Help me fix my fleet (by answering my bollocks questions).

[Guest]

Hopefully the learned denizens of AS can help me with this one.

Let me break my fleet down into two cars:

 

C4: I want to get the bottom of why the bollocks the steering still jiggles. Aside from this it was actually pretty good on my Altrincham-Ilkeston-Tunstall-Altrinhcam shat delivering \ magazine collection mission on Wednesday. I got 50 MPG and the air con was goodly. I cannot emphasise how much the Michelins have improved the ride.

 

Anyway, this judder is really getting on my tits now. It's got to the stage where it will vary between perfect (no judder) and jelly style (jiggling so much it makes your arms ache) depending on what part of the motorway you're on and what the surface is like. It happens above 70 mph, and can be perfect \ bollocks anywhere above that speed. Good below, and perfect at 65 mph everywhere else. And flat out, strangely.

 

I know PSA stuff is very, very, very fussy about how the wheels are balanced. As you know, I've had them done many times. So, what else could it be? Buckled wheels? Surely this would make itself felt at a lower speed. Tracking out? Possible. It's had new Citroen TREs and bottom ball joints, because there was 'slight play in both' that took the form of advisories in the last MOT

 

I also know for a fact that there's play in the track rods. Is it worth getting these done as well? Bollocks to the expense if it sorts it, it's come on loads since the Michelins went on it.

 

Anything obvious before I start swapping wheels round \ try SCTSH_ANDY'S Speedlines on it \ take it to Drury Lane and swear a lot?

 

Amazon: More mongy this one. It concerns the heater matrix plumbing. The rings are worn on the engine and I took the heater matrix out because it was leaking [badly] and letting fumes into the cabin whenever you turned the heater on.

 

Now at the moment the heater pipes are looped hard back on themselves to bypass the heater box. This gets rid of the fumes but is bollocks for cooling. I've noticed it gets very hot in traffic (not surprising) and I don't want to cook the motor before I can get the B20 sorted. I'm not hacking it about to fit an electric fan (also, I can't be arsed). Is there any way of me sorting the piping out without putting another heater matrix in (so to avoid the fumes)?

 

If anyone could bob round when I have the Amazon local and sort it for me, they'd be beer tokens \ moneys \ old Autocars in it for you. FO' SHO.

[Rocket88]

Ref Volvo. If the heater matrix hoses are old, they could be collapsing internally under pressure. Remove and replace with a new bit of hose, and try it.

[ashmicro]

What year and model is the Shitroen Wat? I'm going to a dealer today that sells Cits, I could ask someone.

[M'coli]

Amazon: put a heater matrix on the hoses and cable tie it somewhere in the engine bay as a temporary measure.

Ebay:

[Mr_Bo11ox]

How is the heater matrix responsible for fumes in the cabin? Unless I have misunderstood something (entirely likely) I dont see a relationship between worn rings/shonky matrix/fumes in the cabin.

[M'coli]

If the heater matrix is leaking (as Wat says) then it will be fumes of hot anti-freeze. I suspect the worn rings are nowt to do with the fumes themselves, just another problem altogether.

[Lankytim]

Are the faces of the front discs totally flat? Have the wheels been balanced on the car?

[shite_meister]

Are the faces of the front discs totally flat? Have the wheels been balanced on the car?

Good point-disc thickness variation, have you had new brake discs or wheel bearings fitted at any point? how old is the car and how long has it been like this? getting the wheels balanced on the car would probably tell you what the issue is but places that do this are few and far between.Did it wobble before you had new tyre fitted and are they original factory-fit wheels and have you swapped them around?

[Mr Lobster]

I thought the Shitroen was due to depart your ownership in August? If so is it really bad enough that it warrants spending much on it for the sake of three / four months?

[Guest]

Are the faces of the front discs totally flat? Have the wheels been balanced on the car?

Good point-disc thickness variation, have you had new brake discs or wheel bearings fitted at any point? how old is the car and how long has it been like this? getting the wheels balanced on the car would probably tell you what the issue is but places that do this are few and far between.

 

Did it wobble before you had new tyre fitted and are they original factory-fit wheels and have you swapped them around?

Wheels and tyres are OEM \ OEM spec. New discs went on at 20k because the Citroen originals fucked themselves. It now has Brembos and I haven't had a problem with the front discs since.

 

The wheels have always wobbled, well for a good two years anyway. I stuffed it down a country road and the repairing garage (Barclays) insisted the alignment was spot on. The wheels wobbled before that anyway. Car itself is four years old.

 

AFAIK they've never been balanced on the car. All of the places local to me look at you as if you've crapped on the floor if you ask them to do that. Tried swapping the wheels round, it doesn't make much of a difference.

 

I'll get it booked in at Drury Lane. As for whether I'm keeping it or not, TBH I cannot be arsed with the arguments it will cause if I slung it and got something older. And I am sick_to_death of arguing about cars.

[Cavcraft]

I appreciate you said 'before you start swapping wheels round...' but is it not worth a go? Maybe swap n/s/f for n/s/r and see how that pans out?

Only place I can think of that do (or did) on car balancing was a place in Nantwich. Probably this place... http://www.autoinsider.co.uk/local/gara ... _31612.php

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Just put some fat woolly mittens or mountain biking 'gel-filled' gloves on while driving, job done

[M'coli]

It happens above 70 mph

[spike Milligan Mode]Don't go above 70 then![/spike Milligan Mode]Job sorted.

[shite_meister]

Are the faces of the front discs totally flat? Have the wheels been balanced on the car?

Good point-disc thickness variation, have you had new brake discs or wheel bearings fitted at any point? how old is the car and how long has it been like this? getting the wheels balanced on the car would probably tell you what the issue is but places that do this are few and far between.

 

Did it wobble before you had new tyre fitted and are they original factory-fit wheels and have you swapped them around?

Wheels and tyres are OEM \ OEM spec. New discs went on at 20k because the Citroen originals fucked themselves. It now has Brembos and I haven't had a problem with the front discs since.

 

The wheels have always wobbled, well for a good two years anyway. I stuffed it down a country road and the repairing garage (Barclays) insisted the alignment was spot on. The wheels wobbled before that anyway. Car itself is four years old.

 

AFAIK they've never been balanced on the car. All of the places local to me look at you as if you've crapped on the floor if you ask them to do that. Tried swapping the wheels round, it doesn't make much of a difference.

 

I'll get it booked in at Drury Lane. As for whether I'm keeping it or not, TBH I cannot be arsed with the arguments it will cause if I slung it and got something older. And I am sick_to_death of arguing about cars.

I'm wondering if you've perhaps bolloxed something like the hub or the knuckle slightly when you stuffed it meaning something isn't quite sitting true if the knuckle/hub was replaced then a possibilty of someone screwing something up when pressing a bearing into the knuckle perhaps???

 

I know its going to be hard finding someone but on-car balancing is the best solution methinks otherwise you could be chasing your tail for god knows how long.

[jonny69]

Headgasket going on the Volvo? That can pressure up the water system and make it stink of exhaust fumes. It can also pressure up the engine top end and make it all stinky oily and fumey.

[Station]

Feck, I wrote something last night and didn't sumbit!Take your car to a place that does jigging, and get them to measure the car, they'll use lasers and whatnot. Better than any backstreet or even dealer garage can do! It sounds like something's bent, even by a coupla millimetres!