and today i have mostly been...

[Welly]

D9 goes to good home and cats settled - that's good enough news for me

I've been looking into what to replace the C4 with

Must be large (er), must be high seating, must be Automatic, must not dislike short journey's ......now the choices dwindle fast...

Had a 'virtual' look at something last week, 2016 model, 36000 miles........and they had the cheek to proudly* announce that it had 'benefited' from a main dealer service (its first one) at 20000 miles just like the pretty little booklet says that came with it so that was it, a 4 year old car that'd had one oil change.

This is what's bugging me about moderns; they're not getting looked after so second hand buyers are left to pick up the remains.

[steve_earwig]

Extended service intervals are starting to get ridiculous, I think they're mainly targeted at fleet buyers where it's all down to the bean counters, and they don't care about the long term consequences because they won't have the cars for that long. And as far as the manufacturers are concerned, when the car reaches the end of the warranty period it's supposed to go in the bin anyway.

must not dislike short journey's

That's diesels out for a start, and hybrids too for that matter (unless you live at the top of a hill apparently ), leaving petrols obviously, plus EV's if you can stand it and maybe PHEV's (I'm not 100% on that one, they're hideously expensive where I am so I've not really been looking.) Btw what was this mystery car?

Today I have mostly been... languishing in my pit with a headache, bloody weather. I'm supposed to be sorting out a service on the yoyo today before its registration (MOT etc.) next month but I really don't feel up to it. Ah well, i've got almost 2 weeks to get it done.

[Doggy]

I've been looking into what to replace the C4 with

Must be large (er), must be high seating, must be Automatic, must not dislike short journey's ......now the choices dwindle fast...

Seriously though, I'm not a fan of 'extended service intervals' and all that crud, but fleet cars seem to stand up to it.

Not sure if I mentioned before, daughter-in-law has a Merc GLA. Hers is a 180 CDi 4-matic with the 8-speed ZF, defo worth a look.

[Welly]

My shortlist currently contains:

BMW 218 active tourer (1.5 3-cylinder pez turbo).

Merc B-Class dizzler 1.5 DCi (the dreaded Renault-Nissan engine) - although research doesn't throw up many troubles

Merc is a bit of a compromise and I don't really like the styling so that's going on the reserve list.

BMW is front wheel drive (Bini platform), should be decent quality and I like small pez turbo's - I'll change the oil loads, I haven't read up about the BMW auto box yet though but I guess it'll be like most others i.e. change the bloody fluid

Honestly though, I really don't know what sort of car to go for, just about every criteria I need (large car with small pez auto) is only available in very new cars which are mega dollar [/facepalm]

Doggy - I did think about the GLA but thought they'd be expensive, will check it out though.

[Doggy]

Decided that rather than moaning about the C5 I would try to fix some of it's issues......

1. Central Locking - drivers door lock stopped working from the central locking, the motor operates but the lock will only lock/unlock with the key.
Set about removing the door card after consulting Uncle Google, got it off without breaking anything in about 3 hours.
Concluded I need another lock to have any realistic prospect of a solution, found one on fleabay for £31, UK seller, took plunge.
Order confirmation has Polish address - says it's been despatched, to arrive betwixt today & Monday. We'll see.....

2. Graunching and groaning apparently from drivers door hinges - be daft not to attack that while the door card's off. After liberally spraying and daubing every lubricant I could find on the damn thing, it resolutely refuses to STFU!

3. Power Steering - has been working erratically / making ominous noises for a minute or two after starting the engine. Surmised the fluid's probably low and indeed it was, reservoir apparently empty. After some more Googling, I discover it needs "fully synth LDS fluid to PSA S712 710" (which is the same stuff the hydraulic suspension would need, if it had any). Found a Comma equivalent for £13 a litre. It needed an eggcup full and is now 'happy'
(Yes, I know it's likely leaking somewhere, research indicates the usual fix is a new rack). We'll wait & see....

4. Directional Headlights - Whilst freezing my nuts off getting some tyres fitted just after new year, I happened to notice it had one more set of headlamp bubs than I was expecting. (See the ickle one at the extreme right of the pic below).



I had wrongly assumed said directional headights involved switching on the front fogs as you turned the wheel - a 'feature' I regard as being as useful as a motorbike ashtray with the added appeal of making you look like a complete bell-end. The C5's ones actually work really well, (once muppet here re-enabled them).

