Topics

1

Citroen Car Parts Forum / Citroen XM

« on: September 10, 2012, 11:10:26 AM »

I'm back. Bit of a detour after getting rid of the Xantia and buying a 1999 Ford Fiesta (sorry - am I forgiven?) after the replacement low mileage Ebay engine turned out to be lousy. Despite replacing belts, seals etc I forgot to replace the woodruff key that locates the crank pulley and crankshaft timing pulley to the crank shaft. So one morning after finishing work the key failed allowing the lower toothed pulley to spin on the crank thus wrecking engine. Never experienced woodruff key failure on any other make of car before.
But I'm now back with a Citroen XM 2.1 SX auto hatchback so no doubt I'm going to be kept busy keeping this alive. So far the auto box at 162,000 miles has been sweet. But one thing's for sure - I'm not going to buy engines from Ebay again unless I can see them running. Too many tarted up galactic mileage lumps out there posing as low mileage. 

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Citroen Car Parts Forum / Crankshaft woodruff key failure - Xantia engine fail

« on: January 20, 2011, 08:28:23 AM »

Damn woodruff key on the crank disintegrated while starting up car at work on wednesday morning after a long shift. Result - a noise like a handful of bolts in a food blender, a snapped camshaft and one trashed cylinder head. The crank pulley was in good condition but damn annoying that this known problem has now written off the car. From an engineering standpoint I've never liked the woodruff key set up on the XU diesels as it maybe strong enough on the lower powered normally aspirated diesels but it's no where near strong enough for the 92 BHP TD's. Much prefer the machined flats as used in other engines lower cambelt toothed drives.
The timing belt stayed intact though but is irrelevent since the damage has been done. Not going to repair as it's a pig with the engine in situ but an engine out job to do it properly and as it's a 14 year old car and a bit dull, it's going to be weighed in as scrap after I remove any useful bits. Having said that after looking on Ebay at Xantia parts there seems to be many sellers with various bits but not many buyers. I've been watching one seller with an engine block with no watchers or bids for the last few months. I guess older Xantias have mostly ended up in the scrappage scheme. The old XU diesels were good in their time but there are now better, cleaner and more economical engines out there. Living in the real world these engines were good for 45 to 47 mpg or 50mpg if driven very carefully. Trouble is the Xantia is a heavy car with big parasitical load on the engine such as the constantly turning hydraulic pump.
But I shouldn't really grumble as the car was bought as a trade in 'sold as seen' back in 2007 with 107,000 miles and history. It's now done 176,500 miles. Also since the front struts were starting to weep LHM at the top seals, and when the car was recovered I noticed the rear wheels were showing signs of radius arm bearing wear, the rear height compensator was damp with LHM I reckon it would have been more expense before next MOT in June. Shame Xantia front struts can't be rebuilt as they're £190 plus vat each side. Oh well, no sentimentality with the Xantia. It's just a car. Plenty more out there but if I go for another Citroen it will be an HDi estate...or an XM 

3

Citroen Car Parts Forum / Xantia ball joints

« on: November 08, 2010, 10:36:50 AM »

Hi everyone,
The Xantia has been performing well since I replaced the engine back in July this year. Carried out an oil and filter change yesterday and while the car was in the air I carried out a quick check of wheels, tyres, bearings, joints etc. Unfortunately I found the passenger front lower ball-joint had worn enough to allow 3mm of movement. This is annoying and beggars belief as I only replaced the ball joints 7,572  miles previously with branded parts from an alternative major car parts supplier with a 'European feel' 
The car's only done 172,572 miles which is 7,572 miles and 5 months since rebuild. The car spends most of the time on motorways, speed bumps are not tackled quickly and it's not been kerbed so all I can put it down to is duff parts or (as I suspect) the ball joint left the factory without grease. This isn't the first time I've encountered major components that have been signed off and shipped out missing parts or without grease or incorrectly hardened as often found on cheap wheel bearing sets. Hopefully since the part hasn't been on long it will come out fairly easily with a windy gun. I don't like using long extension bars on this component since even if you leave the trackrod end connected, putting the 200 to 300 pounds force on to the hub via the ball joint will ruin the hub bearing/outer CV joint. Far better to either remove entire hub and clamp it in a big vice OR use an air impact wrench which tends to shock it loose without actually forcing the hub into an extreme angle.
So now got to go out and buy a new ball joint - maybe a pair just in case the drivers side ball joint starts wearing prematurely.

