Mulley's New 19TXD

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:14 pm

Last tank of fuel averaged 49mpg, not bad as that involved a blast up & down the motorway to Surrey & my usual commute to work as well.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:53 pm

So thanks to Ken last week i have refreshed the gearbox oil, nicer smoother less clunky changes, nice....the cam seal is working a treat, no more oil leaks on this baby, the only 1 out of 3 though....

Just changed the fuel filter, god that was sooooo easy, the old one looked a little grubby.

Just got to put the winter tyres on (cheers for the bolts Tim), got to sort out the drvr side front strut which is groaning. I've already done the lhm lubing trick which quietened it down a bit, also dropped some 3in1 oil into the top turret hole as well, but its still creaky.....grrrrr

The psgr side courtesy light doesnt come on, so i changed the bulb & it still doesnt work

.....piece of sxxt.... any ideas anyone???

Dont have a boot light either, got all the wiring, just no unit, anyone got a spare lying about that you dont need?

Apart from that she's running great & averaging about 600miles for approx 50litres of fuel, stuff u gordon....

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:11 pm

Noticed a bit of clutch slip when accelarating, can it be adjusted or does this mean its shagged??

BX Bandit · Post by **BX Bandit** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:21 pm

Can be adjusted mate, travel needs to be twixt 130mm and 150mm (I think..check the bible). If it was like my TD then adjustment made a short lived improvement

Make sure sure measure travel and not pedal height!!
Adjusting is a piece of cake 13mm + 10mm (maybe 11mm) spanners and you're away.
May have a boot light. I'll check and let you know. Nudge me cos I have a really short memory.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 10:39 pm

Cheers Bandit, although i dont know how to adjust it.....cheers for the offer of the boot light, see my post on that thread.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 10:50 pm

Fitted new boot light, hurrah i can now see in my boot when its dark....hopefully might have a solution to the clutch issue, watch this space.....

Managed to bust the newer headlight tonight trying to remove it, that really pxxxed me off, might be able to save it, with some superglue & duck tape. Temporarily replaced with an old unit that i kept as a spare just incase....

Fingers crossed nothing else goes wrong...it would be nice to have a car which requires zero & i mean zero maintenance apart from servicing & standard wear & tear items.....

Cars that i've had that fell into that bracket were/are, vitara, clio, polo & mini. I keep refering to citroen as shitroen these days, its no wonder they get cubed....rant over, i'm sure when the clutch is sorted i wont be feeling like this.....

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:21 pm

Thanks to Ken & his magic spanners, i dont have an clutch slip, hurrah, thats fended off a bit of expense for the time being, just got the other 2 cars to get sorted.....

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:02 am

Managed to locate a bio diesel stockist in Sheffield, so plonked half a tanks worth in (recommended to get the pump used to the fuel before going 100%), 95p/l, so quite a cost saving even with just half a tank.

Car seems initially a big sluggish, so have added some more veg oil to see if that helps matters a bit.

Found somewhere else in Sheffield where i can buy a 25 litre drum of bio diesel which works out at 90p/l, give me some of that

. Save the environment a bit & save upwards of 15p/l over normal derv prices.....

Havent gotten around to chaning to my winter tyres, was going to do this on Sunday, but pissing it down so didnt bother.

Still got a creaky drvr side strut, quite annoying. Also noticed quite a large creaking sound when i get into the car (sound is from the back) when the car has been left overnight, no idea what that is, hope its nothing major.....

Clutch seems find after Ken's adjustment, so fingers crossed on that one....

Last tank yielded 632 miles, so that must be over 50mpg, not bad considering most of the mileage is my daily work commutte.....

Should really have put all of this in a blog, but cant be bothered at the mo. Not even sure if anyone is remotely interested & has been reading anyhows??

