Rear LHM leak

[c.morewood]

Today at last I have some progress to report.

I had yesterday off and reassessed everything. I was thinking that maybe I had missed the pin in the cup and was trying to punch a hole in the cup and that was why I wasn't getting anywhere.

So it was getting to last resort time...
I couldn't find any long reach drill bits locally and so I decided that today I'd just take a cold chisel and give it one or two whacks right at the top of the cup/base of the joint and try to break it away.. I had spare rods, thanks to Bryan and so wasn't bothered about breaking one.. Well what do you know .. it worked!!
The cup came away leaving the pin and the very bottom of the cup in the holder.

So then I got a big screwdriver and drove it in behind the pin with a lump hammer.. this broke the pin away after a couple of big hits, leaving just the pin ends in place.

I then drilled from the inside and cleared the inside hole and was then able to get the long punch through that hole and eventually hit the right spot to push the remainder of the pin out of the outside hole. Phew!!! I was so relieved!!!

My cylinder was so corroded that there was nothing left of the lip for about 1cm and the rest was pretty bad... it's no wonder it gave way and leaked so bad.
So now I've used one of Bryans cylinders (there was one good one and another that had a bit of corrosion on it) the good one, which happened to have come off the N/S, to replace my O/S cylinder and so with replacing the front height corrector tomorrow, hopefully will be back on the road by tomorrow evening.
I wasn't sure if the cylinders were side specific, but I'm relieved to find out that they're not.

I'm heading to a place in Oldmeldrum just 10 miles away to see if they can refurbish the other two cylinders by removing the lip and placing a welded ring from a pipe, there instead. I think that might be easier than trying to build the lip up and milling it down again.

Any tips for replacing the front height corrector? And any tips for how to get the dog legs off? I don't want to disturb the anti roll bar clip just yet .. that's a job for another day as she does sit nose high by a good bit.. so I'll try to separate the doglegs and lubricate them at the same time.
Fingers crossed .. the saga might be coming to an end?

[Hell Razor5543]

I hope that this is what you are after, and helps;

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=27122" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

if you want to strip the height corrector down even further, then this should help;

http://www.eastment.net/hcrefurb/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[NewcastleFalcon]

well done -rusted in pins 0 Chris 2

Trouble is, people coming along now are not going to have to go through the same rites of passage with this job and are going to think what was all the fuss about

Maybe the instruction in 14.6 of Haynes Chapter 11 should be reworded something like this:-

"Remove the spring clip from the suspension link rod (see illustration). If it is rusted in take one lump hammer and a large cold chisel and with a couple of lusty blows on the cup rim, destroy the cup sitting in the recess in the arm. From the scene of destruction remove the remains of the cup, and extract the pin with further precision as necessary with lump hammer, screwdrivers, drills and punches."

regards

Neil

[CitroJim]

Well done Chris Excellent

Neil, I love your proposed amendment to the BoL. I wonder if Mr. Haynes will consider it for future editions?

[RichardW]

Result, Chris!

It's remarkable just how difficult those small pins can be to extract from their resting place after a few years exposed to the salt If only we'd known this was coming a few years ago, we could have (maybe!) removed the pins and greased them up.

Haynes translation as previously posted: Haynes terms to which we can add Neil's excellent terminology

I was looking in the Visa book the other day - it actually talks about removing (and refitting!) brake pipes using vice grips as they may be corroded, rather than just "Take it to the dealer" as most of them do now!

I wish I still had or could find a copy of the tale about waxoyling a LandRover - I nearly wet myself reading it!!

[RichardW]

Result 2. Found it. Enjoy!