Doc

4

Citroen Car Parts Forum / Xantia main auxillary belt tensioner - photos

« on: July 21, 2010, 11:47:43 AM »

In my last post, I described how the main auxillary belt tensioner started to vibrate at idle. I had a good look at the old tensioner on my old engine and can now see why they wear/seize up.
As you can see from the photos, it appears that the grease inside the needle roller bearings eventually bakes hard through engine heat, vibration, water vapour ingress, diesel fumes, etc with the result that the bearings lock up and start wearing flat. (Brinneling)
These now sharp edged bearings start eating into the centre metal bush which the tensioner body is supposed to rotate around. What then happens is that the now partially seized tensioner cannot absorb the torque impulses from the engine at idle so starts knocking or rattling. This often disappears when engine is revved or driven normally. Unfortunately it's no good just taking apart and re-greasing as once the metal bush starts wearing, the needle rollers won't have a firm and level surface to bear on. Thus the inner sleeve starts moving around and therefore the tensioner body. It doesn't have to be a huge movement either - may be just a mm or two. Only thing to do is to replace or fit new needle bearings and centre bush. I doubt the parts are available seperately so a new tensioner is the only option unless I can find a machine shop to turn up a sleeve.
The tensioner in the photos was from my old engine that had done 165,000 miles. The new engine has done 66,000 miles with full history but the tensioners don't last that long. 
Anyway, this type of tensioner is used on other PSA cars that use the XU series engines and even some HDi's. Incidentally the same wear patterns also occur in rear suspension trailing arms/torsion tubes as used on XM's, Xantia's, Peugeot 205, 206, 309's etc.

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Citroen Car Parts Forum / Check your radiator before going on holiday

« on: July 21, 2010, 10:03:38 AM »

As you probably have already read I recently finished the Xantia engine swap and got it through it's MOT. Took it down to Cornwall last week and while stopping at a Little Chef I could smell hot coolant. Popped the bonnet to find a thin stream of coolant spurting out onto the engine. ''Flippin 'ell'' I said.
Turns out the aircon hose that runs from the aircon pump to the aircon rad (condenser) had been rubbing against one of the water channels and had worn a pinhole. Annoying as everything on the car had gone back in exactly the right position - except what I hadn't noticed was the rad had a snapped clip at the top (under the bonnet catch panel) and thus enabled it to move slightly just enough to contact the aircon hose clip. Because the XU diesels vibrate, this was just enough to erode a tiny hole while the car was moving. Since the aircon hose is a rigid fixing there's not much room to fit all the other hoses in (not the best designed part of the car). Anyway luckily I always carry a bottle of rad seal which did the job and lasted so I could fix it after the holiday.
Yesterday and today I had the front end off and removed the air-con rad, the intercooler and the coolant rad. I noticed that all these were clogged up with years of dirt, dust and insect remains. It's then that I noticed that since the coolant rad lies behind two other obstructions then airflow through the rad must be marginal since the two fans have to blow air through two other clogged rads before it reaches the coolant radiator. So I hosed them all clean and couldn't believe the crap that blew out the fins. Not the easiest job in the world to do regularly but important nonetheless.
The holed radiator is only 3 years old and has always been run with a 50 percent antifreeze and de-ionised water mix. So since a new rad will have to wait a bit, I tried a rally mechanic fixit technique which has worked perfectly.
First off, locate the pin hole and carefully remove some of the thin ali fins from around the coolant channels.
Then using a thin fret saw or even scissors (the rad is soft ali alloy) snip the channel in half and using a thin flat blade screwdriver GENTLY open up the cut ends and squeeze in some non setting gasket sealant. Squeeze the ends shut then carefully fold up the ends using needle nose pliers each side. Once both ends of the water channel are sealed, folded and clamped, you should then have a perfectly useable and leak free radiator. The slight loss of coolant flow shouldn't affect the cooling capacity of the rad so long as there's no other damage. Of course there's no harm in adding coolant seal anyway as these compounds often contain additives that protect the rubber seals on the water pump impeller. Read instructions though as some engines can't use rad weld/rad seal. Honda V6 for example.

