CitroJim's Citroens

[normantilbury]

Hi Jim,
When mine went out finaly (banging the binacle serveral time brought it back on)and reading up about replacing it i decieded not to bother as there were none of the other bulbs out its surprising how you get used to not having it.

Regards,
Norman

[xmexclusive]

Hi Jim

Had a look at the specs for the 3M conductive tape.
Looks interesting but to work the cleaning up of the components to be joined is critical.
If any old adhesive is present that will act as an insulator.
3M descibe as Heat-bondable, Z-axis conductive film, consisting of adhesives randomly loaded with conductive particles.
These particles allow interconnection of the circuit lines through the adhesive thickness (the Z-Axis).
The particle maximun size is controlled to be small in relation to the size of the gaps between the circuit lines.
The adhesive is the insulator.
The tape must be laid down progressively ensuring there are no air bubbles.
3M claim the 9703 tape is 50 micron thick and suitable for minimum contact pitch of 1000 micron.
It has good adhesion and is Reworkable, bonding temp range 15 to 70 degrees C.
Those claims that it can be reused and that it bonds at room temperature are particularly interesting.
Will order a few sample bit to try.

John

[CitroJim]

Will order a few sample bit to try.

Excellent John, that'll be most instructive to know how it works out... Thanks!

i decieded not to bother as there were none of the other bulbs out its surprising how you get used to not having it.

I think it'll be out with me for a while Norman and none of the other bulbs are out and at least until John sees how that magic tape works anyway. It's been suggested on another forum it's not a bad idea to leave one small fault ununrepaired on an XM as it might stop it thinking about making something larger and more serious go faulty

And besides, like you I've been driving HP20 automatics for years now so know without looking anywhere exactly where the selector needs to go...

My Xantia V6 is in for MOT tomorrow afternoon...

[CitroJim]

Had a lovely result on ebay today. It was the first time I had reason to not complain exactly but point out that goods received were not quite so. Up until then everything I'd bought had been absolutely as expected.

I bought a cruise ECU described as brand new. It was but at some point in its existence the aluminium box had taken a real big impact and it was dented badly in two places - so badly so I couldn't risk trying it as I was fearful the dent may have gone so far as to short against the printed circuit. The damage did not occur through poor packing on the part of the seller.

Long story short, I contacted the seller last Thursday and told him most politely and factually the situation as I saw it. He instantly offered me my money back or a negotiation for a discount. I wanted the ECU so being very cheeky asked for 50% off. This was instantly agreed but he advised he could not do an immediate refund and promised it today. I was a little bit dubious but I needn’t have been for come 10AM there was a 50% refund sitting in my paypal account

That's fair restored my faith in human nature and in buying things on the 'bay.. No argument, no fuss, no bother. I gave him excellent feedback.

The irony of it all is that his username on ebay is Impact_Repair_Centre

[Dieselman]

The irony of it all is that his username on ebay is Impact_Repair_Centre

Which is where the part came from, a crashed car.

[CitroJim]

The irony of it all is that his username on ebay is Impact_Repair_Centre

Which is where the part came from, a crashed car.

No it wasn't. It was brand spankers, still in its Citroen spare parts bag...

[captainhaddock]

My xantia wasn't a bad car Jim, had it for >10 years and > 200.000 miles. It just goes to show that no matter how many oil changes and in my view pretty OK maintenance, you cannot prevent break downs like I described. Wear and tear I guess, driving in Ireland day in and day out.

On the plus side: Elisabeth's XM (which is older..) hasn't broken down once yet (touch wood) the last > 2 years. To be honest: we bought it to keep us going for 2 years at least. I think it can easily do another 2 without too much hassle.
Keeps on going strong! I spent 900 euros on normal maintenance and repairs excluding tyres, with >80.000 km. of service now.
That's not too bad in my view, a new Kia '7 years guarantee' costs a hell of a lot more, if you're not able to DIY your car maintenance/repairs.

Same for the 2.1 TD Diesel by the way - went fabulous today on my 100km. one way trip to work. I love that car:) It can overtake as well!!! Happy days!

[CitroJim]

Ahh well, if the Xantia clocked up over 200,000 miles then that wasn't bad then Jaap I sold my old HDi Xantia at 208K and she was (and is as far as I know) still going strong.

My V6 Xantia successfully passed her MOT today despite my worry about the brake flexi. That was just an advisory and the only one..

So that's the car good for another year last year I did a grand total of just under 5,000 miles in her. I know that from the new MOT certificate that now shows the past five years' mileages..

She's just a baby. Not yet done 75K and when I first got her she'd done less than 50K...

[CitroJim]

I looked at the job of replacing the blown bulb behind the gear selector display today. And decided to take your advice Norman and just leave it as it is for now... It's just far too much aggro to pull the dash apart just for that and I had neither the time noer the inclination to do the LH display so for now I feel for the gears!

Yesterday was mostly spent recovering from the week and giving a Xantia owning fried moral support and tea whilst he replaced his radiator between torrential storms.

[normantilbury]

Jim,
Have you tried giving it a sharp bang on the binnicle mine came back on several times before it finaly expired.

Regards,
Norman