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

[ekjdm14]

Well well well... Moral of today's instalment of Whit'e story is, always but ALWAYS check the basics first of all!

Just been out and twisted the pump towards the head and, like magic, she's cured!

Now, I feel both elated and slightly dumb at this point since timing is one of the first checks I should have made. However, with the misfire being fairly distinctly on #2 I was thrown off the scent at the first instance and based my troubleshooting around the fuel/air/compression of that cylinder alone. My only guess is that #2 has the lowest compression of the 4 (although within spec) and this was the first place the issue showed up.

I would appreciate the input of Les (White's previous owner) on the matter, most specifically when he had the cambelt replaced and if he noticed any change at this point. The tension appears fine and it's a Gates belt but my guess at the moment is the belt was replaced with the pump a tooth out (very easy to do in my experience even using pegs) and the problem started there but perhaps went unnoticed for a while. Think there's about 6k miles on the cambelt.

Anyway, I'm off now to let my excitement crossed-joy crossed-embarrassment crossed disbelief subside a while & then reassemble and properly time-up the engine when time allows. AND I can put my compression tester budget to use on some dial gauges.

(P.S. I think in my excitement I said away from the head was advancing the timing in the other post. Anyway, it's obviously the other way round given how readily she now starts and the slight increase in cold-clatter I hear).

TL:DR-: After all this time, the injection timing was just a tooth retarded...

[CitroJim]

That'll be interesting Dan as the XUD is very critical on timing...

I always use pins and quadruple check it by rotating the engine about ten times or more before reinserting the pins for a final check before removing them again and starting up..

Fingers are crossed

[ekjdm14]

....XUD is very critical on timing...

And my, how I've learned it today! She didn't sound or start half bad with the timing wherever it was when we got her (apart from the miss of course) but now, having set it roughly by hand, things are so much improved it's like a new engine in half an hour of tinkering!

I can honestly say this is the most satisfying cringe of embarrassment I've ever felt & now the reassembly can commence in earnest and she may be ready to go for her next MoT before the current one even runs out which, despite the time I've wasted chasing shadows on this, is quicker than I thought things may have gone...

[CitroJim]

Dan, that's excellent news Glad you found it before pulling the engine all to bits

[ekjdm14]

Now that would've been a kick in the nuts! I think I may have stopped short of doing so on the say-so of the compression test since it would likely have shown all 4 within spec, but it would've still been mighty confusing.

[CitroJim]

Now that would've been a kick in the nuts! I think I may have stopped short of doing so on the say-so of the compression test since it would likely have shown all 4 within spec, but it would've still been mighty confusing.

Yes, that would have been a real head-scratcher Dan... You'd be forgiven for thinking the thing was possessed

Or just feminine French

[ekjdm14]

... You'd be forgiven for thinking the thing was possessed

Or just feminine French

As well she may be, just went out and started her up and firstly I have a drain back issue as she needed priming before doing other than spluttering (no big deal, I'd expect as much given the amount of faffing around the fuel system I've done) & then as she warmed she started trying to drop a cylinder again and smoke came back!

Soooo either we're out of fuel (definitely very low ), drawing air (although she still revved freely) or.... Or I don't really know, Madame Xantia strikes once more haha.

[CitroJim]

Definitely feminine Dan She's keeping you guessing

[ekjdm14]

Yep, I think for the moment I'm going to sort out the drain back/air problem, clean the tank sender & put a gallon or two of diesel in & then get on with the wiring plug in the footwell, put the interior back in and save up for the correct instruments to set the timing properly before taking any guesses in the direction of sticky rings or valves.

Small victory nonetheless, there's unlikely to be anything major major wrong with the engine at least.

[CitroJim]

Yes, that's a good route to take Dan Get all those things done and it all helps to eliminate potential causes...

Watching with great interest... I'm loving your blog

[ekjdm14]

"Madame Blanc" has this evening behaved herself impeccably. The leaking back/pulling air appears to have been to do with a split leak off pipe which I've attended to along with adding 5 litres of Esso's finest and either she was just running out of fuel earlier OR has decided to lull me into a false sense of security by having, not 5 minutes ago, reached operating temperature without missing a beat (including a couple of short blasts up & down our *ahem* private driveway to clear the soot out as much as possible). Now seems a lot cleaner on blipping the throttle although I'm 99% sure the timing is a bit early now. Oh, and the rocker cover's broken breather pipe spews oily haze and will need replacing very shortly.

Anyhow, that's all for the moment apart from sluicing the engine down with brake cleaner to shift the mix of diesel and oily gunk that's accumulated over the course of my (protracted) testing and final diagnosis/'repair' of the original problem. Not till that breather's sorted though.

French birds eh?

[CitroJim]

Excellent Dan

French birds eh?

They love playing their games, that's for sure

They always keep us interested though; never a dull moment with a French car

[ekjdm14]

Little bit of progress to report on White, grabbed a couple of hours earlier to attend to the crusty wiring in the passenger footwell & reinstall wiring for the electric seats, popped the front carpets back in and hopefully will see the rest of the interior back over the next couple of days. Fingers crossed the soldered bypass surgery on the multiplug will see off the airbag light too, but if not then the next job will be rewiring the Lexia plug and asking the ECU what it's unhappy about.

Oh and a small side note, I think I've mentioned previously my theory that car problems/failures seem to happen in "seasons " for want of a better description. Well from reading the Peugeot forums I think September '17 is the time for ECU output failures en-masse Quite a few 1.4HDi cars affected too, should I start worrying about ours now too? Gulp.

[CitroJim]

Hope my Pug survives the 'season' Dan... It's the only car I have on the road now

[ekjdm14]

Hope my Pug survives the 'season' Dan... It's the only car I have on the road now

There's absolutely no reason it wouldn't survive Jim, having already been subject to your fettling back when she was "The Deathtrap" Very strange though if all these "missing/low outputs" came down to the ECUs. I'll have to re-read your blog actually and refresh my memory on your own saga in case it throws any light on this current crop of Pug problems.