The 406 1.9TD disaster makes way for the Xantia conterpart

[Lawrence1973]

Hello All, Just thought I would report in on the engine swap project and say a big thank you to the forum and Jim of course!

I had a real run of bad luck with my 406, even now as we speak there is probably a gremlin lurking under that bonnet hatching another calamity!

It all started with the an injection pump problem that was solved with a replacement pump only to find that a spectacular breakdown on the M25 left my girlfriend, myself and my little son wondering why we bought this car! especially after fitting another pump myself(with all the de armouring and fun that goes with it).

I had a visit from Jim after the breakdown to find that there was a mechanical failure of some sort - having ruled out electrical sensor stuff with the lexia machine and the general expert ears and eyes of Jim.

I decided to have a go......I took the cylinder head off because I thought I haven't really lost anything if it was the head gasket (even I can do that)
Oh noooooo, the head removal revealed something far more spectacular.

I have pictures of this but basically a fragment of injection pump armour had made its way into the induction manifold where it eventually fouled the inlet valve and then in spectacular fashion, passed into the combustion chamber and smashed the head, valve and piston up.....

More to come........

[citronut]

touch plastic sorry wood my 1.9TD xant is still running fine, after carrying out the same opperation you had carried out on de/armouring,

i dont think i allowed any chuncks of armour into the fuel system but time might tell

regards malcolm

[CitroJim]

Oh noooooo, the head removal revealed something far more spectacular.

Indeed it did!

This:



And this:



It looks as if whoever did the dearmour originally carried out the job very brutally and with the turbo piping removed and did not stuff rag in the open inlet manifold to prevent debris getting in.

It must have been brutal as they managed to break off the maxumum feed adjustment screw boss on the rear of the pump and stuck it back on using chemical metal. Needless to say, the pupm did not work at its besst afterward

More to come........

Indeed there is! I'll now leave Lawrence to tell the rest of a very intresting adventure

[Lawrence1973]

Cheers Malcolm,
I have to make it absolutely clear that the bit of pump armour was not of my doing! Like Jim said, I reckon this was just sitting in there from before I owned the car waiting to be a veritable spanner in the works! My replacement pump de armouring was done well away from any induction manifolds!

Cheers for the pictures Jim, I was scratching my head last night wondering how to up load them! Need to host.

Ok, on with the show.

I rummaged around the internet for several weeks wondering what I could get to fix things up - maybe a replacement head but the bottom end was probably damaged as well so it was looking like a new engine.

I managed to find a 62,000 mile xantia engine from a government scrappage scheme breakers down near Reigate. I bought the whole lot - gearbox and auxiliaries.

Of course, nothing is ever simple is it?! I got it home to find that there was a dirty great crack in the sump.....I negotiated a deal and got a serious discount. I swapped my old sump onto the new engine and away we went.

I have access to a front loader on a tractor and I opted for the 'lift the engine out' method......don't if you can help it, lift the car of the engine, I reckon it's a lot easier.

I must confess I smashed my radiator in the process but that's my own fault - worth removing it - gives quite a bit more room.

Don't want bore anyone with too much more but main points to bare in mind compatibility wise...

The engine mounting studs are different in length on each engine (xantia are shorter) - I just freed them up and swapped them over with locking compound to tighten them.

The cooling hoses are arranged slightly differently on the back of the engine below the turbo. The 406 has an extra metal hose - this is simple to sort as they are simply blanked off as applicable. Don't forget it's mounted on the lower engine mounting bracket.

The power steering pump is obviously different due to the xantia hydraulic suspension - just swapped pumps and gave the xantia one to a friend of mine.

Everything else was just a straight swap with minor small bracket differences here and there.

I might have forgotten one or two things but that's it. Touch wood she's running ok and has passed the MOT.

[CitroJim]

Excellent work Lawrence

Thank goodness the breakers are not compelled to destroy the engines of cars brought in under the scrappage scheme as they do in the USA

Mind you, with that cracked sump, they tried!