It looks terminal...

D.Slatford · Unread post by **D.Slatford** » 26 Sep 2005, 17:54

Something awful happened on the way to work this morning, to my P reg 1.9TD Xantia. Right now it's at a garage awaiting inspection, but that probably won't happen for a while. I'm trying to guess what might have gone wrong.
Driving along fine, albeit with some music on. So it wasn't until the track stopped that I realised there was a god-awful loud 'ticking' from the engine. The faster the revs, the louder the ticking/clanking. Worrying - but I was almost at work and doubt my minimal cover would pick me up off the motorway, so carried on slowly.
Then on the roundabout between two motorways, engine stalled and wouldn't start. It sounded tight, the starter only just turning the engine over, but straining. Later on, it did turn over, but very noisily, with the same loud clattering before stalling. I don't think there was any smoke.
What the heck might have happened? There's plenty of oil, and the timing belt is in place (there's a cracked off part on top of the cover so the belt is visible). It's just turned 160K.

bxbodger · Unread post by **bxbodger** » 26 Sep 2005, 18:38

My best guess is that though the cambelt is still there, the tensioner pulley has probably failed, causing the belt to lose tension and jump about on its teeth, throwing the diesel pump timing right out, and the valves to clatter on top of the pistons- thats the ticking noise, very metallic.
You probably didn't do it any favours by carrying on.......[:(]

Anyway, see what the garage says!!

Ciaran · Unread post by **Ciaran** » 26 Sep 2005, 18:48

Ouch

Are tensioner pullys known to fail every so often ?
The 1.9TD I aquired at the weekend last had it's belt done at 120k, and is now sitting at 163k. I'm told the interval for the belt is 60-70k, so I was going to change it at 170 (50k) just to be on the safe side.
Do tensioner pullys generally have a reccommended service life... should I be worrying about changing them at the same time as the belt ?
Hope your car survives D.Slatford.
Cheers.

D.Slatford · Unread post by **D.Slatford** » 26 Sep 2005, 18:55

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by bxbodger

My best guess is that though the cambelt is still there, the tensioner pulley has probably failed, causing the belt to lose tension and jump about on its teeth, throwing the diesel pump timing right out, and the valves to clatter on top of the pistons- thats the ticking noise, very metallic.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
That was my gut feeling, I mentioned this so the timing will obviously be one of the things that'll be checked out (I dread to think of the cost of diagnosis alone). While the tension felt about the same, there was a sort of tactile, crunchy sensation when I pushed the belt down. I would have expected it to smoke like a chimney if the timing was out though, which it didn't. I suppose the cost of repair would be no different than if the belt had snapped if so

Talk about feeling sick, on every car I've had I'm had the timing belt changed sharpish, this car being the exception. Typically I'd had it scheduled in after this months paycheque.

Dave Burns · Unread post by **Dave Burns** » 26 Sep 2005, 20:35

Could be a sticking injector at best (very likely) or loose hot spot at worst, or even a big end perhaps.
If the valves were being contacted by the pans it would soon give up the ghost.
Dave

dotcommer · Unread post by **dotcommer** » 27 Sep 2005, 04:26

It sounds a bit like my son's problem--see SethY on 16/9. Does your Xantia have an ECU? The car is in the garage now- much too complicated for the likes of me, with engine fault lights and codes. The latest theory is a failed advance solenoid within the diesel pump, so the diesel timing is out.This makes it knock and rattle, sounding like mechanical banging. This has yet to be confirmed- we haven't heard back from the garage yet.(The vacuum pipes working the fast idle were irrelevant, since the lever was locked in position by the adjustable stops and the cable not affecting it. I presume the fast idle advance is also done by the ECU acting on the solenoid)

D.Slatford · Unread post by **D.Slatford** » 27 Sep 2005, 16:49

Big end failure.
For no apparant reason whatsoever. Everything else is fine, injectors, pump, timing. Lots of noise from the bottom of the engine, occasionally runs for a few seconds, then squeals, clanks, strains and stalls. Very tight turning over on starter or manually turning the crank. Not worth attempting repair.
Back to square one.

James.UK · Unread post by **James.UK** » 27 Sep 2005, 18:10

D.S. I am sorry your engine has died on you, but you could turn this to your advantage and buy a nice ZX 1.9D to replace it, Marty bought a super one quite recently and they are never very expensive. [:)] From the happy smile on his face when he looked at the car I think his Xantia better be on its best behaviour in future. [;)]

bxbodger · Unread post by **bxbodger** » 27 Sep 2005, 18:44

Its probably been a victim of very extended oil change periods, or no oil changes at all, at some time in its past. Don't believe anyone who thinks a diesel can be pushed much more than 5-6000 miles between changes, not even if the manual says you can!
Don't give up on it!! You may just get away with dropping the sump and changing the big end shells- provided the mains are o.k. and the crank isn't physically shaking about, you could get away with a bit more use out of it.
I did this years ago on a Marina and it gave it another two years before the rust monster finally ate it!!
The old shells were pretty badly scored, but as I didn't have a lot of money and couldn't afford to get the crank ground I took a chance on new shells and it worked, the only thing was that it took a while to build up oil pressure on start up, and I didn't really like to cane it too hard......

D.Slatford · Unread post by **D.Slatford** » 27 Sep 2005, 19:04

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by bxbodger
Don't give up on it!! You may just get away with dropping the sump and changing the big end shells- provided the mains are o.k. and the crank isn't physically shaking about, you could get away with a bit more use out of it.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
While that might possibly repair things it's beyond my ability, I'm unable to move the car from where it is now (the mechanic I took it to will likely buy it for parts) and have nowhere to perform work like that.
Over the last year in my posession it had run low on oil to the point of flashing the light a couple of times, but always filled up immediately. It did burn it all up in a thousand or so miles. Maybe that was still enough to seal its fate?
Or might this be anything to do with running it on veg oil occasionally - although I can't see how that would cause this kind of failure, and certainly not heard of it before.