KP's growing amount of Citroens...

[citroenxm]

I've just done Volvo 1.6 diesel search on ebay.. and there's NONE with failed engines on there. At least none in cars for spares/repair compared to c4/c5s

bear in mind it's a joint ford/Citroën engine. The 2.0 8v hdi never needed bolt checking.. so not sure why peugeot/Citroën chose it ignore it on the 1.6

[Dieselman]

That's the one Russ, the extended service intervals cause the oil to be utter tripe by the time it gets to be changed.

5-7k is the most any diesel should do, if not every year at worst as soot in the oil is the engines killer.

Renault 1.9Dci suffered a similar fate at 18,000 mile intervals.

Good quality oil will go the distance, but cars with DPF need regular changes due to the additional soot.

[citroenxm]

That's the one Russ, the extended service intervals cause the oil to be utter tripe by the time it gets to be changed.

5-7k is the most any diesel should do, if not every year at worst as soot in the oil is the engines killer.

Renault 1.9Dci suffered a similar fate at 18,000 mile intervals.

Good quality oil will go the distance, but cars with DPF need regular changes due to the additional soot.

Theres a LOW SAPS Fully Synthetic for engines with DPFs, 18k is FAR too long for any diesel engine intervals I AGREE, but the 1.6 16v is actually 12,500, the same as the 8v HDi 2.0 90/100 engines, and they dont suffer turbo problems, so I view the 1.6 problems as injector securing and comming loose that causes the issue, and not sludge.

My Sisters C4 had NO evidance of sludge in the engine, it was rather Sludge free! And she was 6k OVER her service interval! However Ive just done a turbo change and there was Carbon in the oil pick up and the oil feed pipe had some carbon in it, so it was lack of oil quantity that killed it.

This is from ME, a Die Hard 1.6 HDi 16v DisLiker! and my opinion is changing now that Im slowly getting an understanding!

Volvo use this 1.6 hdi engine, do an Ebay Search, you will find NONE (well I couldn't) with engine fails! NONE! Because Volvo reccomend Injector Post Nuts are checked at every service!

[Dieselman]

That is hte same engine as in all Ford 1.6 TDci. Seems reliable.

Synthetic oil stops carbonising, but cars with DPF can't use proper diesel specific oil, they use petrol engine oil and pollute the oil more, hence the sludge doesn't stay in suspension.

[citroenxm]

Yes Will, FORD also reccomend Injector Tightening checking of the Clamp Bolts, and there FEWER failed cars. But Citroen Dont! And theres more failed ones out there!

[kingp]

Also the way the cars are driven has a factor I would think.

You don't even need to use fancy oils, if they meet the spec then just stick to 6-10k changes and be done with it. A few filters isn't much and the price the oil goes for when places have it on offer it's pointless extending it if you want to keep the car.

[kingp]

Well Tonight as I got home from work before 5 and it was still light I thought I'd look at the XM seeing as I haven't used it since Sunday!

First thing was the blanking plug on the end of the injector leak off run. The old one came off easily enough but the new one appears to be shorter and not as tight a fit as I thought it should be. Anyway I ran the engine and took it for a rip up the street and it seems to not leak so I moved onto the next task.

A joint I had put into the fuel intake pipe to the filter from the bulkhead was a short term job when I quickly did it so I split it all off and started to do it right. I use smaller than original hose as it means it grips onto the flared joints easier and with the ID being just a smidge smaller shouldn't cause any fuelling issues.

I have however found that my filter seems to be letting air in again and the push primer on the top is just sucked in with the engine running. Not good so I think it’s time to swap the filter out.
I'm going to see if I can find a suitable replacement to go in its place that is also maybe heated. My logic being that I can use the water supply to the smaller rad to provide the heat as it provides warm water quickly and doesn’t get too hot either, I know I don’t need to worry about it but in summer running long distances where the fuel is preheated and then compressed and even more heat put into it I would rather have a nice steady max temp of around 60-70'c should be perfect and the quick heat up of it won’t pull heat from the heater matrix supply like most plumbed heat units do

Off to eBay I go!

[kingp]

Well time for some updates

First of all big thanks to Tim for sending some bits up to me

I now have a door handle fitted to the drivers door and while it had been sat on a car for a while I actually like the green stuff on it as it blends into the bodywork just nicely but think it will come off the next time I wash it

Car hasn't been washed for two weeks and its showing but the MPG is climbing, mainly due to the fact that there are roadworks on the M56 now so I religiously stick to 54mph even after they finish as I jump onto the M6 north bound from it and within 2 miles its down to 40mph on thelwall.

