The Pursuit of Happiness - Citroen ZX joins the fleet

April 19, 2024

Following my post above, which is now a long while ago 🫣 have some pics of the metro repairs to the rear valance…

As expected, definitely MOT quality rather than restoration, but keeps the car alive!

in the time since then, I got out to a show with the Metro

It was nice to use it rather than fix it!

however, the good times didn’t last long! Earlier this year she started over heating again, which is very disappointing 😞. Seems ok if your able to keep moving, but gets hot quickly if your sat still, could be the thermostat stuck closed, it has a new rad, but the hoses to the rad are not getting hot. I think I will take out or replace the thermostat and see what happens. Either way, the car is currently banished to the naughty corner (again!) as I want to get my Jag fixed and back on the road!

A broken Metro added to the broken Jag and a broken camper van, meant my old car motivation has been pretty low the last 6 months…

April 19, 2024

So in April last year I reported that the Jag had a failure to proceed due to a suspected fuelling issue…

I thought newly refurbished fuse boxes had resolved the issue and the initial testing showed the car to be starting and warming up, revving through the rev range smoothly, excellent… or so I thought!

I booked in for an MOT and got the car out in about July time, but she wasn’t quite right. I’ve had this car a long old time and I’m quite in tune with how she behaves, I could tell she wasn’t right and turned back towards home nervous of another FTP and long wait for recovery.

I didn’t do a lot with the car after that, other than gather some parts (plugs, leads, cap and arm, new belts, new fuel filter) as I thought it may just need a service. Anyway, life got in the way and here we are in April 2024 fitting those service parts! The car still isn’t right though!

The XJ40 was very advanced for its time, it has a natty little computer on board that tells you if a system isn’t working right. There’s an occasional stutter at random in the rev range and she will cut out if left idling too long. The computer is saying Fuel Fail 12 (MAF), so I’ve taken it out and cleaned it, wasn’t dirty, nothing looks wrong, so I’ve bought a known good one from a friend in the world of old Jags. I’ll be fitting that Saturday.

I’ve also purchased a new CPS as these are a known weakness on the XJ40, so I’ll try that too if the replacement MAF makes no difference.

I’m hoping not to have to resort to sending the car to a specialist because -

a. I’m tight

b. The car might need to be trailered there

c. Good and trustworthy specialists (who will touch an XJ40) are a very rare breed!

d. I want to get the alloys refurbed and new tyres fitted, which is a cost I can’t justify if I’ve splashed out on specialist repairs! Priorities and all that 😂

whilst all that’s been going on…

April 19, 2024

Our old camper van shit itself in September! After I sorted out the clutch issues earlier in the year we’d had a lovely couple of camping trips and we were heading home from our last trip of the season on Sunday lunchtime ready for work on Monday…

We stopped for fuel, the car restarted lovely and headed out of the fuel station, about 100 yards up the road we lost power and started misfiring. Fuck!

stopped at the side of the road coughing and spluttering, then cut out. Would not restart at all.

lots of wet under the coil on the tin-ware. This is an air cooled van, so any sign of anything wet is trouble, is wasn’t fuel as the fuel lines are no where near it, smelled oily though. In my blind panic at the side of the road I couldn’t work it out.

I waited half an hour, the car still wouldn’t start, we have fuel, we have air, but a very weak spark. I gave in and called the AA 😞.

a very helpful and enthusiastic AA patrol arrived a very unexpected and quick hour later! He asked what was wrong, I explained. He said ‘spin it over then, let’s see what’s what’

Well would you believe, the fucking thing sprang into life immediately! The AA man said ‘I thought you said it was broke?’ 😂

he followed me home, his roadside diagnosis of a car that was working was ‘dunno mate’.

It would not restart when hot on the driveway again when we got home.

I followed my gut and investigated the oily patch under the coil. In the calm of the following weekend I remembered that some coils are oil filled for cooling or to aid temperature stability.

I had an old coil in the shed, so I took the one off the van to compare and decide if the old one would fit, the oil coil from the shed seemed heavier. But didn’t match.

So I went to to see Dave at Kingfisher Kustoms, he’s only 5 minutes from where I keep the van. He agreed my old coil had no oil left in it, probably therefore it was getting too hot and failing. A new coil then, ahhh…

turns out this year of van takes the same coil as the mk1 golf GTi, a one year specific thing. Look out, scene tax coming up… £97! We found a work around, got a nice shiny Valeo one and changed some of the connections in the van, £40 was more like it 😂

so the van was fixed and is running lovely, but it’s not a winter car, so my one working old car has been locked away for the winter 🙄

June 28, 2024

As a brief update, I've fixed the Metro again. I reported back in April that it was overheating again, I thought it may be a stuck thermostat as the bottom radiator hose wasn't getting hot, so I decided to replace the 'stat as a last ditch attempt to get it back to running condition before I throw the towel in and make a proper effort to get shot of it.

