jtonky

Hey my car went in for an MOT, it failed and is going on on monday (11/08/08) for fault finding / fix. Its an AX 14d 1993 (nice eh). So im thinking of things i can do to pre-empt any possible fix's. Im thinking some redex diesel treatment.. I did consider replacing the oil filter as its about the time it should ahve a service, but i have not bothered since its been drinking oil recently so the oil in their is fresh... lol oh yea this is a healthly car.. warming up the engine is not realy an option asi im droping it off at 8.30 the morning when i go to work and by the time they test it etc. still ill take it out for a nice thrash sunday. lol get all 55 break down on the road. I guess the worst case is faulty 02/lamder sensor. Not cheap but cheaper then a new ax diesel from auto trader eh! any thoughts?

my prob was i had air in the system. bleed points are best one one is the top left hand side of the engine compartment, cliped againsts the bulk head, pipe with screwn in the end. unscrew and bring engine up to temporature (idol for 5 mins) the return pipe to the rad on the right hand side will feel warm. then dip the pip towards the floor then water should come out, let that in a little bit, top of the water as required. then screw up. ne careful the water does get hot so turn off engine if u cant do it quick.

ok problem solved. got a new cap from main dealer, did not fix. decided to check that the fan and fan switch was working ok, yes it was. decided to check my thermostat. followed the haynes manual took out the battery for access, unscrewed the 3 bolts holding the thermostat casing, took out the thermostat and let the water pee out every where. cleaned it up as it seemed a little gunked up. then i put it in a pan and boiled the water and watched it open and close, so its working. put it back in, re connected everything. re filled the cooling system properly. I located the bleed points. one is if you stand in front of your car, look on the top of the rad on the right, it’s a plastic screw set flush on the top, but I used the other one. That is on the top left hand side, set along bulk head. It’s a pipe witch comes out of heater matrix. Its just a pipe with a screw in the end, cant miss it . I unscrewed it and left it a bit and then and lowered the pip and let the water get pumped out. Did it again once engine was up to temperature. Problem has not come back. So boys and girls what I had was a build up of pressure cause by the Citroen garage not bleeding the air properly, luckily no damage caused as the cap was doing its job, letting the air pressure out, along with a sheet load of water from my tank too... Now that its fixed I can really see the problem. Before when ever I took the cap off the rad it went PISSSSSS BLOB BLOB BUBBLE PISSSS BUBBLE PISSSS BLOB BLOB LOB. Now I only get a short pist. So there we are hope this helps some one in the future. :rolleyes:

ok problemsolved. got a new cap from main dealer, did not fix. decided to check that the fan and fan switch was working ok, yes it was. decided to check my thermostat. followed the haynes manual took out the battery for access, unscrewed the 3 bolts holding the thermostat caseing, took out the thermostat and let the water pee out every where. cleaned it up as it seemed a little gunked up. then i put it in a pan and bolied the water and watched it open and close. put it back in, re connected everything. re filled the cooling system properly.

ha ar i reply 4 years on! i cant find any bleed points on my ax i have a similar problem. check out jtonky in the technical section. best is to top up with water, leave cap off then run for a bit, stop top up and so on. thermostat, i always thought it was in front of the rad when u open ur bonet there is a plate with your VF number on it, below that is a section cut away and a small device mounted to the frame, is that it?

I have been doing some googling and i dont think its the water sen. It correctly reads that i have a lock of water. Iv bene doing some monitoring and i seem to be loosing water sloly (when hot) it seems out through the release mechanisum on the cap. Question is why is the preasure getting so great... Some one sugested on an other forum get a new cap from cit. Could be a faulty cap which is cheap to replace, so might do that. im still waiting on my haynes manual to origentate me but the onlt other thing i can think its is on of these. 1. Head Gasket on way out (but water does not seem discouloured and oil cap looks fine 2. Air pocket in system causing havoc but then i cant find a bleed valv tried driving a bit with the cap off, always heat heat out through the matrix 3. Temp sens faulty not monitoring the temp right and water is boiling, not turning on the fan to cool it down. and or loose cabling as u say. 4. Temp sens ok and fan buggered but then i should be getting a dash light on saying STOP! look at the temp u numpty!. But again i dont have a temp gage just a warning lap, helpfull. So its strange, i think the water sensor is comming on coz im spitting watter through the release cap. So why am i spitting water. So ill replace cap, see what happens, if not, replace temp sensor having checked connection to it and the fan. Failing that run it till it dies :huh:. HELP! p.s. is there any way i can check if the fan is working without ragging the hell out of it for 20 mins while idol?

--------------- Paul, so doing this solved your problem? I have the exsact same problem with my 1.4 d ax. i was thinking it was over heating, maybe because the fan was not working, maybe because it was not logging the temp correctly, but indeed if the cap is faulty maybe its not allowing the water to get pumped around correctly. ?

no joy. I have this problem where i drive like for 20 mins then my lol water sensor comes on. but can go out again. stop, take cap off and still ahve pressure but the water then bubbles up a bit so sensor goes off. And so the cycle starts again, werid. Any ideas?

lol bit late now i know but thought id comment. Fans not blowing, electrical. check fuses maybe the fan switch. fan blowing but hot air stops, thats a bigger problem. Heat comes from hot water from your engine passing through a heater matrix. If you get not hot air means the water is either not being pumped round your engine, but i think u would soon know about that or that you have an air pocket in ur system. take cap off water tank and run for a bit and drive round the block, up and down a hill too if u can.

thanks for that yeah i need to get a manual, might invest in one from ebay... but take cap off and drive round the corner u say, ill give it a go :rolleyes:

