Xsara - £200, worn P bush OX9 3 MOT Sept 25 - Please save it from scrap 😱

[Andyrew]

5 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

If Andyrew doesn't take it for any reason I'd like it please.  I've been considering picking something like this up forever.  Just never had made it to the top of the list, and that's far better than anything I'm likely to pick up new in my target price range.

Your always Welcome to borrow it anytime dude!

[beko1987]

Same with my new extraction machine, it's available for a few month lend! However it wont be as safe as the vax on less than perfect material.. 

 

[beko1987]

 

Had a shit your pants moment leaving the FoD earlier... Where Eva had been driving we had the seat right forward and I'd moved the steering wheel (and moved it more when Charlie sat in my lap to drive.) 

I put the seat back as I started the car, then was doing the steering wheel whilst putting the seat belt on and AIRBAG FAULT.  fuck

Turned the car on and off and it stayed on, so drove on to mums and when we got there it was still on upon a restart. Some wobbling of the steering wheel loose then back to where I have it and the light went off! Fuck me it was terrifying although good it didn't happen the day before the mot but fuck I'm never moving the steering wheel again. There's a small chance it could be the seat connectors as we did move them but it went off after moving the wheel. 

As an early 2000s Citroën owner that's the one light that terrifies me. More so than a check engine light 

[twosmoke300]

Will be the connectors under the seat . Chill Winston

[OM646]

9 hours ago, twosmoke300 said:

Will be the connectors under the seat . Chill Winston

Friend has a Xsara that does the same. Also seat connectors 

[beko1987]

I want to have the seats out one day to properly shampoo the carpet so I'll make sure I've got some contact cleaner in the house for when I do it 👍

[maxxo]

On 8/21/2022 at 8:06 PM, beko1987 said:

 

Had a shit your pants moment leaving the FoD earlier... Where Eva had been driving we had the seat right forward and I'd moved the steering wheel (and moved it more when Charlie sat in my lap to drive.) 

I put the seat back as I started the car, then was doing the steering wheel whilst putting the seat belt on and AIRBAG FAULT.  fuck

Turned the car on and off and it stayed on, so drove on to mums and when we got there it was still on upon a restart. Some wobbling of the steering wheel loose then back to where I have it and the light went off! Fuck me it was terrifying although good it didn't happen the day before the mot but fuck I'm never moving the steering wheel again. There's a small chance it could be the seat connectors as we did move them but it went off after moving the wheel. 

As an early 2000s Citroën owner that's the one light that terrifies me. More so than a check engine light 

i've driven enough miles in C5s to have a proper procedure

pull over, turn off, squeeze hand between the CD changer and underside of the seat and wiggle everything

bingo

light is always gone

 

does yours do the ever wonderful beep? the beep of doom, the beep that causes panic attacks, the beep that'll put me in a mental health hospital

the sound of a beep brings chills down my spine, i wake up in the night sweating because of it

[Talbot]

On 8/21/2022 at 8:06 PM, beko1987 said:

AIRBAG FAULT.  fuck

Jesus.  Who sold you that pile of scrap?

Oh...

[beko1987]

22 minutes ago, Talbot said:

Jesus.  Who sold you that pile of scrap?

Oh...

It's fine, I'll fix it by not moving anything ever again 👌

[beko1987]

11 hours ago, maxxo said:

i've driven enough miles in C5s to have a proper procedure

pull over, turn off, squeeze hand between the CD changer and underside of the seat and wiggle everything

bingo

light is always gone

 

does yours do the ever wonderful beep? the beep of doom, the beep that causes panic attacks, the beep that'll put me in a mental health hospital

the sound of a beep brings chills down my spine, i wake up in the night sweating because of it

Yes actually, there was 2 little beeps when it came on! 

It's a shame really as I'm used to that beep whilst driving around the FoD with the seat belt off or the boot lid open but now it's got a more sinister edge I agree

[maxxo]

20 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Yes actually, there was 2 little beeps when it came on! 

It's a shame really as I'm used to that beep whilst driving around the FoD with the seat belt off or the boot lid open but now it's got a more sinister edge I agree

the C5 does a single beep

it gives me a nightmare

i'm used to hearing it and seeing "automatic gear fault" on the display

i hate that

[beko1987]

Unsurprisingly doing laps of the field with the tailgate up and the kids in the back doesn't do wonders for 20 year old trim clips, especially when Charlie tried to close the boot from the inside... 

Amazingly I got it right first try with the white clips! 

