V6-sei project.

[Dieselman]

I installed a keyless Entry system, with fob, to the Sable car and have a spare to fit to this one.
Long term I intend to find a two button flip key that can take an SX9 key blade. Program the plip to the keyless entry module, cut a key blade and I will be back to a single key, without fob, for the car.
The hard part is finding a suitable flip key that can take an SX9 blade.

I went to look at the tailgate central locking and it was functioning properly. I suspect the lock switch was sticking, not passing current.
I did test it with a test lamp and it passes full current, and (iirc) demonstrated that is the positive line when locking, the negative one when unlocking.

The tailgate locking is fed from the rear door/fuel flap loom, so if this persists the issue has to be the connector to the tailgate loom, or the loom itself.

TBH, I haven't worked out the reason for the switch. It breaks contact only when the key is unlocking the tailgate. All other times the switch is closed.
I think it may be so the locking motor is isolated in case the car is being called to lock just as the tailgate is being unlocked.

[Dieselman]

I had a bit of a scare and lucky escape regarding the engine oil. When I acquired the car I had checked the engine oil level and that it was relatively clean and still felt slippery, so chanced running the engine on it for the short term, while I made it run and performed a few jobs, that needed hydraulic pressure, with the engine running at idle only.

I recently noticed the oil pressure light was taking a few seconds to extinguish, so had taken to cranking the engine while still immobilised, and had ordered the correct oil for it.
I changed the oil and filter and noticed it had a very slight trace of white deposits in the bottom of the drain can and on refilling was unable to get oil onto the dipstick...it was bone dry, even with over seven litres of oil in the sump.
After checking that cranking made oil pressure I chanced running the engine and all seemed well, but still the dipstick was dry, after rodding the dipstick tube.
I blew compressed air down the dipstick tube and heard a slight pop sound then bubbling, so the blockage had cleared. There was now oil on the dipstick.
I believe what had happened was that due to age, the thickening polymers in the old oil had settled out of the oil and formed a sludge in the sump, blocking the dipstick tube area and more importantly, the oil filter. Oil was passing through, but restricted. Through the oil filler, I could see the cam-box was still being lubricated.

Oil filter. You can see the filter element has collapsed. Ignore the non-return diaphragm being damaged, that was due to me prising it out of the way to drain the filter.


The engine now extinguishes the oil pressure light before it has finished cranking to start.

I also notched the dipstick to the modified fill levels, early type 620-647mm, later type 630-663mm. This reduces the volume from a maximum of 6.6/5 litres down to 6/4 litres. See attachment.

Dipstick re-notched.



I've also fitted new front brake flexible hoses, stripped, cleaned and greased, wound back and bled the front brakes, which now function perfectly. Normally fully free, locked on application, immediately fully free on release.
I removed the bleed screws and applied anti-seize compound to keep the free in the future. They are mounted under the parking brake cables and awkward to access, so best kept free.

I used Maxgear hoses and am disappointed to find the support rings don't have cut-outs for the Abs and pad wear cables to clip into. I had to reuse the old ones.

[Citjon]

Blimey Will that was a close call!

Is there much left to do before it goes back on the road?

[Dieselman]

Is there much left to do before it goes back on the road?

Yes, no, maybe...
I'll change the Lhm and gearbox oil, then there's a snagging list, such as re-bind the engine wiring loom, re-stick the headlining and refit the interior trims, sort the brake lamp out warning, then it should be tyres and insurance time.
It has had a couple of coolant leaks. I'm currently observing to see if the radiator is water tight and it will probably need a new expansion tank cap.
Only Citroen ones fit, all aftermarket ones I have tried the length of the central spigot is too short, so the rubber washer fails to seal.

Yesterday I went out to it and on starting it displayed the engine management lamp. Investigation revealed only one error, code 51, Lambda sensor.
The sensor connectors are under the Lhm tank, but after parting then refitting them and resetting the code, it didn't come back. It might possibly be down to low battery voltage, the battery isn't sparkling.

After that I exercised, stripped, cleaned, greased and bled the rear brakes. It was nice to find half worn Citroen pads in there.

[Dieselman]

Very picture heavy...! A picture says a thousand words and all that.

Changing the Lhm and small update...

I have immediately noticed the hydraulic pump is quieter in operation. This one was rather noisy. Changing the Lhm is an often overlooked maintenance item, which will give great reward in steering and suspension smoothness and system longevity. Cleaning the tank and filters is imperative.

With the engine running (for Hydractive), set the car to low and open the regulator 12mm bleed bolt, then switch off the engine. Turn the steering lock to lock a few times to evacuate the power steering rotary valve and ram. I have wheel turning plates, but glossy magazine pages, or plastic trays works for allowing the tyres to turn more readily.

Unbolt the single bolt and hairgrip clip, tilt the front of the Lhm tank up, then lift out the filter unit and place into a suitable fluid catcher.



