As heading says.
Enrico the older Berlingo is in for MoT etc today. Big service at 150k and cambelt being seen to as well. Used to just leave it at garage on way to station and pick it up at home time. That doesn't work any more so I asked for a loan car and was duly handed keys to a pale blue 53 reg Citroen Xsara.
Interior all standard PSA so no trouble working out how to adjust seats or use stalks. It's certainly petrol engined and probably a 1.6. After 21 years of diesels I'd forgotten how much throttle petrols need to get them rolling so stalled it regularly on way home and occasionally kangarooed like a learner. Little if any smoother or quieter than an HDi diesel and if the figures on the screen are right much less economical. Slightly rough on the idle and feels more sluggish than my 1.9D but I'm not going to rev it's nuts off to see if 'drive like you stole it' works. Reasonably easy to manoeuvre although as a 'saloon' (ie hatchback) the thick rear pillars make reversing into my drive an effort.
Garage hack so not that well looked after, I had to clean inside of windscreen as it was distractingly filthy. Glad I wasn't leaving it on station as CL is not working properly and doors need to be locked manually before exiting. Apart from a clunky gearbox all else seems to function OK. Radio found R4 OK once I'd clocked that RDS was selected off.
Be glad to hand it back tonight - or tomorrow if silence on mine being ready is telling me anything.
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Like the ZX they hardly wear the rear tyres - my mate had over 80k on the rear tyres and they proved near fatal on a wet roundabout when the back tried to pass the front - still a few mm of tread left but the rubber was rock 'ard.
Lesson learned.
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Good point that. Still 6mm of tread on the 6 year old original back tyres of the Qq at 40 something thousand. Must switch them round. Fronts only last about 20k.
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>> Like the ZX they hardly wear the rear tyres -
BX was same, even in estate guise. Rears failed due to worn plies and bubbling of thee tread surface. Might have been different if regularly run fully laden.
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Quite refreshing to use an older car for a few hours, or even days. I had a courtesy Renault Megane saloon for a few days once. T registered and in toppish spec for its age, it seemed appallingly thirsty, though it had plenty of go once you managed to find a gear. And the central locking/stupid immobiliser had a mind of its own...
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May have the Xsara again next week. Service and MoT OK but I also asked them to check/advise a contaminant in coolant problem which turned out as a pinhole in the oil cooler. Part on 48hrs order so not do-able today. As it's quoted at £150 parts/labour including VAT it must be pretty quick though. If cooler is same pattern as on XUD then it's a collar over the oil filter's feed.
Techs had gone home when I collected and the lad on reception was struggling with service invoice due a computer fault so I'm waiting for a call tomorrow with details.
Fortunately, I've been using Tony Brooks Northampton since around 98/9 so when he rang Mr Brooks there was no problem letting my car go with bill unpaid.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Tue 18 Mar 14 at 21:13
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In around 2004 I was loaned a 98S Skoda Felicia with 120,000m showing. Surprisingly adept little thing, it was. And last year when I had my Saab serviced the loan car was an identical (to mine) 9-5 estate but on a 51 plate. Filthy inside and out but entirely useable.
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Same arrangement as XUD - behind the oil filter. There are 2 different parts listed, depending on age, for which Citroen want £150 or £188!! Easy job, no need to even drain the oil (or proabably the coolant) - remove filter, clamp hoses, undo centre bolt and remove cooler, separate the hoses. Refit, top up oil and coolant, run to bleed air out of coolant. Hours work tops.
What colour is the oil in the coolant? Normally if the cooler lets go it does so spectacularly, and (over!) fills the coolant with black oil. A slower leak, leading to brown sludgy oil in the header tank, is often the oil gallery at the end of the head leaking past the head gasket.....
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>> What colour is the oil in the coolant? Normally if the cooler lets go it
>> does so spectacularly, and (over!) fills the coolant with black oil. A slower leak, leading
>> to brown sludgy oil in the header tank, is often the oil gallery at the
>> end of the head leaking past the head gasket.....
There was a layer of back oil floating on top of coolant in header tank. Fortunately I spotted it before it got bad as the tank has lost its original translucent appearance and I need to remove the cap as part of weekly checks. Back in today for part to be fitted and faulty glo-plug(s) replaced.
Loan car today is a moss green Renault Megane on an S (98/9) plate. Petrol with 130k on the clock and evident rust in rear wheel arches. Pretty basic model with no central locking and wind down windows, though it does appear to have air-con. Nicer to drive than the Xsara, still petrol but at least it has some guts and only stalled when I gave it too few beans reversing into my drive. Gearbox is nice, precise if a little notchy, but caught me out by having reverse gear next to first rather than opposite 5th like in our last four or five cars.
Stalks have same function as on my car but wiper control goes down rather than up. Hope I don't need horn urgently either as it's on lighting stalk rather than wheel boss.
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Citroen Xsara - Loan Car - Lygonos
