Banjo Bolt - HELP!

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Re: Banjo Bolt - HELP!

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

You might find Citroen will only sell the washers in packs of 50! I recently wanted to buy some bolts off them to be told 50 at a time, for (IIRC) £45! I got 10 bolts from Screwfix (that are the right dimensions and stainless steel) for £1.10!
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Re: Banjo Bolt - HELP!

Post by citronut »

sound to me as you have split/fractured your

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union

the scaffold tube on the end of you spanner were a tad tooooooo long :yikes: :twisted: #-o :-D :lol: :rofl2: :rofl2: :wink:

these union bolts always used to be plated brass/copper
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Re: Banjo Bolt - HELP!

Post by Old-Guy »

The Green Lady is back on the road - albeit with a temporary solution.

Wednesday afternoon I took the whole lot apart, degreased and cleaned. Then photographed and measured (with vernier callipers) accurately.

The root cause of my problem is that the OD of the copper sealing washers as specified by Citroen is 18mm compared with the banjo OD of 21mm. So, as designed, the washers sit 1.5mm inside the rim of the banjo. But if you buy some new, genuine Citroen, sealing washers today (as I've just done), they are skinnier than the nominal dimensions of 12.1 x 18 x 2. The measured dimensions are 12.35 x 17.75 x 1.85. The nett result is that the washers will inevitably sit off-centre by upto 1mm. With repeated tightening, this uneven load distorts the thin (steel) banjo until it starts to leak air very slightly. Any attempt to clean and reseal only makes matters worse.

The banjo connection assembly, 1563 C7, isn't available. Apparently Citroen's parts system shows no stock anywhere in Europe. I can't really complain as it's a non-wearing part for a 19 year-old car. 3 alternatives: get one made (reason for careful measurement), get a s/h one from a scrappy, do a work-around.

However, to collect the sealing washers ordered on Tuesday, I needed a quick, temporary fix. I found a couple of unused nice thick imperial copper washers 1" OD x 7/16" ID. With the bores carefully opened up with a taper reamer to just fit over the banjo bolt and the sharp edges slightly chamfered with a countersink bit, these are now the perfect size. What was then needed was a couple of similar-sized, soft, diesel-proof, washers - both my tube of Hylomar Blue, and Instant Silicone Gasket had gone too hard with age to be usable (no car to go get replacements). Digging in my hoard of 'bits', I found an ancient pack of 2 washing machine sealing washers the right size (1" OD x 1/2" bore) but rubber and gone hard with age. Last night on the way home, our local hardware shop produced new ones made of soft plastic (70p pk of 3). This morning it was 10 minutes work to re-assemble as a 'kebab' on the bolt of - 1" copper washer, 1" soft washer, banjo, 1" soft washer, 1" copper washer. This left rather more than half the original thread showing so I tightened down just enough to stop the bolt undoing itself (I hope). I also hope the plastic washers are diesel-proof!

After a fair bit of priming, the engine eventually spluttered into life, but then ran cleanly. After a minute or two I switched off, tidied up, dried off my tools (raining), cleaned the stink of diesel off my hands and then tried starting her again. Instant! Indoors for a wash and change, cup of tea, read the paper and generally waste an hour or so before trying again. A second instant start. Because this union is under slight vacuum, if it starts to leak, it will be of air IN so plenty of warning from the familiar starting problem or the else the engine will just stopg from fuel starvation long before the bolt can undo itself. 17mm ring spanner in boot!

We've been out for lunch (HER birthday), stopped to collect the new washers, then at the local factors for new tubes of Hylomar Blue and Instant Gasket and lastly at Sainsbury's. Total trip length of some 30 miles. Each time she started again first twist of the key; as she did again after I'd hosed the traces of spilt diesel off the front of the engine (cause of the strong smell of diesel in the srummage in Sainsbury's car park). I'm working tomorrow, so the acid test will be tomorrow evening - after sitting for 24 hours nose up on a gentle slopeshe should start again first pull.

The permanent fix substituting Hylomar Blue for the soft washers so the banjo bolt won't ever undo itself, can then wait for the next dry day when I'm not working.
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Re: Banjo Bolt - HELP!

Post by CitroJim »

Guy, that's excellent =D> :-D

What a great work-around... Brilliant 8-)

You know that'll become permanent now...

I loved your research into the cause of the problem...
Jim

Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
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