Tech query one: Diesel running/cold starting issues

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kole24
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Post by kole24 »

citrojim wrote:Thing is Kitch, it only takes a tad of heat in the head to expand it just enough for the valves to close again and for fully normal performance to be restored. You'd never know.

It really is quite remarkable. I had it on a 205D. Below zero it would not start, a couple of degrees above, start reluctantly but within seconds, running like a clock and at anything over 5 degrees it started absolutely perfectly!

Had I not experienced this quirk personally, I'd never have believed it possible :o

Little diesels seem to suffer more. It's common on the XUD7 but comparatively rare on the XUD9 :?

I tend to set valve clearances to the wider side of the tolerance if I do them in the summer.
Yep, been there ..... twice (Saxo and BX) :evil:
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Post by Kitch »

Think I've located the issue.....there a leak from the filter housing. Just above where it screws on, theres a little plastic vlave looking thing, kinda like a bleed screw. It's got a male cross head arrangement on it!

When I prime the bulb, fuel starts pissing out of this area. I tried tightening it, but it just spins. Guessing it's shafted!


For now I've bypassed the filter and got it to start and run happily. Before it just wouldn't start full stop. My question is, what are the implications of driving without the fuel filter for a while? I'm not driving it now but I plan to put it in for an MOT next week and don't wanna spend on a new housing until I know there's no nasty surprises waiting elsewhere. I think it's ok, but I don't wanna take risks with money! :lol:
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CitroXim
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Post by CitroXim »

Ahh, brilliant stuff Kitch. That little white thing is the fuel heater thermostat. When cold, the fuel runs through a labyrinth cast into the thermostat housing; it's a well-known source of leaks. It can be removed and bunged up but the problem is finding something to bung the hole up with. The kind of plastic the filter housing is made of seems not to want to bond to anything for very long. Replacement is the only answer really.
Kitch wrote:My question is, what are the implications of driving without the fuel filter for a while? I'm not driving it now but I plan to put it in for an MOT next week and don't wanna spend on a new housing until I know there's no nasty surprises waiting elsewhere. I think it's ok, but I don't wanna take risks with money! :lol:
Seriously bad form to run without a filter Kitch. If any crap gets into the pump, especially a Lucas, it's a slow but sure Goodnight Vienna for it. It could even seize up on you. The filter also traps water and water is perhaps the No. 1 enemy of a pump. The pumping elements and rotor sleeve are ground to micron percision and just a tiny abrasive particle or two of dirt grinding away in the pump will seriously wear and shorten its life.

Get a replacement filter housing on ASAP. If it's the same as a later 1.9TD one, black plastic with a domed lid held on by four allen screws, the scrapyards are full of 'em on all sorts of diesel PSA vehicles. Just look for a dry one and you'll be OK.

Note that a petrol in-line fuel filter will not do. Firstly it's not fine enough and secondly it has no ability to effectively trap water.
Jim

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Post by Kitch »

I see. Well luckily I managed to source another car, so I'm not using the 106.

Sounds like it's the cause of the problems then. It's not the same as the 1.9TD ones, it's more like the Cav one on a 1.D but without the primer button.
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jonathan_dyane
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Post by jonathan_dyane »

I know that there isn't much space under the bonnet on the 106, but it may prove more straightforward to fit a seperate cartridge-type diesel filter, as used on earlier XUD vehicles, and many old diesels. IIRC the filter housing on the TUD engine you have is very awkward to get at, and attached to the cylinder head by easily-sheared-off and inaccessable bolts :-(

I echo Jim's comments though, without a filter the pump is very much on borrowed time...
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