The Final Chapter of the Stripey Saga - RIP supermachine

[mds141]

I'll second the Bosch Duraterm glow plugs. Fitted them to the XM last year. Cold starts so much easier.

[mat_fenwick]

By "high resistance contact" do you mean I have to clean up some contacts to make things work again?

Possibly. The fact that things are dim rather than on or off suggests to me a poor contact instead of something that's been completely knocked off. IF it is this connector then a possible cause is not just the male to female spades, but also the Scotchlock style of fixing the spades to the cable within the connector.

Interesting about the glowplugs - I assume the light will sty on for the normal duration, but the combustion chamber will reach a startable temperature that much sooner?

[vulgalour]

The only dim light is the one on the oil gauge (level, pressure... I don't know what it does now, I'd assumed pressure), all the other dash lights are normal brightness and it's only since I've been broggling the throttle cable that it's changed. However, I wonder if maybe a bad connection is the cause of the battery telltale not illuminating so it'll be worth having a look tomorrow in the daylight, providing it's not snowing again.

[Dollywobbler]

There's a red light next to the oil level. The check only initiates when the ignition is turned on and, I find, doesn't always give a genuine reading. It'll brighten up when it's giving the level, then go dim, the needle will drop and it takes no further part in the driving experience. The red light should go out as well.

I say they don't give a genuine reading, I just find they can be a bit iffy every now and then. That one was always more reliable than the one on my TXD though.

[hilarystone]

Interesting about the glowplugs - I assume the light will sty on for the normal duration, but the combustion chamber will reach a startable temperature that much sooner?

Yes the light stays on for the normal duration but the car starts even in the coldest weather after about five seconds…

[mds141]

I think the general idea behind the Duraterm plugs is to enable the engine to start faster, thereby giving the ignition system an easier time. Anything that gives the electrical system in an XM an easier time is a good thing in my book!!

[vulgalour]

Stupid question alert: are the glowplugs replaced and numbered in much the same way as spark plugs on a petrol? ie: I shall need four of them for Stripey.

[Dollywobbler]

Controversial point - some just replace one that seems a bit iffy but I go for four. A sensible person would change them in the summer. I on the other hand have changed the glow plugs on three BXs in the depths of three consecutive winters - because that's when you really notice that they're no good. The plugs in 'Stripey' were replaced in 2010, but she's done a fair few miles since then - probably 35,000-40,000.

[vulgalour]

Tangent: Funny how I've taken to calling the car Stripey, it's not even stripey anymore. Green Tiger would be more appropriate given that there's still a green tiger on the bonnet.

[vulgalour]

That does look like fun* I shan't say no to indefinite tool loan, though I would feel happier at least putting some cash towards postage once I've got the parts to fit on the car. I'm not getting any rattling or even a lot of wear on the tyre yet so I should be good for a while. Autoshite PSA Tool Co-operative ftw.
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It snowed again, it's really putting a crimp in getting work done because when it snows not only is there snow to contend with, but it's too cold for things like polish and claybars to work properly. That said, I did get some work done on the BX cosmetics. I had even more of a poke around things and found what looks to be a loose door pin. This door creaks but seems not to have dropped, the metal around the hinges is nice and sound so, do I leave this pin alone or do I try and knock it back in?


Had a look in the wool store and found some wool that was the closest match I could find to the seats, it's a bit brighter but will dull with use and the seats will be slightly brighter when shampooed (that job got snowed off). A pair of embroidery scissors and a tapestry needle were my other weapons of choice.


After only a few minutes I'd repaired the holes in the fabric. It's not perfect, I'm hardly going to be snapped up by the British Museum's textile conservators, but it's better than having a hole with foam on show and should prevent said holes getting any worse. Before on the left, after on the right. Eventually, this seat will likely be replaced.


Then it was a case of yet more paint rectification. The bonnet and roof are covered in these stubborn little spots. They do come off with clay bar and cutting compound, but it takes a while.


The bonnet actually came up surprisingly well. Yes, the front of the bonnet has a crack and lots of road rash, but the finish came up remarkably shiny given the condition of the weather today. The amount of brown tar sludge that came off was surprising too, I thought this panel was actually quite clean before I started and that it was the paint at fault.


Repair or replace? This door has been quite badly bashed, looks like it's been opened into a lamp post or something. Two dents on the windowsill bit and a large shallow vertical dent finishing in a bit of a crater below the bumpstrip. I might have a go at beating this back into shape one day, it can stay as it is for now.


Got all of this side, the bonnet and the roof in front of the hump all cleaned up. I'm quite pleased with the end result. I also managed to get the tailgate clayed, but I need a warmer day to get the vinyl off. Our neighbour seems puzzled as to why it's a) taking me so long to clean a car and b)I'm bothering.


