Irish Activa

robert_e_smart · Unread post by **robert_e_smart** » 28 Mar 2010, 14:33

Afternoon Folks,

I've just picked up an Activa yesterday.

Its a 1997 Model with 108K on the clock. First impressions are good, the Anti-Roll system works and is very impressive to drive, and its a nice change to be driving a Turbo Petrol Xantia rather than a Turbo Diesel.

It has the usual Activa faults, leaking ram return pipes, clonking from the rear ram bush, and a nice little slow shuffle dance from side to side at idle as well.

I'll take my time at working through these problems, and get it MOTd again sometime soon. So I'l be asking plenty of questions later on.

Its not a bad car on the surface, some marks and dings to be expected with the age, but it will clean up well. The interior is nice, no wear to the seats or fag burns, again a deep clean will do it no harm either.

Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure.

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 28 Mar 2010, 22:53

Nice tidy car.

robert_e_smart · Unread post by **robert_e_smart** » 29 Mar 2010, 09:10

Shes not too bad at all. Its a pity I have to change the heater matrix on it as well, but its not all that bad a job. As long as I don't break the screen again when removing the scuttle panel I'll be flying.

I'm more relieved that the exhaust manifold gasket isn't blowing, I have encountered that on a TCT XM before.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 30 Mar 2010, 11:57

Very nice Robert

Well bought.

Lots of experience here on Activas in general. I have two....

The manifold gasket. Xac and I have one to do soon on an Activa. We're still debating if it can be done in-situ or if the engine needs lifting out... How did you manage in the XM?

Unread post by **Dommo** » 30 Mar 2010, 12:40

I think my manifold gasket needs doing Jim. It sounds as though it needs doing, but I can cover the exhaust tip and it really pressurises, and when you let go it really releases pressure, as though its not leaking.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 30 Mar 2010, 14:39

Easiest way to tell Dom is to stick your head in the engine bay and take a good sniff. If you can smell exhaust fumes then that's the first sign before noise.

The next stage is the engine doing a fair impression of a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine...

Another check is to get the front up on ramps, crawl under and eyeball the manifold looking for sooty marks on the head by the manifold flanges.

For some bizarre reason, MK2s seem to suffer more than MK1s.

It's a bugger of a job whichever way you look at it Dom... The only salvation is that that manifold nuts rarely play up...

XantiaMan · Unread post by **XantiaMan** » 30 Mar 2010, 14:53

Pretty glad i dont have to worry about the manifold gasket issue any more!

Nice tidy car btw.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 30 Mar 2010, 14:59

XantiaMan wrote:Pretty glad i dont have to worry about the manifold gasket issue any more!

You're an old hand at them now Gareth

robert_e_smart · Unread post by **robert_e_smart** » 30 Mar 2010, 15:59

The manifold gasket. How did you manage in the XM?

I sold it to my Pal,

His mechanic changed the manifold gasket with the engine in situ, I believe they rocked the engine forward to do it.

It is a pig of a job for access. On the Xm there is no room between the bulkhead and back of the engine, and with a heat shield on the manifold you can't see if its cracked or leaking from above. You'll smell the exhaust fumes from the back of the engine as well.

I have had a cracked manifold on a N/A 8V Xm before, it seems to be a weakness with this 8V engine.

I had a quick look under that car on Sunday, and both rams are weeping from the return pipe area. I have been reading on some of the French forums that someone has used a PAS ram return cover thing form a XM or BX to replace the old leaking return chap on the Activa Rams.

Jim, I'll have to order one of your replacement rear ram bushes to get rid of the cloking from the rear end of the car.

Apart from the weeping and clonking rear, a CV boot will see it MOT'd and I'd like to get some proper W rated rubber on it was well. It has 3 Nexxens V rated, and a W rated Michelin Pilot SX.