I ordered an OE 'stat from Rimmers, 88°c type same as the one I fitted previously. Same as the one that the garage who did the head took out and replaced again as part of the head gasket job. I'm getting good at this now as it only took me a couple of hours in total to change it and I didn't disassemble half the engine to get it! The part fitted by the garage turned out to be a Valeo item and was properly stuck shut, wouldn't open when tested in a pan on the hob. New part fitted and much ~~following of the correct procedure over and over again~~ fucking about to get the cooling system bled properly. She now runs well, heaters get hot and when the temperature gauge reaches half way the bottom radiator hose warms up quickly. Cooling fan kicks in at 3/4 on the temp gauge.

I've been using it for local trips over the last couple of weeks and it seems to be working well. Obviously I'm keeping a close eye on fluid levels and oil condition, because it's a k-series and I have OMG HGF fear 😂

It will due an MOT again in the next month or so. So I'll have to get that booked in and hope it doesn't need much work to get it through.

As it stands we're back up to two out of three working again, just got find and fix the fault on the XJ40 now 🤔

February 7, 2025

A long while since this was updated again...

Starting where we left off, the Metro passed it's MOT. My tester commented that the subframes are looking a bit sad but they're not rotten, so at some point they will need a wire brush and some paint applied. Pleased to say the Metro has behaved itself since then, no more FTP's! (touch wood). It did have a problem with the starter not always engaging, so I put a new starter on it a week or so ago, not an expensive nor a time consuming job. Metro continues to be used hop and a catch on days when the gritters haven't been out. Haven't got around to doing anything about selling it, it's been with me nearly four years now and only really worked properly for the last 8 or 9 months!

The camper van still needs the carbs tweaking at some point, but she starts and runs OK. She's not been out at all in the last 12 months as we used all of our time off (and money) getting some 'once-in-a-lifetime' trips in with the kids before they're too old and cool to be seen out with us. Hopefully this Easter will see the camper van out and about doing camper van things and we have a few more weekends away planned for this year.

So with two working old cars (for a change) my mind has turned back to the Jag. I've had this a long time and it's a lovely old thing, I definitely won't give up on it! Having said that April 2023 was last time it saw the road, when we had a breakdown that I've been unable to fix.

I've replaced all sorts of parts as mentioned earlier in this thread, but nothing seems to fix it. There have been small improvements from the work, she starts instantly and runs beautifully smoothly with loads of power when cold, but once warm still struggles under load and even if left just ticking over eventually coughs and splutters and cuts out. So I've given one of the technical advisors from the JEC a call (David Marks), he is basically the XJ40 whisperer! The car will be trailered to him early March for diagnosis and a mild recommissioning, an oil service plus MOT. Hoping to drive it back from his Nottingham workshop when he says its done. It won't be cheap but hopefully he can fix it properly and get the car back to 100% dependable for me.

In the meantime, I'm looking to get the original alloys out of storage and over to a local place for refurb in a similar colour to when they were new. They were sort of a champagne colour, but I want to go slightly more 1990's gold if I can. This clip from the brochure shows what they looked like new -

The current alloys fitted are the same design, but they've been refurbed in a silver colour that is closer to chrome / polished metal. For motivation, I've set myself a target to get the wheels sorted with new tyres and fitted on the car before it goes for recommissioning next month. Once everything gets going, I'll add some photo's here.

March 17, 2025

Wheels are now sorted and fitted with 4 news tyres. I’ve spent more on that job than I did buying the car back in 2009 😵…

the car went off to the specialist last week on a transporter.

The specialist has found a couple of things that are contributing to my issues.

Once he’s fixed those and found which issues were causing which symptoms I will update again, but I’m hopeful I could have my car back in a couple of weeks!

March 17, 2025

I bottled it with going for the slightly more gold on the alloys, the original colour was ‘oyster’ , the wheel place got the info out of Jag and I think the wheels look great now (not as grey as the previous wheels; although they look standard silver in the images above). This one shows it a bit better I think?

June 25, 2025

The Jag is now back (has been for over six weeks actually) and is working well.

it was a big bill, but worth it. The main issue was the oxygen sensor was dead so it wasn’t sending the right info for fuelling etc. The sensor was changed along with the earth points as they are apparently known to fail on XJ40’s and cause spurious running issues!

Whilst it was in with the specialist, I had some suspensions bushes changed, a fluids full service, some of the coolant hoses changed, gearbox oil and filter, new front brake calipers fitted, all the things you would do on a car that has been standing for over two years really. Hence the big bill!

with that sorted and the camper van working ~~well~~ mostly, my mind has moved on to what to do with the other old shite I own. It’s a bit boring with it all just working now 🤣 I know, I was moaning like hell when it was all broken!

anyway, new shite incoming! And soon!

but the Metro will have to go to make room for it, can’t have the collection growing out of control. The ‘new’ car is prime autoshite, getting rare (more rare than the Metro I think) not very exciting run of the mill family motoring from the ‘90’s

i might do a collection thread as it will be the first car I’ve bought since I joined here.

4,950 · June 25, 2025

1 hour ago, Carl1981 said:

might do a collection thread

Please do!

Is it a mk1 Mondeo?

June 25, 2025

57 minutes ago, mk2_craig said:

Please do!

Is it a mk1 Mondeo?

