Free to good home

[KP]

I know Typical isnt it!!

I reckon the Tax is being cashed back in though but Jock will need to confirm

[Mandrake]

Glad to hear you got it home safely, LOVE the red I really don't think much of the silver colour mine is...

Sorry if I missed it but did you end up driving it down, trailering it down or towing it down ? If you drove it how did it drive, gearbox in particular ?

At 174,000 miles the gearbox will be well into borrowed time if it hasn't had an overhaul in the last 100,000 miles or so...(mine has only done 105,000 and already has/had scary gearbox problems) at the very least you'd want to do a few gearbox oil changes, god knows what will come out and whether it looks like oil!

Looks like a nice project...

[KP]

Trailer job in the end and got home at 0330hrs this morning!

On a private lane it drives well enough and loud enough!

[citroenxm]

See your Blog KP...

[lankytim]

Well done for saving it. Had I had my way it would be getting broken up on my drive right now. Oh well another one escapes my evil grasp!

[citroenxm]

Come get mine Tim - though Im not giving mine away...

[lankytim]

The distance is the issue there, along with the anticipated price would make it too expensive for me to get. Hopefully one will turn up locally one day..

[citroenxm]

Whats the latest on the bumpers, wing, doors and spoiler I have?

[lankytim]

Sorry I haven't got back to you on those. I'm still mulling it over. The wing you have is the wrong sude (I need a passenger one) and the bumpers are only marginally better than the ones I already have fitted. I'm still working through its many issues and want to see if it "deserves" the money spending on it.

Sorry that doesn't really answer your question!

[citroenxm]

Its ok. Just so I know to drag them out, or leave them where they are.. The Bumpers have easy access.. but the doors and spoiler are tucked away a bit more..

[KP]

A day in North Wales and then a drive home at night with a car on the back isn't too bad a plan though

[KP]

Well I think if this leak is the cam box type then I won't be saving this one

[xantia_v6]

Well I think if this leak is the cam box type then I won't be saving this one

Resealing the cam boxes is not so bad. It is cambelt change plus spark plug change plus about 2 hours...

[CitroJim]

Well I think if this leak is the cam box type then I won't be saving this one

Resealing the cam boxes is not so bad. It is cambelt change plus spark plug change plus about 2 hours...

Agreed. No reason to abandon it Will...

[Mandrake]

Well I think if this leak is the cam box type then I won't be saving this one

Please don't condem the car based on a suspicion that the cam boxes are leaking badly, not all cam box leaks need to be dealt with by resealing, and some are very very slow leaks that can be "nursed" by cleaning them up now and then.

When I got my V6 in March of last year I didn't notice anything right away but within a month or two I noticed the smell of burning oil if the engine was run at over 4000 rpm for any length of time or driven really hard...which later proved to be oil dripping from the cam box onto the rear exhaust as you're suspecting. The first time I had the inlet manifold off I was greeted with this: (the pictures are left, middle and right rear spark plug wells respectively)





None had yet made it into the spark plug towers but the right hand one was lapping right at the rubber boot. Anyway I soaked all the oil up and put it back together and about 3000 miles later I found that there was maybe a tea spoon of oil in the right hand well and half that in the middle one, which goes to show that the leak is actually very slow and the oil that I first saw had probably built up over 10,000 miles or more...

There was still the occasional burning smell with prolonged high RPM. This time when I had the inlet manifold out I thought to check the 8mm bolts that hold the cam boxes down - on the rear exhaust cam box cover ALL were loose!! And I mean more than half a turn loose, not just a bit... a few of the ones on the rear inlet cam box needed tweaking as well, however both front cam box covers were all nice and tight. So CHECK THE BOLTS!!

Well that was about 2000 miles ago, I've had NO burning smell when pushing the engine hard since then, and when I had the inlet manifold out to change the fuel pressure regulator a couple of weeks ago here is the state of the middle and rear spark plug wells after being left alone for 2000 miles: (the left one was completely dry this time so I didn't take a picture of it)




As you can see the middle well gasket area is almost dry, there is a noticeable weep from the right hand one which was always the worst one, but not a drop of oil has gone down into any of the spark plug wells, so tightening the bolts properly has made a big difference. Contrast that to the first pictures where the situation looks dire.

In an ideal world the cam boxes should be resealed on this car but the reality is I won't be able to do that, and it could probably do 10,000 miles now without significant oil leaking into the wells. I'm quite happy to whip the manifold off once a year to see how its progressing and clean up any accumulated oil if the alternative is camshafts out!

So before you condem that car, get the manifold off, clean out any oil that's there, check the bolts are tight and carry on... it may be no worse than mine and just need a quick check and clean every year/5000 miles or so...