1.9td questions

[xsaras4ever]

Thanks Citroen XM for the answer on the pipe.


Bloomin great news this evening. As we discussed in a previous post, the sump is different.

Boxer Sump - shallow at front - deep at back.

Xantia sump - deep at front - shallow at back.

Suppose its because the engine is at a tilt in the car and straight up in the van.

Now gotta swop the sump - as not going to take a chance with oil pickup pipe etc.

The work is never ending.

The reason we did not notice it earlier is we had the engines back to back - therefore one was at 180degrees to the other so visually the deeps and shallows were beside each other - bummer.

[Stewart(oily)]

Good move on swapping the sump and oil pickup pipe, you might need the dipstick assembly from the original vehicle too.
You will win.

[xsaras4ever]

Anyone want an update, or are we getting boring ?

[Stickyfinger]

zzzzzzzzzzzzz......ugh ?






only a joke....update pls

[xsaras4ever]

Swapped the sump, the oil pickup pan with metal filter, and the little shield which divide the internals of the sump in 2.
Also the dipstick system.

All bolts (more than 20) came off easily from the engine which we had painted ( the one with the cracked head.

Of course the replacement engine now sitting in the van engine bay was not so easy - 3 of the bolts rounded (an allen key job)

Solution: Lying on your back in the muck, use a slightly bigger size torx bit, belt it into the damaged allen bolt with a lump hammer, when its in suffiently, wallop it again to make yourself feel better, then unscrew the bolt - easy - worked 3 times.

Of course you have to be lying in the rain or snow for this to be succesful, or the 29degrees heat which we had.

As we were weighing-in for scrap the original van engine, we decided to keep the flywheel, sump , oil pan and shield in case we rebuilt our old ZX engine into a Boxer engine.

Interestingly, we saw that the metal filter/guaze was gummed up - maybe that was the cause of our original knackered engine - along with the turbo.

Guess what - hanging off the back arm of the JCB by a strap - all sump bolts came out easily - its only engines in awkward places that gives problems.

Then we swapped the turbo from the purchased Xantia engine onto the Boxer manifold, but not the actuator , next to impossible to remove.

Connected up everything, bled the injectors , bodged the heater plugs and it fired up first time and we ran it for 15 minutes.

No probs really, just a big leaking joint where the turbo outlet joins the exhaust system.

Niggling feeling that the turbo was squeaking/ rattling/ whistling also.


Opened the exhaust at the joint, modified the bolts to clamp tighter, fitted exhaust paste, bolted up , waited 24 hours.

It would not fire. It would catch , but die. No matter what we did, it would not fire.

Pondered for a day and then bingo - we thought the exhaust might be clogged.

Removed the exhaust, full of water (from cracked head) and soot (from previously knackered engine).

Drained out and cleaned exhaust - started first time - ran for 30 minutes - electric fan cutting in - great.

Except for the turbo - whistles like a pig - at all times - even on tickover.

We are going to buy a complete turbo unit - from cylinder head to exhaust (from a boxer) and fit it and then hopefully - HAPPY DAYS.

The novelty of working on it has long worn off, would like the novelty of driving it.

Too much aggro modifying a Xantia or 306 unit - pipes in wrong places , actuator almost impossible to remove etc etc.

In the meantime , back to the welding. No shortage of that on this beast.

[Zelandeth]

Sounds like you're well on the way to having it driving now though! Definitely a story of perseverance, and downright bad luck this one!

[xsaras4ever]

Thank you for the kind words of encouragement. Almost there. Most of the welding is now done, new tyre fitted and replacement turbo and actuator arrived in the post. Managed to purchase a new Continental Vanco tyre locally for 25euros (about £18.50). It was on a new Ford wheel which we will try to resell to recoup a bit of the money. The seller had purchased a container full of van wheels/tyres.

Will update when hopefully we have passed the Control Technique (Mot to most of you)

[Stewart(oily)]

Well done, did you see the little filter in the turbo oil feed pipe ? did you clean or remove it ? Ii is well worth giving all of that feed pipework a wash and blow through if theres sludge around, give the new turbo the best chance.