Next job, change the main sprung auxillary belt tensioner. Worked up until the holiday (sod's law) but now vibrates at idle. I had a look at my old engine tensioner and it seems the needle roller bearings suffer from baked hard grease which seizes the bearings which then eat into the tensioner pivot shaft and either lock it solid (so it doesn't absorb uneven loads on the belt at idle) or rattles as the shaft wears. Pig of a job to get to when engine is fitted which is annoying as I could have replaced it while the engine was sitting in my garage. 

Doc

6

Citroen Car Parts Forum / Xantia

« on: June 11, 2010, 04:02:58 PM »

Glad to say the Xantia passed MOT re-test this afternoon. Well happy as it's been a 'fun' time swapping engines and hydraulic bits. Car rides like it's floating on air which goes to show how different the ride quality can be when the pump works properly. Better pump came with the replacement engine as did turbo etc. Should see improvement in fuel consumption too.

Doc

7

Citroen Car Parts Forum / Xantia 1.9 turbo diesel. It's alive but only just...

« on: May 28, 2010, 11:24:52 AM »

Hi,
here are pics of the pump cover plate that protects the fuel cut-off solenoid and the crucial processor that works in tandem with the notorious keypad immobiliser. This is the part that has to be either bypassed or re-programmed if your Xantia, ZX, Xsara, XM etc needs a new injector pump or complete engine - as my one did. If you're lucky enough to either know the original code from the car that supplies the engine then it's a case of disconnecting the keypad while the engine is running. This normally neutralises the code/chip on the pump. However if the replacement engine and/or pump hasn't been reprogrammed or erased then you're going to have to access the fuel cut-off solenoid that is located under a very, very tough steel casing secured by shear bolts made of very hard metal. I managed to remove all of the bolts except one which has defeated my hi-tech drill bits and a stud extractor. No choice but to grind off the casing and hopefully avoid damaging what is still a good pump. Previous engine died of terminal cambelt failure and snapped camshaft and bearing supports. Be aware of this process if buying a used pump off Ebay or other similar sites. It's a royal pain in the butt getting this cover off even just to swap a duff fuel cut-off solenoid.

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Citroen Car Parts Forum / The Xantia - It's Alive!

« on: May 27, 2010, 03:47:13 PM »

Finally got the engine started and running this afternoon. Only thing is I've had to run a temporary cable from battery + to the fuel cut-off solenoid since the replacement engine was removed from a late model Xantia that didn't have the code erased before engine was removed. If it had been erased or neutralised (by disconnecting keypad while engine was running) I could simply have connected up the pump connectors. Now I've either got to make a permanent feed or put my old pump chip back on the new pump. Luckily the replacement engine pump cover plate bolts were intact so I could access the solenoid but my old engine seems to have cover plate held on by bolts that have beaten my cobalt drill bits.  May have to get the grinder out....

Doc

9

Citroen Car Parts Forum / The Xantia saga continues...

