In the end I purchased a whole new rear light assembly from the USA.   From the USA it ended up being about $200.    They are pretty easy to swap over and I had the job done in a few minutes.   The side trim pops off and there are four 8mm nuts to remove.

The old light assembly was clearly original to the car judging by the date sticker. Once I had it off I had a closer look at it to see if the old bulbs could have been changed. It doesn’t seem like the bulbs an be changed, but there is a sub assembly that they are attached to. On the EPC its listed as a ‘Lamp carrier’ so I assumed it was some kind of mounting bracket. In retrospect I could have just replaced this at 1/4 of the price and had a working light.

If I had taken more time when replacing the cracked tail light on the other side a year or so back, I would have saved that bulb carrier and had a repair for free this time. I have of course kept the old light assembly in case the current one is damaged. In that case I could use the old assembly with the new bulb carrier.

The photo below shows the carrier removed from the light assembly. It looks like the S211 tail light bulbs should be replaceable, but from all I can see they are not.

While I was at it, I also replaced the parking light at the front.   This was a simple bulb, same type as used in many of the older cars so I had one in my bulb drawer.

The post S211 Tail light bulbs appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Changing the S211 tail light is a doddle.   The compartment for the first aid kit is opened up and the four nuts that hold it in are exposed.   All that is required is a socket set with an extension.   Due to the cracks, it smelt like water had been getting into through the assembly.   Certainly, the tail light itself was full of water.    As there are a lot of electrics in this area, it is good to get it changed out.

Unlike the cars I am more used to, the S211 tail light is an entire assembly that is changed.   There is not a separate lens, bulbs, gasket etc like the older cars.    There is no outer gasket either.  The S211 tail light I removed from the car was dated 2010, so the car was obviously in a minor accident at some point.   I couldn’t see evidence of any major crash damage though.

The overall time to change the unit out was about 10 minutes,  an easy job for anyone to do at home.    It is important to check the right part number.  The later cars like mine have an updated look so require a different tail light than the earlier ones.   The electronic parts catalogue helps with this.

The post S211 Tail light replacement appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Firstly there were some bad connectors that needed replacing.   Next, some of the wiring inside the wings were wrong.   Thirdly there were a couple of bad grounds.    I had been mostly looking at the connections where they join the front wing.     We were aided by a great diagnostic tool that I plan to purchase.   It let you test for voltage, ground, send 12v to test a component and much more.   It’s called VGate PowerTest.

The lights on the DS are great for a car of its age, especially the high beams aided by the inner driving lights.

Since the connections to the wings are not great, in the future I plan to replace the individual bullet connectors with a single harness connection for the 8 wires on the passengers side and 6 on the drivers side.  This will make removing the wings easier.  Not sure why Citroen didn’t do this as standard on the DS wiring.

Next we fixed a couple of bad connections for the rear indicators.   I need to solder one of the connectors back, and if that does not work, purchase a new one.       The final wiring related fix that was needed was the door contact switch on the passengers side.   The connectors on the reproduction switches are not the greatest, so the 12v wire had fallen off.   I had tried for ages to get it with magnets and hooks, but apparently the trick is to use a long piece of coat-hanger with a hook bent at the end.   We retrieved the wire and put new connectors on it.     The wiring on the car was now back to working again.     In the future, I plan to put the driving lights on a relay like the headlights, install a battery disconnect switch and use harness connectors at the top of the front wings.

As we did all this work, we identified a number of other things that needed attention:

• The door mirrors were reversed.   I didn’t know the passengers side is a few cm longer, and I had it on the drivers side.
• Chrome trim on the side of the roof is rather beat up and can be replaced without removing the roof.
• The bonnet release cables are incorrectly mounted.
• Windscreen washer cables not correctly routed and one jet is blocked.
• LHM leak from the front is caused by leaks from front suspension boots, in particular the passengers side.
• Window rubbers/felts on the outside/inside are wrong and don’t fit well.
• Passengers side front window needs adjustment.
• There are some missing pieces near the top of the bonnet that help hold on the insulation mats that I am yet to fit.

I also replaced the lens for the reproduction tail light with the original one.  In my case it was the housing that was dead and the lens was very poor quality.

It is hard to see from the photo, but the quality difference is immediately apparent when handing them.

The post Citroen DS front end wiring – part 4 appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

On the whole, it looks like an exact copy, but I am a bit disappointed in it.    For starters, the bullet connectors were of a different size and type than the ones used in the DS, so I had to replace them.   The quality of the plastic didn’t seem that great either.

We will see how it goes.   The lens is not nearly as faded as the original unit, so I may swap my original lens with the one that came with this reproduction assembly.   The good news is that it mounted properly and works (once I replaced the bullet connectors).   The repro units do not come with bulbs, but all my bulbs were working from before the crash.

I tried to mount the bumper next, but after putting a small scratch on one of my rear wings.  They will need to be removed to prevent further damage.

I had also ordered a reproduction light assembly for the rear drivers side indicator.    At the same time I also ordered the proper rubber part to isolate the ‘trumpet’ from the rest of the car.   The previous owner had just cut a piece of round rubber and glued it.   The right rubber piece is more of a V shape.   The lens is also held in through a metal strip with a specific bend.   Mine were rather out of shape, so I added a couple of them into my order and this made it much easier to mount the lights.

The first photo shows the improvised rubber part and the second shows the correct one.  I needed to use a razor blade to remove all the old glue from the trumpet.

The main challenge I have now is the electrics.   At first the indicators were working great.    There is something screwy still going on with the wiring in the car.    When the headlights are turned on, the left hand indicator in the dashboard lights up.  In addition, that side does not work from the stalk.   The front works on the right side, but only the front.   More troubleshooting here is needed.

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