Further leakage (with some polishing)

stuart_hedges · Post by **stuart_hedges** » Tue May 01, 2007 7:01 pm

Posted on my website today:

I wrote:I did something today that I'd never done before - I polished my car. And re-applied the bumper treatment (from Meguiars, no less). It was looking great, and a nice chap from up the road chatted with me for a bit, passing the time and reminiscing about nice old cars. When he left, he asked me if I knew I was losing oil and pointed to the front bumper. Oh. Damn.

Well, that definitely wasn't there when I was treating the bumpers - which I'd done with the car up high, to make it easier to reach the undersides and awkward bits. Maybe it was leaking when the car dropped - which I'd done to polish the roof. A bit of experimenting and I found the leak.

I raised and lowered the car and tried to capture the LHM peeing out - it goes with enough pressure to water the radiator - but didn't manage to take the picture quickly enough before it stopped. See the Y-shaped pipe? The leaking pipe is the left-hand one. Of course, the leak is in the pipe that runs towards the back of the engine bay and disappears into the bowels of the engine, not the easily-accessible one on the bottom of the fluid reservoir.

For now I'm going to snip the end and push it back on further down, but I will be trying to find out where that pipe leads, and how hard it is to replace.

I might need to think about doing something drastic like replacing the octopi if it's going to keep springing leaks at this rate.

Anyone know where that leads? And how difficult it will be to replace if (horror of horrors) I do it properly rather than bodging it up?

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Tue May 01, 2007 7:20 pm

That looks like it's a bit of a bodge to be honest.. I don't think there's supposed to be a y-piece there. I could be wrong though.

.... and a lovely straight number plate you have there too sir.....

stuart_hedges · Post by **stuart_hedges** » Tue May 01, 2007 7:30 pm

Hehe! Credit where credit's due - thanks to David's advice and my dad's clubhammer for the straight numberplate

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Tue May 01, 2007 11:02 pm

Definately a bodge.

Fit a new octopus, it's all good clean fun

stuart_hedges · Post by **stuart_hedges** » Wed May 02, 2007 8:54 am

Ken wrote:Fit a new octopus, it's all good clean fun

/Runs away screaming to put car on eBay

BX Bandit · Post by **BX Bandit** » Wed May 02, 2007 9:54 pm

£55 +vat approx from citroen if its the little octopus! I managed to mend mine but I suspect that once one bit fails the rest won't be far behind. The two pipes (via the bodge) are height corrector return pipes...

stuart_hedges · Post by **stuart_hedges** » Wed May 02, 2007 11:57 pm

£55 isn't too much to spend (I was quoted hundreds on the CX), I'm more worried about the work. How hard is it on a BX? I need encouragement guys........

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Thu May 03, 2007 12:04 am

If these are height corrector pipes, then this is the BIG octopus, which is about £30. Jury is still out as to whether you have to remove the OS driveshaft to change it.

My DTR has not-long had it's octopus changed, and the bloke who did it did a rather nice little mod on it. Rather than bringing a couple of the return pipes past the cambelt cover and engine mount, they now come up and around the OS sphere, down to the tank. They had to be lengthened a bit (with bits of old octopus) but he said it was a lot easier to do that. Seems to work fine.

if you are going to do an octopus, it's a prime time to have the LHM tank out, give the whole area a clean, change the LHM etc etc.

Post by **docchevron** » Thu May 03, 2007 3:04 am

You dont have to take the O/S shaft out, but it makes things alot easier!
For better access still, take the engine out!

Clever little mod there David, not thought of that.
*makes mental note for future use*

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Thu May 03, 2007 9:04 am

docchevron1472 wrote:You dont have to take the O/S shaft out, but it makes things alot easier!
For better access still, take the engine out!

absolutely agree, more than possible to do without the shaft out but i like to remove it as then i can get my head right in and see whats what and inspect for any other problems! I do also have all the relevant sockets and an impact driver to do the job with so taking the DS out is a simple affair. Doing it with DS in means your simple having to go by feel a little bit more and may have to move about to see whats going on! Find a small child, they should be able to do it a little easier

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Thu May 03, 2007 9:32 am

Vanny wrote:Find a small child, they should be able to do it a little easier

Or a lady. Women tend to have smaller hands, and women love to help out repairing cars, and getting oily and dirty.

Don't they?

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Thu May 03, 2007 10:00 am

I always thought French car mechanics charged so much as they were a special breed with extra joints in their hands!

Post by **docchevron** » Thu May 03, 2007 12:07 pm

Vanny wrote:
absolutely agree, more than possible to do without the shaft out but i like to remove it as then i can get my head right in and see whats what and inspect for any other problems!

Thats why I take the engine out, I've got a very big head!

I've never yet met a woman who likes getting oily, met a few dirty ones though

As for children, pah! Nuff said...