Xantia of Excellence

[Lacquer Peel]

Aye the new MOT regs barely affect older cars at all. No need to panic.

 

Xantias are good cars, I miss the two I had.

[Broadsword]

Forgot to mention earlier there is actually some rough video footage of mine for this up https://youtu.be/t7z5h8Wn9Wo

[tabact]

For some reason I just remembered about the brake light lense. I've got you can have so If you still haven't found one pm me your address and I'll stick it in the post.

[Broadsword]

Yes indeed I am still looking for one. PM’d. Thank you!

[Andy F]

Happy days, another xantia still on the road. Never see them any more! Looks amazing in white, and no rust in the door shuts is a real bonus.

 

I have driven them for over 10 years now. Each time I've replaced them with something more modern that just wasn't the same and returned to xantia ownership

 

Current one on 220,000 miles. Uses no oil, no water, barely any fuel and goes very well (2.0 Hdi 110 exclusive) just wish the lacquer wasn't coming off every time I look at it. It's never failed to get me to where I needed to go, usually loaded to the rafters with instruments and amps.

[Broadsword]

A big thank you to Tabact for donating a centre brake light to replace the broken one I had. Tidies up the rear end of the car nicely.

[binhoker668]

We’ll have to get all the forum frenchies together some time. Or maybe as many of our Xantias as we can....

[UltraWomble]

Love the plate What (could) Possibly Go Wrong?

[Broadsword]

Recently I read this link and got worried.

http://jmwxantia.com/xantias-can-rust-.html

Now after being away I got back and had a look at mine, indeed there is a factory cut hole on the passenger side rear wheel arch. The other side seems to covered by arch liner (either that or there isn’t a hole there). Now unfortunately due to a change in work circumstances I will be spending most of my time in Germany over the next two years, but the Xantia will remain in active service in the UK as it is the family workhorse. I had to do something about the gaping hole now while it’s bone dry and hot so a temporary bodge has been implemented. Hopefully it will stay put for a small while before a more permanent solution can be implemented. I really don’t want this car to rot.

[Bren]

Car mechanics magazine obtained a v6 example some years ago for a jaunt to Europe - unfortunately it had to be weighed in as the sills were rotten.

[Zelandeth]

Yeah, the plastic plugs disappearing from the rear wheel arches is pretty common.

 

So long as it's not too bad in there, blast a bunch of rust remover of your choice followed by cavity wax while it's dry and replace the cover and you should be fine.

 

This is one of the main routes that the damp gets in to cause the usual rot around the rear door shuts.

 

They do resist rust far better than many cars of the time though.

[Broadsword]

Got a puncture on one the the rear tyres yesterday. Very annoying as all they tyres are quite new and quite expensive I’d imagine. The man at National Tyres said it won’t be fixable due to the awkward angle of the offending piece of steel which went in. At least for new I have a full sized matching spare.

 

With the wheel off I saw the condition of the rear brake disc is poor. No mention of it in the MOT but the massive dust shield would have hidden everything. Changing the pads looks easy as they are slotted. Changing the discs looks like a problem. As far as I can tell the caliper has to be split which will break the circuit as the is a piston on either side of the caliper. The state of the bleed nipple is poor. Might be a job for a specialist.

 

In other news I managed to get rid of a great deal more road tar, especially where it was caked on the door seals. They are actually white now! I used plus gas and that worked a treat. Also did a interior deep clean which has made the interior smell far more pleasant!

[omegod]

Man at National may have just wanted to sell you a new tyre, I find the independant tyre places are a tad more resourceful when it comes to repairs 

[Kringle]

Pull it out, can of slime. WCPGW?

 

Nice shoes by the way.

[beko1987]

I found national quite reasonable for xantia tyres, mine were 15" I think, an Avon zv7 was £48 fitted, the pair were under £100 anyway

[Broadsword]

185/65/15 88T Michelin Energy Saver. Looking at £65 fitted which seems to be the best price. An additional little bit of fettling I have decided to take care of is the fuel filler door. It has been painted nearly white with a brush. I think I can improve on this, but need to be careful that the cost of paint isn't more than a spare door in the correct colour!

[Zelandeth]

Looking at those rear discs I suspect that this has suffered the usual problem with corrosion between the calipers and their mounting point.  This causes the caliper to sit at an angle relative to the disc.

 

It's a pretty simple matter of remove, clean caliper and the attachment point, stuff some grease in there to stop it happening again, reassemble with new pads and new disc.

 

The headache is that the caliper retaining bolts very often really aren't interested in moving and it's far from unknown for them to snap.  Obviously if that happens, world of pain etc...

[Talbot]

The man at National Tyres said I can't be arsed to fix it, here let me sell you a new tyre

That would surely ream out and a rubber rivit fit just fine. I would find a decent independent to do that.

[binhoker668]

Pull it out, can of slime. WCPGW?

 

Nice shoes by the way.

 

[Broadsword]

A nearby independent tyre fitter repaired the puncture without battering an eyelid after all that. That’s quite good to know that the caliper retaining bolts snap: I saw someone removing one on Youtuebe and they actually looked quite substantial, so I would have probably ended up snapping them. I’m very much motivated to pay someone else to deal with the rear brakes.