Which is good as I needed alot. I also bought a mixed set as some other sized ones were needed elsewhere, which were duly hammered in with the breaker bar as it was all I had to hand and I have trim again! And some* spares

I then turned to the inop numberplate light, and the holder is all rusty and dead. Luckily the working holder works in the wiring loom which was similarly green and not nice, so I'll order another bulb holder and call it done. 

I had both back clusters off too and brake cleaned and wiped all the bulbs down. Might spray some silicone spray grease over the new holders pins when I get it. Wiring is going to be the death of this car I can tell, it'll be gone way before the rust bubbling around the roof rail channels starts to do any damage 😂

Until then cheap motoring! Having many spare trim.clips is making me think of replacing all the blown speakers now I can have the door cards off more confidently (came with some trim removal tools too, one looks to be made of some kind of metal too which is nice) 

[beko1987]

August 2022... It got an oil change for shitefest and I pumped the tyres up a bit at my dads the other month after noticing a wheel shake at cough70cough on the a1. Not much of anything else really, it's been a good an car.

The boot trim lasted about 3 weeks with those clips. but this time rather than just fall off and I can just chuck it in the boot I'd got fancy with the cable ties in places, so whilst taking my aged grandparents somewhere my grandad chuckled as I sawed them off with my house keys and chucked it in the boot. It's under the stairs now, it'll be self tappers next time.

All was well until saturday afternoon, with both kids and my mum and stepdad in the car and the drivers window stopped working. Luckily up this time rather than down whilst raining as the 1st, so I calmly carried on the day without fresh air, and yesterday morning assumed the French position

The dog shit stuff on the left I did before with the loom fitted. The stuff on the right is historical

Spent 25 minutes dragging out all the stuff I needed for 12 minutes of letting new wire in

Someone on the xsara facebook group says he has the part number for the pins the block uses and citroen still sell* them, so I'm hoping to get some for when this goes again, but for now all new joins were done as far up the loom as possible, and structural heatshrink was also called upon

A while ago when I gave it the first wash it had had since summer 2022, I made the mistake of peeking under the boot on the passenger side too. I almost ignored it, but since I had everything out anyway...

It was bound to fail anyway

and I know it certainly will now, as I chopped a grey wire 40cm back to slide some heatshrink over to fix* a crack in the covering, and the entire wire had been hot before, it didn't really solder either, that join certainly is mostly heatshrink holding it together. Still, everything works as before 👌

Also fitted an incorrectly sized air filter to the empty hole and tidied the wires that have been hanging down since forever

 

That'll probably last a month. All the foam covering has turned to mush too.

Bar that, good car. Probably going to need tyres and front brakes this year before they need doing

[hairnet]

w is for..........

fuck the last 10 pics

just completely

medal for the hairy fecker

id have cried then baled it

[schonker]

Welcome back!!!!!!

[Andyrew]

On 5/1/2023 at 7:18 PM, beko1987 said:

Bar that, good car. Probably going to need tyres and front brakes this year before they need doing

Welcome toDrop a message if you needs parts!

I also have tyre machine and balancer now too. You Welcome to use the lift.

[beko1987]

5 hours ago, Andyrew said:

Welcome toDrop a message if you needs parts!

I also have tyre machine and balancer now too. You Welcome to use the lift.

Oooh very kind, maybe! Not sure what jobs I've got planned that need a lift although I was going to do the front brakes this year as their a bit dull (did a round trip to Spalding from Thame 3 times in 5 days the other month and noticed it after a few had stops 😂) so could plan that. 

Don't you have a tatty old allegro on the lift already though? 

[beko1987]

Well, it's a nice day, and the patch of rust on the wing hasn't got any better, it's quiet at work so let's have it off and give it a proper treatment. Let some work commence! 

Popped the front wheel off and oh... The slightly lipped brakes are now quite lipped... Pads aren't worn flat yet but yea... 

Ah well, that was in the plans anyway so let's move on and oh fuck that tyre... 

Passenger side is equally as tired looking. I had the tracking done what seemed the other week but it would have been a few years ago now, but if its out again I'd not blame it tbh, the roads are harsh around here. 

Thanks to the magic of Internet for £25 the next 4 months 2 new identical cheapo tyres are being fitted Tuesday (appointment not being moved withstanding...) as I can't drive to sf on these, wont need to drive on them at all until their changed.

Ffs so £100 down already but hey ho, at lead the bolts for the wing came off nicely. Ah

Crispy

[beko1987]

Removal was slightly easier at this point since I could just tear it off, so soon we had this

At least I expected to see this sort of thing 

[beko1987]

What I then did was get the krust I bought on Monday, and an old toothbrush and slosh it about a bit

I cleaned up the rusty bit on the car and it's only some sort of bracket that's vanished, the actual car side is fine. I put some magic fix all potion on it anyway after hoovering all the rust off, and kicked the pot over... 

