Front to Rear Pipework

[Masterclock]

My 1998 S2 V6 Exclusive has started leaking from the rear compensator valve return pipe under the rear footwell. On further examination all four metal pipes, 3 X 3.5mm and 1 X 4.5mm are badly corroded at the same point due to silt build up in the plastic pipe protector. I decided to drop the rear sub-frame to see how things were at the rear to find further bad corrosion on the same pipes, plus the 4.5mm pipe between a four-way union and the SC-MAC sphere.

I need to replace the corroded pipes, but have run in to a number of snags. First of all, suplies of pipes and fittings? I would rather equip myself with the tools and pipe to be able to replace them myself, but have not been able to find any stockists of pipe or fittings. Availability of a suitable flaring tool also seems to be a problem. I have tried contacting Pleiades by both phone and e-mail with no success, are they still in business? There is a very expensive tool on eBay from time to time, but no offers of pipe or fittings. The pipes look pretty sound from the footwell forward, and the best option would seem to be to cut the pipes and put in a joiner and just replace the rear sections. With no flaring tool, however this is not currently an option. I have the lengths of the original pipes from the micro fiche and could maybe order them pre-flared 'on-the-roll' but that would imply replacing the pipe runs in their entirety, is this an easy task, working on a drive with axle stands?

Any thoughts on the best way to find pipe, fittings and flaring tools would be very much appreciated.

[Peter.N.]

I thought Pleiades were still in business I saw some reference to them the other day although they are reducing some of there parts due to lack of demand. Perhaps someone can give you current contact details.

I find that the quickest and easiest way of repairing most pipes is to fit in a section, I do have a ramp of sorts which helps but I think you will be able to work on them if you have reasonable ground clearance.

If you are anywhere near me you can borrow my flaring tool.

Peter

This post has been edited by Peter.N. on August 15, 2011 04:36 pm

[noz]

Masterclock,

Where in the country (assuming you're in the UK) are you? I have a flaring tool, pipe and ends.

Cheers

Noz

[Masterclock]

Hi Peter,

The Pleiades email address was a tesco.net address and appears to be in the most recent contact lists that I could find for them. I initialy put it down to being the holiday season, but still have had no reply.

The 4.5mm pipe does starts at a joiner at the rear of the front sub frame, but the 3.5mm pipes appear to dissapear up and over the front sub. Problem is I didnt think things through when I jacked the car, I set the ride height at full, lifted the rear to the full height of my trolley jack and sat it on stands under the rear jacking points. I then set the height to zero and depressurised the system as normal. This means that the rear bumper is 3 feet in the air, but the front is almost down on the front rail of the sub-frame. Plenty of room to work under the rear and drop the sub frame, but no clearence at the front at all. I have not disconnected any pipework yet, so I suppose I could clamp the rear compensator in the shut position, repressurise the system to raise the front to get a jack under the sub-frame and get the car up on four axle stands. It would be a noisey affair though, as the exhaust is off to be able to drop the rear frame.

Hi Noz,

Still up here in sunny Aberdeen. I only recentley discovered that the .com forum was up and running again, glad to see that all the combined knowledge still survives.

Ian

[xmexclusive]

Hi Ian

Have replied on the other forum.
In brief I have been chasing similar items from Pliaedes for a good while.
A recent visit confirmed that virtually all items I want are out of stock.
I am not confident that this will change quickly.
Email above is correct.
Phone is 01487 831239.
Address Unit 12A, Brookside Ind Est, Sawtry, Cambs. PE28 5SB.

John

This post has been edited by xmexclusive on August 16, 2011 08:24 am

[noz]

Hi Ian,

Not too far away from me then. If you need pipes made up or bits please let me know. I'm in Inverness every week if that helps in any way.

cheers

noz

[Masterclock]

Hey all, sorry about not getting back sooner. Work, other commitments and bad weather have all played their part.

I finally got the pipework dismantled as far as practically possible. I managed to clamp the rear level valve shut and repressurise the system to get the front up off the ground. The car is now sat level on four axle stands. Two of the front to rear pipes are replaceable in thier entireity, the 4.5mm brake line that has a coupling at the back of the front sub frame, and the 3.5mm HP supply pipe from the security valve, which is also at the back of the subframe. The other two pipes, suspension pressure feed to the brake valve and suspension return from the level corrector valve, would require dropping the front sub-frame, just not worth the effort. So I can replace two and splice two. I also found two bad pipes on the rear subframe, a 3.5mm and 4.5mm. Everything else looks to be in good condition, including the two curley pipes to the rear calipers. All the reamianing pipes have had a good scrub up with running water to remove road salt and will get a coat of waxoil before the subframe goes back. I also gave the subframe a lick of paint where it was starting to get a bit rusty as well.

Hi Noz, Thanks for the kind offer. I managed to buy a second hand 3.5mm/4.5mm flaring tool for just less than half the price of a new one from a friend who is now Citroen less. No sooner did I buy it did a Pliades tool popped up on ebay, 120772982257 Never mind, would still need a 4.5mm tool. I'm going to follow a few leads into buying the coils of pipe myself, as the runs are so long. I'll let you know how I get on and if I need anything. Once again, thanks for the offer.

Ian

[Masterclock]

Right, managed to scource all the bits except for two inline splices. They are available, but on a 10 day lead time. As I am getting rather desparate to get the car back on the road I have ordered what the supplyer has, rather than wait for the splices to arrive. Does anyone one have a spare pair of splices I can 'borrow' until the supplyers stock comes in?

Best,

[kenhall1202]

Hi Ian,

Sent you a PM re connectors.

Ken

[Masterclock]

Hi All,

Just to let you know, after two very busy weekends, the XM is back up and running again. I took the oppertunity to rebuild the brake valve and recondition the rear height corrector at the same time. It certainly made some improvements to the handling and braking performance. I still suspect that the main hyrualic pressure is low, as the car still sticks in hard mode occasionally, but thats a job for another day.


Cheers for all the help and advice,

Ian

[Jan-hendrik]

QUOTE

I still suspect that the main hyrualic pressure is low, as the car still sticks in hard mode occasionally, but thats a job for another day.

Have you noticed anything about when this sticking-in-hard-mode occurs? My car has started doing this 1) after I put in this fancy-named hydraulic flushing oil from Total and 2) it has a propensity of doing it when ambient temperatures are high, say over 30 degrees C, which has been the case for the last 3 months. On the few cool days we've had the XM was very well behaved

[Masterclock]

It generally sticks when the car has been sitting and two or three passengers get in before the engine is started. The car sinks as expected, then with the engine running it raises back to normal height. Upon driving off it is noticeably stuck in hard mode. Eventually after hiting a suitable hump or bump in the road the rear will suddenly drop, rise back to normal height, but be back in soft mode. From reading other threads, its a classic low system pressure problem. I am currently in the process of making up a presure gauge to see whats going on.

Ian