Waxoyling...
I really wanted to get some of this into the Land Rover's chassis before I started using it. I had gone to halfords and bought 2 gallons, and knocked off work early.
I also had the real benefit that SWMBO was out so I had since 3.00pm been shoving the 2 gallon cans into the sink with near boiling water. I should have known things were going to go “slightly wrong” when I started.
I decided to use a Waxoil gun and my compressor, I had the propane burner on in the workshop since 3.00pm flat out and it was like the sahara, in fact it was so hot I decided a T-shirt and shorts was the dress code.
Grabbing some white spirit to further thin the waxoil I entered the kitchen and unscrewed the waxoil lid.
Thhhhuuuumpppppppp !…grwat big snotty big dollop spewed out over the kitchen worksurface... no probs I thought, ...I’ll sort that out when I’ve finished, as I might make "a little bit more mess yet".... glad she's not in.
Clutching hot waxoil injector thingy, part filled with waxoil and mixed with very very warm white spirit I squirted and soaked the chassis blasting away, and also practising holding my breath as it went misty in the workshop.
1 Gallon later I was nearly there, I was at the rear cross member, with yet another huge refill.
I ought to point out that I had also decided that at some of the angles I was at pulling and holding the trigger was a pain so I had devised a cunning lock of an elastic band on the trigger so that I could let it do it things whilst it sprayed away. Shove tube into hole and pull trigger… lock and waggle etc.
Enter the cat.
It sat there and looked at me the way only a cat can... it sniffed (unapprovingly) the dripped waxoil, and I said…
“Huh, you don’t want to be in here matey, this stuff will stick to your fur like brown stuff to a blanket”……and at that very point the jammed on tube extension came off the gun.
Could I release the elastic band round the trigger ? Could I XXXXXX.
The gun squirted warm waxoil/white spirit out at a force never so far experienced, one particularly good jet hit the cat, who bolted, knocking over the 2/3 empty (1/3 full!!) can of hot waxoil/white spirt mix, which flowed oh so well under the landy, and into my clothes T shirt and clothes and skin areas exposed..., but I was still fighting with the hot octopus trying to switch the damned thing off, but I failed, I was saved when it ran out.
Just when I thought nothing could get worse than lying under a Land Rover with waxoil soaked clothes, waxoil dripping onto my hair and face, and running into my ears... Some waxoil drpped onto the lead lamp... ping... Blackness.
It also pinged the fuse for the lighting circuit, getting myself out of the underneath of the landy proved friutfull, in that I knew all the places that waxoil had “leaked”.
Removing dripping clothes I entered house in “minimal Clothes” to resolve fuse prob, when Lights went on I saw the cat…
I AM GOING TO DIE IF SHE SEES THIS !
Here Puddie cattie……
This did not improve the sink/kitchen area one little jot, .....ever tried holding a 'waxoiled cat' in a sink with water and rags, and especially when cat does not enjoy it ?
1 hour later cat was scrubbed and very peed off with me, I’ve had 2 baths, and also cleaned the bath it seems that the bath will not be rusty...scrubbed kitchen floor, sink, worktop
Will she notice?
Cat stinks, garage sticks, alley way stinks, I stink, kitchen smells of lemon washing up liquid, which strangely we seem to nearly be out of, floor stinks.
She will be back any minute [gulp]. Nice job on the Landy tho....... ))
...later that evening...... Alleyway door closes and SWMBO walks in..... "have a nice time dear ?......." "what the HELL is that smell ?"
"Smell ?....er do you mean the waxoil ?" "Is that what it is - its disgusting" "Er..really"....
"yes really, the alleyway stinks, I mean I could smell it when I got out of the car..."
"er...really ?"
"yes, Really, I mean its stinking everywhere out, its even permutated the house " "really"
"yes really and [ picks up cat - I look away at telly and pray]...and ....good grief even the cat smells of it its ....[ at this point the cat growls.....probably hand enough of being "handled" during the evening...]..."WELL if your going to be like that madam you grumpy old thing" ...[places cat down firmly - cat grumbles some more].. cat exits still grumbling
"Charming... well... Anyway, have you finished?"
THOUGHTS...............
I've got away with it...."all done"...I've got away with it...."think I'll have a beer"...I've got away with it....I've got away with it...."Would you like a glass of wine ?"....I've got away with it....yippee....I've got away with it....and
SHE'S GOT THE HUMP WITH THE CAT TOO - NOT ME !!
Beer.... Bed.... RESULT....... !
But a bit close for comfort......far to close