Hi, i had a diesel 306 before, right in front of you when you opened the bonnet you had a u bend in the water pipe returning to the rad, on it was a valve. Un screed the small plastic value, water came out and any air trapped in the system. My AX 14 D echo does not seem to have this. Mind you totally deferent concept i know. Anyways iv searched Google, and from that i have learned this is OR is not one and the Haynes manual does not show you if there is one? Anyways if you have found one on your car, please can you be kind enough to tell me where to look? do i need to get underneath? If there is no valve or i cant find it, how do i go about checking / getting rid of the air pocket? Open the air cap every now and then? :blink:

Hi I have a luxurious 1993 L reg 1.4 Diesel Echo, 0-60 in about 5 minutes. No seriously it achieves 80mph and I get about 55mpg. All the time. I went to york recently which used a whole tank and I got about 56mpg. I normally do on a daily commute 4 miles worth of town, 6 miles worth of motorway 70mph and 11 miles worth of A287 (50/60 up and down hills) and the same on the way back. My foot is often to the floor but that I have to, so I can keep up with traffic, for clime hills... I am just wondering what every one else is getting? Im my manual is an original blue leaflet from Citreon which states all the fuel consumption guides. AX 14 D ECHO, TDG & TZD Urban (62.8mpg), 56mph(85.6mpg), 75mph (58.9) Not far wrong on the 75mph eh? :)

thanks m8, yeah thats wot i recon it is, cheers for cheering me up, im google in it now :). ncoz the warter is still a nice blue so i cant see there being a head gasket sweing tis huts in :S lol ill try and rem to post once iv tried a bleed

Yeah i had this problem, was not the matrix tho "FEW". Not long after i got my ax i parked it up on the kerb, up on the drivers side. That night it rained heavily. When i levelled out and started driving i had a little water come out my passenger air vent, smelt and like it was water from the tank. FFS! But i had to get to work so left air blower on and i always carry extra water so if hot air stopped coming out I would know I had no water, lol. So always kept and eye on water under bonnet, no change. More heavy rain, water again. Since i stopped parking on the kerb its stops. So it recon it was running into the air inlet under the bonnet, through the ducts, over the heater matrix picking up residue of antifreeze from when it went before (maybe)? Plus think im missing a bit of plastic that would normally stop the water running in? Hope that helps?

about a week ago my low water sensor cameon havening done a 2 min journey, parked up, then returned to work during lunch thats when it came on, checked the rad, old plastic so u can bliming see how much water is in there. So anyways i took the water cap off and the air escaped as it does and their was a bit of bubbling in the water, which u would expect? So anyways after this their is no space for water to be put in, its at the top? Is too much pressure building up? and compressing the water below the sensor? Iv had this car about 3 months (14d l reg) and its not a pride and joy :). The rad looks comparability new, its still silvery shiny... and the water is blue (not rusty) any ideas?

Just an update but all is well, never done it again since, i have put it down to parking on a high curbe (the road outside is new and it still has not had its final surface). Also those two nights i parked it there, their was heavy rain and i parked it with the near side on the kirb, so i recons the water was running down to the far side (where the air duct is) and was running in and when i leveled the car it run through the system.

Yeah im hopeing its leaking from window. quite funny actually i plugged the vents to floor with paper towels to soak up the dribbles of water, but strange thing is it has not happened again, well at least the paper towels are not wet. But thinking about it, it hasn’t rained hard... When the leaking happened i had my car up on the pavement half on half off. The road outside is unfinished so the kerb is extra high too, so maybe hard rain and water running down towards the left nearside runs into a hole which leaks... which maybe picked up some scummy deposits through the air ducts... the ducts are bound to have some anti freeze residue in there as the pipes in there must be 14 years old now and not 100% Anyways i am monitoring the water in the tank making sure it does not go down. If it does, RADWELD it is :huh:. but to be honest if it is leaking and i just gotta top up water ill leave it. Cars a 1993 L reg, simply not worth the effort, especially when paper towels shoved in the hole holds it back. :P.

Hi, does anyone post here anymore? :rolleyes: Yeah hi, recently aquired an ax 14d for a couple of bar to run for a bit for. Noticed a few days later when i start it in the morning and turn a corner i get a bit of leakage out of the feet heater blower ducts. The liquid is clear, smells (not soapy) is a bit acidic , and a bit sticky gunky, so im thinking engin coolant and heater matrix leaking a bit. Its just so strange (for me anyways) i had a 306 which had a heater matrix go (really bad steam every where, felt like i was on an old steam train) but i dont get steam on the windows etc, just this water!? any ideas?

Late reply i know, but im new here, Dont think so, far as i know if it has sa bosh, its a replacement coz the other one died for what ever reason (maybe some one testing out vegy oil eh). Seriously tho dont try veg oil in the small engine, the pump would die if u tried it, not worth it. If u want to try that get get a nice xud 1.9 pug/cit (turbo or non turbo). Def not the HDI vertion. Idealy u want the Bosh pump as u say, the lucas ones can be used but only a 20% mix. Lucas pump = 20% veg oil, 80% standard diesel. Adjust the mix if its cold (icy). Pointless tho as you would save £1-2 a fill up and increase risk of car death. Bosh pumps can run on up to 100% veg oil, but only if its pre heated with one of these kits u can buy which basicaly runs the fuel past a little box with a glow plug in it. If any one does try anything start out with 5-10% mix and increment it up, keep a log and record problems if u have any. Also this is legal now and vat duty free up to 25,000 leiters per year for private use. check out uk.gov.