5. Daytime Running Lights - one of the bulbs failed a few months back, so I disabled them as a temporary measure. (Oddly enough, two other C5's I looked at before buying this one had theirs turned off, "cos a lamp failed and it's a major job to replace - front bumper off etc.").

Can't be that difficult I heard myself saying, Uncle Google found me this link http://www.citroen-owners-club.co.uk/ci ... ed-option/
and further searches revealed it is possible without removing anything much

The other surprise is that these are HP24W halogen lamps for which they extort about £15-£20 EACH! Miser here bought a pair of LED equivalents for £11.

On Tuesday I set about removing the driver's side lampholder - these are on the underside of the headlamp assembly, right at the front of the unit. Virtually impossible to see - I managed to get a bit of a sight of it using a torch and inspection mirror. The holder has a socket for a T45 torx bit, needs turning about 90 degrees and pulling out. I could get a 3/8" drive torx key in the socket, but couldn't fit in anything to turn it. After many failed attempts, I discovered a chuck adapter for an SDS drill engages with the 3/8" hole and makes a passable 'palm wrench'.
Trouble is the lampholder's rubber seal holds it in so tightly you can't tell when you've rotated it to the right position for removal, but after about 3 hours I got it out.....
....Only to find I'd removed the one that still works!
I put it back as the LED's aren't an exact swap and removing the lamp from the holder looked difficult / might break something, so best to do the duff one first.
Access to the drivers side was initially challenging, but paled to insignificance compared to the nearside. The battery, as on a 406 is right behind the headlamp unit and there are various pipes and control cables obscuring the only access under the lamp assembly. Gave up for the day.

Wednesday, I picked up the steering fluid and while in the shop splashed out £7.95 on a stubby, fine toothed 3/8" ratchet. Summoning up some optimism and pretending it wasn't really raining, I set about removing the N/S lamp. Battery off, several covers and clips removed, cutting a cable tie or two to allow the hoses and bonnet release cable to move out the way and it was out in about 30 minutes.





Next, fit the LED replacement...



..and bung it back in



Pic above is with LED in one side and original lamp in t'other.

Then after swapping No. 2....



Quite chuffed with actually fixing something. If I can sort the squeaky door and fix the central locking I might actually be getting somewhere.

[steve_earwig]

I had wrongly assumed said directional headights involved switching on the front fogs as you turned the wheel - a 'feature' I regard as being as useful as a motorbike ashtray with the added appeal of making you look like a complete bell-end.

Do they work like the DS' originals, tied in with the steering? I'm actually beginning to see the appeal of the fog lamp variety, with the poorly lit roads here it can be difficult to see where the curb is when turning and the headlamps are pointing somewhere else entirely. Although, we have compulsory daytime headlamps here in the winter months and they do indeed look pretty stupid working in daylight.

I had a graunchy door on the old yoyo, after spraying it with everything I could think of to no avail I concluded it was the check "strap" and, after checking the price of a new one, I decided to live with it.

Bulbs accessibility on moderns - driving home the fact that the people designing the cars aren't the same people that end up working on them. Nice move on the LED's, it certainly doesn't warrant 15-20 squids for something that's of no actual use.

Welly my man, I didn't see your post before (this board etc.), what you really need to do is gets some hands (bums?) on experience of these cars, that might be a deciding factor. Before I bought the D9 I had a look at other cars and found some of ze Germans to be about as comfortable as sitting on a park bench. And you could probably get to drive the heaps.

And today... well, this month I have mostly been installing windows 10. I put it off for as long as possible but with support ending I thought it was time. I have 10 on a laptop already so I knew how bad it was (it came with 8.1 which was even worse) and it's taken me quite a while to make it into something usable (I can recommend Classic Shell for making the start menu workable and the many on-line guides for turning off all the snoopware)

I had 200 quid-odd's worth of Matchless parts turn up yesterday, so I guess I'll be starting on that later. Reassuringly I can get pretty much anything for and it's not overly expensive, unlike the Yamaha, the arts for which are mostly unobtainable now.

And finally, the kittens are 9 months old today! I really need to take some pictures...

[Doggy]

Do they work like the DS' originals, tied in with the steering?

Not sure - I thought the DS version physically moved with the steering? These are set up to point about 45 degrees to the side with the same vertical aim as the dip beams. Far as I can tell they're controlled using steering angle sensor info.

