Clips - Engine covers and trays

dnsey · Post by **dnsey** » 24 Aug 2011, 16:49

My 'dampers' used to fail regularly. Since I stuck a bit of PVC tape on each of the retaining buttons, though, to avoid losing them, the dampers have all stayed intact. Looks as though the dampers respond to a bit of damping themselves!
Incidentally, they can be successfully repaired if necessary with cyanoacrylate glue, which saves a few quid.

Gibbo2286 · Post by **Gibbo2286** » 24 Aug 2011, 18:06

When I first got my recently sold Xantia there were no clips on the engine cover, I used those little hairpin clips that hold the wedges in the brake calipers (I had a spare pack of them in the drawer) They're still on after two years.

HDI · Post by **HDI** » 24 Aug 2011, 21:50

frenchcarnut wrote:Pretty certain there's no flap on my undertray which has to be removed to facilitate oil change.

If not just cut a hole in it below the drain plug ! Would need to be about 10CM diameter. Use a purpose made drain bowl to drain the oil into, very useful thing to have. To remove the oil residue left by draining and oil filter removal just nip to the local car wash, use degreaser on the affected area's then just pressure wash it all off ! If you have a pressure washer at home, all the better.

frenchcarnut · Post by **frenchcarnut** » 25 Aug 2011, 07:36

HDI wrote:
frenchcarnut wrote:Pretty certain there's no flap on my undertray which has to be removed to facilitate oil change.
If not just cut a hole in it below the drain plug ! Would need to be about 10CM diameter. Use a purpose made drain bowl to drain the oil into, very useful thing to have. To remove the oil residue left by draining and oil filter removal just nip to the local car wash, use degreaser on the affected area's then just pressure wash it all off ! If you have a pressure washer at home, all the better.

I think I'm happy to remove a few clips and bolts once a year. I know a lot of people see it as a pain, but for me, it's not really that much trouble. And now someone's provided a "howto" on the button fasteners, I'm quite comfortable with the process.

frenchcarnut · Post by **frenchcarnut** » 26 Aug 2011, 07:37

Received my new engine cover dampers and retaining clips from an ebay seller yesterday. Will report back on their quality later and over time.

frenchcarnut · Post by **frenchcarnut** » 30 Aug 2011, 11:27

One thing I have realised about the engine cover retaining system is that the design doesn't leave enough room at the top of the dampers for the clips to become effective. In my case, I've tested the top right retainer (nearest the brake fluid reservoir), which has been really troublesome for me, comparing with the one good original damper I had left, the replacements off ebay and the ebay/original caps and none of them work. No wonder I lost two original caps. Basically, and with the cover removed, the caps click onto the dampers beautifully - original or non-original, and in any combination doing their job as designed. However, with the engine cover in place, only one fits nicely, two have to be coerced whilst the fourth (as detailed above) just barely fits and nearly always pops off within one or two seconds. All this was done on a cold engine.

Bad design and clearances IMO. However, I suppose I could shave a slither off the shoulders to make the retainer end protrude more.

Let's see how long the dampers themselves last.