[xsaras4ever]

Hi Stewart.

Strangely, the original Boxer engine didn't have the filter, the Xantia engine did, and the latest turbo hasn't got it either.

[xsaras4ever]

Believe it or not , we have actually driven our van.

Fitted replacement turbo.

Also , lyiing under van - powerwashed all of the underneath. Got soaked.

Undersealed and painted all of the underneath.

Unseized rear brake cylinder and made and replaced another steel brake pipe with copper.

Off the jacks, down the road. First 200 metres - great - thinking that the 1.9td in a van is not as slow as feared.

Then - gutless. Front brakes sticking and no power.

Second gear max.

Went 4km , did a U-turn.

Revved the guts out of it, covered half the countryside in soot, then flew home (apart from sticking brakes).

Have replaced drivers side flexibles and rebuilt the caliper and made new copper brake lines.
Now rebuilding passengens side caliper and the brake lines are dodgy there too - so will make new ones and have new flexibles for that side too.

We will get there in the end - we have to because we are driving it from Bretagne to Lincolnshire at the beginning of September !!!!

We have also managed to remove the builders-type shackle lock system from the doors - weld up the holes and fit door locks from a xsara - with gentle welding/fabrication of the control wires.

PS: we have put a new posting asking questions about the glowplug control unit if anybody would be able to help - please.

[lexi]

This all sounds like my old Land Rovers. Never ending with more work than actual driving. I have a sadistic streak mind you where I love to read about hassle and problems. I think it is because I have had a lifetime of it myself with remedial work of all sorts

I have changed and modified many vehicles in the past. My conclusion is that you cannot beat standard. Modify at your peril

[xsaras4ever]

While in the past we agree with you, in almost all cases, we are at the moment keen to get the van tested now and put some KM on it before doing such a long trip.

An older Glowplug control box with very few wires would probably be a good internediary step.

It would be nice to revert back to the original, but access in these vans is crap.

Thanks Again.

[xsaras4ever]

Hello again to all.

The wiring info given by RICHARDW was spot on. Our Module had a faulty earth wire.

Connected a new earth , fitted a correct PSA module, turned the key , the little glow coil on the dash lit up for the first time in years we guess, waited 12 seconds and it went out - magic - umh - whats that smell ????? burnt out the wiring loom complete from the injector pump all the way back to the air filter and very close to where it goes into the cabin - once again - the fuse did not blow.

Discovered that when some bodger had by-passed the anti-theft on the injection pump and fitted a relay instead of the glowplug module that they had left bare wires touching.

Replaced and soldered 17 wires , tried again and it works great.

Then rebuilt both rear brake cylinders and both front brake Calipers with new seals and fitted new brake flexibles all round and replaced all rusted front brake pipes with copper. Its a twin piston with 2 brake lines set-up , so plenty of work there.

Took it for its CT (MoT), it failed on too hard a brake pedal on the second pump but we can drive it for 2 months and its a free retest.

We replaced the little pump for the servo on the end of the Camshaft (twice) but brake pedal is good on first touch (nice power-assisted type of squidgy pedal and good braking - but harder on a second touch and rock hard with not great braking power on third touch.

Is it possibly a leaking servo ?

[CitroJim]

If the Vacuum pumps are good then yes, I'd say the servo had a small leak in a diaphragm or a failed one-way valve between the pump and servo, the one intended to keep vacuum in the servo..

Else that a problem with the hoses between the pump and servo or a problem with any other items the vacuum pump feeds...

[xsaras4ever]

Thanks Jim , very solid advice.

We recently picked up a Xsara 1.9td to break so now we have some extra parts to cannibalize.

We like the idea of it being a pipe or valve problem much more than the idea of a leaking servo - for obvious reasons.

However, we are now mobile in our van , we have done about 10hours of driving.

A big thank you to all who have have helped.