I'll get round to it at some point - Pontiac Fettling and Citroen Procrastination

[Rust Collector]

2 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

Fair point, if i remember rightly last time it was in use it was only ever the first start of the day that was slow to get fuel thorugh, the rest were fine. You'd be OK with a good battery on it (probably)

Also, in the shot of the loaded up Pontiac above, why is there half an H van sticking out that building?

It's lazy starting most of the time now, so I think whatever was leaking must be getting progressively worse. Hopefully the pump swap sorts it right out!

There used to be a company in that unit who made madly expensive HY van styled catering trailers. They've now gone, but left an HY van cab moulding on the wall 😅 Originally they converted the vans, but customers weren't enjoying driving them apparently and would prefer to pull a fibreglass replica about instead.

[Stinkwheel]

3 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

They've now gone, but left an HY van cab moulding on the wall 😅 Originally they converted the vans, but customers weren't enjoying driving them apparently and would prefer to pull a fibreglass replica about instead.

I can understand that, I like H vans and still find driving them a bit of a chore (with original engine anyway)

[Rust Collector]

I’ve been back on the case with the fuel pump tonight.

The main job was to disconnect the last of the hoses, fuel lines etc.

That’s the only goal I set myself tonight, but the kids were in bed and felt motivated so I carried on.

A while back I bent a 45 degree angle in a spanner by mistake, and made a shit joke about it undoing bolts around corners. Anyway, it turns out they’re actually a thing and they’re needed for this job:

You can’t really get the four nuts holding the pump on any other way.

Getting leverage on the rear nut is not easy, so once again my copper tube fetish came into play

Whilst undoing those nuts I was alarmed to find a severed hard line under the LHM pump as I yoinked it out

Likewise, the goo inside this waxstat thing appears to be fucking off and doing it’s own thing. The spare pump is the same.

Proof that I somehow managed to avoid losing the woodruff key for a second time:

Theres a tool for getting the pump shaft free from the sprocket. I don’t own that tool, and I promise I absolutely didn’t use a club hammer on the spare pump and a pry bar on the one in the car. To be fair, there isn’t much force needed to release the pump at all. I reckon you could do it by hand if you were patient enough.

Success:

I didn’t expect to get the pump pulled out this eve, so I’m pleased to have done that. I’m now indoors enjoying a gin and tonic and knuckles bruised like I’ve been on a night out in Newhaven.

I now need to decide what to do about that PCV hose. I can get a replacement from Europe for £20 which will arrive fuck knows when. I can get a length of the same diameter oil hose from CBS by Thursday for a tenner, but I’ll have to bend it to shape and hope it can manage the radius needed. Choices, choices…

Also, does anyone know if I should be worried about the orange goo escaping the waxstats?

[Rust Collector]

Oh, and I forgot to mention RE that severed hardline: it was cut at both ends and was clipped to the block. I’ve removed it now, does anyone have any ideas as to what that was and if it was needed? It looks like it would have carried LHM but there’s no obvious places that don’t have a line connected to them.

[High Jetter]

13 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

Also, does anyone know if I should be worried about the orange goo escaping the waxstats?

Does it feel, like, waxy? If so, might be kinda important

[Rust Collector]

6 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Does it feel, like, waxy? If so, might be kinda important

I’ve not had a poke in this one, but in the spare one end of the material was dangling out so I pulled on it - it had the consistency of cured RTV. I’m thinking/hoping that if the waxstat isn’t working then it will just mean that my warm idle is too high.

[Schaefft]

Some very satisfying fixes on the Pontiac, hopefully motivating enough to keep the momentum and tackle that welding eventually! Just the ultimate in practicality there. Also good to see some progress on the XM, I keep thinking about mine. Apparently it only recently found a new owner. Maybe I'm seeing XM ownership through rose tinted glasses but having had no actual problems with mine it was a great car to own.

[Rust Collector]

14 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Some very satisfying fixes on the Pontiac, hopefully motivating enough to keep the momentum and tackle that welding eventually! Just the ultimate in practicality there. Also good to see some progress on the XM, I keep thinking about mine. Apparently it only recently found a new owner. Maybe I'm seeing XM ownership through rose tinted glasses but having had no actual problems with mine it was a great car to own.

It’s great how some of the smaller fixes really improve the ‘quality of life’ when it comes to using the car. Sorting the lights and mirrors out has made a huge difference to how pleasant the car is to use daily.

I’m not sure how I feel about my XM at the moment. I think I’m a bit disappointed that I need to sell it once it’s MOT’d, I guess I thought I’d keep it longer and get to enjoy running it. I’ll daily it until it gets a new home at least. I would love to try a V6 XM at some point, I imagine it feels like a completely different car to my diesel one.

[Split_Pin]

You can't beat a post shite-fixing drink/coffee/tea! Amazing work, all on the drive and with kids to look after as well. 

I really should fit the rear discs for the 75 I've had in the garage for ages but the advisory went away* and it stops just fine so I have been lazy. Puts me to shame really!

[brownnova]

On 21/03/2024 at 13:59, Rust Collector said:

The best way forward is to probably buy a new side post battery and figure out what's draining the battery/fit an isolator. A new side post battery is over £100 though, which is annoying when I've got a mountain of ok-ish batteries in the garage.

If the battery has died it is less than a year old and I probably have the warranty receipt still… 

11 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

It looks cool, but even though it's not that heavy a trailer you do notice it behind you. I wouldn't be mad keen on pulling it on the road. The mirrors are absolutely wank for reversing also

For the love of crumcake please don’t tow with it… the tow bar bits underneath are completely rotten. I was supposed to cut it off… (I told my MoT man I would)  but never got around to it! Again, something which must have got lost in the Chinese whispers between subsequent owners! 

