The ‘new’ one on the left looks a bit sturdier too.    The stiffening piece in the middle is full length, instead of just around the mounting holes.   That isn’t how mine failed though.    Changing the Citroen DS air cleaner bracket was really easy.   I had already sprayed penetrating oil on the nuts, so they came right off.

The easy part of the job was over.   Re-installing the air cleaner to the bracket is a major pain.   The first thing I noticed was that with the grommets, the air cleaner no longer fit on properly.    The air cleaner housing has three captive bolts that go through the holes on the Citroen DS air cleaner bracket.   There are also spacers on these bolts, that hold the air cleaner at the right height.   Probably, because the rubber grommets were missing on my old bracket, there were also some nuts after the spacers.   I removed those, so there was enough room to bolt the air cleaner to the bracket.

I used a washer with each nut on the underside of the Citroen DS air cleaner bracket.   This job is really fiddly.   You can only get about two fingers of each hand under the bracket.   A magnetic pick up tool is a must as it would be impossible to not drop the washer and nuts a few times.   I found a long spanner was the most useful for the drivers side front bracket, a socket on a thumbscrew for the drivers side rear, and a short spanner for the passengers side.    The whole job took about two hours which was about three times what I thought it should.

I think this was a pretty poor design on Citroen’s part.   If the captive bolts were in the bracket, and the nuts inside the air cleaner housing it would be a very simple job indeed.  I suspect this would have been more expensive to produce.

Starting the engine, I didn’t notice the rattle any more.   I wasn’t able to take the car for a test drive, as it was parked in by four other cars, but I will do so soon.     When I first heard that rattle, I thought it may be from the engine, so if this is the complete fix, that is excellent news.

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The respray took place over three weeks (Week 1, Week 2, Week 3).  In addition, rust was cut out, and the air cleaner was re-painted.

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The condition of the hose is fairly evident from the picture.   The new one was much more pliant.   Originally, the hose had a clamp to attach it to the air cleaner assembly, but I managed to break it putting it back on.   Instead of using this clamp again that needs a special tool, I will just use a regular hose clamp that is much easier.

The quality of the new hose looks quite good.   Citroen DS reproduction rubber parts are often of very questionable quality.

In addition, I had tried to clean and re-oil the filter cartridge, but obviously I had done it incorrectly as oil was dripping down on to the hot exhaust manifold and causing a terrible small and small amounts of smoke sitting at the lights, so I took the opportunity to remove any of the oil that had dripped down.

Despite missing the clamp, the new DS air cleaner hose fits well and the car is now ready for the Club event I am taking it on this Sunday.

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