We own three A-Series and I do the maintenance and servicing on all of them. I believe routine servicing is essential and this series of articles is about how to carry out the various regular jobs that are well within the abilities of the enthusiastic amateur mechanic. I personally find this aspect of classic ownership as enjoyable as driving the cars themselves. It can also save you a fortune in garage bills. I stress however that everything that follows is just my way of going about things, my opinions and based on my own experiences of (successfully, I think) running a 1985, 176,000-mile 2cv as everyday transport. The club’s own forum has a wonderful technical section, and I urge anybody who is planning on doing anything to their car for the first time to have a read through the entries and see what pitfalls are awaiting them. A workshop manual, Haynes, or something similar, is essential too.
The air filter is there to stop as much airborne dirt and grit as possible from entering the delicate workings and tiny passageways of the carburettor and onwards through your engine. It gets dirty quite quickly, restricting the amount of air that is sucked into the carb and affecting the fuel/air mix that is so crucial for proper running. If your spark plugs were black, your car doesn’t need much (or any) choke to start it and your fuel consumption is high; a choked or filthy air filter could be causing it.
Therefore keeping it clean is essential, especially if you have a Dyane or other model that blows air (and all the road dirt) straight from the fan into the air-box. All late model 2cvs and Dyanes were fitted with a plastic air-box which will either contain the genuine air filter assembly attached to the inside of the lid or a cheap and nasty loose foam filter sandwiched between two thin perforated metal sleeves. If possible purchase yourself the proper type, although a bit pricey it will make your engine run better and in the future all you will need to replace is the foam element, which is available separately. In either case the foam bit needs to be clean and works much better at trapping dirt if it is kept wet with oil.
To wash it you will need a suitable clean container and some petrol. Remove the air-box lid by pressing it down and turning it anticlockwise a quarter of a turn to release the three locking lugs. Lift it from the main body and unhook the two-piece plastic cage from the outside of the foam element and carefully remove the foam sleeve from the rest of the filter. (If you have the cheapo sort, remove the inner and outer metal sleeves) and place the foam part in the container and slosh some unleaded over it. You don’t need much, luckily. Swill it around turning the foam over and squeeze the petrol through it a few times.
| Use petrol-proof vinyl gloves and obviously don’t smoke or do this in an enclosed space or garage, petrol fumes are explosive, smell nasty and are very dangerous! |
With luck the petrol should now be black and the filter nice and clean, ring it out to get as much of the dirty petrol from it and discard the petrol into old oil can for safe disposal later. Wipe all the muck out of the wash container and pour in some more fresh petrol and an equal amount of clean engine oil. Spuddle it around until the oil is dissolved into the petrol and then put the clean foam into it and mop up all the petroil mix and squeeze it all out again, shake as much out of the foam as you can, then hang the filter up somewhere safe to evaporate the petrol and keep it clean. Carefully wipe out the inside of the air-box and clean the inside of the lid and the other parts of the air filter assembly. Check the lower casing of the air-box (through the central hole) for oil - it’s always a bit wet in there because the pipe from the oil filler/breather unit is connected to it, but if there is lots of oil it could be an indication of breather failure or worse, serious engine problems. Replace the clean, but oily foam element, carefully reattach the two halves of the plastic cage trying to get everything as central as possible. It is a bit of a faff to get it right. Replace the lid and push it down while carefully turning it a quarter-turn clockwise to lock it into place. When new they can be quite tight and it is easy to ruin the plastic lugs that hold it together. Another job mastered!
A problem with doing your own servicing is you quickly end up with lots of oil containers filled with old engine oil and now one containing used and filthy petrol. Oil can be disposed of responsibly at your local recycling centre, however what to do with the petrol? These days with so many people accidentally putting diesel into petrol engines and vice versa, most garages have waste fuel tanks, so take it along to your nearest one and see if they will take it off you. You might have to pay something but it is more ethical than just mixing it in with the old oil and far better than just dumping it, pouring it down the drain or storing it longer than you have to. Old oil soaked rags are a fire risk too and can spontaneously combust if left lying around in a heap - much better kept in an old tin with a good tight-fitting lid - so keep your work space clean and tidy.
Old Goat, A.K.A. Simon Mackett