Been busy last couple days. Carrier bearing noise, headliner woes, & leaky fuel hose.

Replaced the driveshaft carrier bearing on Weds. Was tired of the whine & not a fan of greasing the bearing. Wasn't all that hard. Had experience in dropping the driveshaft from having had to drop the fuel tank a few years back. Have a large press, but not big enough. Someone posted a great thread on removing the bearing. So opted for Plan B.



Having the inner race in one piece was priceless in tapping new bearing on.

Cold chisel finished the job.


Next project is ongoing: the sagging headliner. Upholstery clips were no longer doing the trick. Called around & found no one willing to also tackle the moonroof cover. Understand why now. Entire moonroof assy has to be removed. Harder than dropping the fuel tank? Nope. Once it's out, rather than remove the plastic retainer/drain assy on the right side, simply cut off a small piece so the cover can be removed.

Opted to remove the driver's seat. Found Jimmy Hoffa- not, but a lot of change. Be careful with the C pillar pieces. They suffer from 'plasticoporsis' (old age) both cracked in the same places. Plastic epoxy took care of it.






Finally, awaiting fuel filler tube hose from SNG Barratt from the UK. That will bring this 2004 X-Type Sport back to life & on the road again.

 

Great work!

 

Thanks. Got it all done yesterday except for the left side C pillar cover & putting the left seat in. Seat is only held in with 4 bolts & one bolt for the seat belt. Couldn't take the right side seat out because the car is inside a garage on jack stands. Taking the seat out definitely made the entire job easier as I was able to move around. Planning on taking the passenger side seat up to see what other treasures I might find.

Ordered the faux suede headliner (108" x 60") & 2 cans of 3M Headliner & Fabric Adhesive from Amazon. Cost? $90 for headliner & $34 for the adhesive. 2 cans did the job. Also used part of a tube of plastic epoxy. Despite using the proper tools & being careful, old plastic doesn't like being flexed.

New headliner is both thicker & lighter in color.


Saw the word marine & figured it might last another 19 years... There are many things I only want to do once: headliners, drop the fuel tank, change drivetrain fluids (thanks to Chris/Thermo). My transfer case was half full.

Car is amazingly reliable. Since 2004, only replaced two forward O2 sensors (heaters opened), fuel pump, 2 windshields (windscreens), 4 batteries, and the intake manifold upper & lower gaskets. Cost of labor? Free. If I ever get an EV- not sure what I'll do being I'm pushing 70. Can buy a lot of train tickers & Uber/cab rides for the cost of many EVs.

Whenever the wx changed to cold, would get the good old P0171/P0174 CEL. Soon as the wx warmed up, they'd go away. Waited until 100k miles to fix. Why? I'm lazy. Saw no reason to remove the intake until then. Good time to clean the intake & injectors.

Did you know the X-Type has a battery change message? It's called DSC Fault. Why? The voltage for the DSC is sensitive to voltage change- especially on a cold morning. Change the battery & poof! you're good for another 6-7 years.

Neglected to take pics of the moonroof assembly. There are 2 little white standoff clips that you don't want to break if you only have 2 hands. They hold the moonroof assy up & in place so you can get the bolts back in.


C pillar cover before.

After peeling off the fabric. Scraped most of the white fabric on the A pillar covers & left it on the C pillar covers.

Covered up the openings to keep the overspray to a minimum.

Look closely & see the plastic epoxy.

Used a 4' x 8' piece of foam insulation on top of two 2 x 6s on saw horses.

There it is. Recovering is the easy part. Getting it back will make you start talking to yourself.

Ta dah! So much better than looking at upholstery clips.

 

I did my carrier bearing last friday using the cut it off method. I hoped to get rid of the whine when cold and vibration at 55mph. Got rid of the whine but not the vibe, put the car up on our big forklift with wheels free and ran it in gear at idle and could see there was about 2 mm runout on the forward half of the propshaft.
I couldn’t find a single firm in Norway that does propshaft balancing and straightening but dozens in the UK!
Luckily found a company calied B-parts which finds parts from all over Europe so got a complete propshaft ordered for £250 inc delivery.