Various niggles - DIY or garage?

[Wooscary]

Right, I've got a few things which have needed looking at for a while, trying to decide which to tackle myself, which to go to a garage for.

Item 1 - Clutch

The clutch is very creaky, which is getting annoying. It works exactly as it should as far as can be assessed, but creaks loudly on its upwards travel. I've tried my best to see anything untoward in the footwell, and under the car. Not sure where it all pops out in the engine bay though, or really what to look for.

Item 2 - Accelerator pedal

Possibly related, but I can't see any cracks in the pedal box. The pedal sits a bit wonky, pointing to the offside of the car a little and is a bit stiff and squeaky on its pivot. It felt like it was getting stuck on something like the carpet. I've had it off today and reassembled and it is a bit better/sitting a bit straighter, so maybe that's sorted?

Item 3 - harsher ride

Noticed the ride has got a little harder recently. All four corners still seem soft/rise back up when pushed down etc, so does this point to the accumulator sphere? Also, the car sinks fairly fast after turning off, so doseur? This is the main thing I'm wanting a garage to do.

Item 4 - oil filler neck

After my previous issues with this, I'm going to replace the old one with a new one, but it was such a bugger getting in there, it seems a good idea to remove a few bits to ease access. So, how easy is it to remove the fuel filter housing (this seems the bit that would make the job easier if it wasn't there). Also, at a pinch removing the part arrowed in the picture would give me some extra clearance, but what is it and can it be removed without messing things up?


4 by Wooscary, on Flickr

So, I appreciate any input, and apologies for the hefty diatribe. Thanks a lot.

Martin

[rmattila]

Regarding the clutch, have you checked out this thread?

[Tim Leech]

I new clutch cable could do the trick, my 16v had quite a sticky clutch, new cable later and it was light and smooth.

Regarding the pedal, the arm itself is prone to bending, ive found that in cars ive bought in the past, and straighteneing them sorts the problem.

Regarding the accumulator sphere, whats the tick time like and how long does it take to raise from cold?

[mnde]

Item 3

How old is your LHM fluid, how dirty are the filters in the LHM reservoir? The condition of the fluid and filters have an adverse affect on the ride. Does the ride change if you do Citaerobics a number of times (set lever to high, wait until cut out... set lever to low.... repeat). Could also be some air in the system. Can purge some by this method, also look up about purging with the pressure regulator bleed screw, and bleeding the brakes.

I've discovered, whatever others say, that the condition of the accumulator *does* have an effect on ride quality, although in my case it was lack of damping at the rear rather than more stiffness. Fast sinking... yeah could be doseur, could be another internal leakage. It depends how much it troubles you. Mine's been like that for ages, I've not yet had any problems, and not justified the £££ taking it to a garage to do. There's a pretty good guide to DIY changing it on here - I might get round to it when I can afford a trolley jack, but for now there are more important jobs.

Mark.

[mat_fenwick]

Item 1
Where exactly is the creak coming from?

Item 4
Not difficult to remove the filter housing - place rag round bottom of housing, remove the 4 allen screws, remove lid and filter from inside (change filter if not known when it was last done, or looks dirty) and undo 11(?)mm bolt at bottom of housing. Careful not to spill diesel into the clutch bellhousing, as it can cause the clutch to slip for a while...

The item with an arrow on it is the cold start advance mechanism which advances the diesel pump when the coolant temperature is cold. I can't remember if you will get a coolant leak when unscrewing it, as I've only ever removed it with the coolant already drained.

[Wooscary]

Riku - that thread looks useful, I've given that area some cleaning and lubing, it seems to have stopped the creak. The gas pedal is now behaving much better too.

Tick time is pretty frequent - 5 - 7 seconds from memory. Rising from cold takes about 2 mins.

Where are the filters in the LHM tank? It's been a well looked after car (before I had it anyway!) so LHM should be on the newer side.

The creak is hard to place, but is very noticeable in the cab.