« on: April 12, 2010, 01:10:41 PM »

Ever started a job and then wished you hadn't...?
Yes, I've now reached that point. You all know my on going saga with the busted cambelt and engine swap on my 1997 Xantia TD. I described how the replacement steering rack from 'The Dark Side' turned out to be grease free so I sorted that out before fitting it today (12th April 2010) Everything was going well, the birds were singing and the sun was out. Until about 2 hours ago when attempting to plumb in the hydraulic pipes to the steering rack -steering pinion valve. Simply put the original pipe unions don't bloody fit the new rack female threaded portions!
As you can see from the pictures, the larger diameter union (top pipe) threaded portion is now too long and will not screw in. It should go in up to the dirty part of the threads but at the moment only goes in two or three threads. Now since the Haynes manual doesn't show squat about the steering rack I can only assume either Citroen modified the design after 1997 or the rack (from well known reconditioner and supplier to trade etc Delco-Remy) is missing something. It came with protective plugs in all the unions so could only check the obvious dimensions and basic type etc but I didn't check to see if the union/pipe connectors were the same. Having said that since the original pipes are still on the car - it would have been a bit awkward to bring them with me.
So I'm going to ask if anyone out there has any images, photos, micro-fiche reader parts descriptions that show what correct pipe unions it should have or whether my pipes need modifying. The supplier only list one power steering rack for the Xantia and stated it should fit 1993 to 1999 Xantias.



 

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Citroen Car Parts Forum / Snapped camshaft and ruined camshaft bearing cap.

« on: March 31, 2010, 09:02:52 AM »

Here's some pictures of the trashed camshaft due to belt failure brought on by suspected seizure or partial seizure of the camshaft.
The belt was not due for a change for another 10K miles and was in good condition as was the tensioners and guides -apart from the damage of course...

11

Citroen Car Parts Forum / Xantia steering rack

« on: March 25, 2010, 09:07:19 AM »

The great thing about removing an engine is the amount of space it leaves under the bonnet to check other components for damage/wear etc. With the engine out I checked over the steering rack to find a holed nearside rack gaitor. Normally to change a gaitor it's quite a simple task but this one is a bit of a pig. First the hydraulic ram has to be removed to enable the piston mounting to the inner trackrod joint to be removed. This outer fixing was easy but as the ram won't budge until the inner ram fixing is removed then a couple of pipe unions have to be loosened as well. Unfortunately the inner ram fixing is a  55 torx socket headed bolt which is in a really awkward position and torqued up to 60 Ib ft. Even with various swivel joint socket sets etc I just couldn't get at the bolt and apply enough force to loosen it off. Only thing to do was to remove rack only the lower steering universal joint doesn't have the removable clip once the bolt is removed that enables the joint to slide off the splined rack pinion. Haynes was a bit vague about this. Not the easiest rack to remove I'll admit.
Anyway once I drilled out the rivets holding on the rack heat shield it was then a process of trying to extricate the heavy rack from around the gearbox subframe gearshift support. Haynes manual says this can be done with engine in place?! I'm sure it can but unless the pipe unions are removed from the ram and rack there's no way on earth that rack will come out with engine in place unless the exhaust is removed from the car without causing damage to other parts.
Once the rack was on the bench I realised why the manual state only the outer track rod ends can be changed at home. The problem I have is the split rack gaitor is on the ram mount side which I can't see how it has been fitted. Is is screwed on? or pressed on? There's two parts to the rack gaitor - the standard inner and a thick rubber one that protects the nearside spherical inner rod end. This has also perished and holed but unless I can remove the ram collar that holds it on I'm going to have to find another way of protecting the joint as this is an MOT failure/advisory.
Anyone out there know how to remove the ram end collar from the rack as this has got me stumped which is something that doesn't happen often...
I have this nagging doubt that these parts are not available seperately and I'll be stiffed for a replacement rack at £185 

Doc 

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Citroen Car Parts Forum / Xantia cam belt failure.

