All Things V6...

[Stickyfinger]

Hidden Scrappage scheme...........simples

[DHallworth]

For the 2.7 I'd be happy with that if it kept the 3.0 on the road

[RichardW]

David, have a word with Steering Specialists in Wakefield - several people have had X7 racks refurbed there, and it seems they had bought up stocks of pipes (but might only have been LP returns). https://sslautoparts.com/

[DHallworth]

Thanks Richard, just spoken to them and they've not got any pipes.

They're said that they've repaired them before and could do it if they had the car but there's nothing they can help me with.

David.

[bobins]

Weren't they now grafting on Berlingo*(???) pipes onto the ends of the C5 pipes to make them good again ?
* Might not have been B'lingo, but it's a PSA car.

[MattBLancs]

Weren't they now grafting on Berlingo*(???) pipes onto the ends of the C5 pipes to make them good again ?
* Might not have been B'lingo, but it's a PSA car.

Yep,
viewtopic.php?p=743090#p743090

Well I just returned from the steering specialist in Wakefield and they did a cracking job. Rack refurbed and resealed and in remarkable time. Was a joy to cruise the 4h home this evening. Too bad the engine light came on in the final hour.... I wonder how long I can resist moving the C5 on..

Ah, that is other question I meant to ask:

Was your dead rack taken as an exchange unit, or have you it to hand? I wouldn't mind getting my hands on one to investigate, and a dead one would be best for that.

Hi Matt, sorry they actually refurb the rack on site - replaced the end part of the return pipe as well by joining on a non corroded end from a Berlingo - have the old pipe end as a souvenir - quite impressive turn around really. And this morning... no leaks!

[Jay-Bruce]

Om nom shiny!

As you can see, I've got an almost mint condition genuine one of these 5720WL pipes, retail is £210 new, seemingly unobtainable elsewhere, care to make me an offer?

[DHallworth]

Until I know what I'm doing with each car then there's not much need for it at the moment.

The 2.7 is fluid tight just now and I've not even had a chance to look at the 3.0 yet as I need to get a friends car finished and off the ramp. I thought I was there yesterday morning but then ended up having to do front to rear brake pipes on it yesterday afternoon.

David.

[DHallworth]

Finally managed to get time to finish my friends car today and as of this afternoon it’s no longer on the ramp.

The 3.0 HDi C5 is now on the ramp. The car is in great shape underneath it with minimal rust which is great on a car that’s been resident in Scotland for 5 years!

The leak on the steering seems to be from where the pipes join into the rack. From looking round the back of the drivers wheel it looks like the lower pipe that’s leaking which I’ve been told is the return pipe.

David.

[DHallworth]

Have had another look at the C5 today.

The garage who replaced the wishbone for Stu seem to have somehow knocked the aluminium low pressure return pipe. When they did that they’ve attempted to tighten the bolt holding the clamp and pipes to the pinion. When they’ve done this they’ve absolutely destroyed the head on the bolt. It should be a torx bolt but there’s nothing at all left on the inside of the bolt.

The correct torx bit just spins in the bolt. I’ve tried hammering a 12 spline bit into it but the remains of the bolt are very soft. A 12mm 12 point socket goes over the head of the bolt but doesn’t grip it tight enough. An 11mm socket is too tight to get over the head of the bolt. Access isn’t great and I don’t want to damage the pipes any further.

Am giving thoughts to dropping the subframe to try and improve access as getting perfectly square on the head of the bolt isn’t the easiest job either.

It does look to be the low pressure return pipe that’s leaking. If I do go down the route of removing the rack, I’m giving serious thoughts to Jay’s idea of a JIC nipple and repiping the steering pipes. I’m just not sure what’s on the other ends of the pipes at the moment. I don’t think there’s enough room just to do a JIC nipple on the return as I don’t think the hex on the nipple would clear the bolt that holds the bracket on the high pressure pipe.

David.

[MattBLancs]

The correct torx bit just spins in the bolt. I’ve tried hammering a 12 spline bit into it but the remains of the bolt are very soft. A 12mm 12 point socket goes over the head of the bolt but doesn’t grip it tight enough. An 11mm socket is too tight to get over the head of the bolt. Access isn’t great and I don’t want to damage the pipes any further.

7/16" socket? (Just a little bigger than 11mm but smaller than 12)

Next size up Torx bit hammered in? I've a set of "impact Torx bits) that would suit such an attempt.

Junior hacksaw then file to widen it for slot (then slotted impact screwdriver if room to get at it)?

Sorry can't picture how tight access is (and maybe worse on the V6 than mine anyway)

[DHallworth]

Sorry, should have said I tried AF sockets too.

The one that would go over it was too loose, the next one down wouldn’t go over it.

I’m giving thought to buying a cheap 11mm deep 12 sided socket and cutting a slot in it, opening it up ever so slightly and welding it on the cut to try that.

[CitroJim]

Might an Irwin reverse flute socket - the ones designed to remove bolts with mangled heads - do the job David?

I've had tremendous success with them in the past...

https://www.zoro.co.uk/shop/hand-tools/ ... ZT1006243X

Website is an example only - first one I found...

[DHallworth]

I ordered a set of them from Amazon yesterday and they arrived today thanks to Prime!

I got this bolt out this evening.

The Irwin extractors were too thick to go between the 2 pipes on the pinion so they were a non starter.

I then tried to use a chisel. The only way I could get a chisel to reach was to use a 16mm socket on a long 1/2” extension but despite a beating with a lump hammer it just wouldn’t budge. I then got the air chisel out of the toolbox and had to change the fitting on the bottom of it so I could get it to fit and even after a few rounds with that it wouldn’t budge.

I used the air chisel to put a groove in the bolt and then tried with a big flat blade screw driver bit in the impact driver but that wouldn’t shift it either.

I then remembered we had a long drill extension so I drilled the head off the bolt. To get it square on I had to hold the drill behind where the front mudflap would sit and run the extension up behind the corner of the arch liner. Despite the bolt being knackered I managed to get it central which was a relief.

After quite a lot of effort, I then managed to get the bracket that acts as a clamp to slide down the steel pipe and I was then able to remove the low pressure aluminium return pipe from the pinion.

You can clearly see in the pictures that the aluminium pipe has corroded and is wafer thing underneath where the steel clamp secured the pipe to the pinion.

After I’d done this there was enough room to use the Irwin extractor to remove the rest of the stud from the pinion.

Now all I need to do is decide how I’m going to repair it.

David.

[mickthemaverick]

Well done David. You clearly have a large tin of perseverance to hand!