Simon's new Xantia V6 and Leaf blog

[RichardW]

Bring it round here and I'll weld the 10mm spanner to it

[Mandrake]

Bring it round here and I'll weld the 10mm spanner to it

No thanks. I'd like to be able to use my 10mm spanner elsewhere as well.

For the last few months it's been sitting in the glovebox of the car in case I did need to adjust the seat, so it will be nice to have it back in the toolbox where it belongs...

So, I got tired of trying to phone Peugeot so I popped over in person in the car after lunch today, it doesn't actually take that long to get there from where I park for work.

The parts guy was actually really friendly and helpful so I take back my earlier grumbling. Not so good at answering the phone or phoning people back, but fine to deal with in person.

So those parts should be in on Tuesday and I'll hopefully get them fitted the following weekend. He did query me ordering 4 of the top pins pointing out that the bottom pin is a different part number (well spotted) so I explained to him about the issue with the jamming rubber bush which has happened twice now and that I was deliberately ordering four of the top pins to try to avoid that issue.

Given that the caliper rattles so much on the right hand side I'm starting to wonder whether the guide holes in the yoke are badly worn. If they were, that would explain both the rattle and also possibly the rubber bush riding up over the shank of the pin jamming between the pin and the hole - increased clearance would make that much more likely to happen than if clearance was tight.

I'll see how the four steel only guide pins (with plenty of grease) and the anti-rattle shims work out, if there is still a bad rattle after that I might be forced to replace the yokes. They're easy to replace (I already had them out without difficulty when I fitted the discs) but they're a bit pricey at £40 each. So that's a last resort.

[Mandrake]

Well I have a bit of a mystery on my hands!

Tomorrow morning I was going to take the car back to Cooper Brothers for them to check why the new tyre had a slow leak.

After they first fitted the tyre I set all the tyres to 38 psi. Two weeks later I had noticed the car seemed a bit bouncy and it had dropped to 28 psi over that two week period while the other three tyres had no measurable pressure loss. I pumped it back up to 38 psi then drove it for another week, when I checked it one week later it had dropped again to 32 psi. At that point I decided I'd have to take it back so I pumped it back up to 38psi once more and drove on it this week.

I've just checked it tonight and it's still 38 psi with no apparent pressure loss... What the ?

Anyone have any ideas why it could have lost so much pressure over the first three weeks but now doesn't seem to be losing any pressure ? The only theory that I can come up with is dirt in the valve and that taking multiple measurements and/or connecting the pump to the valve has somehow cleared out the dirt. Seems unlikely though when they would have fitted a new valve and valve stem when changing the tyre.

I suppose a nail in the tyre that is moving around and has temporarily stopped the slow leak is another possibility so I'll jack that corner up tomorrow and inspect the tyre closely for punctures but I don't think it will be that. I hope...

[white exec]

Some nails/screws can sit in tyre tread for weeks, months, and only cause very slow leaks.
Good idea to take a peek.

[Mandrake]

Unbelievable. Looks like I have a tiny screw in my brand new tyre, and it must have been there within the first week or so that the tyre went on based on when I first noticed pressure loss...

It's too late in the day now to get anyone to look at it, and my worry is if they take it off the rim but it turns out to be not repairable I don't have a spare wheel for the car to keep using the car while waiting on another tyre.

It looks like it might just be within the "minor repairs" area of the tread but it's hard to be sure. Not a happy camper.

Edit: spoke to a local garage I sometimes use on the phone and after describing where it was he said it's probably too close to the edge as they need 20mm of flat tyre wall around the repair. So I'm probably up for a second new tyre in a month.

[Skull]

Must be a long skinny one

[white exec]

That tyre is pluggable/vulcanisable. They will have 20mm of 'flat' to work on by the time the tyre is in the vulcanising clamp/press. Someone just wants to sell you another new tyre.

[bobins]

There's a handy guidance note and diagrams (pdf) from the British Tyre Manufacturers' Association on what they deem permissable to repair.....

http://btmauk.com/wp-content/uploads/20 ... -tyres.pdf

[Mandrake]

There's a handy guidance note and diagrams (pdf) from the British Tyre Manufacturers' Association on what they deem permissable to repair.....

http://btmauk.com/wp-content/uploads/20 ... -tyres.pdf

Yes, I've already had a look at that and by my measurement the puncture is right on the borderline or perhaps outside the allowed area. It all depends on exactly where you measure to since the edge of the tyre is a curve not a sharp edge.

[bobins]

If that tyre is a 175/55/15 then the allowable width for repairs is 114mm, with the centre line at the 3 inch mark on the tape measure. As you say, the puncture is right on the borderline of 57mm from the centre line. Time to get the vernier gauge out, methinks

[RichardW]

Pretty sure they'll decline to repair that - they tend to want it to be well in the tread. I'd stick some tyre weld in it, and forget about it....

[white exec]

Disappointing. Here, that would be straightforwardly repaired, and done well: plug, internal patch and vulcanise. The worse that could happen, surely, is the return of a slow leak - and most unlikely if the repair were done competently. Here (like many other places) things get fixed, almost as a matter of pride.
Can't win 'em all!

[Mandrake]

Pretty sure they'll decline to repair that - they tend to want it to be well in the tread. I'd stick some tyre weld in it, and forget about it....

After having a closer look at it I've decided that it's a used pop rivet.

It's not leaking at all at the moment so if I had a spare tyre on-board even a space-saver, I'd probably just keep driving until it gave me problems knowing that I'd be able to change the wheel myself and get home in a reasonable amount of time when it did finally let go.

But with no spare I'm reliant on the AA to get me out of trouble when it does spit the dummy, and the last two times that's been a major inconvenience which has lasted hours and fortunately both times no 2 year old on board so even though I've upgraded my AA coverage to include "relay" I don't really want a ticking time bomb that is going to give trouble sooner or later. If it's a smooth pop rivet stem plugging the hole instead of a screw it's more likely to be ejected when hitting a pothole etc, (plenty of those in Lanarkshire and Glasgow! ) and as it's flush with the tread tips, as the tread wears down it will eventually snag on something then be forcibly ripped out.

I'm going to see Cooper Brothers on Saturday to get them to have a quick inspection, if they say they can fix it I'll give that a try, if not I'll just back order a new tyre for fitting the following weekend and get it swapped. At least on this car the tyre's are relatively cheap! They're considerably cheaper than Xantia sized tyres, even for a Quatrac 5.

Still really annoyed at my bad luck but we rely on the car so it must be working and reliable. Last time I had a tyre issue the petrol cost of running the Xantia on the daily commute for a week while the tyre was on order was more than the cost of the tyre, fitted. At least this time if I can keep driving the car until the tyre is repaired or replaced and get it sorted before it lets me down I won't have that extra petrol expense of having the Ion off the road.

[Mandrake]

Disappointing. Here, that would be straightforwardly repaired, and done well: plug, internal patch and vulcanise. The worse that could happen, surely, is the return of a slow leak - and most unlikely if the repair were done competently. Here (like many other places) things get fixed, almost as a matter of pride.
Can't win 'em all!

I think the UK tyre repair regulations are a lot stricter than those in New Zealand as well - or at least back when I lived there and was getting punctures...

[Gibbo2286]

My tyre place would repair that while I wait, it's a simple plug job in that area.