New to the forum, my woes so far!

ClaireTheUnwise · 2025-06-15 01:37:38

Hi all, I finally joined the forum after lurking for a couple of months.

By weekday I'm an electronics and software embedded engineer; in my off hours I'm a semi-seasoned amateur home mechanic usually working on VAG cars. I've owned a fair number of "cheap" cars that were either due to be scrapped, spend a fortune at the garage or learn to do it myself and keep them on the road. I hate waste and especially dislike people who finance their cars saying "its not worth it" when I tell them how I spent £300 keeping a £450 car alive for another 4 or 5 years.

My daily until this van was a VR6 MK2 TT. Its now a garage princess while I try to keep the mileage low on it and use it for fun. I did the timing chains, variators and clutch a few weeks after picking it up.

Back at the end of March, I picked up a 2006 Dispatch 1.9 DW8 NA none-ABS with 133k miles "cheap" on ebay for £1400 with nearly a year MOT, what could go wrong right?

Well of course this one has been neglected and bodged along its life, and I've spent the last couple of months putting things right where I can.
Things I've done so far:

- all of the door lock barrels were broken, just spinning with the key..replaced the two front cab locks and kept the rest of the 5 piece kit for spares as I have a masterlock on the rear and the sliding doors can be locked from the inside.

- it has central locking but doesn't work, no buttons to do it internally and no action on the door locks..not really bothered about that one but I'd guess its one of the door switches stopping it from working. Opening the passenger door activates the interior light but the drivers doesn't.

- drivers side wing mirror plastic was destroyed, replaced with a new unit from ebay that likes to vibrate the mirror glass like hell at speed making it almost useless above 45mph

- starting leaking coolant after a pop noise on my way to get new tyres (it came with 4x nearly bald and cracked tyres), discovered coolant on the drivers side of the subframe, looks like it was coming from the water pump area, new cam belt and water pump done. Glad I did too since it had no history of being changed, the gasket for the water pump came off in about 50 pieces.

- top radiator hose was held on to the rad using a silicon sleeve and jubilee clips. This became an issue when I was changing the thermostat as I gently moved the hose and started having a coolant leak. On closer inspection, I found that the hose coupling had come off entirely. New hose and clip bought but it would still leak, new rad but it seems the barbs on the hose coupler just aren't big enough and the hose creeps off the rad under pressure...first bodge of mine using Sika Stixall Extreme adhesive sealant...I'm not proud of that one but it would be another 2 weeks for a more expensive gates hose from Autodoc and I really am done with it.

- did an oil service and the sump plug had signs of RTV sealant on it, I happened to get a new plug and washer with the oil, two turns on the new plug and the threads in the sump disintegrated. I helicoiled the sump, fitted the new plug and seems OK since

- changing the front pads and the drivers side was a lot more worn than the passenger side..not discovered why yet but brakes dont seem to be stuck. Both pistons moved easily when fitting the new pads.

- it tried to kill me on the way home after picking up, brake pedal went rock hard at least a couple of times. I've since changed the booster check valve and gasket, new fitting to the vac pump, new vac hose and bypassed the EGR entirely...still does it very intermittently so I've source a second hand booster, new master cylinder and seals and a new vac pump...fingers crossed on that one as I'm sure it will be a pain since the French apparently don't believe in eliminating points of failure in the brake actuation by using that darn silly linkage across the bulkhead instead of just moving the booster to the same side as the pedal! Hence will require cutting into the bulkhead to access the fittings and clevis pin.

- passenger sliding door had a gap you could drive a bus through when closed, I've shimmed the top runner and its better but still...well french.

- had a 350mA parasitic power drain... some previous owner had inexplicably shorted the radio live and switched live..ya know instead of just replacing the fuse. Put back to standard and fitted a 10.1inch cheap android head unit and reversing camera..best part of the van, even kept the steering wheel controls with a little bit of electronics!

