I'll get round to it at some point - Bratislava and Back: Things not to do in a mk2 Clio

[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.

[Rust Collector]

Before I finished off last night I spent a few minutes pumping furiously on the driveway. My thought process being that if I primed the fuel system before going to bed then when I woke up in the morning I would be able to check that everything was still hard.

I gave it a few pumps and it still felt fairly rigid which is encouraging.

Hopefully I’ll get this all wrapped up tonight and have her running. If I can get her starting reliably I will be well chuffed, as the laboured starting and not knowing if it would actually start was really spoiling what’s otherwise a pretty decent car (I hope).

Provided she starts and runs ok then I’ll do the ABS sensor on the off side rear, give her a quick once over for any obvious faults, give her a wash and then get her in for a ticket.

I’d quite like to try the nearby* ‘no pass no fee’ place, @grizz is this who you use?

https://www.thetestcentre.co.uk

[grizz]

@Rust Collector correct. 
 

They will fail stuff. 
 

But I also like to see that they point out some fail stuff to customers.  
 

 

 

[Rust Collector]

6 minutes ago, grizz said:

@Rust Collector correct. 
 

They will fail stuff. 
 

But I also like to see that they point out some fail stuff to customers.  
 

 

 

Failure is no problem at all, but it'd be nice to not have to wear the test fee if it fails catastrophically which is what is luring me to these folks.

Is it the Ashford branch that you use? I think Brands Hatch is nearer me but they don't do timed bookings unlike their other centres.

[Stinkwheel]

I'm sure you've looked at the MOT history, check the last advisories for sure. (im not saying trade one make garages might have in the past had a sympathetic tester, but i wouldn't rule it out either)

[Rust Collector]

8 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

I'm sure you've looked at the MOT history, check the last advisories for sure. (im not saying trade one make garages might have in the past had a sympathetic tester, but i wouldn't rule it out either)

I checked it ages ago and didn't recall anything dire, but just to refresh our memories:

There's nothing there worrying me too much. I'll check the front discs again but I don't recall them being gopping when I had the wheels off before.

I'm hoping that the hour or so drive to the test station should help free the car up and get it in the mood for a pass.

Or cause it to explode, and not be eligible for recovery due to a lack of MOT.

[grizz]

3 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

Failure is no problem at all, but it'd be nice to not have to wear the test fee if it fails catastrophically which is what is luring me to these folks.

Is it the Ashford branch that you use? I think Brands Hatch is nearer me but they don't do timed bookings unlike their other centres.

 

Medway City Estate

[Rust Collector]

I got the last of the shite hooked up to the pump this evening:

I think the kick down cable is a bit slack so I may tweak that, but otherwise I’m 97% certain everything is as it should be.

I was still a bit unsure about the pump shaft and sprocket so I marked it (badly).

Time to throw all the other junk on:

The good news is that when turning the engine over, the sprocket and shaft stay aligned.

The bad news is I’m a twat and I forgot to bleed the fuel lines. The engine won’t run on air, sadly.

I’ve also managed to get diesel in my mouth again and everything tastes sour.

Inlet manifold back off then. Cracked the injectors open, cranked it, one line primed and then the battery went flat. Probably for the best as it was getting late.

Battery on charge and we will resume play tomorrow! Unfortunately it won’t be until later in the day though as I need to swap the carb on my mower and then go replace some lights for my parents. Bums.

[Rust Collector]

Weeeeeeeellllll…

I bled the injectors this morning. I found using a power probe easiest as this meant I could watch the injectors whilst cranking.

I then put it back together, started it, and…

It runs away as soon as you turn it on, sits at 3k rpms, chucks out smoke, bogs down and dies.

Ive spent some time checking the adjustments on the pump, and I’ve come to the conclusion that something inside the ‘new’ pump is seized.

I think the best way forwards now is to just crack on and rebuild the original pump then use that.

A bit of a disappointing end to the time I’ve put into it so far, but you don’t win them all.

On the plus side, I did some other stuff today. I swapped out the carb and some service bits on my mower, and that works beautifully now:

Every time I mow the lawn, I think how lucky we are to have such a nice outdoor space. Even if the dogs and our son do litter it with their toys.

I also finally fixed the three broken taps in the house:

You know you’ve been lax with sorting things when it feels like a luxury to now be able to turn any tap in the house and have it both work and not leak.

