Time For Another Citroën 2CV Update, This One Stymied A Bit By Fluids

It seems that these Monday morning updates on the slow process of bringing this Citroën 2CV back into the realm of the living have become a little bit of a regular thing now, so why stop? This weekend’s progress wasn’t quite as dramatic as the past couple of updates, mostly thanks to one of trickier parts about weird French car ownership, which I’ll get into. Even so, a few things did get done, as well as a much needed quick wash, which went less great than hoped, as you can see from the top image there, where the water in that hose decided to exit via a new side door I wasn’t expecting. I guess I need a new hose.

The big goal for this weekend’s 2CV work was to change the gearbox oil, which very likely hasn’t been touched for well over a decade. The required oil is an API GL-4 grade oil, which has a lot less sulphur and phosphorous than API GL-5 grade gear oil, which means it’s a lot safer for “yellow metals” like brass or bronze or copper, or maybe even gold, though I’m skeptical my 2CV’s transmission has all that much gold in it. I mean, I haven’t checked, but that’s my hunch.

The problem here is that I couldn’t find Gl-4 gear oil anywhere! Everything was GL-5, except one lone bottle of GL-3, which could have maybe worked, but I just wasn’t certain. I checked multiple auto supply stores, Tractor Supply Co., and even the salad dressing aisle at the supermarket. No luck. I guess I’ll have to order some. I went through this with brake fluid, too, as the 2CV uses that LHM mineral oil brake fluid, which was also tricky to get. The car is simple, but getting the right juices for it is a bit more complex.

That said, I got some other smaller stuff done that I’d been putting off. The front passenger seat, for example. Now that I’m running from fuel from the actual, integrated fuel tank instead of a gas can in the passenger’s footwell, I was able to replace the passenger’s seat. As you may recall, I replaced the worn rubber springing on these seats with ratchet straps, and I think they work pretty damn well. The seats are quite comfortable! They’re also the lightest car seats I’ve ever had the pleasure of lifting into and out of a car, which is nice.

I also finally put back together the little springs and threaded doohickey assembly that controls the headlight pitch aiming setup. The 2CV has a novel little feature where, via a knob under the dashboard, you can adjust the pitch angle of the headlamps, so if you’re loaded up with a lot of cargo at the rear, your lights won’t just be illuminating birds and bats and tree limbs as you drive, since you can lower their angle. And then raise them back when you’re done. It’s very clever.

My car was missing these springs and other bits of hardware, so my lights were always cast downward, like a shy child’s eyes on the first day of school. But, once again thanks to Citroën guru Til, I was given the springs and threaded cylinder thing, so now my 2CV’s headlights are able to look you in the eye, like a confident, bold automobile.

I also adjusted my carb a bit to get the idle to be a little less frantic, and I think it worked, but I still have some carb and tuning dialing-in to do. The choke cable also had a little kink that made it hard to slide in and out, and I think I got that fixed. Til suggested checking the valve clearances, too, so I need to do that. It’s starting and idling pretty well now, and I think as I drive it a bit more I’ll get it more dialed in.

I also tightened some various nuts and bolts and replaced some missing ones so the front bumper assembly and headlight/coil frame are a bit sturdier than before, which just makes everything feel a bit less ramshackle.

I’m still having voltage regulator issues; I tried adjusting the little adjustment screw on the one I had, but it didn’t seem to help much; the regulator seems to either keep it too low, at like 12.4-12.6V, or too high at 14.5-17V, and it’s sort of a crapshoot which setting you’ll get whenever you start the car. Also, the beat-up and damaged cover to the regulator seems to have escaped, so it’s temporarily in that Candylab toy car box, which is hardly ideal. I think I need to just replace it.

I wouldn’t mind replacing it with a solid state voltage regulator from something available more easily – after all, this should be a relatively universal thing. Electricity is just electricity, so why can’t I use some other generic voltage regulator that takes alternator current and makes sure it’s about 14 volts?

I looked at some options, and while the connectors don’t match, I suspect I could adapt something. I’ll look into it, though it may just make sense to order an official replacement one?

Oh, I also put on new wiper blades. This picture was taken accidentally, but since it shows a nice new wiper blade, I figured I may as well include it.

My goal is to have the car able to do a three-hour trip down to Carolina Motorsports Park when I go to judge the Lemons race there at the end of April. Before I go I know I’ll need to get the voltage regulator fixed, and I need to fix my CV boots, which are torn and dripping greasy goop. I should probably get new tires, too, and it’d be nice to have the whole car running a bit smoother. Oh! And the gearbox oil! I still have to find that stuff and change that!

Oh and I forgot: I should put the fenders back on, so I have front turn signals again, among other things. And those triangular side-filler panels. May as well really live it up!

So, a decent bit to do, but it seems do-able. I’m very excited, and so far love every little drive I’ve done in this strange and wonderful little machine!