Rattiva the Second...

[CitroJim]

I bit the bullet and did the 'wedgie' caliper today. Not before I had new bolts on hand though...

I was lucky, using a breaker bat with case and lots of Plus-Gas I got the bots moving and after lots and lots of toing and froing they both came out intact, albeit covered in corrosion...

This was the sate of the caliper at the start of work, it's almost touching the disc and you can see the wedging very clearly...



This was the buildup of corrosion on the trailing arm. I used a sharp cold chisel to chip it away in big lumps...



The corrosion on the caliper end. Again, chipped off with the cold chisel...



One written-off disc showing the contact area due to the wedging. The disc was badly corroded where the pads had not been in contact and was utterly unusable again. I'm glad I had a serviceable spare... Pads were also replaced...



That's better!



It was a job I was dreading on account of the risk of bolt breakage but in the end it was all good. £16 wasted on new bolts...

[robert_e_smart]

£16 wasted on new bolts...

Typical, you know what would have happened if you didn't have them...

[CitroJim]

£16 wasted on new bolts...

Typical, you know what would have happened if you didn't have them...

Exactly....

[bxzx16v]

Good work Jim . Don't fancy taking the head off my Hdi do you . Only joking , keep up the fantastic work

Mark

[addo]

J'admire la butée elastique; elle est magnifique.

[robert_e_smart]

J'admire la butée elastique; elle est magnifique.

J'ai vue pire que ca!

[CitroJim]

J'admire la butée elastique; elle est magnifique.

Yes, it is a bit ratty isn't it

[CitroJim]

Taking full advantage of the lovely weather I did the last couple of jobs I needed to do for peace of mine - replace the cambelt and water pump...

It's a nice, straightforward job on the HDi and it went very smoothly. It's just like doing an XUD but a little easier in that the belt covers come off easily (after finding the hidden bolt around the back ) and there's no injection pump to time.

The manual tensioner needs careful attention but apart from that it's not a bad job to do...

So that's it, all future jobs are elective but one I must do before the bad weather sets in is the Erberspacher auxiliary heater as the car will be almost unusable in the depths of winter without it. HDis just don't warm up when idling. In fact to get it warm enough to bleed after the coolant change i had to take it out for a brisk run first...

[Dommo]

Worth checking if the glow plugs in the electric cabin air heater are working.

There's a block in the middle behind the engine on the bulkhead with four glow plugs going in, the idea is they warm up the coolant going into the heater matrix to heat the coolant that heads into the heater matrix for those cold frosty mornings. Pah, who needs Ford style heated windscreens?

[CitroJim]

Worth checking if the glow plugs in the electric cabin air heater are working.

Not on mine Dom, Mine has the Erberspacher diesel powered heater... I looks like a little central heating boiler mounted under the NS wing!!!

[addo]

For warmth, mine has that big yellow thing that's mounted in the sky, most days.

Good guide on the caliper work - mine are well overdue, although the "wedging" is longitudonal. It'll be interesting to see how stuck the bolts are in Australia. I presume there is a further fixing which stops the caliper halves from separating.

[CitroJim]

The trouble is Adam, the HDi is such an efficient engine it struggles to warm up in the cold and this makes an auxiliary heater essential for safety when it's freezing as the screens refreeze after defrosting them otherwise... The only place down your neck of the woods you'd have such a problem is in Canberra Here is Blighty we have to grin and bear several months of it and if the forecasters are to be believed we can look forward to colder winters in the future...

I presume there is a further fixing which stops the caliper halves from separating.

Only by virtue of replacing the pad through-bolt with no pads in place when removing the caliper. Otherwise the caliper halves will separate. It's not a biggie if they do, just mind the little O ring that seals the two halves...

I can't imagine yours will be as bad as ours although if they get wet regularly then that's enough to set off the electrolytic corrosion.

[myglaren]

The trouble is Adam, the HDi is such an efficient engine it struggles to warm up in the cold and this makes an auxiliary heater essential for safety when it's freezing as the screens refreeze after defrosting them otherwise... The only place down your neck of the woods you'd have such a problem is in Canberra Here is Blighty we have to grin and bear several months of it and if the forecasters are to be believed we can look forward to colder winters in the future...

I presume there is a further fixing which stops the caliper halves from separating.

Only by virtue of replacing the pad through-bolt with no pads in place when removing the caliper. Otherwise the caliper halves will separate. It's not a biggie if they do, just mind the little O ring that seals the two halves...

I can't imagine yours will be as bad as ours although if they get wet regularly then that's enough to set off the electrolytic corrosion.

Going to work, mine warms up within a mile.
Hammer it on the motorway and it is really toasty within a couple of miles.

It does have the additional 'coolant' heater though.


We used those Eberspächer heaters in our Volvos in Sweden - fabulous!

[CitroJim]

Rattiva clearly has a problem in the cooling department. She runs too cool. I can go to work (six miles) and the thermostat is not open (it seems) when I arrive. The rad is stone cold and the engine barely warm to the touch.. The heater output is next to nil. I have bled and rebled and no improvement. I know it's all Ok because eventually the rad warms and some warm air comes out of the heater vents but warm is all it ever is.

The odd thing is that the temperature gauge reads about 85 degrees eventually and sits there but the water temperature and engine temperature suggests this is a lie. I took her for a good long run this evening, some 20 miles, and did not hang around. Still only cool air out of the vents and a very cool engine on arrival home.

They can't run that cool surely?

I reckon the thermostat must be duff and will change it when I can. I can't think of anything else it can be unless I still have an obstinate air lock but then I would have expected the engine to run very hot. Honestly, as a source of heat it's complete rubbish.

I've not yet refitted the undertray. Can leaving it off make that much of a difference to the running temperature of an HDi?

In contrast, both the V6 and Activa gives warm air out of the vents almost instantly after starting, then scalding hot air within about 5 minutes.

I can't recall how the heater was before I replaced the coolant and water pump as there was little call for the heater before then. It got colder at the same time as I did the job...

[DickieG]

HDi's have excellent thermal efficiency, without some form of additional heater they never really warm up at this time of year, get the Eberspacher sorted and heat will be yours!