Empty the reservoir into a catch can. I've seen worse, the tank was quite over-full, so I suspect fresh fluid had been added recently.
Clean the tank out thoroughly using an evaporative spirit, such as white spirit (Citroens recommended solvent), or a small volume of petrol. Wipe out and leave to dry.



Unclip both filters from the base of the filter unit and inspect then clean.

Suction filter as removed. I've seen much worse than these.







Return filter as removed.







LHM



Thoroughly clean the filters until they look like...









Refit the filters to the unit, install the tank and refill with with 4+ litres of fresh Lhm . Start the engine with regulator bleed bolt open and allow the pump to circulate fluid for about 1 minute, then close the 12mm bleed and allow the pressure to rise. Ensure the fluid level doesn't drop enough to allow the pump to suck air.
Turn the steering lock to lock several times and perform a number of rounds of Citrobics (car raised to high, then low).

Leave the car on high, remove the wheels, prop the brake pedal down and bleed all the brakes until fresh Lhm comes out. Once the wheels are back on and the car on the ground ensure the reservoir is full to the Max setting, with the orange mushroom at the upper red ring on the sight glass.

Front brake bleed screws are under the parking brake cable. You won't be able to fit a flare spanner due to the lack of space, so I normally unclip the park brake cable and use a 1/4" drive single hex socket and extension, to free the bleed nipple, then use a standard ring spanner to open and close the nipple when the leak off pipe is attached.




Whilst there I cut off the support rings from the Maxgear brake hoses and reverted to the original rings only. I also sheathed the split park brake cable to stop water ingress, with the intention to stop the cable rusting.

[Dieselman]

Re-bound the engine loom as the material tape had completely disintegrated leaving the cables exposed.
I had previously removed most of the rotten tape and was left with this to remove.



I removed all the tape, including all pvc bindings and re-bound and material taped the complete loom, including the coil and Lambda sensor feeds. It took a surprising amount of time as I did it in situ to ensure the bends and twists were accurate.



The plastic engine cover and HT leads managed to get a clean and refit.
I had removed all the HT leads and it took me a few goes to get the firing order right. There are numbers printed on the distributor cap cover, but they are only the order the leads pass through the cover, no relevance to the firing order, which contradicts the information on page 23 of the Citroen Fenix 3 technical guide.

For reference, the firing order is 163524 and the order of fitting to the cap from top/rear to bottom/front is 613B542

[Dieselman]

A couple more jobs done, gearbox oil change and clean out the engine breather system.

The gearbox is easy enough.
Remove the filler plug first, as it is a taper plug, made from aluminium and fits into the magnesium-alloy casing, so due to corrosion really bind in, usually needing complete destruction to remove. This one was already damaged from a previous removal/attempt, so an 8mm allen key no longer fitted, but I was able to extract it by hammering in a T50 torx bit.
Buy new ones from the Citroen dealer, p/no 2208.20 (pack of five)

Raise the car and undo the differential drain plug (21mm) and allow to drain. The old oil was very dark and really smelt.

While that was draining I checked and cleaned the engine breather as I have noticed condensation in the cam box. I don't as yet think this is a head gasket issue, the car isn't being driven so the oil doesn't get hot enough to evaporate any water.
Ingeniously, the single breather routes back into the throttle body and has two passages, a large open port leading to upstream of the throttle flap and a 2mm port downstream of the throttle plate.
I was suspicious the 2mm port may be blocked as I had already cleaned the pipe and port entry, which had old sludge in it.
I probed the 2mm port with a bicycle gear cable to ensure it was clear.

After the gearbox oil had drained, I cleaned the plug and case and fitted a new 16mm i.d. copper washer, refitted the plug and filled the gearbox with 1.85 litres of oil, applied anti-seize compound to the new fill plug and screwed it in, just tight enough to lock it in.

Note: These ME5T gearboxes are tilted back 30 degrees, so the fill plug is no longer at the correct fill level, thus are filled with the specific volume of 1.85 litres. Filling to the level plug makes them over-full and they will force oil into the clutch.

[xantia_v6]

Note: These ME5T gearboxes are tilted back 30 degrees, so the fill plug is no longer at the correct fill level, thus are filled with the specific volume of 1.85 litres. Filling to the level plug makes them over-full and they will force oil into the clutch.

Do you know if that is also true for the ML5T used with the ES9? I bought a bottle of oil last year, checked that I could loosen the filler and drain plugs, but got distracted before actually draining the oil (the difficulty of access to the fill plug had something to do with it...).

[Dieselman]

I don't know but would expect it's very similar. The cant back is due to the engines being canted to achieve low bonnet height.
If the fill plug appears above half way up the casing, or above the input shaft, it would be too full if used as the level.

[Flegmaatikko]

I really enjoy reading your posts Dieselman and the more pictures the better, at least I like to look at them!

Can you explain why you modified your dipstick? Has someone replaced the dipstick with a newer one without realizing that the oil capacity is different?