Activa plumbing!

[djadams]

Hello again all - with my blower speed control now fixed with a bit from an old Peugeot, it's time for me to sort the second niggle with my new pride and joy... And it could be a lot worse.

It became embarrassingly apparent whilst I was storing my new baby on my neighbour's block paving driveway, that she had a not insignificant LHM leak (the Activa, not the neighbour). The leak is big enough and bad enough to take priority over fitting my new anti-sink sphere...

I finally had a chance to get her up on stands and have a poke around this evening (still the Activa), and there's an obvious leak from a junction in what I assume to be in a low pressure LHM return line. The 4-way rubbery junction just above the nearside roll-corrector linkage adjuster in this photo:


(Photo taken from the front of the car, facing backwards showing the rear nearside corner of the front subframe).

As you can see, there's LHM everywhere (it had lost a bit less than a litre in the 900 miles I've done since buying it), so there may be more than one leak - but when that particularly wet-looking rubber 4-way junction was flexed with an inquisitive thumb the LHM just poured out of a perished split along the bottom of it, so this one couldn't have been much easier to find and I'll cross my fingers it's the only one...

Question is, what is that bit called? (so I can phone a dealer and ask them to get one in). Anyone happen to have a page from a parts book so I can pick out a part number and make sure they get the right bit?

Many thanks guys!

Interestingly, or perhaps worryingly, none of the pipework around there looks very "relaxed" and the rigid pipework T-piece in the black plastic cradle on top of the steel bracket to the right in the photo is not sitting comfortably in it's cradle. And the centre of that cross-piece section shows evidence of having been rubbing quite hard on the exhaust downpipe at some point (if it isn't still). I guess it's possible that it has taken a beating from a speed-bump or a misplaced jack at some point in the past though it didn't show any obvious sign of being bent.

I'll sort this leak first, and then maybe take some photos of the other oddities for the assembled experts to have a butcher's at...

[Deanxm]

At a guess i would say that is the 'front leak back harness" i had to do the rear one on mine a while ago and that was the rear leak back harness so it stands to reason this is the front one................

How are you getting on with it anyway? still enjoying the experience?

D

[djadams]

Awesome - thanks Dean - I'll talk knowledgeably about my front leak-back harness and with a bit of luck the dealer will know exactly what I mean. Cheers dude!

How am I getting on with it? I bl**dy love it. It's just a wonderfully bizarre driving experience - the silky smooth Citroen ride quality I love combined with a completely surreal lack of body roll. Astonishing bits of kit, really glad I took the plunge and bought one, even if it did have me soaked to the skin, grovelling on a wet driveway this evening...

Remaining niggles to sort after this leak:

• Really annoying buzz/rattle at around 2200rpm, assumed to be a heat shield or some such just need to locate it and drive big nail through it...
• Anti-sink sphere assumed to be a bit low as it does drop quite quickly when parked (not the only symptom, the accumulator tick rate is at around 30 seconds, which doesn't seem that great to me)

And that's about it at the moment - not bad at all for a 12 year old car I reckon.

[DickieG]

Remaining niggles to sort after this leak:
Really annoying buzz/rattle at around 2200rpm, assumed to be a heat shield or some such just need to locate it and drive big nail through it...

More than likely down to a worn bush on the vertical engine mount where it attaches to the O/S/F suspension strut.

[djadams]

More than likely down to a worn bush on the vertical engine mount where it attaches to the O/S/F suspension strut.

Awesome - thanks for that, I'll check it out. Now you've said it, I reckon you're probably right as it is loud and coming from around that location - whilst driving it sounds like it's coming from directly behind the rev counter! What's the best way to check it, or will it be obvious as soon as I look? Thanks for your help gents!

[Deanxm]

with a bit of luck the dealer will know exactly what I mean.

Whoa there, i think you would have most parts guys completely lost after the words Citroen and Xantia, let alone "Activa" and "leak back harness"
Glad your enjoying it, they are an interesting drive, i love mine.

D

[djadams]

i think you would have most parts guys completely lost after the words Citroen and Xantia, let alone "Activa" and "leak back harness"

Ain't that the truth.
That said I did manage to get an oil filter from GSF today and they're ordering me in a handful of each size of pipe-seals (useful stock in advance of doing that anti-sink sphere...) Wonders will never cease

[DickieG]

What's the best way to check it, or will it be obvious as soon as I look? Thanks for your help gents!

