It's a weird obsession, I admit. But a few years back I realized I had to have a Citroen DS before I die. And since we never know how long we'll be on this planet, it made more sense to do it sooner rather than later. I spent two years finding this car and it turned into a great road trip with my son Maxx to pick it up in Reno and drive it home to Austin. Of course, it's complete lunacy to drive a 40+ year old French car across two deserts and the Rockies sight unseen, but with only a few minor mishaps, it made it. If you're a Citroen fan, send me your pics and stories. I post em for you.Got bad cam followers?
My 1971 DS has always run great, but after 40+ years, things wear out.
So around a year ago I started noticing some goop under the valve cover. It looked a bit like greenish mayo. I cleaned it out and drove and it came back. I also noticed I was going through coolant. Obvious conclusion? Bad head gasket. I also noticed noisy valves.
When it was time, it all came apart. Jonathan Burnett is THE DS guy in Texas and he tore it apart. The head was milled and when he pulled the cam followers, they looked like they’d been beaten with a hammer. Time to replace them as well (luckily the cam looked good).
Something I’ve learned. Modern oil has less zinc because zinc causes catalytic converters to have problems. So for older engines, you need certain old school oils or to use a zinc treatment. That lack of zinc over the last 40+ years caused the cam followers problems.
I ordered a batch from the UK (made by a Dutch company in Hungary, purchased through the UK and shipped to Texas).
Jonathan got everything back together and no leaks. No coolant loss. No goop in the valve cover and quiet valves.
It’s probably running better now than it did new.
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