CX22TRS saga: leaks!

jvgavila

jvgavila

Member
Fellow Frogger
Joined
May 10, 2002
Messages
39
Location
Valencia (Spain)
Hello my friends,

Well, my very nice looking CX22TRS has some troubles... it leaks all kind of fluids :( . When I bought the car, seller told me it leaked some engine oil. I have found today that it seems to come from the head gasket :disappr:

I also discovered it leaked some coolant from the 'aerator' (I think it is called that way; it is a black cylinder, with three coolant hoses going to it and located just behind the air scoop). I have checked today in detail and there is a crack in the upper hose connection base. I had already ordered an spare from Citroën but they were not sure if still available... Could it be epoxied?

Which other fluid a CX has???. Yes, LHM!!!. Of course, there is an small leak at the HP pump (it is really very small :D )

And, yes, there is also a crack in the windscreen washer reservoir :eek: !

And, of course, the misterous petrol leak I have talked about previously :mad:

So, all in all, my CX is leaking everywhere :nownow: :cry:

Well, being positive, real thing is that coolant leak could be fixed by replacing broken part. LHM leak is insignificant (my XM leaks more!). Petrol leak seems to be also small and hope to fix it by replacing some pipes. Windscreen washer reservoir could be fixed with epoxy. Worst one seems to be oil leak :( . Is it common in the 2.2 engine?. I have not found any oil in the coolant nor coolant in the oil. So perhaps it is not the gasket but another joint... :confused:

Anby hints welcomed!

Regards from Spain,

JOSE
 
Hi Jose,

the oil leaks .... Are you sure it's the head gasket. I suggest cleaning the area and seeing if the oil is actually leaking from there. Is there and oil strip across the back of the bonnet :confused: Renault Fuegos (same motor) throw oil around the place when the camshaft seal starts to leak. You don't have a leaking camshaft do you :confused: :confused:

seeya,
Shane L.
 
DoubleChevron said:
Hi Jose,

the oil leaks .... Are you sure it's the head gasket. I suggest cleaning the area and seeing if the oil is actually leaking from there. Is there and oil strip across the back of the bonnet :confused: Renault Fuegos (same motor) throw oil around the place when the camshaft seal starts to leak. You don't have a leaking camshaft do you :confused: :confused:

seeya,
Shane L.
Click to expand...

Hi Shane,

Well, as I told in my message, oil is not mixing with water... so I guess this rules out at some percent a possible head gasket leak :confused:

I had not much time yesterday to look at the leak but it seems it is coming from upper side... which could perfectly be the camshaft seal :cry:

When you write "You don't have a leaking camshaft do you" what do you mean?. Is it worse than a head gasket leak :confused: ?

Regards,

JOSE
 
jvgavila said:
Hi Shane,

Well, as I told in my message, oil is not mixing with water... so I guess this rules out at some percent a possible head gasket leak :confused:

I had not much time yesterday to look at the leak but it seems it is coming from upper side... which could perfectly be the camshaft seal :cry:

When you write "You don't have a leaking camshaft do you" what do you mean?. Is it worse than a head gasket leak :confused: ?

Regards,

JOSE
Click to expand...

No it should be a simple seal change .... Depending on access. It could be :banana: :banana: 5minute change .... or :eek: :mad: :cry: :cry: :cry: 6hours dismantling to get to the b@stard.

To be honest I have no idea as I've never seen a CX Athena. I imagine access should be simple (**if** it's the camshaft seal. You will still need to check !!!).

seeya,
Shane L.
 
DoubleChevron said:
No it should be a simple seal change .... Depending on access. It could be :banana: :banana: 5minute change .... or :eek: :mad: :cry: :cry: :cry: 6hours dismantling to get to the b@stard.

To be honest I have no idea as I've never seen a CX Athena. I imagine access should be simple (**if** it's the camshaft seal. You will still need to check !!!).

seeya,
Shane L.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your fast answer :wink2: !

Well, I guess camshaft seal suffers a lot in these cars, due to the load of the belts, right?

