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

[ekjdm14]

Certainly more plausible than saying the Escort grew a roof and changed colour anyway haha

[daviemck2006]

I do diesels and don't flinch with rust, but having just got a 1.9 td,,,,,,,,,,,

[ekjdm14]

Wow, has it really been 3 months since I was last on here? Time's certainly flown & with one thing and another I've just not got online much. Suffice to say, Black has been faultless over the whole time aside from a self-inflicted problem with the washer bottle fill tube coming out which I put down to having to drop the bottle while replacing the bottom hose.

Anyway, a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all who venture into this thread (and all who don't, although that's a bit pointless as you/they can't see this! ). Hope all are well, I'll catch up with what everyone's been up to in due course but for now, some more tales of XUD bottom end woe!

Seriously, I must be the go-to guy for diesel Xantiae with major engine problems. I'm speaking of White, who has seen the attentions of my spanners again at long last. Where I left off I knew #2 pot was the one that kept dropping out at idle and had confirmed it wasn't fuel, timing, the intake wasn't restricted and the exhaust wasn't blocked so it could only really be low compression on the iffy cylinder.

That just left the confirmation of whether it was valve, head or bottom end related & knowing my luck with these cars I should have expected what I found on lifting the head... Gasket? Perfect condition, could've reused it with a bit of Wellseal... Valves? no dice there either & the bore looked fine, so I unpin the crank, spin it 180*, lo & behold piston #3 is sitting about 0.3mm proud of the block face yet #2 is sitting over 1mm down. We have our culprit, and it's the worst thing possible. Bent rod

So, I wonder what caused it? Given that it's only the one cylinder that's bad and the lack of any emulsion in the intake tract I think we can about 95% rule out water damage. Also the fact that running did improve when I swapped injectors, pretty much I feel like the signs are pointing to a failed/dripping #2 injector causing a hydraulic lock.

How the thing ran so well and didn't knock it's b*ll*cks off is the only mystery left now, just need to do a bit of research now into whether I can repurpose one of my spare NA rods and try to search out a set of big end bearings. One thing for certain, if I end up replacing the engine it'll be one from a TD ZX as I never seem to have any luck with those of Xantia origin lol

Here's wishing everyone else's new year started off better than White's did.

[CitroJim]

Good to see you back been missing you too

A bent rod? That's a shock! Maybe one of a batch of XUDs known to have a rod problem (although they usually broke) or perhaps because of a former failed head gasket causing a small hydraulic lock or even an ingestion of flood water... Any is possible but happening on only one pot is slightly odd or just good/bad luck...

Maybe just a poorly cast rod...

Hopefully all your troubles are now at an end with XUD bottom ends!!!

[ekjdm14]

Well by my reckoning I have 2 more bottom end failure cars to go, maybe they'll be red and green estates? But I'm sure they'll have issues centred around #3 and 4 rods

I did think about the dodgy batch of rods that we discussed in the saga of Black's blown engine, but all sources I've heard from suggest they only made it into low-pressure turbo models & pretty much all were 306's. Head gasket I'm pretty sure was the original & good, shame really but I suppose I'd have had to lift the head to replace a rod anyhow.

Really am thinking it's an injector's fault, but whatever the cause the next move now is to drop the sump and inspect the heck out of the bottom end. If the bearing looks reasonable wear-wise I may be seriously tempted to try and find a part set/single pair of bearings and just replace the one rod. It's got a fighting chance of being a goer then and if anything else presents as a major issue further down the line I know where there's a 1.9TD engine sat in a breaker that won't be moving any time soon.

Rain and bad light stops play this evening but hopefully will have the offending banana-rod on the bench sooner than later.

How's Jim anyway, and do I see Zel's former Skoda on your fleet now?

[CitroJim]

How's Jim anyway, and do I see Zel's former Skoda on your fleet now?

I'm very well indeed Yes, you do see Zel's former Skoda on my fleet, and Michel's former Ka and my youngest daughter's Pixo...

I only have one French car left now But don't worry, that one's not going anywhere!

[ekjdm14]

Good good, I was going to question the Ka until I remembered you live in some very cornering-biased territory & I'm told the little Ford is rather adept at that sort of stuff

Just been looking in my BoL's (one Xantia and the other one, 1379 'Citroen Diesel engine '84-'96 edition) and neither one of them specifies a difference between the NA and TD con-rods. I'm about to do a bit of part number digging but if anyone could confirm/quash my theory that they may be the same that'd be good too.

[Michel]

Good good, I was going to question the Ka until I remembered you live in some very cornering-biased territory & I'm told the little Ford is rather adept at that sort of stuff

The Ka is my fault. I bought Jim's 207 and asked him if there was a scrap yard near his house so I could drive the Ka up, and dispose of it as I couldn't be bothered selling a car with a short MOT, a few minor issues, that I'd paid not much for anyway (it was a winter runabout to save my Focus ST from the salt)...... Jim said to leave it there and he'd do the necessary

[CitroJim]

Good good, I was going to question the Ka until I remembered you live in some very cornering-biased territory & I'm told the little Ford is rather adept at that sort of stuff

You're not wrong there at all.. The little Ka is an absolute hoot and drives like a hyperactive go-kart. It goes round corners like it's on rails and just begs to be ragged

It's great fun! See my blog for the full account of what I think of it

[CitroJim]

Jim said to leave it there and he'd do the necessary

I did and I am

[ekjdm14]

Right, most of the repair parts are bought and on their way now. Just a little advice if possible on A, whether to use any wellseal on the head gasket (it's an Elring MLS item) and B, whether it's strictly necessary to replace the studs/nuts on the con rod?

I do have new head bolts coming (also Elring) but haven't been able to locate any big end studs/nuts for the XUD at all...

[ekjdm14]

Oh and the gasket that came out was MLS also, suggesting it was done previously?

[CitroJim]

Personally, I've never used anything on a head gasket... Just ensured all mating faces are spotlessly clean...

[ekjdm14]

Rod is out and has formed a lovely letter 'S' viewed from the front, piston/rings/bore/crankpin all surprisingly look no worse from their brief foray into being hydraulic press parts. Obviously the big end is showing signs of radius ride, although it's only the upper shell that has died (of course it will be replaced anyway).

Looking at the TD rod next to a D the difference appears to be the larger little end bore and a chamfered tip so next order is to find a good used D8B rod or short engine... Ebay is looking like a real minefield of DW8 and DHY parts not to mention the rip-off prices, so next port of call is the "FCF classifieds" lol...

[ekjdm14]

Well my impatience to get a move on got the better of me & I bought a rod/piston from the 'bay, £30 delivered.

Looks like I've done alright on it fortunately, it's a full-fat rod and the piston/rings showed very little in the way of wear, although I'll be staying with the original piston/rings & just changing the rod and gudgeon pin. It is tempting to fit the whole lot with just the original rings, but I feel like the wear pattern of the original piston as well as rings could have a part to play in how well the finished product runs. That said, I will weigh everything beforehand and make a final decision based on whether there's any differences.

Unfortunately today, the first day where the weather has been dry/warm enough to reasonably do anything outside, I've spent most of the day in bed feeling rotten. Typically feel a little better now it's dark but fingers crossed for some progress this weekend.