2 Problems

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:10 pm

I'd be interested to know what the cost would be Ken.

A local firm who seem reasonable in terms of quality and cost are looking for around £500 to do a full cylinder head job including disassembly, valve guides, skim, stem seals re-assembly and re-shimming.

The car aint worth any more than 200quid and even after that whats the life expectancy of the auto gearbox after 120k?

Each time i think about repairing it the costs start to escalate.

I could do it on the cheap without question but it goes against my nature to bodge something.

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:15 pm

Ian i had the xantia head rebuilt for £150 when it went bang.

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:17 pm

The machining is the cheap bit, what did your labour costs come to Tim?

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:16 am

If its too costly to fix, just run it till the engine dies & then a possible transplant for a diesel?

Post by **docchevron** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:26 am

Philip chidlow wrote: Bu••er

I guess the only thing to do is a) Rebuild the engine, or b) offer it to someone who might enjoy the challenge of doing that instead of you, or indeed replacing the GTi Auto set up with another combination... TD auto anyone?
I't such a shame. What do you imagine the particular damage to be? Pistons/valves etc. or worse like a cracked block?

You have my sympathy Ian (as well as my old car, you vandal )

Er, TD auto like this one??

Very good it is too! Even if I do say so myself, you'd need a modded diesel box to go on the engine though, and that aint cheap to do... Running a TD on a GTi auto box would make it a painfully slow car, if very rapid accelerating car...

Aint gona be a cracked block, they're wet linered, sounds like the rings are knackered. That said, a decent weekends work, and no more than £400 should see a re-built engine.
If the bores and pistons look ok, I'd re-ring it, overhaul the head, and throw a set of mains and big ends in it whilst I was at it, then you're looking at no more than £300....
Assuming you wield the spanners yourself of course.

Cheers
Chris G

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:37 pm

What sort of box mods are we talking for a TD conversion? That sounds like an option as the cost would be offset with improved fuel consumption.

Post by **docchevron** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:17 pm

Right, if you've got around £3000 spare, and are prepared to wait over 3 months for ZF to go and build it then you too can have a specially made TD auto box direct from your friendly German Transmission makers! (Oh, and you'll have to supply them with an exchange box too).

Otherwise, try and find a really late diesel Xantia (like the very very last ZF equipped xantia auto's) with the lowest mileage possible, and hope it dont go bang!
The first setup we used on dad's was a second hand xantia autobox. It managed exactley 199 miles before the box said "F%^K THIS" and blew itself to pieces!

The main killer of the box is the torque that the TD puts out. A standard box just aint up to the job, which is why Citroën never made a TD auto BX / Xanty. Shame really, cos it's a beast!

Cheers
Chris G

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 5:29 pm

3 GRAND! cor, that's serious BX commitment.

Maybe an NA diesel auto might be a better option.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 3:52 pm

Is the engine fuming excessively? If so - then its rings. By excessive I don't mean the odd bit of fuming but choking fumes when the filler cap is removed and oil leaking everywhere.

It may be worth doing a compression test - there are no published figures but you're looking for equality between cylinders. Rings normally break on one piston first.

BX have I think a rather old fashioned slotted scraper ring which to be fair can last superbly. Oil scraper rings work by having a thin edge which cuts through the oil film and scrapes it off the bore and returns it to the sump. Later type of rings have 2 thin steel rings separated by a separator but the slotted scraper has a cast base with 2 thin edges - and eventually the edges wear off leaving the thick back which does not scrape the oil off. Wear would be accentuated by a lack of oil.

If the scrapers wear the top 2 rings will continue to seal - so its only the oil consumption that increases and there will be little blow by.

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:14 pm

Ian_Fearn wrote:The machining is the cheap bit, what did your labour costs come to Tim?

That price included rebuilding the head, but taking the head off and refitting it was the expensive bit, but I expect you will do that yourself.

Stewart (oily!) · Post by **Stewart (oily!)** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 4:30 pm

A wet and dry compression test should prove whether its the rings or not, why not try? the head job is more feasible than the full pull down
Stewart

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:49 am

What about looking for a good second hand engine? A fair few 205 GTi owners take out a perfectly good engine to replace it with the 16 Valve/Mi16 engine so if you look out for a 205 forum similar to this you might get lucky...

I would have thought you'd get it for less than £100 and shouldn't take too long to swap. (Famous last words - "It will only take 10 minutes dear, then I'll come and put up the shelf.")

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:15 pm

Had a word with Simon today, he said the company that the company he deals with do a complete head job for about £250. Labour to take off and refit with new belt, about £150 so £400 all told.

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:49 pm

I dont think a head job is gonna do much good i'm afraid, its got crankcase pressure pushing oil back up the dipstick tube.

Post by **docchevron** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:03 am

Rings it is then.

hhmm, still not the end of the world.
19 engines are plentiful enough, although personally I'd rebuild whats in it. Better the devil you know etc..
And ig you build the engine yourself, you know its done right!

Cheers
Chris G