It isn’t unfortunately. I have always wanted a mk1 mondeo, but finding one is getting difficult.

without giving anything away at this point, I’ve only paid £3 for the car I’m collecting! It has MOT until Feb 2026 too! I haven’t seen it yet, but the current owner assures me it is in very nice condition and won’t take much effort to get it looking the part. Pictures etc I’ve seen show it to be very original and looking pretty good for what it is.

It is a car that younger me always lusted after, well the hot version was. But I prefer the cooking models these days.

June 29, 2025

New car collection today! Very excited… this car is prime autoshite in my opinion.

ive not done a collection thread before, but my understanding from reading others is -

Obligatory trainer photo indicating the collection starts on foot. Although only a short walk to my lift.

followed by poo count = 1

we actually set off over an hour ago.

Heading north, no trains etc, wife has agreed to take me.

June 29, 2025

June 29, 2025

Collection about to happen, we’re about 10 minutes away.

we had to go to Cheshire Oaks first as SWMBO compensation for driving two hours north!

18,344 · June 29, 2025

Chodspeed, am interested to know what you're bringing into the fold for such a bargain price.

14,058 · June 29, 2025

Now that looks proper! Absolutely bob on that 👌

June 29, 2025

Now back home, after quite a long day. Car has been great though, faultless drive and just a thimble full of fuel to get home (Chester to Halesowen)

not many photos of the collection as my phone battery was dying and I forgot any form of charger! I also forgot the petrol station photo on the way home 🤦🏻‍♂️

anyway, what can you get for £3 these days? Something small (ish) and French?

technically I won a raffle to get it, you can’t get anything for £3 anymore! For those who watch his YouTube channel you’ll recognise the Tasty Classics workshop and the Lands End Citroen.

Ben seems to be a genuinely nice guy too, let me have a good look at all the other projects in the workshop while I was there.

It’s a 1997 ‘R’ reg ZX in 1.9D flavour (XUD), no turbo so only about 70 horses and although it’s the SX trim you don’t get many gadgets. It’s in quite nice order and it drove really well with no knocks or bangs etc, just a lovely bit of diesel rattle at stand still and a comfortable ride, I can see why they were praised when they were new.

It’s a surprisingly spacious car, very comfortable and the old-ish design means that it has slim A and B pillars, which gives a large glass area and adds to the feeling of space inside. Lovely bit of velour on the seats too!

If I’m being fussy it needs of a bit of a deep clean and a good polish and perhaps some careful and selective touch up on the paint. But it’s actually not bad at all, much better than I’d prepared myself for!

18,344 · June 29, 2025

4 hours ago, Carl1981 said:

technically I won a raffle to get it,

Where are these bargainous raffles?

June 30, 2025

5 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Where are these bargainous raffles?

https://raffall.com/tasty_classics_uk

he has a nice looking Proton Satria GTI on there at the moment which again has been featured on his channel, it’s £1 per entry but because the prizes are a bit niche* the odds aren’t too bad.

20,981 · June 30, 2025

Late NA XUD9s usually have Bosch injection pumps if alternative fuels are your thing. It looks great.

28,541 · June 30, 2025

I watch him! Saw all of that car, it made me miss mine!

Nice win!

28,541 · June 30, 2025

You turned the pump up a bit yet 😇🤣

2,076 · June 30, 2025

Zx is a mega win for £3. Them xud's are solid engines, run forever.

June 30, 2025

40 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

You turned the pump up a bit yet 😇🤣

Not yet, I’m happy with the performance as it stands for now! I was most impressed with how little fuel it uses what with me being a bit tight!

I’m in the office today, but perhaps tomorrow will allow time for a play with the car.

28,541 · June 30, 2025

20 minutes ago, Carl1981 said:

Not yet, I’m happy with the performance as it stands for now! I was most impressed with how little fuel it uses what with me being a bit tight!

I’m in the office today, but perhaps tomorrow will allow time for a play with the car.

Was partly joking, as you say their quite perky as they are, you've just got to use the revs! I ran mine for my commuter cars and tbh they are perfect for that! Very narrow, if a modern fiesta/fiat500 can get through a gap you've got no trouble! Traffic is ace too as you don't need revs for it to pull away, just use the clutch 😂

If your commuting on regular roads you'll soon get flying along! Wind it up to speed and it'll hold itself there through the twisties astonishingly well. Ace in the snow too with narrow tyres!

Was only wanting a bigger car that made me get rid of my last one (and it was a 1.4 petrol which aren't bad but aren't a td...)!

June 30, 2025

For those who might be interested in the ZX’ YouTube fame…

much of what he says is tongue in cheek, as I’m sure you’ll start to realise as the video goes on.

28,541 · June 30, 2025

When I watched that I though the opposite, my R reg cars have been alright for me!

But like this zx I bought r reg cars that were an older design just still being knocked out in 97/98, not brand new with new tech for 97/98. I think that's the key difference, that zx is an 80s design tarted up with early 90s car tech that was mostly* proven by then.

I'd trust all my zx's to take me anywhere! The 1.4 was gutless when I went to Devon and back with my tent for shitefest_devon but that wasn't really the cars fault