A Newbie From The Midlands

[splinternet]

Hi All,  I'm probably doing this in slightly the wrong order, having already posted on one of the technical forums yesterday.  I have three of the double-chevron marque:  I drive a C5 3.0 HDi Exclusive Tourer 59-plate, my wife has a C4 Grand PIcasso 2.0 HDi Exclusive 56-plate, and I bought a Saxo 1.1 Desire 53-plate for my daughter.    I tend to try and look after my cars, but the days when I used to do serious stuff like change wheel bearings and take engines to bits (usually with BL cars...1100, 1300, and Ford Anglebox 123E) are long gone.  These days it's mostly a question of keeping them up to date on maintenance with a Citroen dealership stamp (maybe I'm old fashioned but I still believe there's some intrinsic value in having the twin-chevron stamps all over the maintenance history booklet) and detecting any early signs of things going wrong and getting them fixed pronto - I've had plenty of experience in this regard with the C4GP (I could write a book....ours is one of the first models registered in Jan 2007 - the early ones Citroen released on an unsuspecting public were still clearly going through the QA program).   Plus I keep them fastidiously clean inside and out which is a challenge sometimes with the Saxo which my daughter tries to make as untidy as her bedroom - and succeeds most of the time.

 

In the past between my wife and I we've had a Mehari (there's nothing quite like driving in the middle of winter wrapped up like the Michelin man with one hand on the canvas roof to stop it blowing away), a 2CV Beachcomber, a ZX, and a Xantia.

 

There seems to be quite a number of forum sites.  I've posted several time before on www.citroenpicasso.org.uk/picasso and www.c4owners.org regarding the C4GP and more recently came across www.citroenownersclub.co.uk (which seems a bit superficial) and www.frenchcarforum.co.uk before finding this one.

 

If you think anyone would be interested, I'd be happy to write a post about my experiences with the C4GP (it would be quite long).  I was thinking of writing to Citroen themselves but I don't think I'd be telling them anything they don't already know and I can only hope the new GP just released has got all the problems sorted.  Only last week I discovered the panoramic sunroof not working .. this must be the least stressed part of the car over the seven years we've had it, but still going to cost me £750 for a new motor.  The C5 is fabulous to drive with plenty of reserve grunt with the pedal down but sadly this too is not without its "foibles".    The Saxo as you might imagine is the most reliable of the three, it's a smashing little car in bright red with only 36k miles ...it was a one-owner job, a careful pensioner who regularly did 4k miles a year and had it serviced every 12 months from the main dealer he bought it from.  The only quirk this has is a slight pull to one side on accelerating but you get used to it and it sounds like a transmission job (££££) to resolve which might cost more than the car is worth - my local Citroen dealer told me to just swap the front wheels over (he'd had a hard day and really wasn't up for this conversation at 5:29pm) which I did with absolutely no difference surprise surprise.

 

Sorry to prattle on.  Looking forward to getting good advice and guidance from the posts and contributing a few myself.

 

 

 

[paul.h]

The Picasso forum is a sister site to this one and if you have already posted your experiences on there it may be easier to just use links to them rather than writing it all again.

 

On the Saxo, are there signs of uneven tyre wear which could suggest a suspension or binding brake problem or has there been any work on the front suspension struts/top mounts ? I once had a car that pulled to one side and changing to a different brand/tread pattern of tyre stopped it.

[splinternet]

Paul - no signs of uneven wear.  And no mention of any work on the suspension in all the servicing receipts that the previous owner kept and passed on to me.  The front tyres had both been replace at 25k, just before I bought it - and with the 11k since then, the tyres are both wearing uniformly.

[coastline taxis]

In 9 out of 10 that we do the pulling to one side when acelerating is always the front wishbone rear bush. If it pulls to the left then its the left one  and to the right is the right hand wishbone

[splinternet]

Many thanks, Coastline.  The Saxo is going in before too long for a clutch release bearing so I might as well get the wishbone bush done at the same time.

[splinternet]

In 9 out of 10 that we do the pulling to one side when acelerating is always the front wishbone rear bush. If it pulls to the left then its the left one  and to the right is the right hand wishbone

 

Coastline - I took it in for a main-dealer service and had the wishbones fully checked out, they reported no signs of wear or play in them.  They recommended I get the tracking checked - do you think this might be the cause?

[Johndouglas]

They recommended I get the tracking checked - do you think this might be the cause?

I think they may be right. Some tyre depots are better than others when it comes to doing wheel alignment. When it's done, make sure they centre the steering wheel and lock it before they start checking. Some fitters don't bother and when they get underneath, the steering wheel moves off centre.

[paul.h]

I had this when a tyre fitter took up all the adjustment only on one track rod, which is not the right way and it also leaves the number of steering wheel turns different in each direction. When done the track rods should be equal length with the number of threads left exposed the same at each track rod end. If your dealer or a garage is a similar cost to a tyre depot then it may be better to use the dealer/garage, or at least question the tyre depot on how they will make any adjustments.

[steve18gls]

Hello and welcome to the forum. :D