C5 - schmokes

[wurlycorner]

there are some pretty knowledgeable guys on there too

A lot of the modern citroen owners are less enthusiasts, more your ordinary owner of disposable motors after advice to keep them running on the cheap etc. Xantia's seem to fall a bit between that category and genuine Citroen enthusiasts. XM's and older is all enthusiasts (must keep resisting buying an xm, must keep resisting...)

I actually only have profiles on there of the xantia and c5, not started any others yet - this forum is far more active.
There are a couple of guys on there just starting to do some interesting things with Xantia Activa's. Couple of V6 swaps and one guy thinking about swapping all the Activa running gear into a TD estate (which would be cool).

[wurlycorner]

Got the diagnostic software all installed last night (at last!) so this evening I tried it on the car for a bit of fun and with the intention of switching the cruise control on;

No idea what I was doing, but after much wandering around the system I found a way to test that it was picking up the signals from the stalk ok, which it is;


After more wandering, I eventually found somewhere to check whether the car had cruise set to active or not;





Bingo! Not active... Ok now to change that...






Exited out of Lexia and shut down, took the car out for a drive...

Nothing.



I've obviously missed something. Hopefully the FCF will come to my rescue

[bennyboy]

Wait, so the guys that bought cars 'without' cruise control, still had to lug around the mechanics of it, they just weren't given a switch to operate it?!


I take it it's not like the lude setup then and there's very little mechanics to it?

[wurlycorner]

Yep. Same as with all the extra display gubbins I've got on mine now.
Except there are no 'mechanics' to the cruise system - it's a modern car so everything is fly-by-wire anyway (i.e. with all the engine speed electronically controlled) hence it's all just down to software and an on/off/accelerate/decelerate switch

I think most modern cars with CANBUS systems are like this - most things are probably there, but not enabled and/or just need a switch adding.


So far the only 2 things I've come across that I want and that need some 'hardware' adding, is the electronic climate control (needs the heater module swapping in and then enabling I think) and the Hydractive 3+ suspension (needs an electro valve and extra sphere adding front/rear to get the full sports option set up).
Oh and rear electric windows need the motor bolting on (though the mechanism is the same and I think all the wiring is there)

[bennyboy]

I think most modern cars with CANBUS systems are like this - most things are probably there, but not enabled and/or just need a switch adding.

Probably. And I wonder how much main dealers charge, essentially, for that 'switch'.

[mercutio]

I think most modern cars with CANBUS systems are like this - most things are probably there, but not enabled and/or just need a switch adding.

Probably. And I wonder how much main dealers charge, essentially, for that 'switch'.

we had that discussion between uxbridge and Birmingham

[wurlycorner]

Unexciting (but annoying) update...
Sorted out the tow electrics bracket before towing last weekend.
The old one was badly bent;



And on the verge of completely fracturing and falling off ;


So I'd ordered a nice shiny stainless replacement from ebay;



Nice easy job, should only take half an hour, easily do-able in the evening before heading up to manc the next day...


Wrong!
6 bolts holding the electrics on - all except one of them sheared
And then, to make it worse, when I undid the bolts holding the tow ball on (the electrics plate is sandwiched between the tow ball and the tow hitch) the spring washers on the nuts SNAPPED utter bollocks
I cobbled it back together so I could get the trailer back to the house that night but it meant I had to sod about the next morning getting replacement bolts so the electrics were secured and trying to find some M16 8.8 fasteners - the latter of which you cannot get in Chelmsford on a Saturday morning I found out, after wasting several hours
Anyway, at least the electrics were now secure and looking sexy;


And the ball didn't fall off on the way up or back, so everyone's a winner (for now)


nb: I also found out that car transporter trailers and the local dump, do not mix and the M6 southbound petrol station at Hilton Park is particularly challenging

[4thgenphil]

Most interesting profile update ever

[wurlycorner]

Shiny stuff is sexy

Plus jealousy that some people are actually able to make updates to their profile threads, will only turn you sour


I have also made progress with working out why the cruise control isn't working.
Firstly because when I enabled it in the engine ECU, I'd forgotten to 'write' the new settings to the ECU (now sorted)

Testing the stalk inputs;



Secondly, because it turns out my car doesn't have the second brake pedal switch fitted that is used for cruise;

(The 'Redundant brake signal' doesn't change state when you operate the pedal)
so I need to pick that up from the breakers.

[wurlycorner]

Couple of quick updates from a few weeks ago.

Cruise control all sorted.
Behind the glovebox on the passenger side is where the brake switches reside (yes, I know that sounds odd, but it's true...).

The white one on the left is the normal brake switch. The red one on the right is the 'redundant brake' switch which runs the cruise control.

(Pics taken from the breaker that picked the switch up from)
On later models, it's a single switch with 4 contacts, rather than 2 separate switches.
All fitted (5 minute job) and cruise now all working

Next job was the external temp sensor;

(Take at least 20^C off that number to get the correct value! )

It lives in the bottom of the nearside wing mirror. I assumed it was guff because of this;

(water getting in)
So the breaker also yielded a replacement. Door card needs to come off in order to do it, so all in about 20 mins.
From that, to this;



Oh...



One step forward, one step back, then

I sodded about for a bit checking it was nothing obvious. You can swap the connector around. I found if it was flipped 180^C, I got a reading from the new sensor (albeit one that was hopelessly wrong )
Plugging the old one back in as a comparison showed that when the plug was put in upside down, it doubled the temperature reading, which was interesting/surprising.

I'll get round to looking at this again some day, when I swap the interior probably.