[Paul Burridge]

How are you getting on Tristan? Still searching?

I’ve heard back from Geoff Rothon. Unfortunately he doesn’t work on other peoples cars any more, but can offer advice guidance if you had a DS with problems. I’m still waiting to hear back from Guido Guidice.

[Paul Burridge]

I would never wrk on the hydraulics without removing pressure. mind you, my bleed screw is a bit easier to get to.

I’m really surprised your regulator is on the RHS. But I only know what i know…..From the photos i’ve seen of RHS mounts, the bleed screw ends up facing inwards – towards the gearbox – making it very difficult to access. Some people move the regulator to the RHS side so that it’s easier to replace the sphere. but how often are you going to need to do that? You are far more likely to need to access the pressure release bolt.

here are some better photos of the regulator on the LHS. the bleed screw faces towards the LHM reservoir, so i image one would have a fighting chance of getting to it with the radiator chute in place. As this seems to attach to the gearbox, I assumed this was the factory position. Looks as though the car here has the Borg-warner auto gearbox. maybe that is why it’s on the LHS in this case??

[Paul Burridge]

So you obviously managed to find the bulbs in the end David.

[Paul Burridge]

I think the location of the regulator was moved on 23s to allow room for the oil cooler – does your car have one of those? And isn’t your air filter down on the RHS? I’m just trying to picture where your regulator is.

I recently saw a photo of an efi car with the regulator fitted to the end of the gearbox on the LHS (battery side). It’s the photo here. The regulator is just visible under the ‘light sabre’.

I’ve seen people move a regulator to the chassis ‘Tusk’ on the RHS – but i wasn’t aware that Citroen themselves moved the regulators over to the RHS.

Cranking handle. It passes through two holes in the radiator chute. So that the chute is efficient as possible (no leaks), each hole has a cross-cut rubber front over it, to close it off. When used, the handle pushes through the cross-cut in the rubber. On cars that can’t be cranked, the rod and handle are still used when changing wheels.

Rear gaiters. yes, those pins can be a nightmare. The end is supposed to be bent over to stop it falling out – but they often snapped when straightened and rust in place. I changed my gaiters recently. Luclily mine came out cleanly. My tip is to make sure you grease the pins when you replace them (with new ones).

[Paul Burridge]

Carpets not my kind of thing, but i can’t deny that looks tidy.It’s probably helping to reduce noise too.

[Paul Burridge]

Hi David
usually the bulbs are pretty obvious.

What year is the car – what kind of dash are we talking about here? I’m assuming it’s the 70s dash with a plastic unit with three big dials in it? If so, the bulls are held by black twist-caps and are tucked away on the back of the dials. The warning light bulbs should be very obvious as they are many and are around the perimeter of the warning dial. Is it the light for the speedo and rev counter that are the ones not working?? Once you recognise the bulb holders for the warning light cluster, any similar bulb holders elsewhere are likely to be the ones for dial illumination.

BUT FIRST…..
Have you checked your fuses? On a LHD car with 4 fuses, check the 10A yellow tagged fuse as that controls the rheostat that can be used to dim the dashboard lights. If your number plate light and boot light still work – then that fuse is probably still okay.

That rheostat that dims dash lights – they fail. You can unscrew and remove the flat top from over the steering wheel to find the rheostat knob fixed into the bottom half – under the steering wheel. You can remove its two wires and join them together to bypass the rheostat. Doing that might bring your lights back to life.

Also check the fuse with red tags that controls the warning lights. If you still have a working red stop lights, a glove box light, clock and the heater blower – then that fuse might still be okay. if not and it needs changing – it’s 16A.

If you have warning lights but no lights for speedo, revs and clocks, it may be something to do with the switching in the stalk that controls the main headlights?? but try the other things first.

If your car is 1963 to 1970 and has the earlier style of dash, it will have a metal jaeger speedo unit. You will find that, if you tug hard, the ‘shelf’ on the front that holds the warning lights pulls off from the front. No need to even remove the speedo from the car. With the shelf off, you will find small bayonet bulbs behind.

[Paul Burridge]

Looks neat. That method of binding is as per Citroen carpets: the sewed binding is folded over itself.

Paul

[Paul Burridge]

Nice. And cheaper than a pre-cut set from one of the Citroen parts dealers i think.

Black is a good choice – kind of like the original in colour if not texture, but still gives you the carpet you wanted for your car.

I made my own lining back in about 1996(!). I used what was left of the lining to make templates as you did. i used ‘hardura’ which was a very close match to the original lining stuff. It’s still in the car and (apart from a small hole from welding and a small tear), looks fine.

[Paul Burridge]

Yes, they were covered. only the very back vertical panel was left uncovered.

[Paul Burridge]

A boot lining is luxury. Some bottom-of-the-range Ds had plain painted steel. I relined my Pallas with ‘hardura’ – which is the black, leathery, felt-backed stuff it originally had. I used what was left of the old stuff as a template and made my own.

Both hardura and carpet will hold moisture if you have an unseen water leak somewhere, so i don’t think one has the advantage over the other in that respect. In fact moisture might escape from carpet more easily. man-made fibres might be easier to clean/ more hard-wearing. At the end of the day, have shag pile if you want to, but i’d have thought something with a short dense weave would probably be most practical, though it depends what you intend to keep in the boot. I recently saw a photo on facebook of a car where the owner has lined the boot with some kind of red fabric. He managed to make it look like a coffin!

I’ve seen thin, grey industrial carpet used to line a boot, and it looked like the boot had been lined with thin, grey industrial carpet.

[Paul Burridge]

having confused myself(!) I had to Google it…..

“What are the three types of fiberboard?

Types of fiberboard (in order of increasing density) include:

particle board or low-density fiberboard (LDF),
medium-density fiberboard (MDF), and
hardboard or high-density fiberboard (HDF).

So ‘hardboard’ is a particular kind of fibreboard.

[Paul Burridge]

I think I said ‘fibreboard’ – I meant hardboard. That brown stuff that is shiny on one side and patterned on the other. Soaks up water more efficiently than a sponge.

[Paul Burridge]

There’s Geoff Rothon down Cardiff way. And in the same area possibly Guido Guidice. Geoff definitely works on other peoples cars, but I don’t know what sort of set-up he’s got.

I have another facebook DS friend over in Wales. I can maybe ask him.

[Paul Burridge]

If you’ve being whiting your Ds appetite by watching any of the ‘Servicing the goddess’ videos on Youtube, then Adie is the mechanic in them.

The website for his Peacock Engineering had disappeared last time I looked but Adie’s mobile number from that site was 07899 822529

[Paul Burridge]

Is that the light blue metallic one that lived in Provence and Holland?

I think that if it had been in the back of the Citroenian at 20K, and sold at auction for 17K, nobody would have batted an eyelid. It’s selling for 17K having been advertised at 60K that is raising eyebrows. Are we all guilty of assuming – since it was advertised at 60K- that it must somehow be worth 60k and that, selling for 17K the market must have collapsed? It’s quite the opposite isn’t it? It probably only ever was worth about £20K and the 60K was completely unrealistic. Asking 30K would probably have been at the cheeky end of the optimistic scale.

the seller might have spent 40K on the car – but they were never going to see that back. I caught the end of a Ford Capri restoration on ‘Bangers and Cash’ this week – or a show like that. Something like 15k to buy, 4K on parts and 16k on LABOUR. At the end, all agreed it was a very good example, clean interior, lovely under the bonnet (unlike the Bonhams DS) and original paintwork and original transfers – not resprayed. It sold at auction for about 17K. The investment in time and effort killed the price. It was never going to sell for over 30k simply because that is what it had cost.

[Author]

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