What tyres are the rest of you running them with? I see from Michelin's website that they don't make a W rated tyre in that size anymore. Can you get away with using a V rated tyre? I appreciate that I have to be extra fussy with tyres on this car, and the Nexxens will be going once it is MOT'd. The rest of My XMs are on Michelin tyres, and the CX on Firestone since I don't do the mileage in it to justify expensive tyres.

Unread post by **Dommo** » 30 Mar 2010, 16:36

CitroJim wrote:Easiest way to tell Dom is to stick your head in the engine bay and take a good sniff. If you can smell exhaust fumes then that's the first sign before noise.

The next stage is the engine doing a fair impression of a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine...

Another check is to get the front up on ramps, crawl under and eyeball the manifold looking for sooty marks on the head by the manifold flanges.

For some bizarre reason, MK2s seem to suffer more than MK1s.

It's a bugger of a job whichever way you look at it Dom... The only salvation is that that manifold nuts rarely play up...

In that case then it's probably alright, there's no smell of fumes around the car, only by the exhaust tip. It does sound as though it's blowing I must admit.. I'll have a look underneath at the manifold when I get time and report back.

Cheers.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 30 Mar 2010, 16:45

The exhaust manifold job is being confirmed as a devil. Similarly no room in a Xantia either. It's going to be fun...

The old XU5 and 9 engines used to be terrible for cracking manifolds. Most were and you lived with it unless the carbon monoxide seeping into the cabin got you first... The turbo manifold is not so bad as it's little more than a log.

The leaking ram returns are doable Robert. What you normally find is that the little mounded rubber spigot the return pipe plugs into perishes and develops cracks. On other occasions you'll find the spigort fine and LHM weeping out between the rubber moulding and the metal parts as indicated by the red arrow in this picture:

I'm developing a fix for both problem using (amongst other things) heatshrink sleeving. I've done one using my method on my project car but until fully proved I'm reluctant to go public with it just yet. Touch-wood it seems successful.

This is a sneaky preview:

As soon as I'm happy it works, I will do na article but suffice to say, it's just a variation on what has been previously published.

No worries on a bush. PM me your address and I'll pop one in the post. I'm not in a good position to make one right now as I have an Activa interior blocking access to my lathe

Getting the remains of the old bush out is fun. Arm yourself with some sockets to use as mandrels and a long threaded rod. You can, if you like, remove the ram and use a hydraulic press to do the bush but that's doing it the hard way

lefgrter · Unread post by **lefgrter** » 30 Mar 2010, 17:22

As soon as I'm happy it works, I will do na article but suffice to say, it's just a variation on what has been previously published.

Then I can imagine an ebay shop caled "Citrojim's solutions" selling stuff that Citroen never manage to Fix

No worries on a bush. PM me your address and I'll pop one in the post. I'm not in a good position to make one right now as I have an Activa interior blocking access to my lathe

If you could make 2 of them I would be very very happy driver

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 30 Mar 2010, 17:45

lefgrter wrote: If you could make 2 of them I would be very very happy driver

It will be a pleasure Lefteris

Send me your address in a PM and consider it done. Greek customs may wonder what it is though

robert_e_smart · Unread post by **robert_e_smart** » 30 Mar 2010, 19:04

Superb Jim,

PM sent.

I look forward to hearing how you get on with your experiment with the heat shrink.

I'll try and dig the detail from Planete Citroen about the BX/XM PAS ram return cover fix. The only problem I can see with it is that the PAS ram boot affair is much larger than the Activa ram one, and that it either won't fit, or catch the run off LHM properly.

Once I have the rear ram off I'll replace the bush and repair the leak all in one to save hassle.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 30 Mar 2010, 21:29

robert_e_smart wrote: Once I have the rear ram off I'll replace the bush and repair the leak all in one to save hassle.

Taking the rear ram off is a serious business on a par with doing a CT Turbo manifold gasket Robert... If you can possibly avoid it, don't...

The repair can be done in-situ if you can get a heat gun out under the car.

For interest/horror purposes, here is how to replace a rear ram. The front one is an absolute doddle by comparison and barely warrants a write-up...