11 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

Sorted, we now have working wing mirror adjustment.

This always massively annoyed me too… you’re just more proactive at doing things about it than me! I use the kids as my excuse…. But yours are smaller than mine and you manage it! 

I sincerely hope the welding is sortable, it’s such an epic old bus. I miss it hugely! 

[Rust Collector]

9 minutes ago, brownnova said:

If the battery has died it is less than a year old and I probably have the warranty receipt still… 

For the love of crumcake please don’t tow with it… the tow bar bits underneath are completely rotten. I was supposed to cut it off… (I told my MoT man I would)  but never got around to it! Again, something which must have got lost in the Chinese whispers between subsequent owners! 

This always massively annoyed me too… you’re just more proactive at doing things about it than me! I use the kids as my excuse…. But yours are smaller than mine and you manage it! 

I sincerely hope the welding is sortable, it’s such an epic old bus. I miss it hugely! 

I think the battery has possibly been killed by a parasitic drain and the car being stood. If you did have a receipt handy and it doesn’t put you out then it might be worth a try on the warranty.

Don’t worry, I was only towing the trailer on the farm tracks to move it. I’ve seen how that tow bar is mounted and I have zero faith in its ability to handle any amount of force on it. The neck of the ball hitch is bent as well, just for good measure 😂

Sometimes once the kids are in bed and it’s that hour or two before I go to sleep, I get really restless and wound up and have to go and tinker with something. 9 out of 10 times I break something and end up even more frustrated, but the mirror switch was one of those small wins on an evening that would otherwise have been wasted staring at the tv!

[Rust Collector]

23 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I really should fit the rear discs for the 75 I've had in the garage for ages but the advisory went away* and it stops just fine so I have been lazy. Puts me to shame really!

Don’t feel bad, there’s loads of other stuff I’m being lazy about and completely avoiding 😅

[Stinkwheel]

Once upon a time I knew what that cut off metal pipe was for, but that was about 2014 and I’ve forgotten a lot of stuff since then. 

[Rust Collector]

2 hours ago, Stinkwheel said:

Once upon a time I knew what that cut off metal pipe was for, but that was about 2014 and I’ve forgotten a lot of stuff since then. 

It can't be anything too important as there's no fluid pissing out anywhere. I'll have a look on a parts diagram later just out of curiosity.

On the subject of non-working parts, a browse of some Citroen forums has revealed that I don't need to worry about the waxstat thing. It's designed to reduce cold start emissions by advancing ignition timing, but is of no detriment to reliable operation when it fails and apparently TADTS.

[Stinkwheel]

2 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

It can't be anything too important as there's no fluid pissing out anywhere. I'll have a look on a parts diagram later just out of curiosity.

On the subject of non-working parts, a browse of some Citroen forums has revealed that I don't need to worry about the waxstat thing. It's designed to reduce cold start emissions by advancing ignition timing, but is of no detriment to reliable operation when it fails and apparently TADTS.

TADTS a phrase so often used about big hydraulic Citroen's, it really isnt funny (But is)

[Rust Collector]

3 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

TADTS a phrase so often used about big hydraulic Citroen's, it really isnt funny (But is)

It's amazing how many things can break and yet they still just keep going undeterred.

I'm just thinking, has the car had the LHM pump swapped out at some point? I think there were 2 different types of pumps depending if the car was a sinker or not, which could explain a redundant hard line near the LHM pump that goes off in the direction of the accumulator.

[Stinkwheel]

13 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

It's amazing how many things can break and yet they still just keep going undeterred.

I'm just thinking, has the car had the LHM pump swapped out at some point? I think there were 2 different types of pumps depending if the car was a sinker or not, which could explain a redundant hard line near the LHM pump that goes off in the direction of the accumulator.

Its quite likely. Not sure if i ever said, but that car used to be a loan/pool/thing for Medway Citroen who used to be a specialist garage down in Maidstone. Been closed up a few years now, but i used to know the people that owned/ran it quite well. I (well my ex) bought it from them when they closed up. Its probably had quite a lot done over time with regard to bodging*

Ive also just remembered, you might want to flush the radiator or something at some point, if you drove it as 100 ish for a 5 minutes it would start to get a bit warm as the cooling couldnt quite cope, fine all day long at 80 though, sorry

 

 

*Inventive repairs

[wesacosa]

Good work

I can't even be arsed to spend any time on an evening working on the cars at the moment and I don't have any young kids.  

There were at least 2 different types of pump as you say (sinkers got larger capacity). I also seem to think that the one on the AC version might be different, I definitely seem to remember it mounts somewhere different to the non AC if nothing else

[Rust Collector]

I managed to make a bit more time for tinkering this eve. Not many photos I’m afraid as I just wanted to crack on.

First up was that breather hose.

The part listings online had the specs for it as an 18mm id. I did not bother removing one and measuring the hose tail. I lived to regret this.

It turns out the ends of the hose are a larger ID than the main body of it, so the 19mm oil hose I ordered didn’t fit.

I don’t want to wait for Autodoc to deliver a proper hose, and all the spares on eBay etc. are also located in Europe.

I had a scout around the garage and I discovered that my manual shite water pump that I keep handy in case of small floods has the perfect sized oil rated hose attached to it.

Bodge time:

It’s better than it was at least. The original pipe had cracked around about 75% of its circumference, and fell off in my hand. I’ve just cut it back to make it fit into a sleeve I cut from my hand pump. Job jobbed.

Then after some fucking around, swearing and pulled back muscles, I managed to get the spare pump in place.

Im really bloody hoping that woodruff key is located properly.

It’s all gone into place so I’m hoping that the key is still there and hasn’t been mangled. Once it’s all back together I’ll leave the timing cover off temporarily and bar it over first.

Im hoping to finish up tomorrow, all being well.