I was momentarily tempted to remove the bumper and discovered that actually it's rotted out in a very specific way. While the metal is a bit fragile, it's only rotted the top half of the wing behind the bumper, the lower half looks like there's enough to stitch a patch in and it's all flat pieces that are required. I'm still not removing the bumper, but now that I've been able to clean up the back end and properly inspect everything it looks less severe than the pictures make out. It's still bad, I know that much, but it's not as bad as I expected, there's more metal behind that bumper than expected, allbeit frilly metal.

I still have to scrub the bumpers, demoss the indicators, clean the lights, reblack the satin door frames, finish cleaning off the roof and shampoo the seats. I probably spent another 4 hours cleaning today which brings my total time spent up to about 16 hours including vinyl removal. Would have taken less time had the weather not been so cold!

[mds141]

Excellent work, I admire your commitment. I'll be bringing my XM along to the next technical weekend 26/7 th of May. If you fancy honing your clay baring skills, I'm more than prepared to allow you to practice!

[Tim Leech]

Try knocking the door pin back up, so it doesnt fall out completly!

[vulgalour]

Instead of doing productive fixy type jobs, I started the day with the best of intentions and bought a length of replacement fuel hose and priced up some spares for general maintenance, got home and promptly got the polish out instead because the weather has been so beautiful today. There's still more to do on the cleaning front, though you have to be pretty close to the car to see it now. I'll work through it eventually, but I'm in no mood to be removing bits of trim to clean awkward areas or to keep scrubbing at sticker residue just at the moment. I just wanted the car to look as good as it possibly could before any work was done on it proper and I'm pleased with how it's come up.

This roof, which was covered in tiny little black tar spots, is now almost completely free of marks. There's some paint damage which I'll need to correct and some larger tree sap blobs that I need a different cleaner to remove but at least it polishes up rather than looking like chalk now.


I spent some time with the clay bar and the G3 to get everything all nice and shiny. I can see on the rusty side where there's still some ghosting from when I was working in the snow so I'll have to go back over that at some point to eliminate it completely, but it's certainly looking rather a lot better now. Might seem a bit odd, but after getting the car shiny with the G3, I washed it to remove all the polish and, because a clay bar session wasn't required at this juncture, I dried everything off and went over all the paint with some Autoglym super resin polish which smells fantastic and is very easy to use.






Even the road rash and the crack on the bonnet aren't too obvious. This might repair after all now that I can see how well it's cleaned up.


Pleased with myself and seeing a good opportunity to make use of some interesting light as the sun was setting, I headed off to see if I could find some suitable locations. Didn't do too badly in the end. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bask in the fruits of my labour thus far, all 20 hours of them.

First location is what used to be the local Drop In centre when I was a kid. Before that it was a school or a chapel or both, I'm not sure. I wish I had the funds to buy it to live in, it's absolutely ideal for what I want.










Then just drove around until I found somewhere else fun.




One thing I've learned about the BX is that it's a big pile of fun to drive! The last time I enjoyed driving a car this much was my old modified Polo which was an absolute hoot on the wiggly roads. Okay, so the Polo could be pushed a lot further before it tried to kill you, but that just adds to the appeal of hooning (safely, occifer) about in an estate car. This BX returns plenty of smiles per gallon and appears to run entirely on fresh air!

The other thing I learned is that it's feels very unlikely that the ball joint has failed, I'm going to get the tracking done instead because it might just be that which is wearing that tyre. No knocks, squeaks or rattles to suggest anything on that corner (or any other corner) is seriously amiss mechanically and I do think it's often best to let sleeping dogs lie.

[vulgalour]

Wee bit more done on the BX, a technical thing this time. Removed the washer bottle for the front, cleaned it up and found the motor to be loose. After a clean of the gunge off the motor's plug it relocated and now seals properly, the water seems to be staying put. The washer bottle is one of the cleanest I've taken off a car, I just need a bendy brush to clean it out properly, but for now I'm just happy it's not leaking.


While I was at it, had a look at the rust hole under the bottle on this side. Looks like leaves get sucked into this area and then mulch under the bottle leading to rot. It doesn't help that the drain hole appears to be put in an area that isn't the lowest point so water can sit under the bottle. I expect the other side will be identical.


Cleaned it out quickly so I could reinstate the bottle and taxi Dad to collect his Omega that now has a new towbar fitted. This also gave me a tip off for not one, but two places that might be able to help out with Stripey, the first - Tower Citroen Specialists - I've e-mailed, the second I need to find out if they exist or not as the tip off was that there was a local specialist 10 years ago down near Whittington Moor (edge of Chesterfield). I shall investigate and report back.

The ball joint on the driver's side is definitely on the way out too, I heard it making a very quiet knocking noise when going around a roundabout. I didn't have opportunity to jack the car up to check further as it's been a very busy day, but I suspect a wiggle will confirm the suspicions.

[Dollywobbler]

Grand stuff. Shame I can't see the pics...