Xsara - £sold! Farewell trusty steed

[Talbot]

2 minutes ago, hairnet said:

fix safety only items and run till bang

It deserves (and I suspect will get) better than that.

[hairnet]

5 minutes ago, Talbot said:

It deserves (and I suspect will get) better than that.

thats only going off purchase price........... (although it doesnt look like a banger )

[hairnet]

8 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Ah there we go, I can edit it on the computer!

Sorry @Tickman, love you lots x

he wanted a dundee cake really (and me typing this just realised i want some of these) - although i remember when we were kids theu were like 4 inches across - can you still buy those?

 

 

 

dundee.jfif

[Talbot]

5 minutes ago, hairnet said:

thats only going off purchase price........... (although it doesnt look like a banger )

With a little care and attention, I'd be willing to bet that car is only 50% of the way through it's life.  I'm sure Beko1987 will comment tomorrow about how "tightly" it drives.

It's prime Autoshite.  18 years old, utterly worthless and (currently) extremely un-interesting.  Pretty much how a 1982 Citroen GS would have seemed in 2000.  Or a 1972 DS in 1990. (ok, maybe not the last one, but you know what I mean)

[hairnet]

bet ds were classed as bangers at some stage

[Talbot]

Just now, hairnet said:

bet ds were classed as bangers at some stage

I can just about still remember '60s DSs running about in the early 80's, just barely hanging on to life.  Probably worth about £25 at the time.

[UltraWomble]

I really dont know why everyone struggles with PSA aftermarket head units - swap the yellow and red wires over and the job is done.

Radio will switch off when the BSI goes to sleep and retain the memory.

 

[ProgRocker]

Ick, looks like a biohazard inside. Good luck Sam!

[beko1987]

36 minutes ago, UltraWomble said:

I really dont know why everyone struggles with PSA aftermarket head units - swap the yellow and red wires over and the job is done.

Radio will switch off when the BSI goes to sleep and retain the memory.

 

I swapped the wires and it stays on. Not having it sitting playing music for 20 minutes until the BSI goes nap time!

It apparently needs wiring off the back of the ciggy lighter, then fuse 24 switched to the perm position (I remember that bit from the 406). for £6 delivered I bought the adapter. Should only have switched live, ignition live and earth going into the ISO block (then the other one is speakers).

 

But enough of those flipperies, I've just sat down with all the paperwork (as one does with a £150 car...) and have some sums.

2005 - £1,081.63
2006 - £775.28
2007 - £603.26
2008 - £625
2009 - £1,374.04
2010 - £1,626.13
2011 - £747.94
2012 - £1,484.50
2013 - £1,120.99
2014 - £468.23
2015 - £1,370.53
2016 - £777.65
2017 - £783.23
2018 - £239.51
2019 - Talbot spent £fuck all threw all the receipts away

TOTAL - £13,085.91

2020 - No idea yet, by the looks of everything I've looked at maybe £120 on a good service (MAX, all the filters have been changed EVERY year so I'll eyeball them first, may just be an oil change) and a cambelt. Either way, £not a lot

Things to do that I know about to far:

Drive the bloody thing
Finish fitting the radio
Tyre pressures if I remember
Carry on investigating the vanishing voltage betwixt the front and back of the car (the manual method is piss easy though, shame there's no way to just tie a bit of string to it and pull from the back seats
Service
Cambelt
Empty the contents of the ZX's glovebox into the 406's glovebox and then never touch any of it again
Investigate why the glovebox needs a good jimmy with a screwdriver
Interior clean.

I'm very excited and very happy! Love new car time

[Talbot]

4 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

2019 - Talbot spent £fuck all

Not quite true, there's just no receipts for anything.

That said, it definitely wasn't as high as some years!

[beko1987]

2 minutes ago, Talbot said:

Not quite true, there's just no receipts for anything.

That said, it definitely wasn't as high as some years!

Oh, rear seatbelt - £20 delivered! Probably wont even bother trying to clean it for that. Will see how far eva flies forward tomorrow though, will do a quick stop and test it!

[Lord Sterling]

On 2/18/2020 at 5:10 PM, beko1987 said:

We found the genuine rear load tie down thing too! And genuine floor mats throughout! @Lord Sterlingwill be happy! (there's even 2 types, the ones fitted are a different style)

Nice! An estate too. Yep, luckily my Vectra had genuine front rubber mats and genuine rear carpet mats.  MOAR pics (of mats) please. Can't wait to see this cleaned up!

[UltraWomble]

3 hours ago, beko1987 said:

I swapped the wires and it stays on. Not having it sitting playing music for 20 minutes until the BSI goes nap time!

 

Ah, its never that long. I do laugh though at the number of people who tell me my "radio is still on" when I park up at work. One way round is a flip front radio but I just live with it as it is.

[beko1987]

Well, I drove it into work this morning!