I did the tatty looking spring using it and there's some new looking rust at the top of it... I hope the strut top bearing isn't going... 

For now that's where I am! The tidy job on the wing is now going to be a slow the rust don't care what it looks like job, but I've also got tomorrow on it. Then i forsee cable ties in my future

[beko1987]

Bit more day job work done, and back to it. Knowing now it'll need a new wing probably next spring now, keeping it pretty was off the cards. Just tidier for the mot really. I also couldn't find any sandpaper so wire brushes and screwdrivers were the order of the day. 

I then masked up, cleaned it with brake cleaner and got some primer on

Let Charlie have a go

That's it boy, it doesn't have to look pretty now! 

Gonna finish off a handy little v11 that came in 20 minutes after I'd paid for the tyres, so that's a win! Then potter with the arch liner and take it out and work out how I'm going to affix that front corner together tomorrow

[beko1987]

On 18/08/2020 at 19:04, beko1987 said:

Today started out well intentioned enough. Tyre man turned up at 9.30 and was done by 9.48. So I went out at lunchtime and took the back wheel off and fitted the spare

Which held air! Sidewall looks like the desert though! 

This allowed me to put both new tyres on the front and the 2 not too perished Michelin on the back. Spare went back under the car, fronts look nice now

Bulbs for the rear lights haven't arrived, but the new numberplate lights have. One had a lens missing, although both bulbs still worked. Tenner for the pair, it seemed silly not to

Does smarten it up

Then onto the front, because there's a sidelight out. Easy, right? 

And after removing and moving the abs pump on its pipes, the air box and unbolting the air box bracket from the chassis I could get the bulbs in and out... And it doesn't work. Known working bulb, doesn't work... Works in the drivers side. 

So no MOT until this is fixed... I've asked on the forums if it's likely to be the headlight or wiring to it... But I think the bumper is going to have to come off to do it... 

Ho hum! 

 

 

The tyres lasted this long... Probably 20k. Wish I could afford better ones for more miles but equally the state of the roads round here and these are more expensive than they were last time! 

[beko1987]

I found my little coolant leak. It's probably so obvious because rather than just topping up with water like any other normal owner probably would, it's been ready mix pink stuff. 3l in the 20k since I did the cambelt and it possibly started, I'm not too worried.

This is more worrying though... That's a new shock I need isn't it. Is it a full mot fail though as is? 

Amazingly the awful looking bolts holding the remains of the wing bracket into place came out perfectly fine! I put them in a bag for safe keeping! Then found this in the shed where its been for many years and started sculpting some bodyfiller

[beko1987]

Since we're in there literally waiting for paint to dry I wire brushed the couple of iffy bits I saw in prep for krust shortly when I've made Charlie his tea

Looking at the £70 in primer shitty front wings on ebay they have that bracket visible in even the blurriest of stock image so I'm hoping thats easy, but we need a temporary mot passable solution first, and I've got some big cable ties... 

[beko1987]

The split strut gaitor weighing a bit on my mind I got the wing unmasked from primer, and spent as much as 3 minutes with some 1000 grit as that's all I have from painting hoover brushrolls to knock it nice* and flat*. Then I re-masked, stepping back slightly to feather the edge like I've seen the people who know what their doing before do

I then got my can of fancy colour matching* spray paint (£14 for this and the tin of krust I wasted half of together from the shop in town which seems very reasonable)

Gave it a shake, and let loose! Waiting for it to dry now. I also found the problem with the wing

But it's fine as that's probably all it's going to ever get again 🤷😂

Be back together and parked up waiting for rhe tyres to be fitted in no time tomorrow! Hopefully before it rains 

[beko1987]

Looks alright from here

[beko1987]

And indeed it actually looks very similarly silver, I'm amazed since I just guessed

Oh no there's some fallout 😢

[beko1987]

Then just so it lasts the winter I hope it will

 

Then into the oven to dry

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

This is more worrying though... That's a new shock I need isn't it. Is it a full mot fail though as is? 

 

 

 

same as ball joint or a steering gaiter - ingress of dirt jobbie

just get some snide mx5 coilovers - ask ghosty

just pcp a c1 ffs

 

[beko1987]

3 minutes ago, hairnet said:

same as ball joint or a steering gaiter - ingress of dirt jobbie

just get some snide mx5 coilovers - ask ghosty

just pcp a c1 ffs

 

It's the removing the shock, compressing the spring and just changing the boot on a tired old shock that I'm wondering now... Or is that the way to do and not ponder the cost of 2x cheap struts and springs and do it once...