June 2002
I have a Citroen ZX Avantage 1.4, 1992(J); in many ways it is an excellent car - very well-balanced, nice to drive, and very light for its size.
The problem is the brakes; the calipers at the front are prone to locking under heavy braking, and one of them gives rise to extraordinary creaking sounds when the brake pedal is depressed and when the car is stationary. There is also judder when braking
How can one optimise the performance of these brakes (and fix the creaks!) Currently, the car is dangerous if you try to brake from high speed on a motorway (although it passes the MoT test OK - which isn't saying much).
Citroens used to have magnificant brakes - I've had a couple of BX in the past; but if I cannot fix this, it's the end of the road for this motor, I'm afraid
Richard Ford Read more
Now I mentioned this before regarding auction buyers but it got lost in the answers on GTC versus auctions. High mileage e.g 35,000 in a 3 year lease how wearing is this technically? it seems to be the best way to pick up a modern well equipped car at a low price. Does anyone have any experience of this kind of purchase/maintain one? do they feel "saggy" or in the extreme is it no more wearing to be sat on the monday in fifth than outside the house cold and wet!! (the car that is) Read more
He's a courier driver, delivers light parcels, computer spares, mechanical spare parts, documents etc all over the UK for a living. Nobody says they all have to slum it in a noisy basic van!
His car is(was?) plated as a cab though, he does a special school run for us on a Monday morning and Friday evening, Bedford to Bristol, and you need a plated car for that.
He used to cab it as well between parcels, until someone pointed a gun in his face one night... I don't blame him for sticking to the motorways now!
I squeeze some courier work in around the people, but parcels aren't as lucrative or as flexible, he covers 100,000m a year to my 84,000m, we make very similar amounts of profit at the end of the day.
I need a dog guard to keep myself in the back of an audi 80 avant - 1994 ? and apparently these are now obsolete.
If nobody tells me soon where I can find one i swear I'll trash the seats in the old man's car.
Ella the terrier Read more
Dear Ella
After I trashed the seats in my master's Audi, he went out and bought me a car of my very own! It's got lovely torn seats that I can rip the foam rubber out of, and it smells of mice. Heaven. Suggest you try the same tactic. Biting through the wires to the rear lights is fun as well.
Lots of love
Badger the Jack Russell
Written on a computer 'borrowed' from
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
HJ (or other techies),
I have just read the article on the Alfa 156 new JTS petrol engine and am confused!
The article states that Alfa are abandoning Twin Spark in favour of direct injection. But aren't injection and sparking different functions? One is method of delivery and the other a method of combustion.
Does this mean that the JTS petrol engines have no spark plugs at all like diesel engines?
Please someone explain how this engine works.
Apologies for my ignorance
from Jason Read more
I have a K reg Citroen AX 1.1 which has done just over 86K , and I have noticed something when I change gear. Basically i dump the clutch change in to whatever gear and then when i lift the clutch and go back on the gas it sounds and feels like there is a delay in the clutch ingageing again. This seems to happen when the car is fully laden, sometimes with a maximum of five people in the car(yes it is a squeeze in an AX!). I dont know if there is anything wrong or whether it is completely as it should be.
Any ideas guys?
Cheers.
Steve B Read more
Yes, definitely sounds like clutch slip, - symptoms of a dying clutch. With 5 people on board you'll feel the symptoms even more, as with that sort of extra mass the clutch is under much greater pressure.
Definitely worth getting a new clutch, if yours is a sound AX. If yours is sound and a facelift model then indeed it is likely to be worth nearer a grand. Cherish it!!
Rob E
I see my previous post has been deleted.
For those that are interested, still no luck in getting CD-R's to play. The magic marker trick didn't work, nor did spraying the label side of the CD with aerosol paint.
Strange thing is that I can get it to eventually play, but only from track 5 onwards - and that's if I'm parked up. Any movement and it skips like hell up until tracks 12 onwards.
Three things left to try.
1. A CD-R from someone else just to confirm that my re-writer isn't at fault. Somehow I don't think it is though. The CD's work fine in all other home and computer CD players.
2. More expense at trying different brands of CD-R's again. Two particular brands used to work, then they go and change the design. As you have to generally buy 5 to 10 at a time, I now have 50 or so blank CD-R's kicking around.
3. Go back to buying pre-recorded. NOT.
Read more
DD,
Moderation isn\'t always an exact science but we do our best, I\'m sorry we lost your first post in the process though. It was never intended to be \"petty\", more a case of taking a reasoned position and sticking with it.
I am no expert in the legality of making backup copies in alternative formats but, for example, in the past (before CD) I would tape a record I owned so it could be played in the car cassette machine. I saw no moral issue here because I had supported the artist by purchasing an original copy of their work on vinyl in the first place.
For the purposes of this thread I will assume you are able to download non-copyright material on MP3 and burn that to CD.
I do have my own views on the pricing of CDs and access to music but they are not quite appropriate for a \"moderator\" post.
David W [Moderator]
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mailto:david_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
Looks like the time has come to soon replace both front tyres, after about 14K miles. (Conti Ecocontact)
As far as I know the legal limit is 1.6mm over 75% of the tyre. But I suspect that replacing the tyre when it gets to 3mm over 75% would be more sensible (as recommended by Continental)
From the advice of this group, new tyres should be fitted to the rear (putting the existing rear tyres to the front, and fitting the new tyres to the rear)
Should the rear tyres be moved to the front, keeping the same side (i.e Left rear, to Left front) or should they be crossed over? (i.e Left rear, to Right Front)?
I assume that as the tyres is not being removed off the wheel, than the wheels would not need rebalancing when being moved rear to front.
