well, that DS23 that Dave had for sale ... Yep, we're the poor suckers that bought it. After having a quick look at it we found it VERY solid underneath.
However, the body is very scabby. Most panels have a bit of rust in them and a few marks. A quick drive up the street showed the car goes really well, however it doesn't 'feel' right.
The car was sitting way too high, simple matter of putting the height lever down. This car really flies, gees the injection really does the trick power wise. Even being really brutal and leaving it in 5th down to 1500rpm had it pulling strongly away.
So Dad bought it, only one front brake works though 'cos one of the front disk rotors was so worn that the brake rotor had separated from it's mounting (you can't even tell when you drive it).
David was pretty sure it'd make it home under its own power (so was I). So a permit was arranged and we left.
Yep, like David said, it'd make it back ...
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Hmm, I was flying up the Pentlands sitting on 110km/h (effortlessly) when the temperature light came on. As I pulled of the road it flickered and went out. Hmm, borderline cooling...
I slowed to 80km/h, however a couple of km's further the car dropped a cylinder ...hmmm... sh!+, just as I started to get really concerned, the cylinder picked up a couple of times. Phew!!! It's electrical.
The temp light came on, so off the side of the road again, just as everything disappeared in a wall of steam.... crapppppp.
We popped the bonnet to find water pouring out the overflow on the header tank, which happens to be right above the spark plugs. This instantly filled the spark tube on No 1 with coolant.
After letting it cool, I progressed in the emergency lane at 40km/h on 3cylinders while Dad went to get water (we had no tools, no oil, no coolant etc. as we had no intention of actually buying a car today ...).
I got to the truck parking area at the top of the pentland mountains as I smelt coolant, and she dropped back to 2cylinders.
I pulled over and sopped up as much coolant from the plug holes as I could with my hanky. Guess what I found when filling it ...
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Just as I finished this Dad arrived with more water. We put 4litres in and I coninued at 40km/h with the bloody thing on 3clinders until we hit the petrol station a Ballan. Here we purchased a new radiator cap, and topped the system back up. Buying a (hideously expensive) anti moisture spray and spraying the front plug didn't cure the 3cylinder problem...
Man this is a strong/powerful motor, I continued at 90km/h in 5th gear with the motor running on 3cylinders. All was fine with the new radiator cap until I was almost back to my place, turning into my street there is a sharp 'S' bend. Too late I see the road is incredibly shiny... To my shock the car didn't understeer in the slightest, the front corner keeled over and dug in hard with great grip throwing the tail hugely out of line
![[Eek!]](eek.gif){kind=small}
The car handled it brilliantly (like I'd expect any Citroen to), I gently touched the accelerator, and pounded on about 1/2 turn of opposite lock catching it and getting it straight just before the 2nd part of the 'S' bend (Phew!!). Bloody great, Dad's right on my arse & just saw me get his new car waaaaayyyyy out of shape (he reckons I did it deliberately... I REALLY didn't ).
At my place we pulled number one plug out, the plug tube was still half full of coolant. Cranking the motor over a few times blasted all the coolant out. Excellent, the car's much nicer running on 4cylinders.
It's now safely parked in my fathers shed.
seeya,
Shane L.