[Filters & Oil] Advice needed!!

[Berlingo2CV]

Hi, we have just purchased a 15yr old M59 Multispace with a 1.4 petrol engine and no history! 

Can anyone tell me which oil 5w40 or 0w30 we should use as it is dropping and I haven't managed to get it in for service yet - trying to find a mechanic first in the Brighton area. 

There is an additional complication in that it has an LPG conversion, but I'm more concerned about getting the standard parts serviced first and dealing with the oil leak, checking the cambelt etc. No obvious signs of head gasket going when we purchased it.

Also trying to find a manual online to download to check what dashboard warning lights mean.

If that wasn't enough I am looking around for a rear wiper motor and numberplate lights cover (or perhaps a whole tailgate) if anyone knows of one. Once these are sorted am planning to build a camper conversion boot thing!

All advice welcome!

Rob

[brodfather11]

Hi I dont think you'll find a manual for a LPG conversion but you never know. I've never seen one so cant help that way.

A manual for a 1.4 berlingo 96/2008 will tell you about oils etc. though a drivers handbook may be better for your dash lights etc. Plenty on the net.

May be wrong on this but I think (?) they were prone to leaking oil out of a corner of the head gasket where there is a oil gallery close to the edge of the engine block .

Someone else may know better.

[oilyrag]

The 1.4 motor is tolerant of most oils, ranging from 5-30, 5-40, 10-40 and not much point spending money on the posh stuff - supermarket will do the job.
Oil can also leak from the corner of the cam cover, left side and if you are lucky then this could be the source of your leak. Or as Brodfather says, the corner of the head gasket. Use a paintbrush and some White spirit to clean the area up and it may reveal the source.
You can't check the cambelt other than by taking off the top cover - this will tell you nothing, unless it is shredded and about to let go. You should simply change it for peace of mind. You don't need to do the water pump if your budget is tight.
Rear wiper - Ebay etc.  - may have an extra wire on a later one, but can be made to work. May have to drill out rivets and replace with bolts.
Lights ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWJU2MVigbc

[Berlingo2CV]

The 1.4 motor is tolerant of most oils, ranging from 5-30, 5-40, 10-40 and not much point spending money on the posh stuff - supermarket will do the job.
Oil can also leak from the corner of the cam cover, left side and if you are lucky then this could be the source of your leak. Or as Brodfather says, the corner of the head gasket. Use a paintbrush and some White spirit to clean the area up and it may reveal the source.
You can't check the cambelt other than by taking off the top cover - this will tell you nothing, unless it is shredded and about to let go. You should simply change it for peace of mind. You don't need to do the water pump if your budget is tight.
Rear wiper - Ebay etc.  - may have an extra wire on a later one, but can be made to work. May have to drill out rivets and replace with bolts.
Lights ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWJU2MVigbc

Thanks!! I will have careful look around the cam cover. The whole engine bay had been steam cleaned, so nothing was obvious. The cambelt was exposed - do all of the 1.4 s have a belt cover?

[brodfather11]

There should be a cover on the cambelt to stop anything hitting and damaging the belt.

It may have had a new belt but someone found the cover too awkward to refit ?

[oilyrag]

The top cover, which is next to the cam cover, is a simple 10mm bolt fit and only protects the very top part of the belt run. 
If the main covers have been left off then as Brodfather says the belt will become contaminated or eat a piece of grit and do untold damage to itself and the engine.  
A breakers/Ebay may be able to supply the missing covers from a scrapper 1.4 engine, which was used in a range of Citroen/Peugeotcars and are more of a struggle to put in, but can be done when you do a belt change.

[Berlingo2CV]

Oops, I had misremembered the layout - the 1.6 B9 I looked at had exposed cambelt, but the 1.4 M59 we ended up buying has got a cambelt cover! Struggling to find what the official cambelt recommended intervals are. Haynes says 80K but recommends 40k. What does Citroen say and what are people's thoughts on this?

Rob

[oilyrag]

As you have no history then change it soon and then at a further max 50k or 4/5 years. My 1.4 is 20 years old, 75k and is on its 4th belt which will be changed next year assuming I, and it, survive that long!
A belt breakage could equate to writing the vehicle off if you had to have the work done by a garage.

[Gadgetman]

Definitely chage the belt and water pump.
The 1.4 is an 'interference' engine(pistons and valves compete for the same space, and only the timing stops them from arguing about it)

At the lefthand end of the engine, situated nicely over the clutch and flywheel is a weird aluminium block stuck to the side of the head.
(I don't think they changed that part even after it became 'redundant'. Changing castings costs money, and if the parts work, why bother?)
On older models there used to sit a coilpack there, with leads to the spark plugs(I'm assuming you have the 'darnit, it won't go on' coilpack that sits over the plugs)
Now, there's 4 boltholes on top of that part... And some of them go INTO the cavity inside. And that cavity is open towards the head, so oil gets splashed into it. If one of the plugs/bolts/whatever isn't properly tight, oil will get out there, and make an unholy mess all over the area.

Red Locktite...

[Berlingo2CV]

Before we get to the cambelt change there are even more urgent matters: Last night the gear stick went all floppy (to quote the driver!) with a huge amount of lateral movement, so had to leave the car in a layby. My guess is that one of the gear linkages has come loose, so I'm hoping that an average mechanic could fix it. Are there any other suggestions?