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

[CitroJim]

If it's only for a test then it'll be OK to just let the excess diesel fall into the sump but watch the level as if it gets too high then a runaway is potentially possible...

I'm just being very cautious here...

[ekjdm14]

That is a good point, I hadn't considered potential runaway due to the level rising excessively. (I was, however, planning to run with no air filter/pipework & have an "emergency stop" board handy to choke it if the worst happens, as I'm still unsure of the original failure mode and if the pump is behaving as it should)

I'll keep tabs on that Jim. Thanks for the reminder!

[Gibbo2286]

Not sure if I read it right but if you're going to try to run with just the three cylinders why not take the fourth injector out and sit it in a bucket.

[ekjdm14]

That is correct, my good sir... Bonkers ain't I?

The "plop the surplus injector into a receptacle" plan is also a potential, since there ought to be room for a bucket or some such where the radiator would normally sit.

Not got stuck into it yet as the missus has rightly pointed out that there's plenty of other jobs for me to do around the house and on the cars that DO work, that and the weather hasn't been the greatest, but I shall try my darndest to fit in a bit of assembly here & there without causing too much domestic disharmony

[CitroJim]

One must avoid domestic disharmony at all costs

[ekjdm14]

Indeed one must, think one has *just* about managed to do so by cutting the hedges and doing a little tidying in the garden. Thus I "bought" myself a couple of hours playtime before dark & I am exceedingly pleased to announce that the XUD4EJ lives!!! (re-designated EJ in honour of my long suffering better half!)

It's only roughly thrown together, and I had to use 3 zip ties instead of a jubilee clip to hold the redundant shell in place but it actually seems pretty healthy which is a HUGE surprise, oil pressure would appear good and no nasty noises bar the loose bits still rattling around and loose exhaust.

It's actually that acceptable that I'm considering chucking the cooling system back on it and giving the transmission a test up the *ahem, private driveway... (I did find the 3 bolts loose on the flex plate & nipped them up a bit) I suppose if the TC/flex plate has always rattled about then that could well have disguised the racket of the big end somewhat. Also the timing belt tensioner spring has precisely zero effect on actual belt tension, so it could all be the final result of tensioner failure and running with retarded cam timing after all. Certainly what remains of the engine is in pretty good health considering how blown up it is, and it even starts within a second from cold on pure veg.

Anyway, hopefully attached is a video of a start up and short run/rev of the ol' girl. She'll live to float another day (OK it's taking a while to upload to youtube, will post it when it's on)

[ekjdm14]

So next jobs are to sort the leakoff that's spewing over the front of the engine, refit the alternator and aux belt & get her up on her own 4 feet & then think about connecting all the coolant hoses back up and chucking the rad back in... Video of the "early days" stage here-:



Not sure how to work the youtube tags otherwise I'd put a preview on.

[ekjdm14]

Aha, just managed to work it out (by clicking quote button on a post with a video already tagged) but seems you beat me to it! Thanks new "skill" acquired today as well as learning just how well a 4 cylinder engine missing a whole piston & rod actually runs!

Next thing is try to work out why youtube have turned the video 90* from how I recorded it.... It played correctly in media player lol maybe it'll sort itself out.

[CitroJim]

Excellent! Well done

[mickeymoon]

That's quite amazing!

[ekjdm14]

It certainly is a surprise yes, forgot to mention the other 3 big end caps were torqued up nicely too.

Had a moment for a quick mess just now & managed to get the coolant hoses loosely in place plus the exhaust tightened, leakoff pipe fixed and inlet/airbox plonked in place. Only got to drop the rad back in, fill it up and get the aux belt sorted. I'm held up now by both rain and the fact that the aux belt is ruined, perished and I more or less cut it off on stripping down so I'm now considering my options to bodge that up.

Currently I'm thinking chop out the torn part and "staple" the ends together with either wire (bit like old leather line shaft belts) or zip ties, protected by a wrap of duct tape. Not sure the old tights technique would work with the HP pump to drive, would it? lol

[CitroJim]

Just watched and listened to the video properly with sound on!

All I can say is

That's not bad at all and not as rough as I expected it might be...

I'm impressed... Mightily so

[ekjdm14]

Wow that is praise indeed coming from yourself, Jim. I'm more than a little pleased with it myself I have to admit, it doesn't seem to be breathing heavily or blowing out of the coolant hoses either so even the re-used HG seems to be holding for now.

Just listened to it with headphones on and it sounds a little bit "sporty" on startup, not unlike some yank V8's I've heard haha (settles down to a rhythm not dissimilar to a Ford 4000 tractor after a sec though lol)

[CitroJim]

Excellent!

Just listened to it with headphones on and it sounds a little bit "sporty" on startup, not unlike some yank V8's I've heard haha (settles down to a rhythm not dissimilar to a Ford 4000 tractor after a sec though lol)

Yes, and it's rather good to listen to... Nothing thee to set your teeth on edge at all...

[ekjdm14]

Well, it ran long just enough to accomplish what I wanted (i.e. verify the autobox selects OK and hydraulics are good) then promptly fractured the other end off the camshaft, smacked a few more valves and ground to a halt with a nasty clunk. So, it's a dead 'un again lol but it was an interesting experiment & at least the lifting eyes are there to remove the engine now... I think though to be honest, if the cam hadn't been weakened by the previous failure it would've continued to run pretty well on 3.

Bloody tough engines these, and I would hazard a guess that a new cam/caps and timed up it would come back for yet more which makes it all the more strange that the thing threw a rod in the first place. All I can speculate is that it ran the bearing somehow and rattled itself apart, sad end for what would have been a sweet low mileage XUD. Never mind, onward and upward they say. Now I'm a bit happier/more comfortable to throw a replacement engine at it