Re:i Made It Back!

Hi all
Just got back from France-not quite as many miles as McMooter but still 3200 miles none the less-loaded to the gunnels.On the way out virtually every cubic inch of the car bar the drivers area and area for the dog were full.I got to Dover to be told by the ferry attendant your radiator is leaking.Had a good look around but couldn't see any sign of a leak.Later in the trip I stopped with the engine at 90 degrees and saw a drip coming from the water header tank.It stopped after a while,I always check the water regularly and always have to top it back up to the top of the mark,it always seems go down slightly below this.Anyway I removed the cap-it was not pressurised and the level came to just over the level of where the base of the cap sits.So it appears that due to expansion of the water when hot,my car likes 1cm below the marked level.Having stopped refilling the level hasn't changed at all,I can take the filler cap off at any time without it shooting out.
I saw loads of CX's,Xantias and BX's.A fair few XM's mainly saloons and mainly Mk1's.The XM's were all driven by elderly men often with their wives beside at very high speeds!
I have now done 29K in mine in just coming up to the year,the timing belt needs changing(per the schedule at 144K).I found a garage in France to do it for €380 plus €100 parts,he said its 2 belts and a pig to do taking over a day.The price sounds good but there were various restoration projects on the go and I wasn't 100% impressed.
How often do belts snap?I realise if it does then thats the end of the car economically.The car has been brilliant.It cost £620 and apart from a bit spent on the aux belts(£130) it has run very well.
I have always been very envious of those of you with cruise control and on board computers...imagine my astonishment whilst waiting for the ferry I accidently bashed the end of the wiper stalk and discovered I have a comp as well!!!Needless to say I have been obsessed with it over the past 3 weeks!
The weather was hotter over there around 21 degs most days and my economy shot up as a result.My best trip was 300 miles at 50-65ish and averaged 47.7.I got to half tank after 465 miles and the best out of a full tank was 690 without the reserve light coming on and would have got 800+ miles from the tank.This was travelling at the slowish speeds stated for long spells at a time,but there were hills and roundabouts/town traffic included as well.With the cheaper diesel 69p per litre-I was running at about 6.9p per mile which given my permanently open thermostat I was pleased with.
Are there any get togethers planned for the summer?
Regards Rob

Hi Rob,

Sounds like a great trip - welcome back.

Well - you've got a 2.5TD - so it's a piece of cake to fit on your own car. Everything is already there - including the wiring!

All you need is the switch - to replace the blank cover in the row under the centre air vents and the cruise control stalk (and lower shroud with the additional hole if you don't fancy drilling into your own). It's less than an hours work - honest!

If you can find an XM with cruise in a breakers you can get the bits from that (doesn't need to be a 2.5TD) - but even buying them won't be that expensive.

The stalks sometimes give a little trouble - but the culprit for non-operational cruise is the brake pedal switch. If you go ahead and fit the new parts and it doesn't work - it's 90% certain that the brake switch will be faulty (only a 10 minute job to fix though).

I hope this helps - I certainly wouldn't like to be without cruise - it's wonderful.

Roy

This post has been edited by mackay1 on April 22, 2007 06:56 pm

Hi Rob

Glad you had a good trip. I am reasonably certain that you can upgrade your 2.5 to cruise for about £50 if you want to use new bits. I might be able to find a secondhand set and it takes no more than an hour. There is a help file.

Regards

XMexc

Not always. With my XM, with only 38K kms on the clock, it's the ECU. A very pricey part

Hi Jan,

That's interesting - I also had to replace the brake pedal switch on my 24v when I got it at 17k miles - and I thought that was a poor show given the low mileage - but I guess I should count my blessings given your experience.

Roy

There must be something about France and overheating, the only time I have ever boiled mine was in the queue coming out of Cherbourg...and got away with it, the fans were not working, never noticed over here! You wouldn't have been so lucky with a 1.9 XUD.

I don't have the luxury of a cruise control or even a computer as mine is mechanically governed, but, on the plus side, it doesn't go wrong and would be fairly easy to fix if it did.

Anyway, pleased you had a nice holiday Rob and your car's going OK.

Peter.N.

Great to hear of folk going on monster euro tours. French roads/drivers are so much better than those in the UK. Two and three lane motorways where everyone returns to the inside lane after overtaking. (Mostly to allow a one litre Clio on the rev limiter to scream past you.)

Imagine how much could be saved on motorway construction here if everyone followed the French example. Not buy a Clio but observe the Le highway code.

MC

I'd be happy if UK drivers didn't start beeping, gesticulating and then trying to ram you off the road when you obey the highway code and they are not.

I have had it in many circumstances ranging from the 'they are trying to go 50mph faster than the speed limit and you are obeying the law ,driving on the speed limit etc and doing nothing even remotely inconsiderate' to the 'fast lane hogging fool doing 50mph on an empty motorway who doesn't like it when you come up behind and flash him so he pulls in, speeds up with you to 90+ and then tries to ram you'.

