Your reassurance is appreciated

However, since it was a car I gave good money for (in the expectation of something I could use daily, and not worry about restoration work for a good few years yet), any remedy will be the concern of the vendor and not me or there'll be trouble.

David at the CX forum seems to think that the car is worth labelling as "unroadworthy" too, so I'll not be driving it, which is probably my biggest disappointment - all it does is stare at me, and I back longingly!

Aside from the steering, there are a few minor issues: the driver's door mirror hanging off for example. The rest of the car is reasonably sound, and has seemingly spent the last ten years regularly bathed in Waxoyl, so there's little rust.

It drives OK too, assuming you're going in a straight line

Without doubt the car can't be driven the way it is - well, it can but not without it being a real
challenge - the Cx's DIRAVI is something to savour NOT fight every second of the experience!

If the garage can allow the car to be delivered with the mirror hanging off and a blatant failure of
one of the primary systems, I'd be very wary about allowing them to do any work on it. I'd be more
inclined to fight the price well down on the agreed value and sort it myself. But then, I'm not afraid
of getting stuck in with Cx's and many wouldn't fancy the job so I'd be totally sympathetic if you just
spat the car right back at them.

That car of my mate is a great intro to Cx'ing for someone like yourself who fancies something
different that doesn't need any fettling. Albeit it comes without an autobox but a far better chance
of a sensible mpg...

Let me know how you get on.

Andrew

Heavy left hand steering on a Diravi equipped CX can be sign of mechanical wear in the control unit and is fixable. My long since departed CX Safari developed this annoying fault and on taking out the unit, removing the big rubber boot and getting a look inside it was evident that one or more (can't remember the exact number as it was a while ago) round plastic (nylon?) cam pegs had flats on them due to wear. The simple fix was to turn the pegs 180 degrees to present a new bearing surface. I have sold my CX workshop manuals so no longer have a decent drawing of the Diravi control unit but if anyone can provide one or a photo then I could point out the offending plastic bits. The hardest part of the job of course is getting the control unit out of the car and I seem to remember disconnecting the hydraulics from within the footwell after removing the driver's seat.

Apologies if I'm repeating existing info, however I hope it helps.

Ken

Its a shame your having problems with your Cx

Are you sending it back or getting it repaired?

I know it can cost a lot to view a car if its miles away, but in my experience its the only way.

I hope you get a good result anyway.

It was sheer laziness on my part. I had a nightmare buying a car some years ago 'on spec' over the telephone, and despite winning my case and all costs vowed to never repeat the experience. Since that time I've gone to view the used cars I've bought, but in the case of this CX made an exception, the chief reason being that the cost of travelling - taking into account fuel and my time, or rail tickets and my time in the event I took the train - would be a significant proportion of the value of the car. I figured also that with 80 (yup, count 'em) photographs supplied to me by the retailer, and the fact the retailer was a Citroen specialist and seemingly very up front and honest about the condition of the car, would make the deal quite a safe one.

However, no amount of photographs would have allowed me to see that the steering was broken, nor that the driver's door mirror needed adjusting each time you hit the brakes. There are other issues with the car that I have included in my list of complaints to add weight to my case, but overall the car is 'ok'. Not commensurate with the price I paid or the description, but still a very reasonable example. Of course, it was sold as an every day car, and so far I've done less than 2 miles, both of them rather fraught.

I will let you know how things pan out, and if there is ANY funny business I'll be delighted to let everyone know the full and sordid details. But I'm not sure there will be, so it'll probably just go away quietly and I'll find something else to entertain me at the weekends.

Regards
Phil.

So, from the value you refer to, I assume it's not E451GJN then!!?
That one looks like a very nice car from the pictures posted on the net...

Andrew

The mirror flopping about every time you brake or open/close the door can only be three things.

There's a big round hollow 1 1/2" diameter bolt mounting the mirror onto the door and this may
not be tightened enough.

More likely the case, a small allan key headed grub screw isn't tight into this previously mentioned
hollow bolt. You'll find the head of the grub screw by rising the rounded black plastic collar 'neck'
covering up towards the mirror glass and it likely needs to be facing inwards towards the door glass.

