c16rkc's mad house

[Hell Razor5543]

I like the dishwasher idea but sticking them in the tumble dryer after wakes up the whole neighbourhood.

Everybody knows that you put them in the oven to dry them off!

Don't forget that you can also use the oven for fitting reluctor rings!

[c16rkc]

Kids are always ill...!

I am thinking anyone who has children will know what I mean by this; Children are ill so often, that it starts to feel like they are doing it on purpose.

First of all, mid July Spencer's neck blew up like a bubble, went a strange mustard shade of yellow, and he couldn't move it. We took him to the doctors, who did not seem to know what it was, and prescribed antibiotics for Tonsillitis.

A few day's later nothing had improved, but we took him to A&E because he was suddenly struggling to breath...

They still had no idea what it was, and more Antibiotics were prescribed, he spend a few day's on the Ward, then he seemed to get better so he went home. They took bloods etc. so they could test and see what it was.

A few more days later and they tell us there is nothing wrong with him; he just had the common cold...

I think we all know that's not true, I have no recollection of ever getting a cold and my neck turning into a mellon... but Spencer seemed to be improving so we just went with it. He's since made a full recovery to his normal mischievous self.

But not wanting to be overshadowed by his younger brother, just as Spencer is being taken to A & E, Aston muscles in on the action with some sore eyes....



Oddly the doctors seemed reluctant to look at him. The doctor examined Spencer and said someone else would look at Aston... then they kept us waiting 2 hours... then the SAME doctor came back to see Aston. Except he didn't.

He did not even get within 2 meters of Aston, he told us to leave him playing and assured us it was an allergic reaction. Both my wife and I thought this was bull plops, and I have to wonder if some doctors get their PHD's by collecting tokens from Cereal packets.

But we towed the line and went away... to see if Aston got better.

A few days later and sure enough things had just got worse. He came home from school last Wednesday afternoon screaming at the top of his lungs that his eyes hurt, and he could not see. The poor little fella's eyes were so swollen they were sealed shut, and he was clearly petrified.

I walked in to all this Friday after work, and I thought someone in the house was being tortured!

So back to the hospital we go, but rather than back to the prats in A&E who are more used to dealing with drunks who have broke a leg walking home, Lindsey phoned the childrens ward and insisted they take a look at them; explaining how A&E are never interested. Her insistence worked, and we took him to the ward.

Two different doctors looked at him.

The first told me she had taken the call from my wife. Not surprisingly she looked pretty hacked off, and clearly thought this was all over nothing. She asked me lots of questions about Aston's birth and history - and was very good with Aston, and to her credit she was very polite. She went away saying she'd be back.

Half an hour or so passed, then a second doctor then showed up, asked me lots of the same questions (but without the silly ones) and then went away. He then came back and explained Aston had an eye infection in both eyes.

He prescribed some special eye drops, and we had to give them every 2 hours for 2 days, before tapering the dose off over the course of a few days. Within a day his eyes started to get better. They took swabs from his eyes and will hopefully be able to tell us what he had any day now.

Kids eh?

Saturday

On Saturday we gave Aston his eye drops and he was looking so much better.

I was itching to go out and sort the C5 out, but I couldn't as Lindsey had arranged for Spencer and Aston to have a haircut while she went off and tried on dresses with Bridesmaids for friends of ours, and then we had a BBQ at their house for their son's birthday.

I hate those sorts of gatherings... I think of myself as a social person, but I an definitely an introvert and I'm very fussy who I spend time with. A BBQ with lots of strangers never appeals to me and I always seem to get stuck with someone explaining in frightening detail their colon operation, or their "fascinating" holiday of continuously opening and closing loch's in a Canal boat in Cambridgeshire...

I also hate other peoples BBQs because all I want to eat is "fresh from the grill" burgers, sausages, and steak... where as other people seem to have an array of fancy stuff in sauce which they cook, let go cold, and the serve with lots of snobby nibbles like Lettuce leaves in olive oil, potato Salad, cold pasta coated in purest garlic, and cold stodgy rice with bits of pepper in it.

So of course I arrived having eaten so much at home I could burst I think you will find that's "check mate" fancy friends your move!

But anyway the kids had a great time, and of course that's what is important.



I spent the afternoon waiting patiently for Lindsey to let me take the kids home... and I had to wait until 7:20pm before I finally cracked and said what many, many men at BBQs have said before me; "We're going home".

So that was Saturday and a late night for the kids...