[Broadsword]

Today I tackled one side of the rear brakes. As people had reported bolts snapping on the caliper, I was quite nervous. In fact thanks to Kringle for information which spurred me on to do this job. I had seen a video of someone doing the rear brakes and insisting you had to split the rear brake caliper to get the disc off, that put me right off. As Kringle pointed out, you can take the entire caliper off in one piece if you first remove the brake pads and then reinsert and tighten down the pad retaining pin. This worked a treat. Everything was very, very encrusted with dirt and corrosion so I took my time to clean things off and soak all bolts in copious amounts of Plusgas. This coupled with patience worked well. With the two 17 mm bolts removed I could move the caliper about an inch to the side which allowed me to get the brake disc off. Be careful not to break the hard brake lines though. As the photos show, this job should have been done some time ago.

 

Replacement parts are Mintex discs and Brembo pads. Total cost £30 through a combination of eBay and Eurocarparts.

 

While I was doing the passenger side and cleaning out the wheel arch I noticed that a section of the rear of the seal had gone soft. There was a tell tale rust stain on the paint. I prodded and heard crispiness. Turns out the underseal is so strong that I had poked a hole without puncturing the paint. MOT man missed this completely. Seems to be quite localized but I will get this fixed soon. Just need to find a good welder local who will fix it properly.

 

Will finish the rear brakes tomorrow but it was a very satisfying job putting it right. While I was down there I soaked the suspension height with Plusgas which once again allowed the car to raise completely at service high, instead of the front end pointing up to the air like some yoga pose.

 

My favourite tool of today was Plusgas.

 

 

[Fumbler]

Those are the cutest disk brakes I've ever seen!

[Broadsword]

Boring update. Gave the Xantia a full service. Mann filters, 5W-40 fully synthetic and all is well again. The car has been used very heavily and has been utterly reliable and comfort is on par with most Jags to be honest. I also did a couple of fiddly jobs, one was the light bulbs in the heater control panel. Quite difficult to operate this otherwise in the dark without backlighting. Also the interior courtesy lights were fixed by cleaning off dirty contacts. Speaking of dirty the car itself was once again filthy. I spent a while jetwashing, particularly in the wheel arches. To try and get the paint looking a bit closer to white, I used lashings of cheap cutting compound. Time limitations prevent me from doing something a bit more substantial with the paint.

 

It needs the LHM filter cleaning out, which will be done soon. II have a new box of jubiliee clips for the hoses. Still haven't got round to changing the front brake pads. I have new Brembo pads and all the furniture for them ready.

[Broadsword]

Recently the Xantia developed a squeaky auxiliary belt. Given the HDi engine is known for crank pulley failure I decided to investigate. The only clue to go on is that the belt is no longer square on the crank pulley. On the rest of the pulleys it appears to be bob on apart from the tensioner, where you can see it ride a few mm in the air. The result is that a groove has been worn on the belt. Initial investigations are not conclusive. I didn't have time to get the belt off today. I was rather hoping it to look very obvious that the crank pulley is bad, now I think I will have to also consider the tensioner.

[Broadsword]

Does anyone know what the deal is with the aux belt tensioner on the HDi engine? I can get a 15 mm spanner on the central nut (access is pretty poor) and move the tensioner a bit, but I would need to go counter clockwise to back off the tension sufficiently to remove the belt. Is it left hand thread or are there holes for a special too to back off the tension?

[somewhatfoolish]

I know nothing of these but that looks like the belt has jumped sideways a groove, as if it's ingested a stone or something.

[Broadsword]

I slipped the belt back on the crank pulley properly this morning then drove 130 mile round trip looking at a P38 RR. The belt had been perfect during that. Now that I look at it closer, two of those silly plastic tabs holding the engine cover on have gone AWOL. I’m now thinking one of those plastic tabs got caught by the belt and it skipped a groove on the crank as a result. Lucky escape I guess.

[Broadsword]

Minor fettling took place yesterday. I finally cleaned up the LHM filter(s). It was partially clogged as expected. To remove you have to carefully prise off the hose clamps and then the rubber lines will pop off, then remove the centre out of the tank. The filters come out easy enough, one is secured with a little metal clip. I soaked in water/Elbow Grease and used a tooth brush to remove grime. Dried off with brake cleaner. Re-installation is easy and I put new jubilee clips on the hoses to finish it off. Also replaced the blown driver's side headlight bulb, to which there is virtually no access and the bulbs are H1 annoyingly.

 

I finished off by spraying the suspension height corrector with Plusgas. At this point as I reached under the car with my right arm, and accidentally dislocated my shoulder. Four hours of agony and being rushed to A&E ensued. I have a damaged right shoulder which means I'm somewhat prone to the shoulder dislocating. It's been years since the last episode but when it happened last time, as it did this time, I couldn't get it back in. After a few minutes the pain becomes indescribably and I become totally paralyzed unfortunately, there is nothing I know quite like it for pain. I got through 2 and a half bottles of laughing gas trying to manage the pain. Shame really as the day's fettling had gone well. The car now rises faster on a cold morning and the ride is more supple. The previous problem with the drive belt jumping a groove on the crank pulley has not occurred thankfully.

 

On a separate note I realize this Xantia has a hydraulic clutch, so I need not worry about that clip on the pedal snapping.

[Lacquer Peel]

Good work but jeez oh man, a dislocated shoulder! Hope you're on the mend.

[lesapandre]

Citroen 1 - Human 0. I just replaced the tailgate on my Citroen AX this morning - some %$#@*£¥₩€ had broken the glass so I replaced the lot was cheaper. Got it on single-handed - we called it a draw Citroen 1 Human 1 though my back still aches a bit!