- last but not least, its sooooooo sloooooooow. Like I wasn't expecting a lot from 69HP but that fact that it is empty with no load and struggles to get to 70 on a flat and can't hold 60 on a very slight incline is worrying. I've ordered a new fuel filter in case the current one is clogged..I don't imagine this will do well above 30mph with a full 500kg load.

All in, I'd say I'm in it for around £2200/2400 at the moment with some lingering issues, mostly the brakes deciding its time to crash at random but I refuse to let it put it and myself out of our misery.

Once I've resolved the brake issue, I can finally start using it for its intended purpose as a daily and something the throw my kayak and mountain bike in for weekends away!

Last edited by ClaireTheUnwise (2025-06-15 13:35:43)

RegW · 2025-06-15 13:13:58

Welcome Claire
2006 DW8 NA?
I'm surprised someone cheaped out and put a DW8 in 2006 van.
the could have at least stuck a turbo lump in.
( The XUD 1.9 turbo could be a possible upgrade to mull over)
I had a DW8 C15 van and it was, let's say 'pedestrian' to drive.
Sounds like you jumped off a racehorse and on to a donkey! lol

Oh well, you've bought it now

I'm at just over 1 year of ownership of one of these vans
after a VAG engined Galaxy and have the 2.0 HDI model.
I cant specifically say what to look for but but in general,
check for rot before committing to throwing too much money at it.
The inner and outer sills and front subframes are known to rot and
if neglected will cost plenty of time and money to fix.

It's probably the simplest and least complex model with no ECU,
no remote central locking,no air con or seat belt pretensioners to delve into.
Changing the cam belt and water pump was a good move, so this with regular oil
and filter changes should ensure there's plenty of life left in it.
Having an indirect injection lump means you'll need to check the glow plugs
and relay especially before the temps drop later in the year.

There is no Haynes manual to refer to, the Hayne Autofix is a useles rip off
so dont bother
Electrically:
Citroen do not use colour conventions on cables like most manufacturers
but each cable has a number on it which can be a PITA at times.
On the wiring diagrams I've found each device has a code which is ok
when you have the look up table, but can be bloody frustrating when you dont.
I've worked on vehicle and motorcycle electrics for years and still get very irritated
at something I should be able to trace through in seconds can take ages to do.

On a say an Audi system, a brown cable will be a ground or green on a Honda
On these vans, green/yellow is often a ground, but that cant be relied on.

Anyway Show us a pic of your pride and joy

Last edited by RegW (2025-06-15 13:14:37)

ClaireTheUnwise · 2025-06-15 13:38:31

Hi Reg, thanks for the info.

Fortunately my sills are good, subframe does have some surface rust which I intend to brush and paint soonish.

NA / Naturally Aspirated

I've updated the original post with a photo!I've named him Claude, french for my lame/crippled friend

kenbw2 · 2025-06-15 23:01:17

Welcome to the forum, great to see someone with the "fix it, don't scrap it" mentality. So many times I hear people say "I'm not putting £500 into that" only to then pay 4 times that on a new(er) vehicle.

Not that I necessarily think it's financially sensible to keep fixing up old cars. I may be a little biased, the "worth spending money on" ship sailed for my van the day I bought it, and here I am

Claude looks in very fine condition. 133k miles is nothing for the DW8. It's the last of the mechanical engines these vans came with - it was essentially dragging the XUD up the Euro 3 requirements and as a result it kept all of the simplicity and reliability. My old DW8 got to 175k miles before I sold it on and it was still running beautifully.

It's not much of a speed machine, that's something you'll get used to. 60mph up an incline is to be expected. I took mine to Germany and gave it the obligatory last on the Autobahn and achieved a sweaty 80mph! But don't worry about adding the weight, it'll handle anything. There was never a hill I couldn't climb eventually. But you'll never have any turbo problems!

Looks like you've got years of neglect to catch up on, but it's in the right hands.

Oscarklemo · 2025-06-24 23:03:54

What android unit did you get.

Loads at Amazon, strange reviews. What does work?

ClaireTheUnwise · 2025-06-24 23:41:51

Oscarklemo wrote:

What android unit did you get.
Loads at Amazon, strange reviews. What does work?