The Mercedes

I had been waiting all week to start the Mercedes CL, and see if I had cured the leaks.

Late Sunday morning, after we had sorted the kids, I went outside and connected up the freshly charged battery. Oddly even after a whole week, the charger said "charging" rather than "Maintaining" so I was a little dubious as to whether the battery would be any good.



I also popped in a few gallons of fuel, as it was running low.



I started the Mercedes up, checked to make sure it looked OK-ish under the bonnet, then left it to warm up while I pottered around on the Citroen C5.

After a few minutes I saw some smoke from under the bonnet. It is very hard to see in this photo, but there was smoke both sides.



I did not panic, hoping this was just residual oil from the work, but it got worse on the drivers side, the car also idled very poorly. In all honesty it's always idled poorly, but I was extra paranoid about it due to the work I had carried out.

I connected up my Diagnostic reader, but the only engine errors seemed to be about "Low battery". After a cycle of the ignition the battery now had no charge in it, to it is clearly goosed!

So out that came...



...and I need to buy a new one, but temporarily in went the battery removed from my Brother's 5 series before Christmas.



This charged beautifully, and started the engine perfectly. Perhaps it was not that bad after all?

Anyway, where as the oil smoke seemed to have calmed on the passenger side of the car, it was still awful on the drivers side. So I opened up the engine and took off all the coil packs.

A tell tale splash of oil said it all.... I still have a leak...



The only good thing is that I poked about everywhere on the passenger side, and I cannot see any signs of fresh oil, so at least that side seems to be sorted.



I opened her up and inspected the gasket, it all looks fine and I am puzzled...



This is where the leak appears to be coming from, and this part of the gasket looks just like the rest.





So I am at odds of what to do now...

Everything was at the correct torque of 8Nm, the gasket is in good condition and nice and flat.

I may buy myself a new gasket for just this side... perhaps stick to Genuine Mercedes this time

[myglaren]

Your experience with your kid's health sounds dreadful, mostly for the apparent incompetence of the doctors.
We had five. The eldest with Asthma & Eczema but no drama with it.
#4 got Chickenpox, not much to worry about until he fell in the garden and sandpapered the spots off his face with the garden fence.
Made worse as my wife cleaned him up preparatory to me taking him to the doctor's then fell down the last few stairs and bashed his head off the wall.

There was some consternation at the hospital but all resolved in an hour or two, sent home with a plasticised cardboard tray for him to be sick in if needed.
The other four were most amused and ran around playing with his 'sick box'.
And that is pretty much it other than common colds.

[c16rkc]

It is funny you know, I had three siblings, and I do not remember any of us ever getting ill at all...

It almost seems like kids get ill more these days... in genuinely does.

I was born in a hospital, and I never returned for anything related to me until my son was born - Until my kids were born, I had never even set foot in a doctors surgery other than for holiday inoculations.

So part of me feels like maybe my wife and I are overreacting with some of this stuff, but I don't see how you can ignore a giant yellow mound on your kids neck, or when their eye's close up... so I can only assume I have fathered kids with a crap immune system...

[c16rkc]

The Citroen C5 suspension

You may remember I had to resort to the DS5 last week, as the C5 decided it wanted to sit on it's struts for the rest of the week.

I suspected the suspension pump, but as there is a known issue with the pump needing a clean out, I decided this was the first thing to try.



I nearly powered up Citroen DOG BOX, so that I could depressurise the suspension system, then I remembered I have my convenient YOUCANIC scanner... oh this is so much easier!



But it infuriates me that every time I do this, the header tank overflows... oh the rage!





I jacked her up, removed the wheel.



The I remembered how all the wheel arch bolt heads are made from chocolate, and the liner cannot be removed properly...





So instead I have to peel them down...



I located the lower Hydraulic tank outlet:



So after removing this, and the two nuts above, I got the tank out.



This left quite a mess...



The pump is harder to get out, because there are two nuts in the wheel arch that are a pain to find.



My goodness... that really is a mess...



The top of the pump came off with the help of a 7mm socket... and T10 driver.





I did not really know what to expect, but the internals did look pretty caked in black gunk.



With the brush pack out, the windings also looked a little dirty.



So once out, I cleaned gently with the help from contact cleaner.











Including the underside of the cover.



Then it had to be done, I cleaned out all the engine bay under the pump with degreaser....



Gave the pump a good clean too.



Then in it went!



With the brand new tank too!



All back together... and but I knew I could not actually get it running, because having read online I already knew the fuse was probably gone, and I knew I did not have one as they are a special type.

