Power steering ram on BX

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Rob_e (UK)
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Power steering ram on BX

Post by Rob_e (UK) »

Has anyone had to change a powersteering ram on a BX? Mine has been leaking for a while now and I wondered how easy the job was. In thery and according to teh haynes manual it isn't that difficult; although haynes only shows pictures of a left hand drive.
Looking under tha car the two pipes look a bit arkward to get to as the exhaust front pipe is pretty close.
Is it possible to get a spanner on them from under the bonnet with the heat shield removed.
The power assistance has still kept working. But I am getting a bit fed up with topping up the fluid all the time, not to mention the mess of it dripping where ever I park it.

Thanks,
Rob
jeremy
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Post by jeremy »

Official workshop manual may help:

http://www.rwbsmith.plus.com/citroen2/
jeremy
alan s
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Post by alan s »

Not all that hard to do, in fact I was working around one yesterday, but this was with the engine out which makes it a whole new ball game.

Unbolt the coupling at the hardydisc and slide the steering column upwards. Be sure the indicator is in the straight ahead position or you'll bust the insides to it.
Remove the heatshield and note how it fits in as you'll convince yourself it didn't come out of there when you try to refit it; it can be a bit weird to refit otherwise.
MOST IMPORTANT: Be certain to refit this heatshield regardless of how much problem you may have as the abscence of this will cause the new pinion to self destruct in no time along with a few other items (Don't ask me how I know) :roll:
Take out retaining bolts on flange and remove the pinion.
ANOTHER Important point: If you have a digital camera handy, take a pic of the pinion as the rings that are fitted to it have to go back in exactly the same grooves they come out of. LHD and RHD are different and if put in the incorrect slots will cause major hassles and necessitate removal of the pinion to rectify.
If you are fitting the kit, be certain that the bearing goes in last as a seperate entity as this is much simpler than trying to refit as part of a single unit as is shown on a couple of websites along with complicated methods of trying to fit it this way.
If you are using a replacement unit, I would still suggest taking a photo of the one that comes out to compare with the one you are fitting just to be certain that they don't supply them all to suit LHD cars which is a possibility. :wink:


Alan S
RIP Sept 19th 2008.

She said "Put the cat out" She didn't mention it was on fire!!
alan s
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Post by alan s »

Whoops; sorry about that, the ram is a long way off a pinion....too early to be drinking here too, so can't use that as an excuse.
Rob, I think you may need to tell us what model BX it is. I think on an 8 valve petrol you might get a good percentage of access from above, on a 16V none at all and I can't speak for a diesel particularly if there's any access difference between turbo or n/a.


Alan S
RIP Sept 19th 2008.

She said "Put the cat out" She didn't mention it was on fire!!
citronut
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Post by citronut »

if memery serves me right i think you can access the two pipes from the O/S wheel arch if we are talking RHD, they are very very very tight though,if its just the little rubber return coller/spoute perished and split, this can be replaced in situe
regards malcolm
Rob_e (UK)
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Post by Rob_e (UK) »

Sorry, I guess the model does make quite a difference to what access there is going to be, I forgot to mention that. It is a 1.9 Gti 8 valve (89). It is a right hand drive.

From the pictures in the Haynes manual there would probably be a lot more access from the top on the left hand drive model.

Unfortunately the leak is not from the return pipe, it is leaking from the main body of the ram, there is a joint that looks as if two parts have been pushed together at the end where the pipe unions are and the fluid is leaking from this joint. So I think the only cure will be a replacement ram.

I didn't look at how much access there would be from the wheel arch, I'll have to have a look.

