Wots wrong with me van?

An update.....the van has returned home, and my wallet is £820 lighter.
(That includes replacement box, driveshaft, track rod end and clutch).
I've popped the diff out of the original box, and found nothing wrong at all - its over engineered if anything. No swarf debris anywhere.
I can't figure out how the clearance is set for the taper roller bearings yet so I'll ponder that one - of course its difficult with no load on the box as its on the bench.
Obviously the problem lies deeper within, but that can wait until a rainy day!
John :)
PS New track rod end, and tracking a mile out - so ATS did that for £25.
PPS There's a slight judder on the clutch, but I'll give that a while to bed in.
J.
 
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Odd one that John, I will be interested to know what you find - if you ever have time to do it. :D

Peter
 
Some day, Peter..... :p
The internals of the box are dead easy to turn, by either the diff drive pinion or by the splined clutch shaft. All the gears are there and in neutral there's just the usual drag through the mainshaft when things are turned.
When I broke down, obviously the drive shaft was at maximum depression when I jacked the van up, but this should have been taken care of by the driveshaft centre bearing. At that time, I could only just rotate the wheel with two hands.
I have to suspect the diff bearings, but they are large diameter Timkens, and the roller wear pattern - such as is visible - is dead centre.
Confused!
John :)
 
Never had any fail John, certainly unusual - did rebuild a diff in a Humber Super snipe once - took me about a week :oops:

Peter
 
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An update......although the said vehicle isn't yet on the road :eek:
Took it for a run yesterday, and when nearly home there was a tremendous bang. Switched off, to discover the starter motor had made an exit from the bell housing......the three bolts hadn't been tightened! Mercifully they were still there. The starter was hanging nicely by its two cables - somehow it hadn't taken the radiator with it.
Managed to bump start the van in reverse and returned home.
Replaced the starter but on trying it - full of confidence - it would only spin, not engage so somehow the solenoid had goosed itself ......now that bit I can't understand.
Anyway, replacement starters come with 11 or 12 teeth, and mine only has 10. I tried a 11 tooth one and it squealed like hell so I've sent the original away for repair (paid for by the garage man).
One day, my luck will change :p
Have a good evening all!
John :)
 
Still off the road.....!
The starter problem has been sorted - a locating dowel had gone AWOL which was causing the starter motor to be misaligned ( I must confess, I'd missed that too)....all ok.
However, on giving the van a check over with it on the jacks, I found the O/S
Wheel bearing to have lots of play. Back to the garage again, and it turns out a new bearing had been fitted due to the old one collapsing(?). The new bearing had lasted 40 miles.......beyond a joke, this.
A new bearing will be fitted on Thursday by someone else. I can't wait to see the old one!
John :)
 
Sorry to read your tale of woe John. It makes you wonder about the proficiency of some garages. (Not that I didn't wonder before having seen some of the "mechanics" working)
Good luck with getting it fixed this time.
 
Cheers for that Dave! I'm wondering how things could be so ridiculous.
I can't remember the last time I used a garage, but fitting clutches and gearboxes is past me now, not having access to a ramp.
Obviously I could have used a main Citroen dealer (maybe I should have) but the price would have been absurd, I think.
Anyway, it's a case of damage limitation now so another local guy will fit a new wheel bearing and I'll take it from there, and put it all down to experience.
John :)
 
Burnerman said:
it turns out a new bearing had been fitted due to the old one collapsing(?). The new bearing had lasted 40 miles
Click to expand...

My father had a similar problem a while ago on a Peugeot 206, ie a front wheel bearing hardly lasting a few days. I'm a bit sketchy on the exact remedy but I'm pretty sure it turned out to be a spacer missing between the driveshaft and the hub or something.
 
According to the 'mechanic', the bearing had failed when he moved the van off the ramp - gearbox out. I can sort of understand this as all the vehicle weight would be on the hub, which would be unsupported due to no driveshaft in place......that's all I can think of, anyway. I really don't know if he's spinning one or not.
As for the replacement going duff, who knows......!
Roll on Thursday!
John :)
 
Pound to a pinch of whatsit that it was beaten in with a hammer. Course you also have to wonder what conditions it was fitted in, how well was everything cleaned, was the new bearing dropped on the floor during fitting etc.

I remember an engineer going ballistic at some blokes who were changing some DC motor bearings near where I was working one shutdown. They has taken the new bearings out of the boxes and packing "To see if they were the right ones" (marked on the box) and left them open in the dust and stuff on the floor.
 
Burnerman said:
Obviously I could have used a main Citroen dealer (maybe I should have) but the price would have been absurd, I think.
Click to expand...

You're right. Main dealer prices are absurd.

Just for a laugh, I got a quote from my local Fiat dealer to supply and fit a new cam belt, tensioner, idler and water pump to my '04 Scudo 2.0.

Came in at £650 + VAT! :eek:

In the end , I got all the genuine Fiat parts from the same dealer for £85 (they're doing special deals on complete cam kits), and paid an indy Fiat specialist £140 to fit it all.

Big saving. :D
 
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