I had a graunchy door on the old yoyo, after spraying it with everything I could think of to no avail I concluded it was the check "strap" and, after checking the price of a new one, I decided to live with it.

I suspect this is the same.
Beginning to think I've got a water ingress problem on this door - the noise, random behaviour of the door mirrors and seat memory stuff, (controls for both are on the door card), plus the lock issue. Doesn't look wet, but seems to get sillier after heavy rain or a wash.

And today... well, this month I have mostly been installing windows 10. I put it off for as long as possible but with support ending I thought it was time. I have 10 on a laptop already so I knew how bad it was (it came with 8.1 which was even worse) and it's taken me quite a while to make it into something usable (I can recommend Classic Shell for making the start menu workable and the many on-line guides for turning off all the snoopware)

Pondering the same problem here. I have an ancient cast-off desk top (dual core AMD Athlon running Vista), so I guess that needs replacing before thinking about Win 10. Had a brief look at budget laptops recently and concluded I could get something usable for about £3-400 and immediately lost interest. (I kinda like a decent keyboard etc).

And finally, the kittens are 9 months old today! I really need to take some pictures...

You said it....

[Welly]

Doggy I didn't fink a 2008 car would be equipped with actual DRL's for the UK - I thought that became law in 2012 or summat.

Re: LED bulbs, there's a friendly* discussion going on at the Volvo Forum about them, quite an interesting subject, basically LED's have components in them which give off heat? some types with CAN BUS? resistors give of a lot of heat. A filament bulb gives off heat but radiates this out through the glass 'bulb' or away from the electrical connector as it were.....LED on the other hand potentially generate heat backwards into the bulb holder....something which may not be designed to withstand heat

Mustard mitt I removed an LED 'Wedge' bulb the other day and was surprised how hot it was, I fitted 4 to the Citroen but might rethink this idea.

[steve_earwig]

DRL's are the law now? invests in Osram

YoyoII has a plethora of led's as standard, everything at the back I think (stop 'n' tails definitely are anyway.) I suppose it's one thing being designed for them, I notice you can get replacement led headlight bulbs now, they're hideously expensive and need heat sinking, the ones I was looking at come with copper mesh ribbon heatsinks that you can spread into any available space. Ho ho.

I took the kittens up the garden earlier:

Fraidycat:

This is Tippi (aka Tippling), just wants to be with me all the time, often squeaks (all she seems to manage) outside the bog/shed/bedroom door for me to let her in. The only one of three that's worked out the cat flap.

Grumpycat:

Grace (aka Grackle) quite confident, quite affectionate on her own terms (will often throw a tantrum if I pick her up). Meows like a kitten still.

Psychocat:

Archie (aka Fat Boy, Fatty Catty, Baldy) , very affectionate, loves being picked up, loves cuddles, always hungry, meows loudly for attention.

I also took some video but the audio's completely stuffed on the camera now. It still takes perfect stills so I'm wondering if I should supplement it with some sort of action camera, cheap job from China maybe. The garden also looks like a tip at the moment.


Hmm, it's about time I made an appointment at the vet's for Archie

[Doggy]

They all seem to be thriving, guess you've done a good job there.

DRLs appeared on lots of stuff before becoming mandatory, much like DPF's which I think were mandatory from 2008, but 2.2 406's had them from 2000.
My recent LED DRLs are 7W, without CAN bus resistors as the C5 doesn't have any lamp monitoring nonsense so I'm not concerned about them.

I tried a set of those LED H7 equivalents in the 406 - they were massively bright but didn't focus correctly, didn't really improve vision much if at all and dazzled people so I took em out again. Considered trying them in the mains but never got round to it. I suspect they're a bit like aftermarket HID's - no benefit to the user and a PITA for everyone else. Maybe be OK with projector lenses?

In other news my door lock arrived from Poland today, (Oh ye of little faith). Bit fiddly to install but it's in and works....

....or very nearly. Does everything it should except the door won't open from the external handle immediately after unlocking.
Faffed around for a while and discovered it will open if you pull the handle, let go & pull again, It then functions as intended until next time it's locked. I've left the door trim off for now in case it needs further attention.

Opened the old lock for a butchers but can't see what's amiss. More complex than I expected, it's got two motors, a solenoid and what I assume are several position sensors. I can see how all the mechanical latchery works - but that was OK anyway - how the rest does its thang is not obvious.