Thanks for the help
Rob
Rob_e (UK)
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Post by Rob_e (UK) »

One other thing. I thought I had read somewhere that the pipe unions to the steering ram did not have rubber seals like all the other hydraulic connections on the car; is this right or did I just imagine it? :)

Rob
1989 White BX 1.9GTi 8v (Now awaiting some repair)
citronut
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Post by citronut »

i cant remember what ends these pipe have but i think your right,are you sure its not one of the pipes split and leaking onto the end of the ram,it was a long time ago when i did one
regards malcolm
alan s
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Post by alan s »

I pulled one off the pinion a couple of days ago and it had a kind of knob looking end on it and no rubber.
Given the kind of location and the work they do, I couldn't imagine they will have rubber seals on them and should be the same as the one I pulled out.
Be sure you use the proper 6 sided open ended ring spanner too as they are very tight and I could imagine a normal open ender might tend to round them off and then it could turn into high drama.
I might be a bit of a masochist (or maybe from working on 16Vs as long as I have - which makes me a masochist anyway) but I find running the car up on ramps or jacking up and putting the car on axle stands, front and rear, that I seem to get fairly good access by sliding under the front and working around the crossmember. That way you get access from all angles if required.


Alan S
RIP Sept 19th 2008.

She said "Put the cat out" She didn't mention it was on fire!!
Rob_e (UK)
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Post by Rob_e (UK) »

citronut wrote:are you sure its not one of the pipes split and leaking onto the end of the ram
Unfortunately I am pretty sure it is the ram itself. I have been under the car and wiped all the fluid off and when the engine was started and the steering moved a little I saw a drip of fluid starting to form and it did look like it was seeping from the joint on the ram and rather than one of the pipe. At first I had hoped it was just a loose pipe union.
I had a quick look tonight and unfortuanately it doesn't look like there would be much access from the wheel arch :( I think the pipes are a bit too far over for that.


alan s wrote:Be sure you use the proper 6 sided open ended ring spanner too as they are very tight
Can you remember what size spanner they need; I have got a couple of spanners like this but they may only be for the smaller size unions found on the 3.5 and 4.5 mm pipe.
1989 White BX 1.9GTi 8v (Now awaiting some repair)
slim123
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Post by slim123 »

The size is 12mm spanner, there are no seals on the pipes.

The ram is quite simple to change with the best acces from under the car looking towards the front. As said before the pipes are known to be very tight, you will need to undo the pipes both from the ram and the pinion valve to make it easier (more movement) it's a good idea to make a note of the pipes first as you can put them back wrong.

Also the bolts holding the ram to the rack are loctited in.

Have you got a ram yet?? They go for peanuts on ebay but if there is none there, I was at pleiades today, they have a lot of old stock of new Citroen rams that they are selling off cheap (ish)

Regards
Slim
Rob_e (UK)
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Post by Rob_e (UK) »

I have looked at the ram from that angle before and it looks like quite good access to the ram itself, the thing I was a bit concerned about was the fact that one pipe seemed to block access to undo the other. Admitedly I wasn't thinking of disconnecting the pipe from the pinion valve as well.
I'll take a picture of it with the digital camera before I remove any pipes. :) It is quite helpful when you can't quite remember how things went back together to have a picture of it before you started.

I ordered the ram the other day from Pieades, £50 + vat. Not quite peanuts unfortuantely. But better than the 80 + vat that GSF have it on their website for.

I looked in Halfords for a 12mm pipe spanner, guess what size they didn't have. :)
1989 White BX 1.9GTi 8v (Now awaiting some repair)
Rob_e (UK)
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Post by Rob_e (UK) »

Thanks everyone for the help. I have now go the new ram on the car, so hopefully it might keep a bit more of it's LHM in the car now.
The job was reletively easy in the end although the mounting bold at one end was Very tight as was pointed out.

Rob
1989 White BX 1.9GTi 8v (Now awaiting some repair)
Dave1
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Post by Dave1 »

jeremy wrote:Official workshop manual may help:

http://www.rwbsmith.plus.com/citroen2/
JEREMY,

Do you know of a site like this for the ZX, now that prnet is not readily available (FOC) it would be very handy.
jeremy
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Post by jeremy »

Only Citroen Y which has a copy of Haynes only. Seems ZX owners don't post interesting things - or they never go wrong!

http://citroeny.cz/servis/servis.htm

There is also this site which has the Citroen diesel manual and loads of other stuff - some not in English (got this one from the links section here)

http://sitruuna.unk.fi/pub/korjausoppaat/
jeremy
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