« on: February 02, 2010, 03:19:50 PM »

Oh well, I knew it had to happen at some point. After 22 years of driving and working on cars professionally and at home I experienced my first cam belt failure on my own car. My wife was using the Xantia to go shopping and after finishing and getting ready to leave for home, she started car, drove out of parking space and got ten feet before there was a 'bit of a clunk, then a rattle' (her words) then the dashboard lit up like the flight deck of the space shuttle.
Engine spun over very quickly as there's no compression which is a classic giveaway of snapped belt. I've been called out to many a cambelt failure and even a snapped cam-shaft! but never on any of my cars (and I've owned 'quite a few' over the years)
In some ways I'm annoyed at myself as I aways change belts when I get a new car. By 'new I mean new to me'. Our Xantia had full dealer history and belt still had 12,000 miles or year to run before looking at a swap.
Yesterday (monday 1st Feb) I've been stripping engine back to get it ready to remove as last year I bought a good low mileage engine last as spares back-up.  Anyway, the belt was well shot, but clean looking with nice and dry timing belt covers and housing. Water pump was also good. All I can put it down to is bad luck and maybe the belt was a cheap part?
So the moral of the story is;
Don't assume the belt was changed even if the service history looks extensive.
Don't take for 'gospel' when a previous owner says belt was changed 'recently' unless there's cast iron proof that it was changed.
Follow manufacturers replacement intervals at your peril. As a rule I normally change belts every 3 years or 36 to 40,000 miles. Too many manufacturers give wildly optimistic belt replacement intervals for their timing belts. Crazy. After all, belts are basically rubber compound reinforced with nylon or kevlar type fibres. They're strong but not that strong. Our belt still was within time and mileage and tensioner was checked every year. Citroen Xantias have 72,000 mile intervals but wouldn't recommend leaving it this long - even on late model HDi's as these engines are even more complex than the older diesel engines. You won't believe how many brackets, pipes, tubes, and mechanical componentry that has to come off just to be able to get to the parts concerned. Very time consuming and if you need to go to a garage to get it fixed - hellishly pricey. Many cars are scrapped because an engine swap is just too complex or labour intensive.
Even with a spare engine, time and skills I'm still in two minds as to persevere and swap it or see reason and sell it for scrap and go to the auctions.    

Andrew

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Citroen Car Parts Forum / Gearbox diff seal quality (Xantia 1.9 TD BE3/5 gearbox)

« on: October 23, 2009, 05:10:58 PM »

Many of you have read my earlier posts on the fun I had replacing my gearbox and clutch on my 1997 Xantia 1.9 TD SX two days before my holiday to Dorset. Anyway, the holiday was great, the car smooth and quiet with no vibrating gearstick.
Just noticed today (after my wife left for work) a small patch of clean oil on the drive. I smelt it and it's gearbox oil. Even though both seals were replaced and fitted with the correct tools and to the correct depth in the diff housing, one of the seals appears to have developed a leak. Bit annoying since they are Citroen made which weren't expensive but it's still a hassle replacing them.
The design of these seals for this gearbox seem to have been changed slightly. Where once they had a white nylon (castellated) plastic seal protector facing the outside, the new seals all seem to have a thin quite stiff dust seal/oil seal which doesn't look like the same quality as the original fitment. If this is the case I'm going to have to find a supplier of the original type of gearbox/diff seal which on my previous Pug and Citroens, all last for over 100,000 miles before major drips started.
THis brings me on to a related subject. Has anyone found that many aftermarket spares, parts etc for older cars are lower in quality or service life?
Let us know if you've come across this diff seal problem or others.