I'll wait & see, (for a change).

[Welly]

Looked a nice day at yours steve, cat's out in the sun etc, had any snowage yet? I recall you sometimes get a light* dusting*

Bit fiddly to install but it's in and works....

....or very nearly. Does everything it should except the door won't open from the external handle immediately after unlocking.
Faffed around for a while and discovered it will open if you pull the handle, let go & pull again, It then functions as intended until next time it's locked. I've left the door trim off for now in case it needs further attention.

Opened the old lock for a butchers but can't see what's amiss. More complex than I expected, it's got two motors, a solenoid and what I assume are several position sensors. I can see how all the mechanical latchery works - but that was OK anyway - how the rest does its thang is not obvious.

I'll wait & see, (for a change).

Sounds very much like the O/S rear door of the Volvo, won't lock with the remote, only opens from the inside. It stays locked for me as no-one ever goes in the back anyway. Fixing it properly involves a trip to the friendly pirates at the main dealer because "coded to car" bollocks. My MOT man grumbled a bit in December saying that technically he could fail the test because car doors must be able to be opened or summut (emergency services and such) I don't know I wasn't really listening.....

[steve_earwig]

They all seem to be thriving, guess you've done a good job there.

Thanks, but I think the secret is... they're spoiled rotten Cat food? I'd rather eat my foot.

I tried a set of those LED H7 equivalents in the 406- they were massively bright but didn't focus correctly, didn't really improve vision much if at all and dazzled people so I took em out again.

Because the lens/reflect is set up for a single light source (the filament), an array of LED's is all over the shop.

Opened the old lock for a butchers but can't see what's amiss. More complex than I expected, it's got two motors, a solenoid and what I assume are several position sensors. I can see how all the mechanical latchery works - but that was OK anyway - how the rest does its thang is not obvious.

Perhaps you'd get a better idea if you connected it into the car and operated it (could also be a good way to loose a finger )

La Deesse's headlamps were controlled by cables from the steering box. It sounds like a recipe for disaster but I think I'd prefer it to a load of fragile electronics.

[Doggy]

I seem to have stumbled on the solution to the central locking mystery!

Unlike a 406, the cistern's lock is connected by cables to the interior & exterior handles, as shown in the pic below I 'borrowed from fleabay:



The long one goes to the interior handle and can only be fitted one way. The shorter one is hooked onto the exterior handle after dismounting it from the door skin. Seems I inserted the barrel shaped ferrule the wrong way round, causing the inner cable to bend around the mechanism the opposite way from that it had been 'used to' on the original vehicle. Nett result - the inner cable didn't fully retract into the lock, (as if the external handle was pulled fractionally of it's rest position). This was enough to give the problem described above.

Took the handle off again, disengaged the cable, turned the handle upside down, re-attached cable, job jobbed.

So glad I didn't try returning the 'faulty lock'.

[steve_earwig]

Ah, nicely. I suspect you were lucky to figure that one out. Now, tell me about the sharp edges and how many scrapes you acquired

Time for a grumbled: I got yoyoII serviced Tuesday, which included changing the antifreeze. Unusually for these days it has drain cocks on both the radiator and the block, unfortunately you have to take a lot of stuff out (incl. the battery) to get to the one on the radiator, so Mika decided just to pop the bottom hose off. And then wished he hadn't He ended up having to put it back on the lift to get it on properly. Then bleeding it, no bleed caps like the good ol' 406, the book says to hold it at 2,500rpm and turn the heater on max whilst simultaneously pumping both the top and bottom hoses and keeping the reservoir full. And with your 6th hand... We did our best there but it was taking so long I said I'd deal with it at home. It's supposed to hold 7 litres but so far I've only managed to get about 4 in. I can hear air in there still but surely there can't be 3 litre's worth Maybe the bottom of the radiator holds more that I think. The temperature gauge says it's fine btw. I've changed (well, Mika has) the antifreeze on this thing before but I can't remember it being this much of a PITA.

[Welly]

I've half an idea (so it's probs bollox) that in the Factory the coolant is filled using vacuum pressure. or something.

Are you sure there's no vent point? sounds strange although Jap cars don't use pressurised expansion tanks do they? the have a radiator cap and a vented bottle/dip tube thing.......blurgh I bloody hates the Jap cars I've owned.

Hope this helps