110 Bhp HDi have you tried BP Ultimate and or Millers Diesel Plus

HDi engines, like all common rail engines do not like nor need fuel additives.

However, Eastcoast Racing do a snazzy box of tricks for your car which they call 'the chocolate box'. I call it the sardine can 'cause that's what it looks like. Ten minutes to fit and you get another 27bhp. I did tell the insurers and they charged me another £56 a year. The performance becomes at least equal to a 2 litre petrol engine, but with loads more torque. Mine is only the 90bhp hdi, the 110 would be something else. Towing the caravan over the Pyrenees it sings to me. DaveK.

I have the C5 with the HDI 110 and an East Coast Box. It is on the standard

17bhp extra and wow, it is fab!

That's not enough fun! Open the lid and move the jumper along the pins. You'll be amazed. DaveK.

can you tell me a bit more about this 'East Coast Box' - like where you had it fitted and what it cost etc? Any web links? I've tried searching but get millions of unspecific hits.

Thanks in advance.

Try East Coast Racing. I'll look for the website tomorrow and post it here. The box of tricks is Belgian (I think), but probably made in the far east. It's just an electronic device that over-rides the bog standard settings for fuelling the injectors.(So it over-fuels the motor) Takes ten minutes to fit. It just sits between injector heads and the original injector leads. Pos and Neg lead to the battery. That's it. Downside- £350 to £400. Upside- goodbye dreary diesel, Hello - lift up your skirts and go! If you set it to gain an upgrade of 27bhp they recommend a K&N air filter. Costs £38 but you only buy one for the life of the car.. Next, I'd like to saw off the energy sapping catalytic converter, for another 2 or 3bhp gain.

DaveK.

1.0am and still here! Anyway it's - Tel: 0870 036 4100 It works, and you can move it from car to car in a few minutes, so as long as you keep with Peugeot/Citroen hdi it's yours forever. (Until the oil runs out and we go onto hydrogen peroxide fuel cells). C U in ell first. DaveK.

Dave,

thanks for the reply again - I've had a look in to it... £375... but do you think it is easy enough for self-install? I am pretty good with working on cars and general diy/electrical stuff?

The other thing I was wondering is do you think it is suitable for a 70,000 mile old '99 HDi? I've only had the car 6 months but already clocked up almost 18,000 miles.

I was thinking of getting a sat-nav system which will cost around the same £400 or so. Any suggestions?

Thanks again,

Ken.

No probs, about ten minutes to fit on a good day. Maybe half an hour if you're slow. The Eastcoast box of tricks has two sets of injector cables-four at each end, so it looks like an octopus. Plus a red and black with connectors for the battery terminals, and one other which can be connected to ground via a dashboard switch if you want. (I've taped it up). Could be used to switch off the system and revert to factory settings if you lend the car out. Job:

1. Remove engine dust cover- four spring clips, to expose injectors and their leads.
2. Remove leads from injectors and push them into the four 'in' leads on the magic box.
3. Connect the four 'out' leads from the magic box to the injectors.
4. Connect the red+ and black- leads to the battery terminals.

5.Replace engine dust cover.

1. Stick the box somewhere neat with the sticky pads supplied. Take the car for a run and smile at the improvement in performance. Buy a K&N air filter (£38) while you are out. Bring it back and open up the box of tricks,-move the jumper along the pins for maximum boost. Replace pleated cardboard, power robbing air filter with K&N unit. Take car for another run. Go to the steep hill where you usually have to gear down and floor the throttle to get anywhere. No smiles this time (it'll be a big grin!). Mileage on your motor is no problem, only just run in on a diesel. Servicing is important-oil change and filter at recommended intervals.Quality oil at

10,000 miles better than 12,000 as the book says. Allow the engine to tickover for a minute before switching off after a hard fast run. Never blip the throttle before switching off (same for petrol engines) it's death to turbos. GPS navigation is nice-I have the Street Pilot 3 and paid high price just before they started coming down It's brilliant. I like it for foreign touring 'cos she can't read a map. Whatever you decide, if you buy the Eastcoast box- changing your car is no problem provided you stick with Peugeot/Citroen hdi units. It will swap over in a few minutes. DaveK.

Hi Dave,

thanks for the extensive reply. I did have some doubts about getting and fitting one of the boxes, but I fully understand your instructions and it really does not sound that big a deal... so I think I will be making a purchase after Christmas.

I'll probably wait until beginning of February as my insurance is due then and esure (who I am with at the moment) are a bit of a nightmare if you make any modifications to the car... basically fitting one of these boxes (and telling esure) will void the insurance!

I have only had the car 7 months - but had a main service at 60,000 then an oil and filer at 66,000 and it will be due a 72,000 major service in the next 3/4 weeks or so. Which brings me on to another question... sorry to be a pain... but I was told by a Peugeot dealer that the timing belt etc is recommended changed at 96,000 - but the local garage I go to thought it was

72,000 - do you have any idea what is correct?

Thanks for all your help and advice.

Ken.

The Citroen manual which seems to be issued with every car in the range, states timing belt at 75,000 to 80,000 miles, EXCEPT hdi engines which is

100,000 miles. (and Xsara coupe VTS 2.0i 167 hp is 50,000 miles). Haynes recommends 30,000 miles for every motor with a cambelt, but that's going a bit far- and expensive. I've been quoted over £300 for the Citroen hdi. Since it's pushing out quite a bit more power then the standard unit I'll probably get it changed at about 85,000. DaveK.

vauxhall astra have a 40k cambelt interval so think yourselves lucky at 80k I do miss my 306 d'turbo

god, I looked at Astra's and Vectra's - lucky I didn't go for one as I would cover 40k in about 13 or 14 months!

I could change the cambelt on one car I owned, in less than five minutes. Open bonnet, see clearly visible and accessible plastic cover. Unclip it to reveal cambelt. Slacken nut on tensioner. Pull off belt. Replace belt, push tensioner to tighten belt and screw up the nut. Replace plastic cover-it just snapped on. Why can't they all be like that? Unfortunately the engine was garbage- BL 'O' series. DaveK.

Interesting.. do these work with older 2.1 TDi's ?