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:50 pm

MULLEY wrote:Also noticed quite a large creaking sound when i get into the car (sound is from the back) when the car has been left overnight, no idea what that is, hope its nothing major.....

almost certainly rear arm bearings mate

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 1:27 pm

Thats 3 bloody cars i've got that need them doing, getting slightly pissed off now

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:02 pm

Last week i fitted my winter tyres, forgot they were directional & had to refit them

. Had to pull the rear body panel out a bit as the tyre was touching the inside of it due to the rear arm bearings being shagged.

Lubed the door locks as they were getting a bit stiff, thats now sorted. Was going to fit some replacement front spheres, but i couldnt shift one of them (i dont have a proper tool) so couldnt do em

.

I think the front suspension is getting more juddery, so wanted to try the spheres to improve the ride & comfort. Must buy a tool soon, right off to e-bay then....

Banged some veg oil into car, so now have a mix of 10% veg, 40% derv & 50% biodiesel. No running problems whatsover & with the veg oil the car appears to have some pace again....

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 10:40 pm

Its official, i dont like biodiesel, car has managed to cut out a couple of times now due to clogged fuel filters, not impressed & mpg seems to be down as well.

I will try using it but in a much lower % ratio to see if that improves things.

Changed the air filter to a nice shiny k&n performance one (bargain off e-bay). I was pretty surprised when i took out the old one (only did 6k on it), how dirty it was, surely filters dont need changing everyear? in which case the K & N should work out cheaper in the long run as it can be cleaned rather than being chucked.

Funny thing happened today, driving along m1, off slip road onto roundabout, had to queue for a bit, set off & thought the suspension seemed a bit bouncy at the rear. Jeeeeeeesus, i was bouncing down the road, had to go 30mph in a 40 (sheffield roads for you).

Pulled up & gave Tim a quick call to see if he had come across the pongo situation, recommended citreaobics which i did, that seemed to clear it up except the front wouldnt bleedin rise (noticed this problem before). Chucked in some LHM & then it went up, strange as there was no warning light for low lhm on the dash??? Anyway, it would appear to be working again, i have been advised that the height corrector linkage may require lubing, another job to do.....

Need to do an oil & filter change in next few hundred miles along with another fuel filter as well. I'm going to try & clean the fuel filters as they dont appear that filthy, just have debris in them which looks easy enough to remove. I'm guessing white spirit is ok to use on them to get them back to their best?

A cold snap is on its way tomorrow, so hopefully i can take the beast out in some snow to really test out the tyres, they havent ever been used on snow before.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 11:57 pm

Don't mix biodiesel, diesel and veg - or so I've been told. Best do a 30 - 40% rapeseed (Pura - 56p/l at Sainsburys last time I looked) to diesel. I add a cetane booster every third tankful. Works a treat.

Oh, and why the winter tyres? Surely you must be one of the few in this country to bother...? Or does it really make a big difference in poor conditions?

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:09 am

Yup, one of the few to have winter tyres, can make a massive difference not only when the snow arrives, but when the temperature drops below 7degrees.

Normal tyres when the temp reaches 7degrees, the rubber goes extremely hard which means less grip, winter tyres are super soft & thats why they have more grip.

Another benefit of winter tyres is that they are superb in the wet, everyone else has to worry about aquaplaning when i dont.

Plus of course they dont get huge amounts of wear & tear so they will last a few years before needing replacement, & they werent expensive either, about £26 each.....

I'd rather have them than not as i dont want to be pissing about when the weather gets nasty, only takes half an inch of snow to stop this country's motorists from being able to drive anywhere.

Worth it if you are carrying your family about, but millions dont bother for the sake of less than £120!!! thats about a couple of decent nights out these days.... what price safety????

Interesting that you mention about not mixing fuel (which is exactly what i've been doing), how did u come find that out (i did ask the biodiesel garage) & they said it would be ok???. Which cetane booster do you use? i've seen a tesco's version for about £2.50....

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:49 am

Interesting point(s) about the tyres. Never really thought about it before.

I think the stuff I use is Miller's...

I'll check in the morning.

P