You need to remove the bracing bar between the engine and mount to view it, having got that far you may as well remove the mount for a proper look (3 bolts) any deformation of the rubber and it needs replacing.

[djadams]

Excellent, thanks, I'll check it out when I'm repairing this leak (probably Wednesday if they can get me my part by then...).

[djadams]

Well it turns out that that little part (number 16):



Is nolonger available from Citroen. If they had one, it'd be £16.20 + VAT!!

Thankfully, the bloke at the desk next to mine is building a vacuum actuator test rig and this morning has been dismembering a vacuum harness. I guess I'll find out just how LHM-resistant vacuum t-pieces are...

[djadams]

Partially fixed...

A few days on and the vacuum t-pieces I've used to repair the leak-back circuit are holding so far - no sign of leakage from the return lines. And in other news, the new engine mount appears to have cured the annoying buzzing noise - £50 well spent. Thank you very much DickieG - I'm guessing you're at least 50 miles away from me so to have pinpointed the source of the noise from there is really very impressive...

However - I'm still losing LHM at quite a rate (though a bit slower) from the same area - and it looks like it must be from the three-way HP connector block near that leak-back connector. I think it's coming from the end opposite the one nearest the leak-back connector I've replaced: the fitting that's accessed through the slot formed by the junction's support bracket and the front subframe. Anyone know what circuit that three-way junction is part of? Local GSF should have ordered some pipe seals in for me, so with a bit of luck they've arrived, I can get someone to pick them up for me tomorrow (I'm away tomorrow...) and I can have a go replacing the seal in it on Sunday and fingers crossed that fixes it...

[CitroJim]

The second leak is potentially likely to be from the leak-backs from the height corrector or roll corrector. The little rubber stubs - items 17 and 19 in your picture can perish and also the Y piece -item 18 - is worth a check. Often when playing around underneath it can be easy to dislodge other leak-backs..

Another cause of a leak in that area can be from the correctors themselves - check their rubber end caps are dry - and from the power steering return pipe. This starts as a metal pipe and then becomes a rubber one and the metal to rubber junction is often a perish point. The pipe forms part of the main leak-back harness with the five way manifold - unidentified in your diagram - but if this is the cause a new piece of LHM resistant pipe can be spliced in. Pipe rated for unleaded petrol is OK.

[Sl4yer]

There looks to be a lot of LHM on the subframe well forward of the junction in the pic. I'd be taking a good look at the infamous power steering pipe - mine leaked from around that area. Hope it isn't though...

James

[djadams]

Thanks for the input gents, I really appreciate it. I've been scrabbling around underneath her again this evening to check the items you mentioned and I think I'm still convinced it's a high pressure leak. I checked the little rubber leak off pipe connectors on the actual height and roll correctors and they're dry. I followed the return pipe from the steering column end of the steering rack as far as I could follow it from underneath (all of which seemed to be rigid steel pipe?) and none of that seemed to be leaking. I think the reason there's so much LHM forward of the union is that it's dripping onto the top of that subframe member and then just running off it in all directions - there's LHM way over to the offside of the car dripping out of the swaged holes in the subframe!

So - for the moment I'm going to pin my hopes on the HP pipe seals in that three-way junction in that bracket... Sadly I've not been able to get to GSF to pick up my stock of pipe seals, and I'm loath to disturb the joint I suspect until I have the parts...

Meanwhile - while fitting my shiny new RH engine mount (item 3 below)...

...I seem to have damaged the top RH engine tie-bar bush (the bush in item 13 above).

The buzzing that was driving me mad at 2200rpm is gone but I now have a thump on load reversals, e.g. tipping in after over-run. Is the rubber bush available on its own from anywhere as Citroen appear to only list it as part of the expensive-looking cast alloy bracket that bolts to the inner wing!?

[andmcit]

That bush / ally housing is around £30 all in which TBF for a Citroen part isn't too hideous!
Another possibility for leaks in the main crossmember area could be the brake valve leaking
and dropping down - I've had this on one of my v6's and it ran off in all directions around the
bulkhead but I traced the leak by seeing how high up it was.