of one of the pads (now removed) and...
Yep, you guessed it...
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(Yep, repeat of the back, albeit nothing like as bad)
Blatently didn't even LOOK at the brakes, just changed the tyre and ticked the 'brake pads worn' box.


So another thing for the 'to do' list;
- Front Springs
- Strut Top Mount
- Steering Rack
- Front Pads/Discs (though that can wait, 'cause they actually feel and stop the car, fine)
--
Iain

1x '85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (metallic blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (metallic silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (metallic light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & metallic green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
wurlycorner
Donor 2024
Posts: 1456
Joined: 30 Oct 2012, 23:37
x 79

Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

Just to top all this off, in January, the clutch started slipping too.

:lol:

#-o

:rofl2:

( ^^^ you have to do that, or you'd end up crying )
--
Iain

1x '85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (metallic blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (metallic silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (metallic light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & metallic green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
User avatar
CitroJim
A very naughty boy
Posts: 52063
Joined: 30 Apr 2005, 23:33
x 6998

Re: wurly's gf's C2 Loeb - various (belated) updates

Unread post by CitroJim »

Gosh! I'm shocked both by the level of rust and the sub-standard work Iain... The latter is especially terrible...

Still, some very good and necessary work done!
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
wurlycorner
Donor 2024
Posts: 1456
Joined: 30 Oct 2012, 23:37
x 79

Re: wurly's gf's C2 Loeb - various (belated) updates

Unread post by wurlycorner »

Yep.
Thats on top of the various other things like the usual broken/missing clips all over the engine bay and wheel arch liners, engine undertray missing...
There's also an oil leak from the rocker cover somewhere (another fall out from the cambelt that was done less than a year ago). So bloody annoying. But underneath it all, it's a fun (and rare) car, so I will get there...
--
Iain

1x '85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (metallic blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (metallic silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (metallic light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & metallic green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)