G'day

Arfur Dent wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 4:41 pm
Can lexia tell you the pressure of the gas?

You will find the ECU drops the A/C quite readily, e.g an engine fan fault will inhibit the A/C

If it can, I cant find it. On the BSI and engine ECU status pages all I get is "Air conditioning operation:- inhibited" but no reason why. I have looked in the "standard" parameters page but there is nothing there. I have not tried to "personalize" a status page, it might be one of the parametric options. I'll have another look.
I have used the engine ECU actuator test feature to run the fan so that's OK but if you have any other ideas, I'm all ears.
The engine ECU logs some "temporary faults" (no permanent faults) now and again but I don't think they would effect the A/C? Faults like O2 sensor and MAP sensor.
I have a set of A/C manifold gauges but they are not at my house ATM. I can get them in a few days.
I am sure when I got the car off the tow truck, I tested the A/C and it worked. So I'm sure none of the ancillary components are faulty. But it has been sitting idle for more than a year and it's quite possible the gas has leaked out in the mean time, for some reason. As the system has not been running, no oil has been circulating and consequently no oil has come out with the gas (theoretically). I cant find any cracks or holes in the lines but it could be one of the orings.
Until I crack the schrader valves I wont know for sure if there is ang gas in the system. It would be nice if I could find some thing in LEXIA as to why it wont run but that would be helpful...and we cant have that now can we.

If you have seen my post in the tips and hints area I have had success (well for now) with the A/C system. Turns out the gas had leaked out and I suspect it was the schrader valves them selves. I only have a partial charge in the A/C system as I'm not sure if they were the only failure. We'll see.
Next; I attacked the interior. I removed as much of the interior panels ETC as I can.
The front seats were a pain to remove because they have two special electrical connectors for the side airbag and the seat belt pre-tensioner. They are fastened with those silly Christmas tree fasteners meaning the seats are connected to the floor by an electrical loom.

All the interior bits in my spare room.
Hmm I dont know what they are complaining about, plenty of room in the C3.
I have said it before but the fact that the interior is "plasticky" is good and bad. I took most of the bits off and just hosed them. The carpet was not so easy to clean but it never is. The carpet is worn but not too badly.
I have to give a shout out to a product I was recommended called "simple green". When you spray it on you can see the grime desolve from the surface and turn the simple green...brown. You then wipe it off! If you have noticed, the plastic has a texture of "dots" and "lines". Very fine lines! Grime gets trapped in these lines and is difficult to get out. The simple green worked very well.

OH! P.S.
I changed to center display over from the smaller alpha-numeric display to the larger dot matrix display. It worked out of the box, however the pictograms for the engine management read out (MPG, distance ETC) don't show. Those readings are still on the dash. I think I have to turn OFF that facility on the dash ECU parameters with the LEXIA. Any ideas? I am not sure I am going to change it because I can display more info this way.

Ozvtr wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 10:37 pm OH! P.S.
I changed to center display over from the smaller alpha-numeric display to the larger dot matrix display. It worked out of the box, however the pictograms for the engine management read out (MPG, distance ETC) don't show. Those readings are still on the dash. I think I have to turn OFF that facility on the dash ECU parameters with the LEXIA. Any ideas? I am not sure I am going to change it because I can display more info this way.

Citroen C3 Upgrading the dashboard display may be of help to you.

If you just add the display (as in the tutorial) you wont get the trip computer pictograms because the trip info will still be sent to the dash and displayed only as numbers. The pictograms appear where the date is in the dot matrix display.
If you go into the central display and dash ECU stats (with the LEXIA), both say they will accept trip computer data (distance to refuel, distance travelled ETC). However it seems the dash has priority and the info is displayed there. I haven't had a chance yet but I'll turn off that option on the dash ECU with the LEXIA and see what happens.
For those not familiar with what I'm talking about, for example, the distance travelled pictogram is a car and an arrow and a (stop?) sign. With the arrow pointing away from the stop sign and toward the car, then the amount for the distance.