Finally, it could be the spring is awol that Shane helpfully shows in the link on his webpages:

http://www.shanescitshed.com

>>'85 CX2500GTI TIRBO

>>Fixing the Exterior mirrors

Andrew

Ta for the link.

The tiny grub screw on mine appears to have been replaced with something non-grub like, probably a regular small screw, and there has then been a very crude attempt to make it sit flush by chiselling off the top and then running a file across the surface to give it a screwdriver friendly head - the surrounding plastic has a screwdriver friendly head too

I don't mind getting my hands a little dirty on this stuff, but not as winter is approaching and certainly not on a car I had envisaged using on a daily basis. Okay so it's a 20 year old Citroen, but it's hardly a vintage car, and supposedly has had a lot of money spent on it in the recent past.

I will keep you updated as to what happens. The CX guys sound rather authoritative on the subject of CX steering and the consensus is that 1) it is unroadworthy and should not be driven in its current condition, and 2) it's certainly not something you would expect to encounter on a car sold by a dealer, let alone a specialist dealer.

Will keep you informed.

In my line of work a picture really does help to tell a 1000 words:

this is what the column DIRAVI head looks like:

http://cgi.ebay.fr/CITROEN-bloc-DIRAVI-TBE...emZ250327958675

and this is a side section illustration found on the net:
http://www.algonet.se/~frenchie/p264.gif

You can see the flat foot on the bulkhead end (right hand side) with the two hole
fastenings. Also just visible are the hydraulic feed pipes that have been cut on this item!

Andrew

I found this diagram of the Diravi system operation.

Basically when the steering wheel is turned it causes the linkage (shown by the 'Z' shaped green part under the word 'Filters') to move from it's neutral position and operate on the slide valve. This in turn admits or releases HP LHM to / from the rack piston depending on which way the wheel is turned. As the rack pinion rotates it provides feedback to the linkage which returns to its neutral position and the rack movement ceases until the steering wheel turns again.

On my CX the common high mileage heavy left hand steering problem was caused by wear in the above linkage which meant that the slide valve was not moving sufficiently to operate the rack piston. As I said earlier I was able to effect a simple repair by repositioning some of the linkage plastic parts to present fresh bearing surfaces.

Ken

That's a great illustration Ken - where'd we be without the power of the internet!!
Still, it sounds like it's easier to contemplate a full replacement of the steering head?

I can't recall now whether the ignition lock into the barrel is different than the one
pictured on the LHD ebay auction pic I posted earlier - doesn't it run in from an angle
or is that me being confused by a Xantia and Xm column?

Andrew

After a brusque conversation with this morning regarding my car I've decided to take legal action. Supposedly the CX was sold "as seen" which, aside from being a meaningless term used by shady characters to null and void a car buyer's consumer rights, can get the user of it into trouble with their local Trading Standards:

Here is a Google translation of the French Diravi eBay sellers write up.

'a power steering DIRAVI for CX, it comes from a 25 TURBO RD 2, it stands as well as on Series 1 Series 2 sedan or break. I drove with this car, it is very good working condition, no abnormal Thursday, it curable very well by taking the speed he recalls very well the wheels in a straight line and had absolutely no point or a hard right or left. the car had 166 500 km of origin. its rubber protection is in very good condition and the piece of steering column inside. it is complete ready to be back, this piece costs a small fortune in Citroen (it seems to me that he is no longer supplied) and it is rare to find a sale like this, know him! .'

Is an 'abnormal Thursday' the day preceding a 'Happy Friday'?!!

I have seen other Diravi units for sale on the French eBay site at around 40 Euros which have failed to attract a bid.

The problem with fitting a second hand unit is that you don't know how much wear might already have occurred and problems may be just around the corner. Probably the quickest and safest bet would be to fit a guaranteed exchange recon unit from Pleiades because you can be confident it will have been fully stripped and completely overhauled.

Regarding the ignition switch / steering lock location, it sits parallel to the steering input shaft and is clamped to the alloy casting using a 'snap off head' type security bolts.

Ken

Purely out of interest, how did you get the car back to you? I take it you did not collect it, so you had it delivered.

Whenever i see a car i like, its always a pain trying to find a way to get it home, especially if it doesnt have MOT/tax.

Good luck with it, its a shame your CX ownership has to come that