Xantia gearchanges

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Terry Brooks
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Xantia gearchanges

Post by Terry Brooks »

Hi there all fellow sufferers. Having bought a 1994 Xantia TD off e-bay I am now attempting to get it something like right!
The main problem now is a swine of a gearchange when it is cold. When starting off it is almost impossible to get the stick out of first, and not too easy to get it into second. I have had a new clutch cable fitted and new gearchange link rods, but all to no avail.
Before taking out a mortgage to get a new clutch assy fitted has anyone any ideas ?
derekjl57
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Post by derekjl57 »

.. change the gearbox oil?
Terry Brooks
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Post by Terry Brooks »

Thanks for that Derek. Someone has suggested, but to me it seems that this is too easy an answer. The problem seems far too severe for it to be wrong gearbbox oil, but thanks anyway.
Terry.
ACTIVE8
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Post by ACTIVE8 »

Yes, but if you try this then it might improve it.
You won't know until you try it, as to if it will improve it.
Changing the oil should not be too difficult or expensive, and it's cheaper than a clutch.
Obviously the fault will be found by a process of elimination.
So why not try it ! [:)]
vanny
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Post by vanny »

ACTIVE8 you sound like a Citroen Mechanic there! They spent £2000 fixing 'faults' on my dads car, and when it became mine i simply put a second earth cable to the engine and it solved all the problems!
That said, i reckon it will be gear oil too! It might be worth having a look at the gear link's as well. I had a long link that was mildly 'S' shaped and having since changed it to new straight one i've got rid of most of my gearbox gremlins!
paranoid
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Post by paranoid »

I was never impressed with cit/pug boses ever especially the diesels, After getting the xant I stuck a tube of stp gearbox treatment in that i'd had kicking about , loosened up things a fair bit..
ACTIVE8
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Post by ACTIVE8 »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by vanny</i>

ACTIVE8 you sound like a Citroen Mechanic there! They spent £2000 fixing 'faults' on my dads car, and when it became mine i simply put a second earth cable to the engine and it solved all the problems!
That said, i reckon it will be gear oil too! It might be worth having a look at the gear link's as well. I had a long link that was mildly 'S' shaped and having since changed it to new straight one i've got rid of most of my gearbox gremlins!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
Originally
posted by ACTIVE8
Obviously the fault will be found by a process of elimination
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
The above line might have made you think that, but no I'm not !
I actually went to a main dealer before finding, and joining this very informative, and useful forum. I have a Xantia Activa, and had a problem with the suspension.
When I pulled up at a set of traffic lights it would, as in the song by the House Of Pain---Jump Around. First it would lower quickly N/S front, O/S front, then the rear would lower quickly. It would then raise all round to normal ride height, and go through this about three times while waiting at the traffic lights.
I went to my local Citroen main dealer to get it checked out. I also wanted to speak to the technician, and look at it while it was up on the ramp.
Well the service advisor being a bit of a T**T, didn't let the technician know in time to enable me to see it on the ramp.
So, I ended up having to speak to him, and the technician in the car park shortly after the car was brought out. [:(!]
I would never go back there now, why ?
The advice was no good.
They hadn't given me the chance to get a look under it while it was on the ramp.
They took too long to look at it.
The cost of the investigation should have been cheaper.
I know my way around vehicles having trained as a technician, and I have been in the trade many years. So being busy, I visited them just for advice only.
The advice was to change the two specific Activa struts, which are fitted to the N/S front, and O/S rear, at what would have been for parts alone £500.00. You're having a laugh I thought, because as with my post on this thread about changing the gearbox oil, you should allways eliminate the cheaper, and easier options.
It made no sense to follow the main dealers advice, what a bunch of T*****S. I would NEVER normally go to a main dealer.
The cure for this problem with the car, I changed four bushes on the suspension, little ones on a control rod where the hole in the centre of the bush had elongated. The price of the bushes came to about £6.00, and they were easy to fit. The car now behaved as normal, problem solved.
So, I am very pleased with the advice, and information found on this forum.
Although I had realised that the small bushes were the problem, and changed them. I subsequently found out that another poster had a similar problem, and they had changed the bushes that I had done previously, curing their problem.
AVOID MAIN DEALERS, THEY WILL NOT DO JOB THE RIGHT WAY, & THEY CHARGE TOO MUCH. [:(!]
I've changed the gearbox oil on a car I own, and it did improve the gear selection.
Gear selection levers on a lot of cars, are prone to damage by previous owners by bad driving, forcing a car into gear, and speed bumps as they are under the floor pan.
Dave Burns
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Post by Dave Burns »

What is it like when selecting reverse, does it crunch badly, or not to bad.
Dave
Terry Brooks
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Post by Terry Brooks »

Thanks to all for their suggestions. Had a new clutch cable fitted, and set up properly. The change is about as good as can be expected for a Citroen. As I used to say about my old BX, "Like stirring porridge".
Great forum, and knowledgeable folk. Fellow sufferers ? :-)
Robin
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Post by Robin »

Properly set up the gear change in a Xantia is light and pretty good. However the clutch is alway heavy regardless of which cable is fitted - self adjust or otherwise.
If it is not the self adjust cable I would try taking up any slack in the cable by adjusting the cable at the clutch lever. This will at least eliminate the clutch element from the equation. New cables do settle in and can be quite a nuisance after a few miles.
Oil changes can and do help but if the reluctance to engage, disengage in first or reverse is severe then it's the clutch dragging.
That's my two penneth, Robin
xantiaBFY
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Post by xantiaBFY »

guys,
what's a good gear oil to be used in a manual XTD. I have heard a lot about the BV gear oil.
regards
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