Help clean this mess up

[C.A.R.]

Serviced the car at the weekend and typically on Thursday the boost gauge stopped reading so I went to investigate that too.

Turns out the previous owner was no stranger to 'bodging' things.

Is this a normal location to tap for a boost gauge?



Seems just a little bit inaccessable.

Added to that the actual nipple has snapped off quite low down -



So I can't get a vacuum hose on it to take a reading.

The intake elbow was done by what some people consider to be a pro on these forums, so I'm not going to name names, and who am I to know that it's not the 'done thing' on a HDi. It just seems a little bit mad.

Continuing on from that, I knocked another vacuum hose loose from the bulkhead, and I have no idea what it's for -

(look towards the brake pipes towards the back)



Which lead to this (the shorter section of rubber hose with the blue tape was loosely fixed over the end)



This has a rusty nail in the end of it, pressumably acting as a bung?



Then over by the solenoid-looking-thing by the brake master cylinder I found another professionally blanked vacuum hose -



Can anybody tell me what's what and how I can fix everything?

Assuming I need a new inlet elbow now? Is this a part which needs replacing when doing an FMIC conversion? As I could be tempted into having a laugh before selling this car on next year if that is the case.

I just want to tidy it up a bit

[tigerstyle]

Screw in the pipe by brake servo is to block the EGR vacuum line.
Presume the bit by the battery is for similar, but can't say for sure.
You could probably remove the inlet elbow, and screw a self tapping screw into the brass nipple to block it, but not an ideal fix, an inlet elbow would be cheap anyway. ANd yes you need one from a HDi with factory intercooler if you want to upgrade yours.

[Toms306]

Those are just EGR pipes - that's the solenoid for the EGR. The one by the battery is for the air doser I assume.

As for the inlet elbow, that does look a bit low for a gauge nipple! Its only a few bolts to take the elbow off though. And yes, if you go for an FMIC, that's the elbow you change for a C5 (iirc) one.

Also, the rusty nail with a flat head slot, that's a screw.

[Connor]

Was it dum dum? He's not a pro...

[C.A.R.]

I've heard that removing that elbow can be a bitch? Or at least getting it back on can be?

Not the easiest place to work with fat hands as it is. I already have a new gasket for the pipe which I was going to use when I had this idea of putting an FMIC on, but gave up on that idea cos it seemed like a lot of hassle and a lot of the FMIC'd cars on here seem a little unreliable.

May just get another standard elbow and tap it in a sensible location.

... No it wasn't Dum Dum, someone more well known than that.

[Toms306]

Well seeing as I'm breaking a HDi, I may just have a spare elbow...

As with everything on the HDi, limited space is a pain but there are worse jobs than the elbow.

[Poodle]

Tbf I cant see anything wrong with any of that, ok the boost nipple could have been better placed, but apart from that... You can pick up new boost nipples from ebay for a couple of quid. Thats the normal way of blocking egr vacuum pipes, you could always unblock them and put up with the vacuum leak, but considering it supplies your brake servo i'm not sure that'd be too clever. I guess you could cut out the extra length of vac hose and block it nearer the solenoid...

[Leedunn86]

Tbf I cant see anything wrong with any of that, ok the boost nipple could have been better placed, but apart from that... You can pick up new boost nipples from ebay for a couple of quid. Thats the normal way of blocking egr vacuum pipes, you could always unblock them and put up with the vacuum leak, but considering it supplies your brake servo i'm not sure that'd be too clever. I guess you could cut out the extra length of vac hose and block it nearer the solenoid...

I agree with poodle, thats how 90% od people disconnect the egr and tap the inlet elbow. You could remove the egr system completely but that would mean removing the engine to do so, i'd just remove the inlet elbow replace the nipple fit a egr blank at the same time if its not aleady done and put a new gasket on. Sure the location the nipple has been tapped is a bit low but once fitted how often do you remove it, saves buying a new elbow and retapping that.

[C.A.R.]

Can anyone link me to a cheap enough vacuum tap / take-off please? I can't find anything for less than £10.

[Poodle]

Not sure what size you're after there, top ad on google: http://www.namrick.co.uk/acatalog/Home_B...s_150.html

[titch]

Can you not just buy a new nipple and replace the old one in situe, as i have hands like shovels and i find removing the inlet elbow a royal pita!

You would just need to remove the old one and find out what size thread it is.

Titch

[C.A.R.]

Would love to Titch, but pretty certain it is welded on. I'll have to read back through the previous owners project thread over on .net....

[Poodle]

Don't think it's even possible to weld brass to alloy, what makes you think it's welded?

Other option is to drill it out and tap it to the next size up. This is all assuming you actually want to keep the boost gauge...?

[C.A.R.]

I'll try and get a spanner on it tonight then. How do I work out the correct thread for a replacement? Hopefully it'll come right off..

[Poodle]

Divide the length of the threaded section in mm by the number of threads to get approximate mm per thread, should give you close enough to the correct size to be able to identify it. Failing that, give your local hydraulics supplier a call they should be able to help, in fact if you can drop in to see them they'll probably be able to supply it too.

[C.A.R.]

But if I unscrew it from the inlet pipe won't that whistle like a bitch? It already makes a fair bit of noise now that the gauge hose has come off!

[Mattcheese31]

I'll try and get a spanner on it tonight then. How do I work out the correct thread for a replacement? Hopefully it'll come right off..

do you even own any spanners? . . .:p

[titch]

But if I unscrew it from the inlet pipe won't that whistle like a bitch? It already makes a fair bit of noise now that the gauge hose has come off!

Yeah, i wouldn't drive it with it removed, you could remove it measure the thread and then put it back until you get the new one, while it is off you could fill the little hole in the brass nipple with some repair putty or chemical metal type stuff to block the hole off, just until the new one arrives.
If you are not sure how they fitted it, be careful when removing it as you don't want to damage the inlet elbow.

[Toms306]

It'll only be a small boost leak with it removed.... I wouldn't worry about driving it like that tbh. I've driven with much bigger boost leaks lol. Just try to avoid full throttle lol.

[Poodle]

I didn't say you had to drive with it removed..? Couldn't you whip it off in the car park when you get there?

Even so, as Tom says, if you have to it's really not that big an issue, just drive calmly. It won't even do any damage if you do thrash it tbf, it'll just coal like a mother lol.

[C.A.R.]

Matt you cheeky git! I've always maintained my own cars (I can't afford to pay for labour lol)

I went to remove it tonight but realised pretty quickly it's not ideal trying to work on an engine which has just been driven 20 miles, cos its quite warm.

I'll take me spanners to work tomorrow and it'll give me something to do during lunchtime...

[C.A.R.]

Fixed the boost gauge tap. Turns out a lot of the machines in the factory use air lines, which means there was a drawer full of vacuum fittings! One 90deg fitting later which the vacuum hose plugged right into - perfect fit. What I've noticed is that not only is the boost gauge reading higher (was probably leaking before) I get much less turbo lag at low rpm. I guess that off throttle the boost was escaping though this little leak problem. Also, it's stopped hissing like a bitch!

Next mission; tidy up the rest of those hoses and blank everything off properly

[titch]

Nice one.

An easy fix