Dick wrote: ↑Sat Feb 05, 2022 7:53 pm
That's why i get my favourite mechanic dr Christophe to change my belts ... i saw them being done once and thought bugger that..... also check if the pulley on the alternator is ok, mine had a clutch in it that seized and caused problems.
Have already asked my usual two garages - neither has availability before the end of the month, so if I want it done before the drive to Glasgow it's me, me or me who's going to be doing the work.
It doesn't *look* like it will be too bad once I can get to the tensioner from underneath. Hopefully getting the "grenade pin" into the locking position won't be too bad. I can't even move the spring on the new one in the slightest by hand with it off the car, so it's a pretty powerful spring!
Just modern car things really, automatic tensioners, under trays and such...
The alternator on this looks conventional at least so I don't think it has a clutch on it. I suspect the generation of Caddy after this would have introduced things like that when the push towards getting every MPG possible out of things really started to take hold.
I think with this one the direct injection system was considered to be quite forward thinking in itself when the SDI engine was dropped into it - worth remembering that on an 02 plate this one was pretty much at the end of the line, this van having been in production since 1996.
I have to admit that I'm quite impressed with it as a driver. My obvious comparison is to the venerable XUD, which I had in the same capacity in N/A form in my first Peugeot 306.
Which I think you'll agree was in exceptional condition for a we reckon ~175K mile car (the speedometer hadn't worked for about five years when I bought it showing 145K).
This was the first of several French cars I've owned, my first diesel and my first encounter with the reality of how well a well engineered car could wear it's miles. I was used to things like Metros, Novas and Fiestas where by the time you were closing in on 100K you expected the car to be feeling really pretty tired. The *only* thing on that 306 that didn't work was the speedometer (and that was fixed by replacing the pickup sensor on the gearbox). There were zero squeaks, rattles, grumbles or general signs of age...it drove like a brand new car...and one I'd happily go back and grab now if I had a time machine. Sadly this was when they were worth nothing, especially a high mileage N/A diesel in a low trim level, and despite being totally devoid of any rust the failure of the heater matrix meant it was scrapped only a few months after I sold it.
Anyway, the engine is what I'm really here to compare to. Performance wise they're not hugely different, the XUD in 1.9 non-turbo form as I had there was rated at 71bhp, so a bit more than the 64bhp of the SDI. This doesn't surprise me given the XUD revs quite a bit higher, the governor being set to 5500rpm as I recall, rather than below 5000rpm on the SDI. The rev counter with the scale only going to 5500rpm is quite noticeable when you look at the cluster for the first time.
My XUD engined Xantia for comparison.
At idle there's not much to chose between them. The SDI is quieter overall, but it it sounds more rattly than the honest diesel clatter of the XUD which somehow just sounds reassuringly like one of those things that will just go on forever.
On the move though there's a marked difference which shows how far things have come, the SDI is far, far smoother. While the rev range is narrower it feels far less strained to use all of it, though you don't really need to. I don't think I've ever driven a car with a flatter torque curve from this - she pulls absolutely happily from idle, and I rarely find myself bothering to rev it past around 2500rpm as you just don't need to. Bit of diesel rattle, which does vary more with the throttle setting than on the XUD, but it sounds more like a well oiled machine, whereas the XUD in comparison never lets you forget that you are being propelled forward by a series of small explosions. Thing you're most aware of at motorway speeds in this van is a bit of a boomy drone from the exhaust, but I think that's down to the wheelchair conversion more than anything else as the rear silencer is moved a loooooong way forward compared to where VW intended it to be.
The way it delivers the power is very different, while the XUD 306 never felt underpowered, you did feel that you were having to work the engine to make decent progress, whereas the SDI in this Caddy while slower on paper always *feels* far more eager.
I've found driving around with it for a few weeks now to be quite interesting. I was prepared for it to be quite woefully slow based on what I'd read. On paper it really is. Comparative 0.60 times for the 306 above to the Caddy are 16.5 seconds for the 306 and apparently a whole 20.5 seconds for the Caddy... I'll have to time it as it really doesn't feel that slow...
The big deal world test for me performance wise is whether a car can easily maintain 70 on the motorway in the face of headwinds and gradients without requiring major flooring of the throttle or dropping gears, and the Caddy passed that test with ease. On 50/60mph roads you barely have to feather the throttle to maintain progress.
Economy so far has been coming in at around 42MPG, which is about what I was expecting. I reckon you'd be seeing high 40s driving around with a "normal" combined cycle, as I've said before Milton Keynes is absolutely murder on fuel economy for any car or van. It will be really interesting at the end of this week to see how she does during a 400-ish mile run up the motorway. I don't think we'll see much higher as I'm sure the aerodynamic penalty of having a box sticking out the will come into play at those speeds. If we see 45mpg or better I'll be happy.
...That turned into a bit of an unexpected ramble!