[c.morewood]

Ha Ha Ha!!!!! I know exactly how he feels.. Great story..nearly fell of my chair reading it.. It brings back (smelly) memories of being in the garage with my uncle as a "gofer" Waxoiling his car.
Thanks James, that article by Red-Dwarfers is very good and hopefully now I know what I'm up against.
No progress to report today .. drove 40 miles trying to find an 8mm flare spanner.. 9mm was the best I could come up with.. even tried an ordinary 8mm ring with a hole cut in it ... didn't really think it would work, but you have to try!! So I've had to order one online and that should arrive Wed.

[CitroJim]

I'm still laughing, that Waxoyl adventure is pure gold... Brilliant!

Thanks so much for digging it out. I really did enjoy

I love the Haynes definitions.

This is my favourite of them all..

Haynes: Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal.
Translation: But you swear in different places.

[c.morewood]

Well the spanner arrived today, so I've been under the car most of the day.
Unfortunately I had to disconnect the roll bar link to reconnect the dogleg as I just couldn't get it to reach. I marked the position before I undid the bolt.
However she's now sitting high at the front even at the low setting. I'm going to put another liter of LHM in tomorrow to hopefully make up for all the lost hydraflush (I've already added 1.5 lit today)... but I think I may have to alter the roll bar link setting again. I've left her sitting on car ramps at the front with axle stands jammed under for extra security.
Which way do I turn it to lower the car, towards the dogleg or away from it?

[Diabolical]

Waxoyl story is just fantastic.
Many thanks for that.

[c.morewood]

Sorted the front height corrector today... mixed pipes... dooh!!
However on taking the car out of the garage for the 1st time since replacing the O/S cylinder I notice that the O/S rear is sitting about 2in below the N/S.
I was comparing the old cylinders one of which is mine and the other off a Xantia exclusive estate within the correct RPO range.. the partners of which are now fitted to the car.
They look the same .. same measurements as far as I can see only the exclusive cylinder has 5A Y28 17 and mine has 5A Y28 15 does that mean anything to anyone?
Also I used the exclusive's N/S cylinder for the O/S on my car as it was in better condition than the exclusives O/S one and I couldn't see any difference between the two .. but I notice on Docbackup that they give different part no.'s for each side. Could that be the reason?
I'm sure this thread will be of use to someone in the future .. it's already had quite a few reads, which is why I'm posting all these questions on the one thread.

I was also chatting to an hydraulic engineer about the cylinder .. he said what was needed was a dowty washer so I'm off to research this....
Thanks again for the help,

[citronut]

i belive the only difference between each side on service citroen is regarding the position/orientation of the spouts on the boot,
and the cylinders them selves if you remove/rotate the boot are exactly the same for any one model

[NewcastleFalcon]

From Xantia Sphere Specs Thread

Newcastle Falcon wrote:-

The rim is chewed-is its function to stop the O-ring from spreading? Could a fix be generated by utilising the correct size of "washer with an o-ring in the middle"-

Does anyone know what I mean?..I bet there is a proper name for those things I am always happy to learn new stuff.

It looks like its called a "dowty washer". If such a washer of the correct dimensions was available, providing the strut end was machined flat the sphere and washer could possibly plug the hole just like a sump plug and a "dowty" washer.

regards

Neil

[c.morewood]

So nobody has tried this yet?
Do the washers need to be of a special material to resist LHM?
If indeed they make a Dowty washer that is of the correct size, this could be a very cheap answer to the failing rear cylinders problem.

[myglaren]

There seem to be several sources of supply in the UK.

This mob seem to be well sorted, say they have Imperial, German metric and French metric Dowty washers, among other things.

AFS.