Ratty

Cheers Chris, used would indeed be a good option as new shafts would almost certainly outlast the car. I shall look into it. Thanks, Ratty

Hello all, The RatMobile (aka ZX 1.9 normally aspirated deisel, 139K) is making it's presence felt again. This time the issue is a pronounced grinding noise heard (but not always) from the front of the car when cornering sharply. I had sworn it was coming from the LHS but on a rare trip in the passenger seat it seemed to come from the RHS so I guess it must be coming from the middle of the engine bay (Meerschaum and deerstalker for me, eh?). Also over the past few trips I believe I can feel a slight vibration through the floor when accelerating at low speed or from stationary. From what I have gleaned this is probably trouble in the driveshaft CV joints. However, as the blasted things are about £80 a pop, plus a gear-box worth of oil, I am keen to be certain before I shell out. Can anyone give me any good tips to definitively determine that a driveshaft is dead and if so whether I am as well to change one or both. Many thanks, Ratty

Many thanks for the grisly evidence, Techbod. The jury is still out on whether your post is intended as encouragement or warning.

Hello all, The front RHS lower suspension arm rubber pivot bushings on my 1996 ZX 1.9D are on the way out. I think I have the necessary spanners to get the arm out but would appreciate some advice on whether I will then be able to remove and replace the actual rubber bushings. If the job calls for a press or similar then my 'workshop' (a.k.a. The Pavement) is sadly not up to the job. Any suggestions much appreciated. Thanks, Ratty

Righty, Just to add a bit of closure to this thread. SInce the initial identification of the problem I have driven approx 3,000 miles, 95% of it on the motorway. In this time the coolant level in the expansion tank has fallen 10-20 mm. Only on one journey did I use the heater. It appears that this amount of coolant loss is manageable. I believe that the initial huge loss of coolant is probably due to incomplete bleeding of the coolant system following a coolant change. This in turn I blame on Citroen's whacky top-up tank coolant filling design and my own inattention and ineptitude is in no way at fault. I still intend to run a control journey of 100miles or so with the heater on to see if this makes any difference. Colin, thanks for your suggestion. I have baulked at the prospect of playing Sweeney Todd with the heater feed but if I do experience a major loss when I run the above mentioned test I may well have to resort to it before we run out of 'summer'. Cheers all.

Addendum to the previous post, I have rolled around in the footwells and read up the heater matrix removal in Haynes and clearly there is no easy inspection to be made. Baulking at the full 'first strip car to an empty husk' job merely to confirm my suspicions I am going to do a few trial runs with the heaters on and closely monitor the coolant levels. Stay tuned for the next rivetting instalment.

Many thanks John and Colin for your replies. I am starting to hope that I have raised a false alarm here. I have now run the car for a further 800 miles with the heater cranked all the way to blue and lost only a smidge of coolant in the process. This amount of loss differs so widely from the amount lost on the previous 250 miles (during which the heater and blower were extensively used) that I am strongly suspecting the heater matrix for the coolant loss. Colin's interpretation of what was observed when I checked the coolant for bubbles reassures me in this. From what I read other symptoms of leaking heater matrix are wet passenger footwell & poor demisting capabilities. Whilst the first symptom was confounded by a leaking door (coming in via the speaker, no less) which has since been fixed, the de-misting is certainly less than efficient. The idea of pouring goo into the coolant system seems a little counter-intuitive to me so I am tempted to stay clear of the Radweld option. Over the next few days I shall try to tear down the dashboard and have a look at the matrix. From what I understand this is a lengthy but not too technical task. Are there any unexpected nasties involved? Cheers, Ratty

No other symptoms have been evident. The oil looks fine and the exhaust is uncannily clear given the mileage, no smoke at all, black, white, brown or blue.

