Simon's new Xantia V6 and Leaf blog

[Mandrake]

Hey Neil,

That's really helpful! I'm having a read of your thread now.

Do you think there is any easy way to inspect the cable for seizing where yours seized without doing a lot of disassembly first ? It would be good to identify whether the cables are seized and if so order some ahead of time rather than starting on the job and running into problems which then cause the car to be off the road for a significant period of time as we rely heavily on the car on a daily basis.

The pedal movement doesn't seem to feel seized - in fact it feels loose - it now pushes right down to the floor with little resistance and almost no action from the brake.

It used to "bite" about half way down a year ago but the bite point has gradually gone down and down until it's reached the floor which was making me think either the shoes have worn out or the cables have stretched ?

I suppose it would be worth lifting the rear seat out and observing the action of the cable balancer when using the pedal and checking the tension on the cables ? That's something I can do easily without risking taking the car off the road.

I suppose another possibility is one of the cables has snapped causing the balancer to lean fully the other way ? The rear right handbrake doesn't really seem to have worked at all for a while now with only the left gripping until recently, potentially the right hand cable has snapped ? This would cause lost travel on the remaining cable on the left due to the action of the balancer.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Do you think there is any easy way to inspect the cable for seizing where yours seized without doing a lot of disassembly first ?

Only way is to take the rear disc off and all will be revealed, shouldnt be too difficult, and easily put backable after inspection. I would doubt the shoes have worn out, I had already got new ones to hand so I replaced them although the existing ones were OK. Similarly I would be surprised if the cable had snapped at any point.

The inner Wire of the brake cable will more than likely be seized in the aluminium bracket which normally it should freely pass through. Upshot is that no movement of the pedal/cables is transmitted through into the lever on the shoe, and you have no parking brake at all.

The aluminium bracket which the inner cable passes through, comes as an integral part of the new cables, and is mounted to the backplate with a surprisingly fiddly little bolt.

There is a hole through the drum bit of the disc/drum, used to adjust the shoes/parking brake by clicking up or down the adjuster with a screwdriver to the required level allowing free running. The adjuster is a little wheel which is accessible through the "hole" when it is about at 25 past on a clock face.

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

This is quite a thorough rear brake service video on the rear brakes on a 2015 Nissan Leaf. Too long to watch purely for fun but a decent reference if you are about to do the job whether just dismantling and reassembly or replacement of parts.



Neil

[Mandrake]

Thanks Neil - I had actually seen that video linked in your Speakev thread and watched it last night, (yes the whole thing!) it gives me a lot better idea of what's involved.

It doesn't actually look too bad to pop out the rear seat to look at the action of the cables at that end, and lift off the calliper and disc on one wheel to check whether the cable is free to move or not at that end.

I'm starting to wonder if the problem is the cable more than the drum brake itself. I'm wondering if the cable is stuck in the mostly applied position which could explain why the pedal pushes down so easily - when the pedal is returned back to the top I bet the cable is completely slack and bowed - looking under the rear seat will soon prove or disprove that theory as I will be able to check the cable tension when the pedal is up.

I see in your thread you ordered your handbrake cables from Cleeverly - was that significantly cheaper than other sources and do you know if they were OEM or after market ?

[NewcastleFalcon]

I see in your thread you ordered your handbrake cables from Cleeverly - was that significantly cheaper than other sources and do you know if they were OEM or after market ?

Here they are Simon, 27 LH in stock 23 RH in stock must be a common replacement item. Seemed reasonable to me, and as I would expect from them no problems with delivery and I thought a decent-ish price and a known reliable supplier. I needed them quick as it was an MOT failure fix and at that time a year or so ago not a lot of options locally.

https://www.cleevelyev.co.uk/ev-parts/n ... roduct_cat

Didn't come in a Nissan bag! After market, but Cleevely will use them in their repairs so I reckon they'll do.



Neil

[Mandrake]

Two steps forward, one step back on the Xantia!

I managed to fit the front right ABS sensor - I found it rather difficult to be honest and I'm starting to feel my age...

My eyesight has changed a lot in the last 2 years to the point where I'm having to wear bifocals and even those aren't strong enough for the close up work on the car so I was really struggling to see what I was doing with a tricky job like routing and connecting an ABS sensor. I got there in the end though.

That's all good but after the test drive to check the ABS sensor I had another look at the oil pan and realised that the drain plug was not the only leak. In fact the drain plug stopped leaking after I loosened it off and tightened it again, but it seems that the sump pan itself is leaking through a rust patch!!

I don't know how well it will show in the picture below:

This is surprising to me because that rusty patch has been there for years, and last year when I had the sump off I checked the inside and it was pristine with no sign of rusting through so I assumed it was surface rust, and for most of the last year it has not leaked.

But there must be a pinhole or crack on the inside now which is allowing a slow weep through the rusty patch. Not quite believing it I wiped it clean and lay under the car as it idled and sure enough a drop of oil started building up from the rust patch and then started trickling along the bottom of the pan and it was definitely not coming from the drain plug or the flange, it was emerging from the rusty patch.