Cheers

DocBrown

14

Citroen Car Parts Forum / Xantia 1.9 TD clutch & gearbox swap

« on: October 08, 2009, 07:00:00 PM »

Hi all,
finally got round to fitting replacement gearbox and clutch to my 1997 Xantia SX 1.9 hatchback. Been putting it off since the last ill-fated attempt because the clutch release arm was seized to the release rod. These gearboxes (when fitted to Xantia's with the 1.9 diesel unit) have a 'pull-type' clutch which means the release bearing is part of the clutch cover. Unless the clutch release arm is freed off it means the 'box can't be removed.
This time - after many applications of heat, plumbers freeze spray, WD40, Plusgas and colourful language, the bas...the offending pin released and and an hour later the lever gave up.  
According to the Haynes manual, you can leave the regulator intact but just unbolt it and tie it back. After many, many hours trying to manoevre a 40 kilo gearbox whilst trying to avoid said regulator pipework also while making sure you lift the heavy assed diff side up over parts of the subframe while making sure it doesn't catch on anything else all while trying not to catch the speed sensor - I disagree strongly with Haynes.
I used an engine crane and a beefy trolley jack, and engine support bar and it was still a real cow of a job. I should have simply thrown out the manual and trusted my logic and removed all the pipework and regulator from the front of the block or remove entire engine and box as a unit to save a ton of grief.
And who the hell came up with pull-type release clutches anyway! The real highlight was fitting the replacement gearbox. If you think removing it is hard try re-fitting it. This is where I'd wished I'd followed my gut instinct to remove all the pipes instead of following Haynes instructions. I reckon they must have employed a freakin' octopus to cope with all the operations that have to be done at the same time for example making sure the release lever is at the correct angle to engage between the centre bearing.
So, the moral of the story is; Ignore Haynes and simply strip out the entire pipework and regulator before removing gearbox, make sure the release arm and its pin are freed off, make sure you have a willing helper and safety equipment such as crane, adjustable engine support bar and strong chains, hooks or lashing. Oh, you will also need a strong screwdriver or crowbar to prise up the gearbox when the bolt holes are aligned otherwise if the 'box or engine are at different angles the box simply will not fit. There is a large slot at the top where a flat bladed screwdriver can be put to bear on the edge of the block and lifted slightly. The box then slides in like a finely buttered thingy...
This is when you realise the clutch forks didn't engage with the release bearing and the box has to be pulled back to do it again....
Took me two goes and without a doubt one of the most awkward 'box swaps I've carried out. In fact this is my first Xantia clutch and gearbox swap. I suspect this is the reason so many XM's, Xantias etc get scrapped or sold as parts it's because the clutch replacement process is so damn awkward.

Doc

15

Citroen Car Parts Forum / Xantia EGR vacuum solenoids

« on: September 07, 2009, 08:26:42 AM »

Recently the engine malfunction lamp on my 1997 Xantia turbo-diesel (1905cc - Bosch inj pump) flashes up when decelerating in gear - particularly in third for example slowing down for a junction etc. As soon as the throttle is pressed, the light goes out. Typically Citroen though - this doesn't happen all the time. More seriously it also cut out when changing down a gear but re-started perfectly and hasn't done it since but it did previously do this three years ago!  Again, car re-started fine.

There's no excessive smoke and fuel consumption is around 48 to 50 mpg. I also noticed that on a cold start, the idle is high but doesn't reduce when fully warmed up. After checking the vacuum pump I noticed it doesn't produce vacuum so I swapped it for a known good unit. I also checked all the vacuum hoses to the cold idle control, the two bulkhead mounted solenoid valves and the EGR unit. The hoses are good and air tight but noticed the solenoids weren't operating. There's 12 volts at the connectors but when I fed an external 12 volt supply the solenoids didn't click open/shut. What worries me is my local Citroen main dealer couldn't find them on their parts database! Anyone out there know of a good alternative supplier of these solenoids as driving around with a fully open EGR doesn't do the turbo any good. I was thinking of adapting a pair of washing machine water valve solenoids but want to know if anyone else has experienced this problem. Apart from that, the car is in good condition and continues to give good service.
Since Citroen dealers don't seem to know where these solenoids are, they can be found on the nearside bulkhead next to the LHM reservoir and inlet air trunking.
Cheers

Doc