Xantia TD engine water outlet.

David W · Post by **David W** » 21 Jan 2004, 17:56

Guys,
Not been about for a while but I'm sure back quick now I need something!
Have any of you changed that plastic water outlet housing on the rear of a 1.9TD engine? You know the one right at the back of the block with several hoses including the one from the radiator bottom outlet that swings across the crank pulley. The housing unit is black plastic with an O-ring seal (thankfully quite cheap to buy).
Been really lucky in never having to change one before but got to do one tomorrow that's peeing out coolant. Citroen dealers tell me it's near impossible without taking off the drivers side driveshaft, and possibly the rear engine mount.
Any experiences?
Thanks,
David

Post by **RichardW** » 21 Jan 2004, 20:36

Not personally, but the heater return pipe on my BX TD went, and the guy that changed it said it took him over 3 hours and he had to take the driveshaft out. Not sure if the mount came off too. Hose, clips and coolant was about £20. Labour about £130. In a way I was glad it went in the centre of Glasgow and I was forced to take it to the garage, otherwise I would have been up the lane without a car!
Apparently early BX ones were alloy, the later ones plastic - and they are rubbish and break up. Oh goody - another ****e job to look forward to!
Oh yeah - it's actually a water INLET of course.....

David W · Post by **David W** » 22 Jan 2004, 01:40

Oh well no rush from loads of folks saying the've changed one and it was easy after all! I'll post how I got on with this one towards the weekend.
David

Dave Burns · Post by **Dave Burns** » 22 Jan 2004, 02:33

I took an aluminium one off and replaced it with a plastic one during an engine change, but that was of course while the lump was out.
Took the ali one off because of corrosion where the pipes connect, you don't get that problem with plaggy, plus it goes on with an O ring which I like much more than the standard type gaskets, never had any of the plaggy cooling system bits break yet.
Dave

louis1 · Post by **louis1** » 22 Jan 2004, 04:47

Hi i had to do one on my zx, and all i had to take off was the wheel and the wheel arce plastic to remove the plastic collector, it is a pain in the arse to do but I took one off a zx in the scrap yard (i needed the hose that goes to the matrix and it was stuck to the collector) in 20 mins with limited tools, but i dont know if the Xantia is the same.

David W · Post by **David W** » 22 Jan 2004, 20:04

Well not *too* bad a job...if you like getting very oily and having wet arms from coolant that never stops dribbling out as you work!
I did remove the offside driveshaft, and the lower rear engine mount/bracket. I'm not going to say it is impossible to do with everything in-situ but there would be a very good chance of bolting it back with a displaced O-ring or damaging one of the hoses in the process.
This one was a plastic assembly and part of the "wall" that forms the O-ring groove had crumbled away...finally allowing a loop of the O-ring to be blown out.
I've filled/bled the system and so far the head gasket seems to have held despite being overheated twice in this incident. I'll give it a run in a minute to prove it's OK for certain...fingers crossed.
I gather, over the life of these engines, there has been an alloy one that suffers erosion and two types of plastic, the earlier plastic type warped easily.
I took some digital images and will write this fault/job up for a future "XantiC5" column in the Citroen Car Club magazine.
David

Post by **Jon** » 22 Jan 2004, 21:05

David
If its any consolation I've changed this plastic housing and seals on the last 2 1.9TD's I've had. Didn't have to remove the shaft on the ZX but it was dirty horrible, wet and fiddly.
BTW this housing is a favourite for those mystery invisible leaks. I had a regular slight water loss. It was only when I put the pressure tester on that there was a gush of water onto the floor from the back of the engine!

David W · Post by **David W** » 22 Jan 2004, 22:06

Jon,
Jon,
This failure was on a car I look after, 10yrs old and 160K.
It's made me think I ought to change them on our own '93 Xantia TD and '93 ZX TD before we are troubled away from home!
David

rg · Post by rg » 22 Jan 2004, 22:39

David,
FWIW
A bottle of "Forte" stop leak stuff, as highly recommended by my indie, is carried as standard equipment on both vehicles these days.
(Especially the XM.)
The indie fixes Xantia matrices with it. Permanently, it seems. He goes back to 1972 with Citroens, so I take what he says fairly seriously.
Cheers
rg

mbunting · Post by **mbunting** » 22 Jan 2004, 22:43

"Bars Leaks" fixed my leak, unfortunately it also appears to have sealed up the heater matrix, as there isn't enough heat coming through to cook an ant !
However, bearing in mind I was using 4L of water per 50 miles, I'm happy with that, until the big freeze predicted next week !