So where does this leave me ? I'm assuming this is NFP and not available after market, are there any second hand ones going around ?

[xantia_v6]

Coincidentally I noticed some surface rust on the engine sump and transmission sump of my Xantia last weekend and gave them a quick coat of paint.

I expect that new sumps may be available. But you may be better off getting yours fixed with a bit of braizing.

Depending on your basic prescription, you may find that a cheap pair of reading glasses are better for working under cars.

[mickthemaverick]

I had a very similar issue many years ago on my Morris 1000 sump. Being skint I painted the rust to cure it, then filled the pitting with fibreglass resin mixed with just a touch of filling powder to stiffen it and make it wipe onable. I sold the car to a friend some 6 months later and she ran it for 3 years before selling on and no further leaking occurred. I was so chuffed with the success of that, I used the same method to seal a core plug in the end of my Reliant MK6 block and that too never gave any further trouble. It may not be acceptable practice but its cheap and it works!!

[Mandrake]

Coincidentally I noticed some surface rust on the engine sump and transmission sump of my Xantia last weekend and gave them a quick coat of paint.

I expect that new sumps may be available. But you may be better off getting yours fixed with a bit of braizing.

The problem with brazing is finding someone to do it (and repaint it) and that also leaves the car off the road with a missing sump out in the weather for a while, I'd probably need to tape some plastic sheet over the bottom to keep the moisture out. I have too much to do on the car over the next few weeks for the MOT to have it immobile for long.

I see a couple of places list the part but both out of stock:

https://bartebben.com/parts/citroen/xan ... 301j8.html

https://eurofrance24.com/oil-sump-0301h ... nault.html

Can anyone confirm the OEM part number for the sump so I can have a better chance with my Google searches ? It often works better finding obscure parts searching by the OEM code than searching by descriptive name.

Depending on your basic prescription, you may find that a cheap pair of reading glasses are better for working under cars.

I have many pairs of cheap reading glasses of different strengths... I'm around +1 for distance and +2 for reading now but no single focus pair of glasses is usable when working on the car I find as I need a lot of correction for very up close (at least +2) and then things at even arms length are going out of focus with that strength so I'd be changing glasses with dirty hands constantly. The bifocals are a workable solution but they only have a half moon reading section so it's difficult to tip my head to the right angle sometimes when I'm trying to look in through a wheel arch etc...

I'm just glad I'm not a mechanic now I need glasses! (or ever, to be honest)

[xantia_v6]

I am fairly sure the original part number is 0301H2, but that does not seem to find any actual stock. It is the same part on the 406 V6 (B9), which may give more scope for finding one at a breakers.

[Mandrake]

I am fairly sure the original part number is 0301H2, but that does not seem to find any actual stock. It is the same part on the 406 V6 (B9), which may give more scope for finding one at a breakers.

This page seems to suggest it's the oil level probe ?

http://www.peugeotparts.co.uk/files/Peu ... an2022.pdf

"0301H2 I2 ES9J4 SUMP FILTER PROBE 0"

[xantia_v6]

The description is slightly misleading, it is a sump with a pocket for the oil level probe, I presume that there was another version for engines without oil level sensor.

[RichardW]

Seems to be the right number Mike, but it's NFP.

Sump looks pretty crusty Simon! I imagine if you 'investigate it' it will be a proper hole... If it's not too big it should be possible to fix it with JB weld or similar, but you may need to remove the sump to get it clean enough, although if you drop the oil and clean it well with brake cleaner and wire brush you might get it clean enough to get it to stick. If it's really small and localised a gob of RTV might fix it....not pretty! If it is localised, and on a flat area, then removing the sump, drilling through it, and putting a bolt in with PTFE tape either side might seal it.

[Mandrake]

Hi Richard,

JB weld is some kind of epoxy is it ? I've never used it before. Trying to get the outside clean enough to use a glue could be nearly impossible without a lot of work - apart from flaking paint it has multi-layer rust wafers that are impregnated with oil, you'd really need to grind it back to clean steel to get something to glue properly too. I assume this tray is in fact steel ?

Unfortunately it's not a flat area either, it's on the side of the curving section.

Another thought I had if it's steel would be to try to patch it on the inside - for example solder a thin rectangular strip of copper over the inside of the hole ? Some copper strip could be beaten into shape to match the curvature then soldered all the way around the strip to make a seal.

A plumbing torch (which I have) and plumbing solder/flux should in theory be able to do this, and I assume plumbing solder would stand up to the 90C or so that the oil gets up to ? Another advantage to this kind of short term repair is it could easily be removed again without leaving any real damage and allow a more thorough repair to be done in future.

Failing that it really needs to be given to someone who could grind, weld and repaint that section to do a proper repair, but I don't know where I would take it for that to be done...I don't imagine there would be many places keen to attempt this kind of repair on something like a sump tray.

[Mandrake]

Found some pictures of the inside and this is the area where it must be cracked or have a hole:

Looks like it is painted so soldering would not be possible without first sanding off the paint in the area.