I bought this unit.

Hodozzy 2G 64G Car Stereo Android... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BYYQLB85? … b_ap_share

I also bought this wiring harness adapter to save on making cables

16 Pin Standard ISO Wiring... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CPJ2V2VJ? … b_ap_share

To keep steering wheel controls,

This

https://incartec.co.uk/product/Citroen- … ble-29-647

Coupled with this

https://incartec.co.uk/product/Chinese- … rol-29-000

The head unit is OK, you get what you pay for and I wouldn't recommend using it without android auto or apple car play as it's slow and unresponsive otherwise.

I've set up the rear camera, though didn't use the one it came with and opted for a bullet style that I located in one of the rear doors and siliconed in.

You may have to swap batt live and switched ignition live over in the harness, get some snips and a crimping tool and some red butt crimps. My original harness was a mess so I made the power cables match the iso standard before fitting.

Note the off current consumption looks really high(350mA), but it just takes a while (up to 60s) to shutdown after you turn the ignition off when it drops to a satisfactory 15mA

Last edited by ClaireTheUnwise (2025-06-24 23:42:45)

Oscarklemo · 2025-06-25 19:05:26

Jeez.. You've got steering wheel controls? I've got a MkI, you'd be happy to get a steering wheel. :-)

Thanks for the info. I'll browse around.

kenbw2 · 2025-06-25 22:31:16

Oscarklemo wrote:

Jeez.. You've got steering wheel controls? I've got a MkI, you'd be happy to get a steering wheel. :-)

I bet they have an airbag too cool

RegW · 2025-06-25 23:04:24

The Amazon one shown above says 1080p but the specs says the screen only has a resolution of
1000x600 so that's not 1080p but 720p.

Mine's got steering wheel controls linked to my stereo but I never bother using them
it's also got air bags, seat belt pre tensioners
and remote central locking.
Last but most important to me
Air Con !
I do like me air con, useful in summer and winter that.

ClaireTheUnwise · 2025-06-25 23:16:22

Oscarklemo wrote:

Jeez.. You've got steering wheel controls? I've got a MkI, you'd be happy to get a steering wheel. :-)
Thanks for the info. I'll browse around.

I wonder if it's a facelift thing, my van is also a MK1 but from 2006 right at the end of the MK1 production run.

Also not saying they work well, I mean french electronics and all that. Most of the buttons works and I can skip tracks when listening to Spotify..volume up works but volume down is spotty

kenbw2 · 2025-06-25 23:55:55

ClaireTheUnwise wrote:

[volume up works but volume down is spotty

That's good for when the van starts making concerning sounds and you just need to get home

Hammersfixeverything · 2025-06-27 17:16:45

ClaireTheUnwise wrote:

Oscarklemo wrote:
What android unit did you get.
Loads at Amazon, strange reviews. What does work?

I bought this unit.
Hodozzy 2G 64G Car Stereo Android... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BYYQLB85? … b_ap_share

Oh cool, I've been looking for a while for a replacement I would use Car play and sat nav on it. I've just highjacked the cd changer input at them moment with one of those cheap screens to connect my phone for tunes and nav.

Got Pictures for what it looks like installed?

ClaireTheUnwise · 2025-06-28 10:16:21

Sure thing, Iit fits reasonably well in landscape. I didn't bother fitting the locking brackets since it's not like I'm pulling Gs in acceleration.

Last edited by ClaireTheUnwise (2025-06-28 10:17:21)

kenbw2 · 2025-06-28 13:28:31

That actually fits in surprisingly well

What's your switch next to the hazard button?

ClaireTheUnwise · 2025-06-28 13:53:03

kenbw2 wrote:

That actually fits in surprisingly well
What's your switch next to the hazard button?

Well enough, it is a tiny bit proud of the mountings but good enough to use.

