These, are the voyages of the starship Turby D.

[CitroJim]

That's wonderful Jaap And having the use of a lift too. You're living the dream!!!

[captainhaddock]

Today, my new inlet manifold rubbers arrived in the mail. From Lithuania. In a little box, made from another box, very clever.

However the rubbers are in plastic PSA wrappers and made in France:)

I haven't looked at it yet but I assume I can take off the manifold by undoing the bolts and don't need other seals or other measures to put it all back in good order?

[robert_e_smart]

Hi Jaap,

You won't need any other seals when you lift the inlet manifold piece with 12V Diesel on it. Its a nice easy job.

[captainhaddock]

Thanks Robert!

[captainhaddock]

It is, an easy job indeed.
I did come across a little hose that I don't understand what it is for. It looked blocked off and I don't know where it should go. I took a picture but it's not that clear. Similar hoses are going from the four injectors but the last one just is cut off?

However, the car drives perfectly as it did before so I am not worried.

[Dieselman]

That is the leak off end stop. It should be blocked off.

[captainhaddock]

Been away to France - again - but this time Turby Diesel decided to pack it in for a short while.

Just one hour into our sunny return journey to Ireland.
Cruising the max.speed on the Autoroute with sunroof open, we surprisingly both heard the warning beep of the computer. Again...
It had beeped before stating that all of a sudden the rear door was open...apparently the force of the wind combined with high speed can cause the door to open but not this time - one glance was enough to see the temp. gauge was in the red and the red warning lights on so I stopped as soon as possible.

A lot of coolant under the car and some bad words later cause we had a ferry to catch, I decided to quickly check the hoses and radiator. Got the front wheel off and checked the hose behind the plastic cover but couldn't find the leak even though it was all very very wet there. Water put back in the header tank, didn't drop out.... and here I should have known it wasn't the water pump but still I thought it was....stupid me. Time was limited because the Gendarmerie arrived and the road maintenance crowd so I had no option but to call for help.

Without the help of AA or any other, we still managed to get a tow truck and were lifted off in about 15 minutes and literally dumped at the drivers garage.


Only what we didnt' know that it wasn't a working garage which I had specifically asked for. Worse, the driver went away for lunch, leaving us in the hot sun without anything. When he returned, he got another call and away he was again. This, is where I should have started looking seriously for this leak because I would have found it there and then. But I was thrown off by the remark of the road maintenance worker who 'expertly' stated it was the water pump....he'd seen it so many times, had had Xm's etc.etc.
The wife of the driver had arrived and took all those hours making bills so enormous, normal people work a full week or more for that kind of money....I asked her and her man 3 times to ring the citroen garage to see if they had time and means to look at the car, but no that wasn't necessary....At least I was driven in an old 205 to the nearest ATM because I could only pay cash...

When we were finally put back on the truck we were literally dropped off at a citroen garage at about 5 minutes distance and left there.
From here on the nightmare ended almost because the mechanic on duty was ill..... however there was a small rescue van just about leaving without any cars to the main citroen garage so we left our trailer, got the XM on and here we went a long way to the garage of La Blanche.

To be honest, my experience with citroen garages over the years have been so bad, I would never normally not go to one but this case, proved more positive.
The XM got unloaded straight away and the boss immediately started looking for the problem and soon found out there was a leaking water hose somewhere behind the fuel pump. Mechanics started working straight away and we got coffee and a lot attention. Also because of captain Haddock using his usual dog charms on each and everybody.



Turby must have liked all that professional the attention in between other XM's, C6's, 2cv's and even yellow cactusses and after trying various hoses they actually found an original one which wasn't in their stock list so we hardly payed anything for it. I overheard that conversation and they knew our predicaments with the first tow truck so all in all they charged us only 75 euro's for all.

OK, we weren't that happy as it was our wedding anniversary, we had missed the ferry, somebody ruined the hinges of the arm rest and Liz's white shoes but hey, we were all driving again. Oh yeah, at undoing the plugs of the thermostat the professionals didn't think it necessary to put the metal clips back but all in all we were on the road again and made it home safe and trouble free.

It has always been a calculated risk to drive abroad in old cars but it has been the first time I got stranded. Road assistance abroad for Irish drivers with cars older than 10 years, I have yet to find, in case one wonders. I do have road assistence in Ireland and the UK but of course it didn't decide to split there

I am going to try and replace all hoses for newly made ones in the coming months and have a think about the radiator...and some other parts maybe:) for I won't hesitate to drive abroad again. Also I will inform all the road assitance companies that I can think of like the AA, ADAC, ANWB etc.etc. about the day light robbery we have had the pleasure to endure.

[MTXM]

So sorry to hear about your problem Jaap and by coincidence we had a hose split in the exact same location on a holiday near Sherwood Forest! I managed to effect a temporary repair with materials purchased from Halfords, which amazingly got us through the holiday and home, although the car did get a little overheated at times! With regards, Matthew T.

[russ92xmsed]

What an adventure, glad you three got back okay in the end. It's amazing how unhelpful that French recovery chap was. How rude. Still at least it was fixed easily. It's nice to know you can still get an XM repaired at a French Citroen garage.

I too have experienced this hose splitting on my grey one, 6 miles down the road from first picking it up. It does surprisingly empty a lot of coolant, but I did have the low coolant light and message before any overheating fortunately.

Is there an insurance company that can provide European cover Jaap? Mine has the option.

[Dieselman]

Gaffa tape was what you needed...always carry a roll in the car.