Anyway, I had been getting annoyed with the radio being in the lower position and being on display and not covered by the cover flap so today with a nice offer from Halfords I set about replacing the radio anyway.
I replaced the original XM radio with one of these.
http://www.bluespot.co.uk/car-audio.asp ... -car-radio

But the SD cards are limited to 512meg or if your lucky and find one that works well with the unit 1gig. The radio quality as always with blaupunk was top notch and sharx really helps this IMO.
I hadn't wired in the DAB aerial but was only going to do it if I started covering more miles on longer trips as its good for Absolute Radio stations and so forth without any of the FM jumping around.

Anyway the halfords offer popped into my mailbox offering this little beauty.
Pioneer
As I haven't bothered with CD/DVD format for a long while i thought for £65 it would be worth a go as it included a mic as well and fitting kit.
So i set about fitting it.
It took some fiddling but the metal cage is now in the top slot with the storage bin below.
The radio is plumbed in with its adapter as it doesn't have ISO connectors on the back.
The mic is plugged in and the cable runs out the top of the cubby and up to the mic on top of the steering wheel until i take the dash apart for somewhere more permanent.

Having BT Audio is great! The phone also charges and plays thru the front USB port so that saves me having the USB Accessory lighter from belkin plugged in anymore, though I will leave it in the car to keep the battery pack charged up incase of breakdown!
Only downside is the radio aerial connector is different on the radio so i just need a cheap adapter to sort that out but that's no biggy at the minute
Call quality is pretty good and for the price I'm dead chuffed with it and will leave it with the car when its sold. The colours on it go well with the dash display being orange and all
The old Blaupunkt is now out with all its bits and I'll stick it up for sale here for £25 including the 512meg SD card if anyone wants it before it goes to ebay. It wont be in its original box but will be in another headunit box

I then set about putting in the new wood section for in front of the arm rest.
This was bought from a breaker down south for £7 all in and contains the cubby box part I was after
So i pulled the old one out and set to moving all the connections over from the old one.
It did show up what i knew was already happening that the mirror control was playing up sometimes so that will need to be swapped.
As soon as I received the wood unit i cleaned it out good and proper and the cubby section as well with some anti bacterial as it will end up with dust and crud in it as time goes bay anyway.
It was a much tighter fit than the old one but by gosh it looks so much nicer!
Anyway thats the crux of what ive done so far.
I'm looking to pickup a C5 this week to replace my dads and maybe a 4.7litre V8 WJ for offroading.
My chainsaw started playing up so I took it back and got a new walbro carb fitted. now it refuses to start and I think the engine is toast so that's going to be fun tomorrow when I take it back! Though I always tend to use slightly more 2stroke than the 50:1 ratio for added protection the saw has done well for the £80 it cost me as its in use almost every other day or at worst weekend cutting stuff up!

The XM may be getting a new fuel filter housing soon at which point the fuel supply route will be changed so it doesn't run over the engine but runs across the firewall and then down the passenger side of the engine bay to the housing. This should help stop future cracking and stress from the amount of movement in the engine which I think doesn't help with the life of the pipe in the heat extremes its exposed to.
Shes going ok at the moment, helping me get to interviews and see family and just being a good cruiser. Tomorrow she will be filled with a load of scrap metal and off to weigh it in as I have a load of discs and clutches and some old radiators and other bits and a small box of copper from the xantia I broke and some other bits as well.
With the back seats folded its massive in the back but also allows you to hear the turbo when it kicks in the amount of air out the exhaust can be heard in sound quite easily It gets addictive but i remain restrained, mostly!!
Averaging about 43mpg and climbing at the moment.
I was annoyed with my self as Asda had a great deal on Rapeseed in the last few weeks but it kept slipping my mind to pop by and get some more but so far I've managed to get about 80litres from the offer at 75p/l and mixed it with a little bit of diesel per cubee so it will keep for winter to help with the colder starts as im running 80litres Soya and 2-3litres diesel at the moment and its doing well

[citroenxm]

You'd be jealous of my "Free" supply I get from a local Cafe then, which is always virtually free!

I also found another FREE supply, but the offer'er said he wouldn't use it untreated as he puts all his Bacon Fat in it too, so theres a lot of water in it. Would need boiling off. Something I cannot do.

Id stick to the Cafe stuff instead. Its cleaner and virtually "striaight into tank" useable.

[kingp]

Paul boiling off is dead simple. I have an old drum you could use if you wanted?

Ideally the best thing is a large see thru container though so you can pour it in and watch it settle.

Do you want me to keep some cubes and ring them over to you?

Gone are the days of 40p/l for rapeseed ;(
I think when the ff goes I'll get a smaller trailer and buy a 1000litres at a time direct from a supplier as that seems the cheapest and est way to go and avoids the wasted packaging I get thru!