Tales from beyond the grave AKA Dan & Emma's Black Xantia, pug 206HDi, Daniel's 206 Verve 1.4i, GTi180 plus XUD9TE 206!!

[CitroJim]

Tight valve clearances on an XUD are often only a problem for cold weather starting Dan as it's a quirk of the design that the clearances open a little as the engine warms - unlike most...

Injector has to be a good call...

Bottom end problems on an XUD are relatively rare... You'd be most unlucky to have such a problem...

[ekjdm14]

Yes, rare & unlucky but it'd be par for the course with my Xantia ownership haha. hopefully though it's just ready for a set of clean injectors at 136k.

Meanwhile, what are the chances that our overheating incident could have killed all 4 glow plugs instantly? First fully cold start since repairing the hose & it's apparent that none are working. First thought on no-start was check the stop solenoid, it has power, so check glow plug wiring, has power too... Crack an injector and there's fuel so crank a little longer and one pot starts kicking, then two and finally fires up in a cloud of smoke that'd do a diesel loco proud...

While it looks cool and smells nice, it's not gonna do the starter any good and i'll be swapping the plugs for the ones out of the scrap head shortly but still, what are the odds of them all being killed by the coolant leak without any immediately obvious damage to the engine proper? Don'tcha just love French cars? (I say that without a hint of sarcasm, I hasten to add. I really do love them).

[CitroJim]

I can't see how such an overheating episode could have killed the glowplugs so comprehensively Dan... Unless it was so hot that massive detonation took place that shattered their tips or something..

Be intrigued to see what you find when you swap them...

Watching with interest...

[ekjdm14]

That's what I worry about, although I didn't think it got *that* hot Will see what the little blighters say when they're removed, weird as it runs just as well as before though. I'll try and get on the job later today & post my findings, thanks.

[ekjdm14]

Quick update for you Jim, #1 plug was Beru, working and put back in. #2 was also Beru but open circuit & utterly dead, no damage to the tip of either. I've had to replace with an NGK for the moment and kids dictate that I stop and go for a walk now but will go for the other, harder access plugs when I can & I expect to find at least one of them dead as well. Curiouser and curiouser.

Engine's too warm now to know if it's improved at all with at least 2 working plugs but I hope so.

[CitroJim]

Good to know there was no tip damage Dan

[ekjdm14]

Yes, good to know it didn't get ridiculously hot at least. Strangely enough though, having replaced just the one dead plug yesterday (thus having 2 working by my reckoning) she started like a good 'un this morning and seems good. New set of Beru on the cards as soon as time/funds allow though, as well as the hose.

P.S. thanks for the confirmation message Jim

[CitroJim]

Excellent on both counts Dan

[ekjdm14]

Finally got the chance today to make a visit to the local scrapyard where there's a '96ish Xantia TD Break, and a productive visit it has been despite only spending an hour there. We've come away with a set of injectors for White that look to have under 50k on them based on how they look compared to the originals, also grabbed the armour-free pump & the HP pipes as they'll be useful spares and would only have deteriorated sat with the fuel system open in the yard. Also took the opportunity to grab the top & bottom radiator hoses, engine mount cover and a couple of other engine bay odds 'n' sods for Black's benefit.

The grand total for the day's shopping, including that Bosch fuel system... £20 happy ain't the word, even knowing how reasonable this guy's prices are I'd expected to pay at least £45. Further good news is there's a couple of 206's with front fogs to raid for the underbonnet fusebox in hopes of sorting that job out, and I still need to grab the sunroof cassette, throttle cable and some other odd bits from the Xantia so hoping to go back this week sometime.

Anyhow, early night tonight as I'm shattered and achy & then hopefully get time to fit the injectors and see how White runs with those tomorrow. Once White is mobile again (and, fingers crossed, fixed) I can get Black on the "operating table" and replace that horribly bodged, table-leg joined, bottom hose.

EDIT-: also, I'm terribly ashamed to say that Black has rolled over the 100k mark the last couple of days and I completely forgot to get a photo of the magic moment

[elma]

It's ok 111,111 isn't so far away.

[ekjdm14]

It's ok 111,111 isn't so far away.

Only about 30 months at the current rate haha, never mind it's not a "genuine" 100k really, can't be many XUD powered cars on their second engine by this point! At least I can try to get the autobox to last 250k I guess...

[CitroJim]

Dan, that was a bargain for your scrapyard haul

[ekjdm14]

Yep, very pleased indeed to have a spare pump and a spare set of at-least-repairable injectors for less than the price I'd banked on finding a good bottom hose for. Sadly weather and problems with my prescriptions have meant no work done today but kids are back to school tomorrow so there ought to be at least a couple of hours available during most days for automotive fettling

Sadly there's not much of use left on this particular Xantia now as it's got a couple of others on top and the doors leak due to lifting damage to the roof, and it's buried in a corner of the yard with awful access otherwise I'd have yanked the complete engine out by now. Hopefully be able to liberate a decent head/cam and turbo/manifolds from it though once I have the garage tidied up a little as well as hoping the sunroof cassette at least has the 2 small parts I need to regain the slide function on Black. Yards like this one are sadly a dying breed, the Xantia and a 405 above have been there at least a year now yielding odds & ends.

Something I may try and get a photo of next time, and which may well make some people wince, is the tallest vehicle stack. At least 5 high, there's an early '80s Toyota Space Cruiser (last visit it was only under 2 others and I wanted to save it, now the pillars are bending in!) with an '05 Vectra on top, then a 307 iirc, Focus and topped off I believe with another poxhall. Not exactly HSE friendly but there's some real gems and rarities to be found if you climb far enough.

[ekjdm14]

Progress of sorts on White this afternoon, fitted the "new" injectors and cranked her up only to still have a misfire, distinctly number 2 cylinder again. Pulled the injector out and swapped for a known working one and much the same, even replaced the HP pipe in case it was somehow to blame, no change.

At this point I was contemplating whether to get a compression tester or just whip the head off but something still doesn't sit right with me. When running and I crack each injector in turn, the fuel spray reaches the bonnet from 1,3&4 but barely clears a couple of inches from #2... I think there's a big possibility of a pump fault (anyone recall I originally swapped that injector for an NA one as a trial a good while back, and saw an improvement? That smacks of low output on that one injector too).

So, any experts care to suggest how this could happen on just one injector? I know some/or all? Of the unions on the dizzy head have balls/springs etc inside, is port 2 one of them? I wonder if perhaps something got misplaced when the armour was removed, or is there anything (other than 1/10000 freak wear patterns) that could cause low pressure from one output from the pump?

Time for some research when I get the laptop back as it's tough on an iPod, but I feel I shall be swapping the pump for my next trick... oh well, beats low compression if it is just the pump at fault!

[MikeT]

Is it possible dirt has got inside the pump and found it's way into blocking one of the distributor ports? Maybe worth undoing no2, dismantling, clean then re-assemble?