Last week had a sporty soft top come up behind me on a stretch of dual carriage way. I was going 80 on cruise overtaking another car, so pulled in as soon as I had passed it (about 5 seconds later). She then pulled alongside and matched my speed. We carried on like that till about half a mile before a roundabout where I needed to turn right so I indicated to change lanes. I slowed down and sped up by 10mph each way and she matched it to box me in. As we got to the roundabout I (still indicating right, but in the left hand lane) floored it while she hesitated and went sailing round a fair way in front of her to be met with a hail of horn and abuse. She followed me onto the next dual carriage way with me in the inside and her on the outside, about a cars length behind (it seems her precious sports car couldn't match the 2.5 on uphill acceleration in the 40-70 range and I was being fairly light on the accelerator ). As there was a van in front of me I floored it again and indicated to pull out, I checked she was falling behind for a few seconds and then pulled out to be greeted with the same abuse. She then sped up (mainly because I had reached the speed I wanted to go and put cruise back on) to come level with me and tried to sideswipe me. I did not move an inch of course in the hope she would actually hit me. I was just ready to stop the van I had overtaken as a witness before calling the police to have her charged with dangerous driving. Alas, she didn't manage to hit me (but looked like she nearly lost control of her precious sports car as she almost ended up in the central crash barrier). She left it there and pulled away in front, but when she turned left at the next roundabout about a mile on I had to pull out to avoid being held up by her.

Cheers,
Rowan.

Hi Rowan

Yes, I agree, there are some lunatics on the road and I'm afraid I had my moments when I was younger. But getting old has its advantages, I am now quite happy, if the motorways are busy, to pootle along at 60 mph in the nearside lane with the lorries, its a lot less stressful, means you generally dont get involved with the boy racers and gives me about 55 mpg! In spite of being retired, I still clock up about 20k per year, but I'm very pleased I did most of my motoring when the roads weren't the mad house they are now, some of it when there were no speed limits!

The drivers that really get up my nose are those that drive at 40 mph in a 60 limit and then continue to drive at exactly the same speed in a 30 zone. If you can get past them, which isn't always easy on our country roads, they are then driving in your boot when you enter the speed limit. The reason they annoy me so much is that they obviously have no regard for other drivers or the law.

Rant over - have a nice day.

Peter.N.

Ah yes, the constant speed drivers. I daily drive on a stretch of road that opens up into a 50 limit with nice wide roads, nothing at the sides etc. It then slows into a 40 as houses appear at the sides, and then down to 30 as you enter the town and it takes you through 2 90 degree bends either side of a 'high street' with zebra crossing, shops, school etc, plus a couple of side roads. Recently the local paper ran an article about how dangerous this stretch was as there are something like 30+ road signs in less than 200 yards due to all the dangers etc and how it is such an accident black spot due to both the inherent dangers and the fact that drivers get confused with all the signs. Rolled lorries and cars imbedded in the side of buildings by school gates are some of the recent highlights.

Now, every night I come through that, safely exceeding the limit in the 50, slowing down in the 40, and ending up under the 30 limit in the dangerous bit.

However, I often end up behind people doing 40-45 in the 50 limit. What a pain I think as I am held up when trying to get home in the evening. They then often speed up when they get to the 40 limit (at which point I think 'If you can't safely do this speed in the 50 limit then you can't possibly be safe now'). They then continue at 40ish through the 30 limit.

At that point they disappear in front of me, nearly come off the road on the bends, frighten a few people on the junctions and crossing. Then I catch up again after we have left the dangerous part, and pass them at the lights further on where it goes up to 2 lanes.

I believe there is something called 'due care and attention'. Clearly no-one told them.

Unfortunately, I haven't reached the stage in life where I have slowed down. I am always trying to get somewhere in a far to busy schedule, and so tend to have to watch out for the police cars/cameras. I only do about 20K a year now, but at one point was doing 40K. That was far more frustrating.

Cheers,
Rowan.

Hey,

My old one is the same about water level as yours, once it stablilises I let it be (learned that one the hard way (well it wasn't THAT hard:-))).

My new one also has trip computer, its just the switch is VERY intermittent and seems to work best when its warm weather. Bit annoying really, but do I really want to be reminded my average speed round this city is 11mph:-(. Sitting in traffic sure brings the mpg down too.

later

Hi all
Just got back again...again.Only 1100 miles in 2 days this time.I changed the oil at the end of March and it is due for another now!!!I managed 47mpg on my 400 mile run back to Boulogne which involved some country lane cruising and a steady 69mph on the autoroutes,a little less on the steep hills.There was only one 2 minute pee break and 6 stops at the toll booths so it was a good steady run.I am pleased with 47mpg.I think a 2.1 driven the same way would get another 10mpg on top of that.Mine will do over 800 miles on a tankful at that rate which means I can get to my house and back to Boulogne on a tankful.Cheapest diesel was 69p which means a cost per mile of just under 7p,here every mile costs me just over 11p(but this does involve much more town and mixed driving)The computer has been a godsend as you can actually see how your driving style/action affects the economy.Whereas without it you think you know that a particular action has an adverse affect but can't see how bad it actually is.
Regards Rob

Hi Rob

Well done, you'r beginning to sound like me, it will be your pension next!

Peter.N.

Hi all,

just to let you know that I had the same symptom with water level in header tank and since I bought a new cap for it the level stays where it should -above the mark-. Similarly, I didn't have much pressure in the system and could open it at any time. There's a spring in the cap that applies pressure on a plastic disk, as you tighten the thing, so it seems that with years they loose there mechanical strenght and cannot stand to the pressure originally designed for -1.4bar in my case-. It is remarkable that the new cap is much more difficult to tighten to position, and the cap itself becomes curved on full lock because of the force of the spring -I thought it was faulty in the beginning-! Cost, £10 form Citroen.

regards
George

Jorgy9, makes sense, the cap on that car is well dodgy, now I know its so cheap I may get one a new one.