Things I noticed:
Droplinks need to be bought on payday, clonky clonky fron the passenger side
Wipers R shit
The indicator stalk doesnt like being cold and damp. For the first part of my journey they don't work turning left, unless I barely press it down to make contact. By the time I got to wycombe they were working as normal. Will keep an eye on it or just buy a replacement stalk.
Rear washer doesn't, that's an easy investigation. No water poured into the boot after a good try so I'll poke at it a bit on saturday.

 

But I have speeeeeeeed back! I've missed torquey diesels, but the gearchange is going to take some getting used to, 1st doesnt really do much, then it goes into 2nd and hits a little wall where the power from the engine starts to go through the drivetrain and then it's alright! The bite point on the clutch isn't really any higher than the 406 was (it's the same hydraulic clutch and they are always high) but the whole pedal is quite high, it's odd. Sure I'll get used to it. The brakes are REALLY sharp too, went to brake as if I was in the ZX and near emergency stopped!

Lights on the MFD don't work either, but I'll ignore that for now. The BSI delay with turning the lights on and off caught me out for a second as well.

Verdict - AWESOMES!

I then went to park at work and remembered it's been a while since I've driven a big car, took a few adjustments (partly because I didn't want to swipe @gnomeot's car as I went)

[gnomeot]

I witnessed the Xsara this morning and can indeed confirm that it is an car.

[loserone]

Wait, what?

[Kiltox]

13 hours ago, beko1987 said:

I swapped the wires and it stays on. Not having it sitting playing music for 20 minutes until the BSI goes nap time!

It apparently needs wiring off the back of the ciggy lighter, then fuse 24 switched to the perm position (I remember that bit from the 406). for £6 delivered I bought the adapter. Should only have switched live, ignition live and earth going into the ISO block (then the other one is speakers).

 

But enough of those flipperies, I've just sat down with all the paperwork (as one does with a £150 car...) and have some sums.

2005 - £1,081.63
2006 - £775.28
2007 - £603.26
2008 - £625
2009 - £1,374.04
2010 - £1,626.13
2011 - £747.94
2012 - £1,484.50
2013 - £1,120.99
2014 - £468.23
2015 - £1,370.53
2016 - £777.65
2017 - £783.23
2018 - £239.51
2019 - Talbot spent £fuck all threw all the receipts away

TOTAL - £13,085.91

2020 - No idea yet, by the looks of everything I've looked at maybe £120 on a good service (MAX, all the filters have been changed EVERY year so I'll eyeball them first, may just be an oil change) and a cambelt. Either way, £not a lot

Things to do that I know about to far:

Drive the bloody thing
Finish fitting the radio
Tyre pressures if I remember
Carry on investigating the vanishing voltage betwixt the front and back of the car (the manual method is piss easy though, shame there's no way to just tie a bit of string to it and pull from the back seats
Service
Cambelt
Empty the contents of the ZX's glovebox into the 406's glovebox and then never touch any of it again
Investigate why the glovebox needs a good jimmy with a screwdriver
Interior clean.

I'm very excited and very happy! Love new car time

Just done this for the 75 in my latest video - interesting how they compare!

[beko1987]

I'll watch that later then, it's always interesting! 

It fits in nicely and does its job of being bland! We have workmen doing the roof at work, and they caught our conversation and were amazed it was only £150. I think we're spoilt on here with the chod choice

[beko1987]

Left my phone in the car when I got home, and just went out to retrieve it. I thought I'd put my bollocks on the line and do what someone suggested in another thread and stamp on the clutch pedal then slide my foot off so it flung back up and blow me it's dropped a cm! Quickly fired the car up and check it still works and it seems to!

Im going up to the petrol station later to put air in the tyres as one seems a bit soft so I'll give it a proper go then, hopefully it feels nicer to use! Not fussed about the bite point being high up but the pedal itself was too high anyway, I keep slipping it into gear which won't be doing it any good at all. 

The auto wipers seem to work too

[beko1987]

Yep, clutch is fucking loads better! 

I gave BP a quid and took the rear tyres from 1.1/1.8 bar to 2.3, and the front from 2.0/1.7 to 2.4. Immediate improvement in ride quality! 

I then sat down with a cup of tea and a packet of rich tea and perused the manual! I might have to get a stamp made up in my name for the service it'll get in a month or so and carry this on, from the 1000 mile initial check at 1,382 to barely 15k ago

Almost a shame its not got the factory sat nav, I bet thats grim nowadays... 

 

[paulplom]

On 2/18/2020 at 6:27 PM, beko1987 said:

Oh yes! Starting Saturday with a bloody good vacuum! The exterior can wait for better weather though, sod that! 

I have a henry spare if you'd like to borrow it.

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, paulplom said:

I have a henry spare if you'd like to borrow it.

Very kind, thanks! But I might crack my Nilfisk out of the loft as it's probably the most powerful vacuum I have. 

Also plans might have changed a bit, I was going to my dad's Saturday evening, but a realisation last night later and I'm now getting to his for 10am and will use his driveway. And give their cars a vacuum out as due to various medical maladies they can't hoover their own cars, they can barely bend down without pain and swearing! 