Tyre wear is as follows:
FL 2 4 3 3 FR 4 3 4 2 (average 3.125mm)
RL 6 7 7 7 RR 7 7 7 6 (average 6.75mm)
Above tread depths as as on the car (i.e front left depths are 2mm on the outside, 3mm inside - Front Right 2mm on outside, 4mm inside)
Does the wear pattern look reasonable? Is it normal for the outside of the tyre to have slighly higher wear than the inside.
Assuming that the tyre started with 8mm, is it usual to show the ratio of wear re front vs rear tyres (approx 2800miles per mm on the front, and 11200miles mm on the rear - i.e fronts wear 4 times quicker than rears)
How often should tracking/suspension geo be checked? When changing tyres, or when there is a problem with wear? Would it be needed in my case?
TIA Read more
John,
Try....
www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continent...l
David W
I think there is some subtle argument that says that they cannot call them CDs, because they are not made to the standard (ISO?) format.
Not all current forms of music copy protection can be circumvented in this way.
And apparently some of the methods are so crippling to an Apple Mac that it might well need a trip to the dealer (in your CAR) to rectify it.
Suffice to say there is a lot of hoo hah in the industry about this now. See www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/25274.html and all it's links for some interesting reading on the subject Read more
P,
For a signature go into My Settings in the right side frame then Forum Options. Type what you want to see in the box provided.
David W [Moderator]
----------------------------
mailto:david_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
A comment in another thread reminded me of something I was not aware of until reading the following editorial in March 2002 Transport Engineer (magazine Society Operational Engineers)
Not going to quote it all but, to put it in context, there was a significant part of the magazine, including the Car & Van Technology supplement, dealing with electronics in vehicles.
The editorial was titled "Intelligent technology and common sense"
quote.........
"One small example helps to illustrate one area of concern.
The owner of a small independant vehicle workshop near our office asked if we knew anything about electronic control units on Vauxhall petrol engines. Seems they were automatically shutting down or limiting engine speed if any non-Vauxhall spark plugs were fitted. It all sounded highly improbable but we nevertheless made the phone call to Vauxhall. To our surprise (and indeed that of the helpful press officer who followed up what must have seemed like a bizarre enquiry)the answer came that back was affirmative. Fit a "non-genuine" spark plug in one of the latest Z-range Vauxhall petrol engines and the electronic control unit will not only recognise it but also categorise it, we are told, under a "misfire detection code." Then engine speed will be limited until you replace the plug and have the ECU reset at your friendly local Vauxhall dealer workshop.
A Vauxhall spokesman says, rather aoplogetically, that his compnany is by no means alone in this and that it is "all to do with compliance with the latest exhaust emissions standards"
end quote
OK then gentlemen, please discuss.
(Slightly more relevant to the Backroom than the flat earth farce on the other side of the fence!)
Read more
I doubt the "box" does recognize the make of plug;what the box does do is recognize misfires of various types and will light the MIL(malfunction indicator light) to tell you to take it to your dealer.To get plugs to be reliable for high milages with today's combustion temperatures means the plug points are coated with platinum-if you fitted a lesser plug-by quality not make as all plug manufacturers now make platinum-this could lead to early misfiring which will kill your cat.
I heard recently - from a friend who generally knows about such things - that it's possible now to have a windscreen chip (in the critical area) "filled and/or polished out". Anybody know anything about this service, what it entails and how much it costs?
Yes, I've got one and my first MOT is due in September :-(
Rich Read more
If the chip is fairly fresh then the chances of a good quality durable repair is high.
If the chip is old and water has got into it, the chances are slim.
I've seen some fairly scary-looking chips become almost invisible after repair.
MG-Rover Questions? Click on www.mg-rover.org
Browse
I've just found this old thread and also seen that the HJ CarByCar write-up on the ZX says:
"'J' reg ZXs could suffer front brake calliper problems cured by fitting later callipers (this will have been done to most of them)".
I had similar problems on my 1997 P reg ZX 1.4i so I thought it might be useful to share them here in case there's a more general caliper problem that doesn't just affect early models.
When I bought my ZX at 5.5y/33k, the brakes were poor. Long travel, a bit spongy, not very effective even when applied quite hard. There was also a creaking from the offside front caliper. A local general garage blamed the rear auto-adjusters and said the creaking was probably nothing to worry about, just due to the caliper being near the end of its travel due to pads only having 2-3000 miles left. Their work reduced the travel but the brakes remained a bit spongy and ineffective.
2 months/1500m later I went back to the same garage and requested a brake fluid change, new front pads and a thorough check and overhaul of the brakes. They said they checked and freed up the calipers. Brakes improved but still not all that good: not exactly spongy but not positive and not that effective. Creak reduced but gradually came back over time. Handbrake remained poor.
21 months/18000m later the front brake pad wear warning light came on and shortly afterwards I had a complete brake failure, luckily just after I'd left the M4. Pedal all the way to the floor with no braking whatsoever. Managed to get to safety on engine braking and the feeble handbrake. Seems to have been fluid fade: offside front wheel (only) was baking - yes, the side with the creaking caliper that was "nothing to worry about". Brakes worked again once everything had cooled down.
Needless to say I went to a different garage this time, a Citroen-accredited independent recommended by a friend. I asked them to check out the whole braking system. Offside front had got so hot that the insulation on the pad wear sensor wire melted and the disc went blue. They said the caliper was distorted but I'm not clear whether this was a cause or effect of the overheating. Also rear shoes were disintegrating and rear cylinders showing their age. I went with their recommendation of replacing calipers, discs, pads, shoes & cylinders both sides. expensive but, for the first time since owning the car, I have good brakes (foot & hand) that I can feel confident in.
Sorry for rambling, but I'm writing this in the hope that it might save someone else from a potentially lethal fault.
Dave