Bad Design Or Silly Maintenance?

[Yimkin_FJ 0]

Well I spent most of this afternoon changing the cam cover gasket (easy!) and the oil (hmmm)

 

First of all, this is the first time I've changed the oil on a 205.... all went well, other than the fact that for the sake of the fins on my new radiator, a whip wrench would've been better than a claw wrench.... but jeez! The simple act of putting oil in! It took half an hour to put 4.5 litres in! On my car (1.6 GTi) the oil filler is ok, but the tube below goes upwards to begin with - no obvious sign that this isn't how it was designed. Something wrong here? I thought there may be a blockage, but no sign, and oil pressure absolutely fine afterwards.

 

And the second problem? Well I came back out after tea, now nicely dark, ready to go home (did the work at my fathers) - and to a very strong smell of petrol - looked underneath the car, and the inlet pipe behind the sump, just at the point where the petrol pipe turns upwards has a rubber connector hose between two bits of copper pipe - and it was split. Is this an OEM feature? The return pipe also had a rubber hose connector. I can't believe that someone would something so vulnerable at the lowest, most vulnerable point of the car! Anyway, because of the angle between the two disconnected bits of copper pipe, it was a total sod to replace with (fortunately) a spare bit of pipe lying around.

 

Still, my fuel consumption should improve! Thank god for rubber grease and spare jubilee clips!

[Bally 4]

Take out the dipstick when pouring in oil. Allows the sump to breathe and the oil goes down faster and no backups

[MerlinGTI 3]

Remote filler neck is and absolutely pants idea! whats wrong with a hole in the rocker cover i dont know!

 

On the subject, I change my oil every 2000 miles, and it always takes around 5 litres maybe a tiny bit more. (once it been run up and topped up etc...) I have no leaks and it holds it. Seems like an awful lot for a 1.6? that right? im wondering if i have the right dipstick in the car! it doesnt smoke or anything .

Edited March 24, 2008 by MerlinGTI

[ned 0]

Ye the remote filler neck is a bit strange. Would it be a mad idea to make a filler cap on the rocker cover and do away with the piping?

[Yimkin_FJ 0]

Remote filler neck is and absolutely pants idea! whats wrong with a hole in the rocker cover i dont know!

 

On the subject, I change my oil every 2000 miles, and it always takes around 5 litres maybe a tiny bit more. (once it been run up and topped up etc...) I have no leaks and it holds it. Seems like an awful lot for a 1.6? that right? im wondering if i have the right dipstick in the car! it doesnt smoke or anything .

 

Merlin - mine (also 1.6) took bang on 5 litres (the bloody dipstick tube has broken now, argh!) - sump capacity is quoted as 5 litres, once you add on the oil filter that sounds about right

 

On another related subject - what a crap idea a downward facing oil filter is - unless you get one with a non return valve it means you have a couple of seconds of no oil pressure when you start up for the first time!

[johnsimister 10]

Wearing my pedant's hat I must point out that an XU engine has no rocker cover because it has no rockers. It does have a cam cover though. And that's a brilliant idea to remove the dipstick when refilling with oil. Must try that next time and avoid the usual gloopy mess.

[newdean0 0]

The tube from the filler to the sump has often collapsed if it hasn't been replaced by now which makes filling the engine with oil a slow process. When I replaced mine it became a lot easier to fill.

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

On another related subject - what a crap idea a downward facing oil filter is - unless you get one with a non return valve it means you have a couple of seconds of no oil pressure when you start up for the first time!

 

Or alternately you remove the multiplug onto the coil and crank it on the starter until pressure builds up, and then reconnect the coil and fire it up.

I always do this on any car when changing oil and filter TBH.

[Grim.Badger 15]

OE filters have a non return valve and are cheaper than Halfords anyway

 

5 litres, including filter is about right; slightly more than is meant to go in iirc but you can get up to about 6 litres before it gets high enough for the crank to froth it and throw it out of the dipstick on corners (which by the way makes you think you've bust a HG until you notice that the smoke is black as the oil pours straight onto a hot exhuast manifold )

[Rob_the_Sparky 10]

It is a crap design but still it shouldn't take that long to fill and there shouldn't be a reverse turn in the pipeing as you describe.

 

Also the petrol pipe you describe doesn't sound like standard. The metal pipe from under the car should turn up then a rubber pipe from here to the filter. Then rubber from filter to injector rail and rubber from fule pressure regulator back to metal pipe on the bulkhead. From memory the high pressure side (from the tank) is a machined crimp of some sort and the return pipe (low pressure) is jubliee cliped on.

 

Rob

[pug_ham 245 3 Cars]

On another related subject - what a crap idea a downward facing oil filter is - unless you get one with a non return valve it means you have a couple of seconds of no oil pressure when you start up for the first time!

If you fit a new oil filter you'll always have a few seconds of no oil pressure after an oil change, the filter needs to fill up as well as the oilways in the block for any oil pressure to build up.

 

Your fuel pipe certainly isn't oe fitment, someone has previously bodged it imo. The fuel pipes shoudl be as described by Rob a few posts above.

 

Graham.