How you can repair an Activa RAM to prevent it from leaking*

KevMayer · Unread post by **KevMayer** » 20 Oct 2008, 20:10

*Was originally:

"How can you protect a RAM to prevent it from leaking ?"

I believe this should be made a sticky in this Activa area as this is usually
a big deal issue that will keep many Activae off the road and/or failing an
MOT. So, over to Kev's original post:

The small rubber leak off pipes on my rams are currently ok, but on my previous Activa they both leaked.

I've thought about applying a protective coating of some sort over the rubber connections to try to increase their life and hopefully ward off the death of the rams.

Maybe a suitable silicone sealant would work. This would keep the elements of salt and rain off the rubber and prevent it from perishing.

On my first Activa the small rubber bleed off pipe appeared to crack away from it's parent rubber base. I modified the front ram as shown in the pic below:-

The orange paste is Hermetite Instant Gasket - Orange RTV Silicone Rubber. Specially formulated to resist oils and transmission fluid. It appeared to seal quite well against LHM.

cheers, Kev

andmcit · Unread post by **andmcit** » 21 Oct 2008, 09:51

One of the downloads off the ActivaFrance website:
Activa Club France
(go to the left hand bottom maintenance section)

links a download word document where a glue repair is made to a ram and it
mentions an additional support on the take off to prevent excessive strain on
the pipe.

Andrew

KevMayer · Unread post by **KevMayer** » 21 Oct 2008, 22:30

I wonder what is the name of that blue silicone pate and whether it's the best stuff to use.

I'm thinking of a preventative coating not a repair. Let's catch it before it cracks.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 22 Oct 2008, 12:40

It is a weak point. I was looking at a (leaky) ram I have and that bit is fragile to say the least. Something with a little flex in it to act as a splint/strengther would be good.

On preserving them against the other leaks they suffer, the more fatal ones, I would think a very regular regime of LHM changes, hydraflush and filter cleans can only help. New LHM does work better than old as I recently found after doing an LHM change on my old sinker and found it stayed up much longer afterward.

andmcit · Unread post by **andmcit** » 02 Jan 2009, 17:34

Up until now, I've dreaded this problem and tried reading up anything I
can on this failure but now have to get my hands dirty as I've got this
very problem with my black car.

Now my 'get out' fix for this is a 'cheat' as I do have a good spare that I
managed to buy for a tenner at the local scrappy!! I'm not going to be so
quick to write off the old leaky ram though and although I've not examined
it closely yet I'm interested to know where these rams leak - if it's just the
spindly leak off return or whether the main innards lose it and push fluid out
past the main seals!?

How did you stitch the bend leak-off 3.5mm cupro onto/through the jubilee
Kev or is that not what you did in your repair pictured? Any further info
on the apparently successful repair would be welcome!

I've spoken with a Citroen Indy today who's been here himself before with
a customer's Activa ram splitting when work was attempted to the nearside
suspension and they apparently tried everything to resurrect the leak-off
pipe but failed and had to resort to a new ram - weren't very complimentary
about the design of it actually!

Any further thoughts here on this design flaw/weakness apart from obviously
buying any/every one that appears on ebay or in a breakers after the Barryboy's
have finished gutting the engine?

Are you any further forwards getting a supplier to remanufacture/recon the
ram Handyman? I understand Martin at Pleiades is aware of the problem but
is not currently in a position to offer a recon/exchange/repair?

Andrew

andmcit · Unread post by **andmcit** » 15 Feb 2009, 21:23

Having had a closer look at the leaky front ram I removed recently, the wet
areas of the gaiter are actually NOT the small leak off spur pipe but apparently
from the main bellows ram gaiter. I'm loath to start dissecting it but wonder
if anyone here knows what is actually the likely reason for leakage and it's
subsequent MOT failure?

I'm fascinated to know what you found with your repair Kev!?
Are you out there!!?

Andrew

slyv12 · Unread post by **slyv12** » 12 Mar 2009, 14:34

Would the ecu cope with a change to a gt25r turbo , hiflow panel filter and a sports cat exhaust system or would i need a new prgrammable management unit with a remap?

Brigsygtt · Unread post by **Brigsygtt** » 12 Mar 2009, 17:07

To make full use of the bits you will need a remap & possibly other bits, i.e different injectors/intercooler if its not up to the job. To be fair im not too sure what the stock ecu is like for altering anyway, probs best on standalone ecu.

ACTIVE8 · Unread post by **ACTIVE8** » 12 Mar 2009, 17:21

slyv12 wrote:Would the ecu cope with a change to a gt25r turbo , hiflow panel filter and a sports cat exhaust system or would i need a new prgrammable management unit with a remap?

It does appear that this was a continuation of the performance upgrade question, and seems to be a mis post, that might require slotting back into that thread for correct context.

slyv12 · Unread post by **slyv12** » 13 Mar 2009, 17:01

yeah, sorry.

KevMayer · Unread post by **KevMayer** » 14 Mar 2009, 20:22

Hello chaps,

Sorry, I've not been in this part of the forum for a while. I usually go straight to the main Citroen forum. That's set up in my 'favourites'.

The repair shown in this thread worked well and was still holding when I sold the Activa.

The Orange Hermetite seems to hold against the LHM.

I now have a different Activa.

KevMayer · Unread post by **KevMayer** » 15 Mar 2009, 16:44

Now I see the question.

Well, I used a piece of domestic 15 mm copper pipe and a piece of small bore copper brake pipe left over from a job I did many years ago.

On the ram the leak off pipe had totally broken away and left a small hole in the rubber collar which runs around the circumference of the ram. So, I cut the 15 mm copper pipe and flattened it out so I had a rectangle of copper just as wide as the jubilee clip and about 15 mm long.

I drilled a hole in this bit of flat copper, just big enough to pass the small bore tube through it.

I drilled a hole in the jubilee clip so it would pass over the small bore copper. But positioned the hole in the jubillee clip to make sure that the screw mechanism of the clip would not get in the way once it was back on the Activa.

I then used plumbing solder and a gas torch to solder the small bore tube into the hole in the copper plate just so about 2mm of the tube stuck through the plate. This 'sticking out' bit would push into the hole in the rubber and help to seal it off.

I then put orange hermetite around the copper but was careful not to get any in the hole of the small copper tubing.

I then placed my soldered copper in position and opened up the jubillee clip, passed it over the small pipe and screwed it up tightly.

A little more orange hermetite and that was it.

The plastic leak off pipe pushed into a piece of small bore rubber tubing to connect it to the copper.

So, beneath the jubillee clip is a soldered copper T joint type thing. It worked ok.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 15 Mar 2009, 16:52

Well done Kev, that's inspired