Help ! Lost in France

[xantia_v6]

...the A6/A26 junction.

A6/A31?

Of course. A6/A31.

[Paul-R]

I like the Rouen/Chartres/Orlean route however, to my surprise, just checking it on Google maps - which I usually find surprisingly accurate - they suggest that it’s about 2 1/4 hours longer to get to the Clermont area !

Compared to what route?

Boulogne to Abbeville is toll autoroute and I usually take the ordinary road which adds nearly half an hour to the journey. Having said that, I pay for the very first bit to bypass Boulogne and the dip down and then climb back out that taking the ordinary road would entail. It's then about a fiver extra to stay on the A16 to Abbeville. It's a tight decision!

We'll stay in either Rouen or Chartres. If Rouen there's a short stretch of toll autoroute that's more convenient to take. If Chartres, we'll take the inland road to the A154/N154 which is then free to use.

[jml]

Hi Paul, sorry I wasn’t ignoring you but we’ve been out all day - there’s a medieval celebration in Uzès all weekend.

In answer to your question ‘compared to what route’, the fact is I can’t quite remember I’d just got Calais to our overnight stop a little north of Clermont Ferrand in Google maps and then I added the other towns and it showed it as being that much longer.

I probably shouldn’t have done it that way as I like to keep as far away from Paris as possible although I reckon that once you get used to the Francilienne, which I find quite helpful, it becomes bearable. However, I try to avoid autoroutes whenever time allows and I’ve found that using the ‘avoid tolls’ in Google maps can give you a reasonable balance between the speed of the autoroute and the scenery of the other roads, and save some money as well !

Unfortunately my wife hasn’t been feeling too special on this holiday, not helped by all of the switchbacks etc coming down from the Massif Centrale, so I rather fear our return will have to be whatever way Google maps declares quickest.

Once again, thanks for everybody’s thoughts and advice.

Cheers

Julian

[jml]

I thought I’d bring this post up to date, in the hope that it might help anybody else experiencing the same problem - plus I think some may find the attached YouTube video of interest !

Well, before this problem, I had never heard of an Overrunning Alternator Pulley (OAP !) but that’s what my problem proved to be. The noise only happened below about 1100 rpm and so, with some delicate left foot braking, (whilst my right foot ensured the engine stayed above those revs with neutral selected), I managed to nurse the old girl back to the UK all ok.

Examination the next day revealed this:



As you May be able to see, the belt kicks around like crazy at tickover speeds, whilst the tensioner bobs away like mad, trying to control things. Fortunately, with the revs slightly increased, things return to normal. I guess it was the ‘tinkling’ sound that worried me most as I envisaged something mechanical beginning to break up.

I’m still astounded as to how a seized pulley can create so much of a problem - you’d think it would just act like a solid pulley but this, together with quite a bit more on YouTube convinced me the pulley was the problem.

Unfortunately, Citroen only sell the alternator complete at £600 odd. From a photo I took of the pulley, I was able to identify the marking “INA F 550426”. Unbeknown to me, INA are one of the biggest manufacturers of Overrunning Alternator Pulleys and, after a little Googling, I was able to locate one for around just £30 at AUTODOC.co.uk. Despite the web address, they’re based in Germany and I was pretty impressed with them with just the one, significant, exception that delivery time is NOT quick - it took over a week with no express delivery service offered.

Interesting to note that the original was marked ‘CHINA’ whilst the replacement was marked ‘GERMANY’. However I reckon a life span of 160,000 for the original isn’t bad, especially when, after researching it, I see that it’s often advised these should be changed at 60 or 70,000 miles !

Fitting it required a special tool, as Lexi kindly pointed out, but they’re not expensive however, despite originally thinking I might be able to fix it from within the wheelarch, I had to remove the alternator. This entails removing the fuel filter and all its various housings (quite why they are so heavy duty - 3mm thick steel ! - I have no idea ).

Anyway, once the pulley was replaced and everything refitted it all started perfectly and normal noise levels returned. I was well chuffed with such an inexpensive and relatively easy fix after fearing, 800 miles from home, that my noise might even be terminal with about 160,000 miles on the car !

A big thank you to all who posted on here with advice and I just hope that this may be of help to some other owners.

Cheers

Julian

[Steve Walsh]

Good to hear it ended well.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Unfortunately, Citroen only sell the alternator complete at £600 odd. From a photo I took of the pulley, I was able to identify the marking “INA F 550426”. Unbeknown to me, INA are one of the biggest manufacturers of Overrunning Alternator Pulleys and, after a little Googling, I was able to locate one for around just £30



Cheers Julian

Thats the sort of tip which would be useful to find so just in case it gets "lost" in a thread called "Help! lost in France", I have changed my reply title to help the search engines

Well Done!

Regards Neil

[Stickyfinger]

Glad it is fixed mate....and that you got home all Ok

[jml]

Thanks guys and that’s a very good idea Neil.

Just a thought though Neil - as the engine is in other Citroens, would it be worth leaving out the ‘C8’ and just have ‘2.2HDi......

Cheers everyone

Julian

[Paul-R]

Great result in the end.

Going back to you post on Oct 26th, I find the "switchbacks etc coming down from the Massif Centrale" to be delightful and make the journey interesting. Horses for courses!

[jml]

Yes, I normally enjoy the switchbacks, but my wife sometimes suffers from inner ear problems - worsened by altitude and rapid, successive changes in direction !

In fact, this time there was a surprising, and very pleasant, lack of traffic which allowed me to ‘enjoy’ the route even more than usual until, unfortunately, the inner ears started playing up - Oops, my fault

Although certainly not the most obvious choice of car for such a spirited drive, the C8, with that 173hp twin turbo engine, can prove to be a pretty surprising and enjoyable car for such a run

Cheers

Julian

[van ordinaire]

Always good to get these end of saga posts, more so when they're informative & helpful to others.

Jeeps have taught me to suspect pulleys/tensioners as most likely source of strange noises. X-fertilization of different cultures/disciplines can often provide answers from unexpected sources.

I've bought from Autodoc once, simply because they were cheapest (can't remember what for now) & don't recall an extended delivery time - although, as I usually have parts sent to Devon, providing they're then when I arrive Friday night, that's good enough for me.