Then I went to the shops to grab some gin, and on the way back the dusk sky over the sea caught my eye so I stopped in the Pontiac to enjoy it for a bit.

Things like this remind me why I love living in this part of the country.

So all in all not a bad day, even if the XM work didn’t pan out as expected.

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

The taps thing.  It's a small thing (turning on, no leaking) but it's remarkable what all these small wins add up to.  And love the fact you stopped and actually admired things - good to do that.

[Rust Collector]

Small update.

two cars have run out of MOT and I’ve not done anything with them yet other than park them at the farm to be worked on - the LS430 and the Pontiac. They both need a bit of fettling and I can’t sort them right now due to kids and family shite.

This caused me a problem. Nothing else was on the road. So I’ve chucked the Disco 3 back into use, so that my mrs can resume her yummy mummy cosplaying. That still left me with no car.

The Mercedes has a ticket on it, but sadly the prop shaft is possessed by Satan and I can’t find the centre bearing that I bought for it.

I had planned* on the XM being ready by now, but I’m useless and it’s still 20% broken.

Enter this magnificent beast:

A surplus vehicle from my family (my parents just went nuts and bought two new* cars, and then gave the L200 to my brother), I have history with this Clio and a scar on my hand from the cam belt replacement. It was sat around going green, and so it was tossed my way to get me out the shit, on the agreement I get rid of it via roffle or other means to you lucky lot once I don’t need it.

It’s stupidly cheap to run, so it’s a welcome stopgap whilst I sort the other motors out!

[Rust Collector]

Goal for the bank holiday was to get the XM running properly again. Righto then, best crack on.

I will update the related ask a shiter thread in due course, but to close off on the ‘marinade it in ATF, whack it with rubber mallets’ plan; this did not work sadly. Time to go topless then as I’m not taking the pump off again before the MOT. Hopefully.

To recap, the fault was that the car would immediately rev up to about 3k rpm when started and my money was on the ring/collar that the fulcrum moves being stuck in the ‘wide open throttle’ position.

Getting in wasn’t too tragic. Basically a case of remove bits that are blocking the four cover bolts.

Then remove the cover. Give yourself 10 points if you can see the problem already. I had to do some poking and prodding to understand the issue.

I pumped out the delicious pink juice and saved it to drink later.

Here you can see the issue. The weights on the governor were stuck in place and the shaft presumably wasn’t moving out. This must have allowed the hot/cold idle spring to raise the revs too high. The weights freed up when moved by hand, as did the shaft. The surface rust isn’t ideal but it’s barely perceptible to touch so I’m hoping the surfaces in the pump aren’t too fucked. If you’re storing one of these I reckon it’s worth filling it with oil or something as they obviously don’t like being open to atmosphere. The one that came off the car originally is much cleaner inside.

This is the old pump, and maybe this shows how the governor and fulcrum interact.

From what I can see the throttle linkage, idle spring, boost compensator, fuelling screw, shut off lever and governor all act on the top half. The bottom half moves a sliding collar up and down the main shaft which controls the volume of fuel that can enter the metering head. Things that raise the revs pull the top of the fulcrum left, things that reduce the revs pull it to the right. The fulcrum has three sections that can move semi-independently allowing fine movement for idle control and then larger movement for fuelling and throttle control. All these things act in equilibrium at idle and the point at which all the forces balance sets the idle speed. It’s apparent the governor shaft plays a big role in this, which I hadn’t realised.

Brain now throbbing after prolonged thinking, I put the pump back together.

Let me just say, fuck the throttle linkage on these things. What a wanker to get back together.

Anyway, it did go back in the end when I realised I had to move the fuelling screw out a bit.

I must have taken this inlet manifold on and off about 10 or 15 times today in the course of making adjustments and realising bits I forgot.

And this idler is a fucking bastard to refit.

One of my 13mm spanners is still in a chassis leg somewhere beneath it (hopefully), but it finally went back on.

We have something resembling a complete engine bay again:

Moment of truth then…

I honestly didn’t expect it to work. It doesn’t fire up as quickly as I’d like, but seeing as this pump was firing instantly at first I reckon I can dial it in to sort that.

I tightened the belts and let it have a stretch

After some Citroebics I took it for a drive around the block. The fuel pump behaved and that’s good enough for me.

I need to chuck some coolant in, then tomorrow I’ll have a bash at the rear ABS sensor that needs sorting. After that, it’ll hopefully be MOT time. It then will need a new home, as I need a clear out!