Thanks for the suggestion I guess I will probably need to get a professional to look at this, but in themeantime: OK, Further to my previous tests I have done much the same thing again, this time running the engine at 2500-3000 revs for a minute or so (not entirely from cold). This time no bubbles appeared for over a minute then suddenly the coolant started expanding up to the top of the expansion tank and was full of tiny bubbles and steaming. I promptly turned the motor off, the level remained the same and the coolant continued to bubble and steam for a while. The Temp gauge was at 70 degrees at this point. Is this a symptom of HGF and the time lag in it's appearance merely the time taken for the coolant ot circulate in the system or is this merely the coolant starting to boil in its unpressurised state (i.e. expansion tankcap off)? Any thoughts or advice gratefully received, Thanks, Ratty

Hello all, I am in a bit of a quandary concerning the coolant in my ZX 1.9D (not turbo), veteran 133K. When I first acquired the car the coolant level in the expansion tank was on the Min mark (cold). Knowing the previous owner this did not in the least suprise me. I topped it up to the Max mark with water (having no anti-freeze to hand) for the 250 mile journey home. By the time I arrived home the coolant was fairly close to the Min mark (cold) again. I then drained and refilled the coolant system. The coolant always seems to be slowly going down but never falls below the Min mark (cold). Having said that I tend to top it up again when it gets that low so it is difficult to say. I have only covered approx 250 miles since refilling the system. Most of the car usage has been short urban runs with one 70 mile run. The cooling function appears to be working fine. The engine is generally running with the temp gauge at approx 3/8 of full deflection and the fans are kicking in at about 5/8. I cannot see any hose or radiator leaks and am concerned that I have the beginnings of a head gasket failure. However the exhaust runs clear and there is no evidence of oil in the coolant or vice-versa. In order to check this I went bubble-spotting in the expansion tank. I topped up the expansion tank to Max (cold), left off the radiator cap and fired up the engine, runnikng it at a fast idle. - Initially no bubbles were seen. - After approx 1 min a flurry of bubbles appeared flowing from the direction of the radiator. No exhaust smell noticed. My heart hit my boots. - After approx 45 secs this flurry of bubbles stopped. - Ran the engine at fast idle for a further 2 mins, no further bubbles seen. As far as my limited knowledge goes there are three possible situations: - This is the normal operating situation for this car, I am losing the coolant as the result of expansion from the radiator, which is then resettling lower after having cooled. The small flurry of bubbles is the result of some air in the system following the recent refilling. - I have a small leak which I cannot see. This is causing the loss of the coolant and the flurry of bubbles is the purging of air which has entered the system via the leak. - My head gasket is on the way out but is insufficiently advanced to give a constant stream of bubbles in the expansion tank (which I understand to be a common symptom) Please could you advise me on which situation is most likely from the given evidence and of any other tests I might run to determine this. Clearly one of the above situations is the WRONG ANSWER. Many Thanks, Ratty

Hello, Job done and all ticketty-boo so far. I was able to cut off the steel crimping and then slide off the two rubber hose sections without having to cut the actual steel pipe at all. The two replacement hose sections with olives etc came to £56 from Pirtek and (barring a cross-threaded nut which Pirtek were happy to replace) went on in a straight-forward fashion. Many thanks for your suggestion. I have not dared to look up the full replacement price from Citroen but I have no doubt that I have made a significant saving and managed to avoid covering my nice new auxiliary drive belt with hydraulic fluid.

Splendid stuff, thank you, Colin. The pipe is 10mm OD and a call to the local Pirtek has elicited a provisional quote of £40ish which doesn't sound too harsh. I am going to try to saw off the exterior crimping to remove the pipe rubber, hopefully revealing a nice unpitted stub of steel pipe underneath. Access for this is still awkward for a hacksaw so I might extend my tool-centric kleptomania in the direction of a B&D Wizard, Dremel or similar. I shall report back with any newly won wisdom once the deed is done. Thanks again.

Hello, I have a well worn ZX elation (1.9 Deisel with 133K on the clock) which appears to have recently started leaking from the two of the rubber-steel unions in the PAS pressure line. I am uncertain how long this has been going on as the leak (which is copious) only occurs when the steering is on full lock and so as only come to light after a merry afternoon with a learner driver repeatedly attempting to hit parking-bays. My question is two-fold: 1) Is there any way I can remedy this other than replacement of the entire pressure line and possibly avoid having to undo the seemingly inaccessible union at the steering rack end? 2) Is there any reason why this should only be occuring on full lock? I am unacquainted with the intricacies of the PAS system but see no imediate reason why the pressure in the pressure-hose should be significantly higher on full lock. Is this maybe a symptom of a further problem? Any words of wisdom greatfully received. Thanks.