slight oil leak

admiral51 · Unread post by **admiral51** » 03 May 2008, 21:50

Hi
have noticed a slight oil leak from my Xantia unable to post a pic today will find camera tomorrow

have traced it to what i believe is the pipe that runs from top LH corner of location H4 under the pipe from oil filler housing to air intake pipework and under fuel line in this thread i believe its just a breather pipe but it appear to be 2 short stubby pipes with a joiner and is quite damp on the engine side of the join.the oil is running down on top of the sump nothing major just annoying i know its there

the HG valves cambelt have been done recently when cambelt broke so is it a good idea to clean/replace all of the breather pipes

the old gal isnt using/losing oil so am i getting paranoid over nothing to important

cheers
Colin

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 03 May 2008, 22:21

Hi Colin,

The pipe that goes from the rocker box (sorry, cam cover) to the oil pot do you mean?

That is a very common failure. It gets hard with age and when disturbed it either splits or a big lump of it underneath the clip that secures it to the rocker box breaks away. They cannot be repaired any sense. Yours will have been disturbed big-time recently when the head was done.

They're only a few pounds from your local Stealer. If you can hang on a tic, I'll go and look at the Service site and get the part no. and price.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 03 May 2008, 22:26

This is the one you need Colin...

0000118086 OIL VAPOR HOSE £4.95

admiral51 · Unread post by **admiral51** » 03 May 2008, 22:35

Cheers Jim put my mind at rest thought i was going mad looking all around the head to see if that was leaking

Yes i believe it is the one from the rocker cover down to the bottom of the oil filler pot cant see where else it can come from defo not the head its dry as a bone (thankfully)

Been reading your write up of your latest tinkering

seems that it may well be worth the price quoted for us less gifted individuals

glad you got it sorted but then i knew you would 8) 8)

Colin

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 03 May 2008, 22:48

admiral51 wrote:Been reading your write up of your latest tinkering seems that it may well be worth the price quoted for us less gifted individuals

Indeed, £400 - £500 seems like a bit of a good deal

It is an adventure. To give you a bit of a reference, last weekend I changed the cambelt and water pump on our 1.9TD in around 3 hours. Then, for an encore, I changed it's LHM which took another hour and a half say. Today, I started on the 2.1 at 10 this morning and by 6 this evening I'm about an hour away from finishing. Granted I had issues to resolve but it shows it's not nearly as straightforward as the good old 1.9....

nickd · Unread post by **nickd** » 06 May 2008, 13:25

Jim, when you change a cambelt do you use a special tool of any description to set the tension, or the 'rough' method described in the Haynes manual?

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 06 May 2008, 20:24

nickd wrote:Jim, when you change a cambelt do you use a special tool of any description to set the tension, or the 'rough' method described in the Haynes manual?

On the diesels Nick, both the 1.9 and 2.1, the tensioners are automatic (i.e. spring loaded) so it is just a case of releasing the tensioner from its fully off position, rotating the engine a couple of times and then locking the tensioner in the tensioned position. No so on the 2.0 petrols. They use a manual eccentric tensioner similar to the one that tensions the auxillary belt.

I always use the 90 degree rule, that is, adjust the tensioner until the belt can just be turned through 90 degrees between finger and thumb in the middle of its longest run. You need to be aware though, that it is very easy to over tension the belt as the engine expands significantly when it is hot and thus if you adjust the belt to the tight side when it is cold, it'll be too tight when hot. If it is too tight, you'll hear it making a sort of whining noise.

I set it so that it is very easily turned through 90 degrees between finger and thumb when cold, rotate the engine a couple of revolutions, check tension again and run the engine up to temperature with the cover off and then check that the belt can just be turned 90 degrees when hot. You need to take care doing this that nothing can get trapped in the belt and sprockets and take car not to burn yourself on the hot engine. At least, unlike the diesels, you can get the cover on and off without removing the engine mount. Listen too for whining when hot in case the belt is too tight.