Newbie with a 106 1.4 diesel

[wildbilly]

Hello,
I have a 60 mile commute and am feeling the pinch..so here I am , a few years ago I owned a Peugeot 106 diesel and used to work out the MPG tank to tank - 4.55- at well over 60MPG, that was a 1.5 xud5 with a Bosch pump. I also used to use clean fresh veg oil and things were all good. Anyway time moved on veg oil went right up in price and I swapped vehicles.
I was aware the earlier 106/AX had an all alloy 1360cc xud 3 diesel engine, I was told this engine was not the best quality (but was light) so it was updated by the Xud5 which was a cast iron block. I did often wonder how good MPG could be with the 1.4 being a much lighter engine and also lighter early car. By luck the other day a friend at the garage asked me if I would buy an early 106 diesel that had engine problems,They had done the head gasket twice in the last 9 months and they decided to give up as it had failed yet again, the customer was sold another car and the 106 was for scrap, so I did.
Took the engine out and pulled it to bits to see what was up, it appears the head has been welded on its face around the gasket fire ring of one of the cylinders and then machined badly,the matching piston liner is also slightly low. So not a good start.
I have obtained an engine and intend to pull that to bits to see what condition its in.
My intention once repaired is to try to obtain 70 plus mpg.

[frv]

Hi wb and welcome to the forum
Good luck with the engine rebuild - can't see 70 being much of a problem once you've got it fettled and use a few techniques from this site.
Let us know how you get on.....

[dancingbear84]

Another 106 diesel driver. I have the 1.5 lump you mentioned. It is a best of a motor, welcome and good luck with 70, I'm still aiming for 60 plus, but with my roads here I'll struggle a bit.
With all the 106 drivers springing up maybe we should have a sub forum lol.

[wildbilly]

New engine pulled to bits, looks in nice condition. Going to re seat the bore liners and fit a new gasket/seal set. I did think about taking some meat off the flywheel, but its pretty light as it is. Any mods to do at this stage?

[Karl]

Hello and welcome to the site.

Sounds like you have got your hands full with the engine rebuild. You are a brave man.

Not sure I would opt to reduce the flywheel in anyway. Even with very minimal gains it would surly be eaten up with the constant need for throttle changes to maintain a constant speed. It could also reduce in gear coasting distances - correct me if I'm wrong.

[wildbilly]

Thanks for you thoughts. I understand that a Citroen AX Diesel with this 1360 engine did 100 MPG, hence my interest in this engine. I understand I may look brave in doing the rebuild, but if it goes right the gains are huge.

[Karl]

I think one of the reasons the AX achieved such amazing MPG figures is down to the weight. IIRC quite a lot of the body panels were plastic!

Looking at the wiki - it weighed only 640KG with a grag coefficient of 0.31

The car was very economical, largely because of excellent aerodynamics for its class of car (drag coefficient of 0.31) and a very light weight of 640 kg (1,411 lb) for the basic version. This was due to the extensive use of plastic panels in non-load bearing areas and varying the thicknesses of steel in the bodyshell to be the minimum needed to take required loads. It also optionally used self coloured plastic bumpers

If you are going to the effort of replacing the engine - you should look at some weight saving too.

[Karl]

this is tempting if you could get for less than £500

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1993-CITROEN-AX-14-ECHO-BLUE-10-months-mot-and-She-does-75-miles-gallon-/190597865337?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item2c60849f79#ht_500wt_970

[wildbilly]

I couldnt see a confirmed weight of a Diesel AX, I saw figures between 640kg and 840kg covering all petrol models, but nothing specific for the diesel. The ally engine is much lighter than the 1.5.I have messed around with Xud5s in the past and found them heavy. I wonder where we might find the weight of and XUD5 engine? I will put the Xud3 on some scales and report back.

I saw the AX diesel on ebay, having had a look inside the engine, they are fragile and I couldnt imagine one lasting very long, using water instead of Antifreeze would finish it off even faster due to the ally block, head and cast liners.I agree the 1.5 is a better engine but I am after big MPG.

[wildbilly]

Engine now rebuilt with new gaskets and seals top and bottom, new liner seals and a genuine head gasket. Put it back in and done 200 miles so far. Seems to run OK, its a bit early to say what miles its doing to the gallon, but I will keep you posted. I will find out what it does standard and then introduce my ideas/mods one at a time.