Thanks for the thoughts so far, very useful.

Martin

[MULLEY]

Unfortunately well looked after is no guarantee that the lhm has ever been fully replaced or the system cleaned out (you might be surprised at how much crap is in the bottom of the lhm tank, mine resembled MUD!). The filters are attached to the bottom of the black plastic cap that sits on top of the lhm tank where all the hydraulic pipes come out of. I recommend hydraflush for a couple of thousand miles & then replace with new lhm, should help things. If you do a search there should be plenty advice on how to go about getting lhm out of the car & for removing the lhm tank & cleaning it & the filters etc... Its not difficult, just takes a bit of time thats all.

[Wooscary]

Very true, and it can't hurt to replace it anyway.

The clutch and throttle are now silent, so that's a victory for the day.

[Tim Leech]

Tick time is pretty frequent - 5 - 7 seconds from memory. Rising from cold takes about 2 mins.

Martin

2 mins

Well if anyone tries to steal your BX you will have plenty if time to catch them!

Joking apart I think a new Accumulator sphere and as mulley says some fresh LHM is very much over due!

[KevR]

I new clutch cable could do the trick,

I thought that about my TZD the other day, but I can't for the life of me see how you're supposed to change the cable with the engine in the car...

[catsinthewelder]

As its only too fresh in my mind

I had previously removed the pedal box as I suspected that it had split, this was not the case so a quick trip to the motor factors was made by bicycle.

The box was fairly easy to remove, slip throttle cable off and disconnect 2 wires from brake light switch, then 2 allen head bolts and 2 11mm nuts. a good wriggle removes the clutch cable.

Raise front of car on axle stands

Remove air filter for access, then disconnect clutch end of cable, at this stage I transfered the weight from the old to the new cable.

The cable goes through a wire loop beneath the battery then through a metal p clip on the bulkhead. On mine this was rusted in place so I cut the old cable with tinsnips and used a cable tie to attach the new cable to the p clip.

The cable then heads upwards though a grommet in the bulkhead to the pedal box. I threaded a cable tie through the new cable and used this to guide it through the grommet. I'd cut a small slot in the grommet as the plastic part on the end of the clutch cable would not pass through. I imagine theres probably a better way (new grommet?)

This leads you back to re-attaching the pedal box, Haynes mutters something about reversing the removal procedure but after 90 mins of swearing i'm going to find a friend with smaller hands and see if they've got better luck than me.

Any tips gratefully recieved

[Wooscary]

Tick time is pretty frequent - 5 - 7 seconds from memory. Rising from cold takes about 2 mins.

Martin

2 mins

Well if anyone tries to steal your BX you will have plenty if time to catch them!

Joking apart I think a new Accumulator sphere and as mulley says some fresh LHM is very much over due!

It appears that it was just feeling like that long. From cold in the morning it's taking 50 seconds to a minute, then subsequently about 25-30 seconds. Does that sound more normal? It's always been a pretty slow riser I felt.

Catsinthewelder: That sounds like a classic Haynes glossing over of a task. Good luck. I do find things easier sometimes, having fairly small hands.

[Tim Leech]

It appears that it was just feeling like that long. From cold in the morning it's taking 50 seconds to a minute, then subsequently about 25-30 seconds. Does that sound more normal? It's always been a pretty slow riser I felt.

.

In a word NO! lol it should take about half that time, my GT springs up in less than 10 seconds, the TZi about 20 seconds and the TRS about the same.

I would get a new accumulator sphere and some fresh LHM in the old girl.

[Wooscary]

Ha ha, I do often wonder what would happen if I suddenly needed to rob a bank.

Right, so, accumulator, DIY? Garage? level of evilness?

[Tim Leech]

Ha ha, I do often wonder what would happen if I suddenly needed to rob a bank.

Right, so, accumulator, DIY? Garage? level of evilness?

Fiddly, you will get filthy but not a hard job to do if you have a either a strap wrench or sphere removal tool.