Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

After a recommendation from a mate, I've taken my car to DMP Autos for service & MOT for the last couple of years. Nothing major needed to be done, but they seem like good guys. They are just off Holloway Rd on George's Rd (just south of Holloway Rd tube station).

When you park the DS do you look back at and think yeah ;)

Not trying to teach you to suck eggs spent too many hours fucking about with BX and XMs. The orange cleaning stuff does find issues if there are any ;)

Would it be cheaper less hassle to get your carb refurbed? Recently have been rebuilding old carbs that have throttle spindles straight in to the carb body so wear and allow air in.

Instead of going to retromobil, fucked about most of the morning so ended up replacing the water pump and oil thermostat on the jag. Have done the pump before on a mondeo, thought it would be easy as it is the same engine.

Reminds me how much I forgot about how long it takes and how much of an arse it is to do. Got to use 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch drives. At least the SKF pump came with the proper rubber covered metal gasket between engine and water pump.

Looks like the pump was leaking for a while too as there was radweld type goop in the pump to PAS interface. Wondering if the knackered water pump has shorted the life of the power steering pump.

Ooh looks interesting! Is this in the Netherlands? Approximately how much does the conversion cost?

Hoping someone in here can teach me how to use my multimeter properly to find a parasitic draw on my battery.

I've been disconnecting the negative terminal from a freshly charged battery (as per a YouTube vid) and putting the multimeter between the cable and terminal, but am not getting any readings on 10A, 200mA or 20mA settings. (Moving the leads on the meter accordingly)

Hopimg I'm just missing something obvious. Pic of the meter is attached.

Other info:
Battery is a month old
Alternator seems to be working (14.8v across the battery when running)
Battery flattens when left sitting for a couple of weeks
Van has a split charge kit

Any advice appreciated. Taking the battery out to charge it in the house is super boring.

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Ta for the tip, will keep that in mind - I bled the thermostat again on the mini another couple of times & ran the system check on the dash computer to see if there was anything hiding on there and that seemed to sort it, bonus!

my wife's roomster still showing the dpf light but it's still driving totally fine & the heater is back - have dumped a bottle of dpf cleaner into the tank in the vain hope that does something otherwise it'll require professional help... on the plus side, it's nearly time to abandon the car & get the bike back out again (what?!)

Yeah, we’re in Delft. The DS is around €40.000. That’s including labour and VAT. Big chunk of that is the batteries; €240-€250 per kWh, so about €16.000 inc VAT.
A Beetle with 44kWh, building it yourself from a kit, would be €25.000-€30.000

Does that include the car?

(I would love an EV DS to be my next car).

Have you thought about returning the battery? If it's in warranty might be a good easy first step.

Nope, you source you’re own. And any restauration work needs to be done either before you drop it of or after you pick it up. And then you spend another couple of months chasing down all the squeeks and rattles you didn’t hear because of the noise of the ICE 😅.
Given your attention to detail cost will probably double…

= Buy the best I can find, then send it in?

I wonder how VAT and import/export would work

Yeah I have a 5yr guarantee on it so I may do this eventually, but defs need to find the source first

Ah cheers, do you put batteries where the petrol tank was? Mine would probably need reinforcing in that area due to battery weight .

First 14.8v is a bit high, I don't like to see more than 14.4v. No readings of a draw on a modern car is odd.

What car is it?

Seen the videos of the DS on the citroen stand at the practical classics show?

Any different on a right and left hooker.

Actually am now intrigued how the LHM gets pressurised, motor power connected to the pump or separate integrated pump.

Hmm ok that's good to know - hopefully I'm misremembering. It's a 06 Transporter, 1.9 tdi.

The zero reading thing might be my error - apparently it takes a few seconds for computers to go "back to sleep" after adding the multimeter to the circuit?

I definitely wasn't waiting very long. Have ordered some test leads with clamps so I can have another go though.

All this Citroën DS ev chat... Has me thinking. I know of several for sale. All in excellent restored condition or original just waiting for renewed mechanicals. Here is Aus a lot of them have been stored out in the country so rust isn't an issue. Wonder if it'd be worth buying here and importing?

For example, this would make a prime candidate, based on the description
https://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/index.php?threads/project-1969-citroen-ds21-pallas-bvh-with-leather-interior-for-sale.145715/

Ah, being an older diesel van there will be less things on, no key proximity sensor. But at a guess im thinking looking at alarm, radio or alternator at fault.

Stupid question, checked that no interior lights being left on.

To the UK? Are there hydraulic specialists out there? That is where the money will be going. Renewing all the rubber and then the metal pipe work.

Sale wise, are the imports worth less.

Kinda depends what you mean by worth it. I reckon shipping a 1.5 ton car all the way round the globe for an electric conversion for some cunt to live out a dream they never had is pointless.

Hopefully someone there can enjoy it for what it is. A beautiful car. That is running out of time.

True. My particular kink are Peugeot 505's. Most of those went to Egypt about 20 years ago... Not sure about people living out dreams though. Africa and Egypt love them as taxis.

There is a great community down here. French cars were considered among the best from the 40's to about the 70's. Rugged, reliable and comfortable. Way better than the local product! They actually built several models here too.

@lynx there are plenty of specialists still around. And loads of knowledge. Unfortunately all getting on and that knowledge is slowly fading. But there are plenty of old Citroens being used daily and the community keeps the collective fleet running. Regular spots are CX, GS, DS and BX.

Probably better to import the EV drive line to here and build locally.