hdi 110 clutch pipe

[duke2000]

seasons greetings all ,I have a xantia hdi 110 that recently decided to self combust at back of engine at bulkhead , found cause as being coolant heater fault , problem I have now is whilst most of the damage can be sorted my major worry is the clutch pipe that runs from master to slave cylinder .This bore the brunt of the fire and needs replacing which is my problem that they only come as complete assembly at citroen , cost £440 ,so anyone any ideas where I may source one , any advice appreciated thanks Ian

[Dommo]

There's an Activa for spares/repair on eBay, and I'm 99% sure they use the same hydraulic clutch system as the 110 HDi.

Send this chap a message:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Breaking-1998-Cit ... 255f8b179d

[RichardW]

Indeed, 'tis the same piece on the Activa - also the 2.1 TD as being broken here: http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=33324

[CitroJim]

The hydraulic clutch components will be an absolute devil to firstly remove intact from a scrapper and secondly to reinstall.

The clutch is pre-bled and bled for life. There is no provision made for bleeding it (well, not strictly true - see later) and as a consequence, the new assembly comes in two parts with the pipe from the master cylinder jointed to the slave pipe at the blue connector you can see on the bulkhead. This connector is a once-only job and will not come apart.

The pipe between master and slave take a torturous path between the slave cylinder and the joint, running behind the LHM reservoir and various pipery below it. You will think they built the car around the pipe. It will take an enormous amount of dismantling to get it out in one piece.

You may be best cutting and rejointing and following this thread to bleed the clutch. It's not easy and the thread is long but it does work.

Good luck

Did you determine the exact cause of the fire?

[duke2000]

hi all thanks for swift replys up to now ,anyhow cause of fire was the additional heating that fits in the heaterpipe that goes into the heater matrix , overheating and then melting its insulation then whoosh up in flames , this subsequently caught bonnet insulation and plastic pipe that connects the clutch bits ,understand how to bleed it etc as have seen it done to good effect by reverse bleeding - pushing air out and upwards via the little reservoir , my problem is obtaining a length of suitable pipe to reconnect slave and master cylinder as literally a foot of pipe survived!

[CitroJim]

That pipe is some tough old stuff. You may be better off, if the master cylinder itself is undamaged and there is a stub of pipe on it, to use a piece of suitable kunifer pipe as a replacement. You'll need some ferrules to joint it into the remaining plastic pipe. I've found that if you use a good heat gun on the plastic pipe it can be softened enough to get a ferrule up inside it.

I'm curious about why the axillary heater burst into flames. Did it not switch off at the appointed time or was it because there was an air-lock in the pipe to the heater matrix resulting in no water being present in the heater at the time?

[HDI]

I'm thinking the OP is referring to some sort of electric pre-heater ?

[CitroJim]

I'm thinking the OP is referring to some sort of electric pre-heater ?

Yes, it's an alloy housing with four big glowplugs in it. They heat the coolant to give a bit of heater whilst the engine warms up. HDis are so efficient they take ages to warm up in the cold, hence the value of such an auxiliary heater.

[duke2000]

no idea why it burst in flames , as no air locks etc as far as concerned , have had car running since and seems that whatever temp engine is the additional heater is still on and trying to re ignite itself , the only way I can switch it off is by pulling relay