Sadly I did not have the foresight to find out what sort of fuse this was, and get this ordered before hand...

To get to this particular fuse is a pain in the backside. Battery out first... then you unclip the fuse holder, and open it up.



This is the offender, and yes checking with a multimeter, it is blown.



So I found the fuse, and ordered two from Amazon - I just hope they are the right ones!

I am hoping I will get them today so I can fit and try...

[c16rkc]

The funniest part is how I now have two cars side by side with their bonnets up...

[Hell Razor5543]

Been there, done that (with my Facelift C5), but had to replace the pump assembly as somewhere in the past somebody had replaced the 40A maxi fuse with a 50A maxi fuse, which damaged the maxi fuse box bus bar and the motor windings. I found that brake cleaning fluid (and a toothbrush) did a brilliant job of removing the sludge (from the motor and the area where it normally sits), and a model rail track abrasive rubber block did a similar job of the motor commutator. I got a second hand pump assembly and a maxi fuse box from the scrap yard for around £40 (but the 'new' motor needed cleaning). About two years later my C5 still has working suspension!

[Gibbo2286]

Weel I read your post about the children barbeques etc. Is your favourite saying "Bah Humbug!" ?

[MattBLancs]

Ah, see I'm under the impression the main problem with children's health is we insist on packing them off to that great big Petri dish five times a week where they get more than enough chance to share diseases and bring them home for the whole family to enjoy.

Spoiler: show

= School

Having said that, maybe you are part of the problem too - if never in hospital or doctors surgeries then you've escaped a couple of other disease sharing "opportunities" too! Perhaps you've passed on a less comprehensive selection of antibodies than most

Good work on the pump disassembling, I've not tackled that as yet. Pictures on here would suggest yours was not as bad as they can get, but was definitely much cleaner after your good work.

Those fuses are odd things - I recently came across them in my wife's 308 fusebox (and better yet had one that wasn't fastened down!) what I found odd is that if you turn them over, they are clear plastic on the other side. So if installed other way up you'd be able to visually check if blown without removing it first! Why put them in that opaque way up PSA!?!

Like you, I could do with some if those as have none in case of a blow.
Thought it was a big "maxi" blade fuse - again from pictures on here - wondering now if was an earlier C5 I've seen the fuse from?


My understanding is if the LDS overflows then the tank was overfull. Suspension depressurised is dealer way for fluid level check I think.

It overflowing (over the pump underneath) seems to be key ingredient of pump failures - so good work on bit of preventative fix

[MattBLancs]

Oh, and I tend to end up volunteering to help "drive" the BBQ - that way the food passing under your nose is nice and hot and folks arrive to talk to you with an agenda so the small talk goes:
"Hi, you ok?" "Yes thanks, you?" "Fine thanks. Two sausages please" "here you go"
Then they realise they'd rather sit down and eat what you've kindly provided - ta da! Off they go!

[myglaren]

Like you, I could do with some if those as have none in case of a blow.
Thought it was a big "maxi" blade fuse - again from pictures on here - wondering now if was an earlier C5 I've seen the fuse from?

My two Mk 1 C5s had the Maxi fuses you mention.
Never blew any but had to buy one when I fitted the electric leather seats as there wasn't one there from new. Halfords to the rescue. (there is a Halfords a mile from me but I rarely darken their doors.

[MattBLancs]

Halfords is great

Spoiler: show

with their trade card!

Though in fairness they recently start doing a vast array of car parts mail order (or collect in store?) and that has been pretty good too.

My starter motor came from there, £38?? Including delivery, hard to beat. Was looking at £15 for a motor rebuild kit, till I found a full motor, such a small price (and no surcharge, do I can still potentially rebuild the original motor at some point)

[c16rkc]

Quick update on the C5

Well I fitted the fuse this evening, bled it all through, and now I have a working C5!

I'm pleased as punch

For reference, the fuses are these... seems to be called a "40A Midi fuse"

https://amzn.eu/d/0a7Gq605

[mickthemaverick]

Well done!!! I love it when a plan comes together!!

[c16rkc]

My understanding is if the LDS overflows then the tank was overfull. Suspension depressurised is dealer way for fluid level check I think.

Interesting, so that makes sense. I have always set the fluid level with the car at it's "low" setting, but that's not as low as depressurised.

I thought I read somewhere to set at the lowest setting, and I took it to mean the car's "low" setting, but it probably meant lower as in depressurised then...