I will carefully clean the zone. BTW, it was pretty clean as I had just replaced thermostat and it is in the same zone, so I had cleaned it. It was so clean that at first glance I thought it was coolant and wondered about my repair :D . But the "finger and nose test" discarded that :eek:

Anyway, I will check in detail. I guess I could live with the leak until I get other things sorted out. It seems not too hard to get it done, as accessibility is good. But, anyway, will check also with the Service Manuals I have.

Regards,

JOSE
 
The Douvrin engine used in the CX 20 and CX 22 has a reputation for leaking oil. Both of my CX 22's do! I wouldn't be worried about it, unless the leak is very bad. john s
 
smiffy1071 said:
The Douvrin engine used in the CX 20 and CX 22 has a reputation for leaking oil. Both of my CX 22's do! I wouldn't be worried about it, unless the leak is very bad. john s
Click to expand...

Hello!

Well, how much oil do you think is very bad :confused: ?

I put yesterday a cardboard box below the engine... today it had an oil spot of a square handspan, approximately. Oil level was still fine but will check it frequently.

Regards,

JOSE
 
jvgavila said:
Hello!

Well, how much oil do you think is very bad :confused: ?

I put yesterday a cardboard box below the engine... today it had an oil spot of a square handspan, approximately. Oil level was still fine but will check it frequently.

Regards,

JOSE
Click to expand...
I think checking the level frequently is the key! As for what is a bad leak, if the motor drips more than a couple of drops every 3 or 4 mins, that would worry me a bit. john s
 
smiffy1071 said:
I think checking the level frequently is the key! As for what is a bad leak, if the motor drips more than a couple of drops every 3 or 4 mins, that would worry me a bit. john s
Click to expand...

Well, I have some more info about the oil leak. I took the car yesterday to the Citroen garage (as I know the owner/mechanic) in order to refill aircon with R413A (now aircon works really fine :D ). We checked also for vehicle height and there was a 3cm error on the rear axis, which was corrected.

But when car was on the lift we saw it was oil wet all around the bottom of the engine... in about 30 minutes with engine running, we had some drops of oil (perhaps 20 or so) under the car :cry:

As engine is basically clean, we followed the oil up to at least head gasket. I _think_ it comes from an still upper location but can't be sure. But, curiously, about half of the engine (left side, looking from front of the car) is not oil wet... but right side is really oiled (with pretty clean mineral oil) :nownow: :mad:

What would you do?. It seems I could be looking at an expensive bill :disappr: . What do you think?

Regards,

JOSE
 
It needs to be cleaned so you can see where the leak originates from. Unfortunatly guessing isn't going to work. Could be rocker gasket, cam seal, fuel pump .... Infact anywhere. You need to clean it up first :)

seeya,
Shane L.
 
Good advice from Shane there, Use a de-greasing fluid, or if you have an old paint tin, put some petrol in it,(NO SMOKING :nownow: ) and using a paint brush, clean the oil off the engine. Allow the petrol to evaporate, then run the car to see where the oil is leaking. I recon the rocker box is a good suspect here, but you need a clean engine to start with. Don't be tempted to jet wash, or steam clean under the bonnet, as shane will agree, it's more trouble than it's worth!! john s
 
DoubleChevron said:
It needs to be cleaned so you can see where the leak originates from. Unfortunatly guessing isn't going to work. Could be rocker gasket, cam seal, fuel pump .... Infact anywhere. You need to clean it up first :)

seeya,
Shane L.
Click to expand...

Hello Shane,

Well, good thing is that engine block is pretty clear :) I just need to get a way (i.e. small mirror) to look at some parts from the bottom, as they are hidden by pulleys, thermostat cover and so on.

I had not thought on fuel pump... if it is located in the right side of the engine, it could be the answer as leak seems to be somewhere on that side :confused:

I really hope it is a non expensive thing (but I am not confident about that!) because if I need to spend too much money on the car, it is possible I end selling it as-is (so losing most of my investment, I am afraid :cry: )

I will try to find an answer over the weekend. By now, I have gone back to use my trusty XM which, at 230.000km, has NO oil leaks :D (well, it drips, from time to time, a couple LHM drops)

Best regards and BIG thanks!

JOSE
 
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