Woo Hoo! "Itchy" is registered and on the road.
Because the paintwork on the other C3 was very "scratchy"...well that became his name. So by default this one became Itchy!
Had to stand in line for literally hours to get him registered because of this COVID B/S. Oh well it's done now.
Ok, So the ride seems a bit tighter and the down shift into second can sometimes get a bit clunky. The auto box is fine, no need for replacement of the modulator valves...yet.The rusty brakes need to be bedded in and there is a high pitched squeek from the engine at idle and at 2500RPM but it's not loud. Even in winter the little bubble you sit in gets hot, so I will have to finish re-gassing the air-con. The tail gate wont release unless you push on it but it only started doing that today.

Alrighty, now he starts earning his keep.

Oh! I didn't fix the pictogram thing with the center display but I wont bother. It means between the center display and the instrument cluster I can display more information at the same time.

Believe it or not, I'm going to start looking for another one to fix up. Am I a fool or what?? LOL!

Hmmm, gremlins have caused problems already.
Check engine light came on a few days after getting him on the road. Stopped at restaurant for dinner and when I started the car the light came on. Car runs fine. Put it on the LEXIA: Upstream O2 sensor fault. Upstream O2 sensor heater fault. Catalyst degraded fault. Well I'm not worried about the catalytic converter, that's just the computer whinging about the signal from the two O2 sensors being wrong. Cant measure the current in the heater so lets see what the O2 sensor output is. The chances of the O2 sensor AND the heater circuit going at the same time are astronomical, so I'm already a bit suspicious.
At idle, the output voltage oscillates at about 0.5V. Well that looks OK. Take him for a run. Output swings between 0.2 and 0.8 volts. That's OK too! WTF? So I disconnect the green O2 sensor connector (upstream sensor) have a look, looks Ok and put it back. Reset Engine light. Start car...light remains out. Oh, bad connection? Ok, looks like the Check Engine Light (in this case) latches on until you reset the light? So even if the O2 sensor starts working again, the light remains on until you reset it?
Fast forward a couple of days. Guess what? Yep the light comes on again. This time I replace the O2 sensor with one I prepared earlier and reset the light. Light stays out. I will leave the new sensor in for a while and see what happens.
I think the old sensor is OK but I cant see anything wrong with the connector so I'm not sure what's going on.
Stay tuned.

24 hours later and the light comes on. Not really surprised.
So it's not the O2 sensor but I get readings from the sensor. On the surface that indicates the wiring is OK.
More investigating is required.

Ozvtr wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 10:19 pm 24 hours later and the light comes on. Not really surprised.
So it's not the O2 sensor but I get readings from the sensor. On the surface that indicates the wiring is OK.
More investigating is required.

Nope, wrong.
The original O2 unit has an intermittent sensor and the second "spare" unit has a faulty sensor. Put it on the LEXIA and...zipo...no out put from spare unit!!
Sooo...the original unit has an intermittent sensor and an open circuit heater. The second unit has open circuit sensor but the heater works!!
Fortunately the downstream sensor (post CAT) seems to be working fine.
Out put of downstream O2 sensor shows catalytic converter stuffed. @#%&$!!!!

Update:
There is an oil leak from somewhere near the aircon compressor/alternator bracket. Not major but annoying. I can not pin point the source, so the alternator, compressor and bracket might need to come off. There is oil in some very odd places and I don't know how it's getting there.
I also want to investigate the catalytic converter issue. The converter is not OEM and has been replaced at some point!?
I have tried the 'lacquer thinners in the fuel' trick but that didn't work. So while I'm looking at the oil leak I'll remove the exhaust down pipe and have a look at the converter.
I have a new upstream O2 sensor to install but I'm not going to do that until I've investigated the converter.

Well things are quiet on the forum so a bit of an update.
No joy with spotting the oil leak so I have de-greased the engine and will run the car for a couple of days and have another look.
Mean while I have another member of my C3 family. I won him in an online salvage auction. All up it cost me about 430 pounds ($776AUD). Had to win the auction and get the car transported. A bit more than I had budgeted for.
Yep your right...I'm crazy!!
No, not fixing him up this time, parts donor. Damaged across the front (not bad, mostly the plastic stuff) and down the passenger side (pretty well what you see in the photo).
Except for the sun roof, everything seems to work. Still drives.
103 thousand Km on the clock.
First thing off will probably be the catalytic converter (see my posts elsewhere).
Don't know if I will strip him down or just take the parts off as I need them.