The switch is one of the previous owner bodges, he told me the blower fan stopped working one day so we wired in a switch from 12v straight to the fan..reminds me, thats one thing I'm gonna sort, I imagine it being just a resistor ladder thingy that's broken..also the wire is house hold mains stuff neutral

kenbw2 · 2025-06-28 14:28:01

Ah yea common fault. My white van had a rotating resistor for that

Hammersfixeverything · 2025-06-28 17:55:26

ClaireTheUnwise wrote:

Sure thing, Iit fits reasonably well in landscape. I didn't bother fitting the locking brackets since it's not like I'm pulling Gs in acceleration.
https://dispatchexpertscudo.org.uk/foru … 05269.jpeg

Looks good, but looks like I'd keep bashing it though when grabbing 1st. May look for one of those portrait screens for my shovel hands

RegW · 2025-06-28 19:15:39

I went a slightly different route and mostly used what was to hand.
That central vent was broken and useless so I blanked it off and put a ply plate in with
1 power and 2 USB-C/or 4 USB C ports and voltmeter
While it was opened up I made mounts for my phone and 10" Android tablet

I dont leave them in the car of course so no temptation for the scrotes
and the Sony stereo while good, looks low key

I have google maps on the phone and OSMAnd on the tablet
they both have their pros and cons and are used accordingly.
the tablet has lots of media files on it which I can BT to the stereo if I wish
but its ususally loud enough not to need it.
I could also tether it to my phone hot spot, but rarely bother
the tablet's only fitted when exploring or on a long journey.

ClaireTheUnwise · 2025-06-28 21:31:38

Reg, do you own the USS Enterprise, that's a lot of tech for such a low tech van!

Here's me setup actually on, has a reversing camera too!

Last edited by ClaireTheUnwise (2025-06-28 21:32:11)

kenbw2 · 2025-06-28 22:27:52

Your van looks in great nick inside. No screw holes, all the dash lights work and your glove compartment is intact!

Hammersfixeverything · 2025-07-01 12:07:56

This is my current set up, Ive been looking for a while for the wires to have the steering wheel controls work. Thanks for posting the link!

Last edited by Hammersfixeverything (2025-07-01 12:10:14)

kenbw2 · 2025-07-01 18:04:36

Hammersfixeverything wrote:

https://dispatchexpertscudo.org.uk/foru … radio.jpeg
This is my current set up, Ive been looking for a while for the wires to have the steering wheel controls work. Thanks for posting the link!

Original stereo! How do you have the tablet audio going to the speakers as well as the stereo?

Hammersfixeverything · 2025-07-01 19:23:42

My post I put it on here a while ago, alot of ebay searching and I think I ended up buying 3 till I found one that worked, by hijacking the cd changer port.

OAT · 2025-07-03 18:30:43

kenbw2 wrote:

Original stereo! How do you have the tablet audio going to the speakers as well as the stereo?

These cheap android units can play through the head unit via line out, BT, or FM radio.

As my own 25yr old cassette head unit has no line in, I use a line out from the android device to a dummy cassette in the player.

kenbw2 · 2025-07-03 18:55:56

OAT wrote:

I use a line out from the android device to a dummy cassette in the player.

Yea I considered that but I don't see it in Hammersfixeverything's picture

I also remember trying to hold onto my Peugeot 106's original stereo with one of those tape adapters and eventually caving and taking the damn thing out

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#1 2025-06-15 01:37:38

New to the forum, my woes so far!

#2 2025-06-15 13:13:58

Re: New to the forum, my woes so far!

#3 2025-06-15 13:38:31

Re: New to the forum, my woes so far!

#4 2025-06-15 23:01:17

Re: New to the forum, my woes so far!

#5 2025-06-24 23:03:54

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#6 2025-06-24 23:41:51

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#7 2025-06-25 19:05:26

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#8 2025-06-25 22:31:16

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#9 2025-06-25 23:04:24

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#10 2025-06-25 23:16:22

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#11 2025-06-25 23:55:55

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#12 2025-06-27 17:16:45

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#13 2025-06-28 10:16:21

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#20 2025-06-28 22:27:52

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#21 2025-07-01 12:07:56

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