Also means I will perform the bsi reset 100 miles from home, wcpgw! 

Might also put my tools in the car and do a bit of very light fettling of my stereo mounting cage at lunchtime as its a bloody tight fit in the xsara, and it's a bit bent. 

[beko1987]

Perfect day for these to show up, I'm glad I spent a quid for 1st class postage. Chose the best time of day to fit them though

Once fitted in the tatting rain their much better, no film of water left on the glass that screws me over at night! 

By the time I finished the rain had stopped... 

Mr @Andyrew has given me a fucking amazing quote for all the parts I need too, which I'm very grateful for, and will deffo be paying him a visit after bonus month payday and getting it all, then booking a day or so off work to fit parts and service the car!

Slight negative is my dab isn't picking up all the stations it used to... Holding off worrying too much until the wiring harness kit comes as I remember it being a bit flaky in the 406 until I  fitted the harness, the extra data lines being fed messes with it somehow I think. Thank goodness for usb and Bluetooth. 

[beko1987]

The iso harness came, and I fitted it at lunchtime! Took 12v from the fag lighter, using the very best of wiring standards (shoving the cable against the live pin...) 

Then using a tie wrap I found on the floor to add strength. I may do a better job another day with a choc block... Maybe

Seems I broke my dab aerial connector pulling it out of the zx though, will buy another one on payday as I likes my radio. Will go through the man drawer later and find an fm aerial adapter for the short term though. 

Tomorrow the big vacuuming job begins though, looking forward to that! Will do a bsi reset too, just to get the locking working and see if the mfd lights up, although since it's just a clock now that's no big deal if it doesn't. 

I've been looking into the trip computer mod though, very tempted by it but it involves finding a xsara with the 3 line mfd, then tapping up for a loan of a pp2000 to turn it on. Low priority

[Slowsilver]

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

The iso harness came, and I fitted it at lunchtime! Took 12v from the fag lighter, using the very best of wiring standards (shoving the cable against the live pin...)

Then using a tie wrap I found on the floor to add strength. I may do a better job another day with a choc block... Maybe

Seems I broke my dab aerial connector pulling it out of the zx though, will buy another one on payday as I likes my radio. Will go through the man drawer later and find an fm aerial adapter for the short term though. 

Tomorrow the big vacuuming job begins though, looking forward to that! Will do a bsi reset too, just to get the locking working and see if the mfd lights up, although since it's just a clock now that's no big deal if it doesn't. 

I've been looking into the trip computer mod though, very tempted by it but it involves finding a xsara with the 3 line mfd, then tapping up for a loan of a pp2000 to turn it on. Low priority

WTF?
BSI - British Standards Institute?
MFD - MegaFarads?
Too many TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms).
Never owned a Citroen but didn't realise they had another language as well as French.
Some quality* wiring there.
Would be an interesting thread if only I knew what you were talking about. ?
 

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, Slowsilver said:

WTF?
BSI - British Standards Institute?
MFD - MegaFarads?
Too many TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms).
Never owned a Citroen but didn't realise they had another language as well as French.
Some quality* wiring there.
Would be an interesting thread if only I knew what you were talking about. ?
 

It's one of the annoyances of modern PSA (ffs, sorry!) ownership! BSI is the body computer, and mine needs resetting. MFD is multi function display, although since the tape player is now disconnected it's a clock... I don't know what BSI actually stands for mind, but I roughly understand how it works and why mine is a bit grumpy at the moment.

The wiring is solid, I stripped a good length, and folded it over several times so it's nice and tight in the space around the terminal, but I'll put a piece of choc block in the car tomorrow and make a better job of it, was in the back of my mind that it could vibrate loose (hence the tie wrap) although I guess the worse itll do is either fall out and turn the radio off, or blow the fuse to the cigarette lighter (nothing metal behind there though, it's all plastic fantastic).

[ruffgeezer]

BSI - Body Systems Interface

I had one of those xsaras once too, the automotive equivalent of local radio, a little outdated and a bit on the tedious side.

[beko1987]

I dunno, it's like a limo compared to the zx! (bar the droplinks clonk) 

I performed another unimportant pointless job tonight under the street lamp, making the rear washer work

It needs it, the flat back gets filthy! It wasn't actually blocked, @Talbot@Talbot has had the back end apart as that's where the wire's broken somewhere (and left it apart which is mega handy) and the washer pipe was pulled kinked. Popped one of the rubber grommits back in then tugged some Slack into the fluid pipe, and thar she blows!

Off to dad's tomorrow, looking forward to it tbh

[beko1987]

Came early to my dad's so I could use his driveway, and got to work! 

The pictures aren't in the right order, but it's coming up very well. Needs a shampoo, but that's a job for the spring/summer. 

All the grab handles are loose, I fitted the genuine cargo net (then put it away) and got halfway round when it started raining hard so I'm inside now until it blows over. 

[brownnova]

I spy with my little eye... a Saab 9000!!