Plan A was to just turn up with it at Pugfest because I thought that would be funny, but that didn't come off so it's time to come clean.
The "logic" is that I've always kind of fancied one, and it's an experiment to see if I
can live with a slushmatic.
One might well observe that someone who is incompetent with
spanners has no business owning a C6.
It's not a particularly good example. It doesn't have navigation,
lane departure warning, seat memory, or lounge pack, there are some patches of rust and lacquer peel,
and it's been smoked in, .
But that's not really relevant to the experiment, and anyway the 407 is still my 'proper' car.
In fact it has a lot in common with the 407 and they both come from the Rennes factory.
I'd looked at a few at the lower end of the market and they all had double digit numbers of faults
showing in Diagbox, and some quite scary sh*t too such as rear EGR valve. This one was advertised at £1300
and when the guy saw that I was genuine cearly thought I was his best chance at getting shut of it
and dropped to £1k without me even asking. So: if I have to spend £1500 sorting it out
then I reckon I'll end up with somethings straighter and with better history than spending £2.5k.
It was supplied with an Evans Halshaw receipt for £3.5k
(I've checked in ServiceBox and all parts are at Citroen list price.)
It was in Oxfordshire near Sonia. I viewed it on the Tuesday on my way home from the office
in Berkshire. The following Thursday Sonia very kindly picked me up from Oxford railway
station and took me to collect it. When we arrived it was already running which
set alarm bells ringing, but in fairness the guy did explain that he'd had to jump start it,
and when I'd viewed it it had dozens of low battery related faults,
and he did say that the battery had been flat, so again no surprise really.
After collecting it we went for breakfast and on the way it dropped its hydraulic fluid, so
no power steering, and its unclear what the suspension is up to.
(It uses "LDS" which is also known as "Total Fluide DA".)
I'd come with a jump starter pack just in case -- which was needed and worked that evening
when leaving the office, but which wouldn't start it the following morning. So I think
I was lucky to get home.
Ordered a new battery (100AH, 830A, £94). No better.
Ordered a starter motor for £140. Fitted for £70 (it took just under 3 hours) and now starting straight up
so went to get it booked into my local independet ex-Citroen tech who is brilliant.
I'd topped up the fluid and then put a large piece of cardboard underneath to catch the drips
(nevertheless I've ordered driveway degreaser) and to see where the drips are. Nothing for three days
and then a torrent. It seems to be the low pressure power steering return, and there are jubilee
clips and what looks like garden hose, so I'm guessing that both ends of that are leaking.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLndacCxL2Q[/youtube]
So come Monday morning I put another 3L of LDS into it and started it up. A neighbour walked past
giving me a bit of a funny look. Then it wouldn't move. My first thought was the electronic parking brake
but the dash light was going off and I could feel the brake pedal go hard and soft as I worked it, so
it wasn't that. Then I noticed that the dash said 'P' no matter where the gear lever was.
Then I discovered why the funny look from the neighbour: the LDS -- all 3L of it -- was running down the courtyard.
Called my mechanic to explain and he suggested a bracket on the gear linkage and sure enough it was bust.
I suspect
the guy who fitted the starter motor bust it because you have to move the selector cables out of the way, but of course
he wouldn't admit to anything. Called a recovery company who sounded less than enthusiastic about stuck in park
and underneath a bridge into a courtyard.
Fortunately I managed to get grips onto the bracket to hold it for long enough to get it into neutral, but the MFD
was going ballistic demanding the lever be returned to park.
With all the LDS over the courtyard the suspension was as low as it would go and it wouldn't go onto the recovery wagon.
Fortunately, they had another wagon which he went to fetch while the C6 deposited more LDS in the street that
could get it on. Three applications of the degreaser and a lot of vigorous scrubbing
seems to have removed the evidence of my misdemeanour.
Bought another 5L of LDS, 4L of ATF, and a gear lever with cable and that lot arrived on the Friday so hopefully I'll be getting a call to say it's all done. I suspect I'll be getting a call to say it's unfixable.
When it works...
The slushmatic is very smooth to the extent that I lose count of which gear it's in. However, it's very
slow to set off having to wait for it to change down and build pressure in the torque converter.
In fact setting off is quite a rigmarole because you have to have your foot on the brake
in order to release the electronic parking brake.
Annoyingly, in manaul mode the bugger will still change gear if it wants to -- if you're doing it wrong.
Managed to nurse 51.3MPG out of it on the trip computer on my first journey. The 407
would have shown about 65mpg. I'd expect to get a little better with practice.
The throttle is surprisingly sensitive; I thought it would be much more numb
going through the torque converter.
So far in general I'm not as disappointed as I thought I was going to be, in particular about the seats (half leather)
and the driving position (very conventional compared to the 407).
The seat cloth is actually very nice (it has a very deep lush feeling loop pile), and the leather is stitched properly unlike the shitty plastic beading on the 407.
Nevertheless ona cold morning I'll be in the 407 because heated leather. When frozen there is also the difficulty
of opening the door, like on the 406 coupe.
RT3 navigation will run on the small screen, and I've picked up a head unit for £33. The GPS aerial and looms are likely to be difficult to acquire although I suspect that quite a lot is already installed because it's shown on the parts diagram in ServiceBox.
It doesn't feel particularly special compared to the 407, but the seats are better,
the suspension is better (but not radically superior).
I really need more time to get used to it.
And so on to the next problem. It judders both when applying power and when the car is pushing the engine,
but it's OK under light load. I think this is the lockup clutch on the torque converter, but again I need more time to get the feel of it.
Looks like it'll be similar pricing and difficulty as a clutch and DMF on the 407.
