Yep Peter N was right. It was the high pressure pipe from the LHM pump that has split fairly comprehensively.
Will try to post a photo tomorrow plus a part number. Unfortunately it is not available as a spare part from Citroen any more.
Rang Pleiedes today and they can't make one up because they can't find supplier of the right gauge pipe 6.3mm?
So if any of you have one from a petrol turbo - though others may be the same.... (6.2 non-sinking with air-con - LHM pump at top of engine) that you want to part with then let me know.
Here is the problem part. It split on one of the bends in the pipe...
(not sure why photobucket cuts off part of the picture....)
Cheers
Steve
Nice to know I'm right now and again I repaired one of mine by silver soldering an olive on the end, brazing will probably do as well providing you dont melt it.
Do check/change you accumulator sphere, if its flat the same thing will happen again. The pump causes quite a powerful hammering action on the pipe if the accumulator is flat, a good sphere cushions the pressure pulses.
PPS I've just noticed that a maximum working pressure of 155bar is quoted for this pipe, so it is unsuitable for your XM needs and steel pipe with a higher MWP is probably essential - sorry about that.
Thanks Ken.
What is the pressure that these pipes should handle?
I've been recommended Pirtek as they make custom pipes. They are on the web.
If I don't find a proper pipe I'll go and see them next week.
Cheers
Steve
PS. On the plus side my G reg Xm did the 200 miles down to Penzance with no problems much to my relief. Lets hope it makes it back on monday!
If I remember rightly the regulator / accumulator controls at around 167 bar, but would imagine that the pulsating output from the 2 piston side of the pump hits peak pressures well in excess of this. As Peter has already said a flat accumulator sphere means a lack of damping which in turn means that this pipe can suffer excessive stress / vibration resulting in fracture. Back in my working days as a chemical engineer when we designed high pressure multi piston pump installations it was normal practice to fit a pulsation damper on the pump discharge to even out the flow and reduce the pressure peaks. These dampers were basically the same as Citroen accumulator spheres but considerably bigger.
SteveLP wrote:
IT has been suggested (on xm-l) that I get the pipe brazed. Anyone done this?
By the way lots of pipes seem to be labelled on service.citroen.com as ' NFP' which means they can't be ordered anymore!
Cheers
steve
NFP means No Further Parts, as in that is the complete assembly.
On my first Xm I suffered a punctured pipe. The dealer hadn't got one in stock so brazed it while the new one came in. Why not get a local fabricator to tig weld it?
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I repaired one of mine by silver soldering an olive on the end, brazing will probably do as well providing you dont melt it.