lower arm mot failure xantia td

pete@co.uk · Post by **pete@co.uk** » 01 Aug 2005, 00:47

hi guys
well took my xantia for mot yesterday and it failed on n/s lower arm bushes and bottom ball joint with all the the other probs ive got with my car maybe its time to have a look for another xantia is it much of a job to replace but i have numerous other probs as well
i,ll list my probs
1 heater blower motor not working
2 failed mot as above
3 abs not working mot failure as well
4 one radiator fan not working
5 wiper switch works when it wants to (wipers keep stopping half way up the screen) accompanied with a sizzling sound from the relay tap the switch and all is well.
6 front accumilator sphere and valve
7 steering pulling to the right
8 up down play in the steering wheel
so you see guys there,s all my problems in a nutshell so what do all you guys think.
pete......................

Stinkwheel · Post by **Stinkwheel** » 01 Aug 2005, 01:08

Keep it, fix it.
Most other Xantias you will buy of similar age will have similar faults in my opinion.

Stempy · Post by **Stempy** » 01 Aug 2005, 02:07

Yes I agree, keep and fix is probably the best option. I've been through the same sort of dilemma with mine. Lots of annoying and expensive faults but better the devil you know. It's my ambition is to one day have everything working on my Xantia as it should. Seems though that as fast as you fix one thing then something else goes wrong. I think it's just a Citroen thing.

nitro74 · Post by **nitro74** » 01 Aug 2005, 02:42

Hello
If you think you can fix most of them then keep it. But if you want perfect xantia and you cant work on the car it will cost you a lot of money to get it sorted. try to decide by how much it would cost you to bring up the car back into the desired condition and how much it would cost you to buy a trouble free xantia.

Stempy · Post by **Stempy** » 01 Aug 2005, 12:35

No such thing as a trouble free Xantia!:-)

pete@co.uk · Post by **pete@co.uk** » 02 Aug 2005, 05:02

hi guys thanks
well i know you cant get a perfect xantia but with all these faults together on my car its going to take hundreds of pounds to put it all right i know if i do its going to last but i just don,t have the time to work on the car or put it in the garage as i need the car all the time i can put up with a few faults but all this together is to much and the same money could be put on an xantia in better condition abit maybe a few faults but all this on one car is too much
1 abs sensor £100 fitted
2 lower arm ball joint and bushes £103 fitted
3 acumilator sphere and regulator £100
4 heater a/c blower motor £110 then i don,t know if thats going to put it right as the car needs to go on a diagnostic machine to find out if there,s any other problems in the system (that goes for the abs and the a/c blower motor) thats what ive been told by a citroen independent specilist.
a/c dos,nt work but i can live with that.
5 steering wheel upper bush that means another steering colloum (sorry about the spelling!) and wiper switch together £70 secondhand.
6. steering pulling to the right tracking normally costs about £30 here
so you see its going to cost me about £500 to put it all right and its already cost me £200 to have the fan belt pullys put right and ive only had the car two months and the guy i brought it off did,nt tell me of a lot of these faults (do they ever) the car cost £400 when i brought it.
so you see guys it works out an expensive car so thats why im thinking maybe its time to start looking agian and sell this car to someone who,s prepared to sort it all out.
what do you think guys.............
pete...............................

davethewheel · Post by **davethewheel** » 02 Aug 2005, 05:40

if you are able to do the work yourself you could easily cut the bill in half, if not still it's better the devil know, i don't see anything major on your list that would make me think twice about getting rid of the car.

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 02 Aug 2005, 14:51

The thing is, if you get another Xantia you could be buying one with a different set of expensive faults, or even worse a set of more expensive ones.
It does look like a lot of money to put your car right, if you got the parts at cost and did the work your self it wouldn't be so bad.

pete@co.uk · Post by **pete@co.uk** » 05 Aug 2005, 00:49

hi Kowalski and dave
yes i agree that it would be better to repair my car and it is in lovely condition other than all those faults but you see i just dont get the time always working and also i need a car thats on the road all the time and my local independent cit garage can,t do any of these jobs at the weekend wich means i have to lose work also if i try to do say the lower arm and ball joint myself at a weekend then im bound to get stuck somewhere (like a drop link that wont come off finish up grinding it off then can,t get one till monday!) you know the type of thing ive been there before. so its best for someone else to do it for me. and i do relise you cant get a perfect xantia but i can get one with a lot less faults all in one than mine if i look hard enough. im going to put it in the for sale and wanted section of this forum and start looking around for another one its a real shame but i really do,nt have the time to fix all this..
pete..................

ActivaV6uk · Post by **ActivaV6uk** » 05 Aug 2005, 03:41

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

No such thing as a trouble free Xantia!:-)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
going to regret saying this but i have a v6 and activa that are both trouble free the only thing they both cost me is fuel and tires!
Andy

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 05 Aug 2005, 03:53

Mine aren't trouble free, but the faults they've had have mostly been minor (except for the clutch disintegrating). They've always started reliably and nothing too expensive has dropped off (yet).

pete@co.uk · Post by **pete@co.uk** » 12 Aug 2005, 00:15

hi guys
well the troubled xantia is now gone and now ive got a renualt laguna 2.2 diesel the only trouble i have with it is a noisy front wheel bearing so i know its hard to find a perfect one but its better than all those other probs with my xantia but i still really like those cars so does anybody know what kind of job it is to change one of these.
pete........................

Post by **martyhopkirk** » 12 Aug 2005, 00:30

Oh Pete [shakes head]
I had a ZX a year back - with the problems that had I was looking at about £5 - 600 to get everything sorted (and that included a blow over) - I sold it on and bought an AX instead for £500 - what a mistake. Needed heater matrix, driveshafts, later found it had been crashed, tyres, battery (x2) CV boots and so on. Spent ages and £££ trying to get it right. Now its anyones for the first offer over £60 and Im truly lucky to have found a good one owner low milage ZX again - and Im not letting this one go.
I hope the Lag is good for you - but beware the gearbox and the heater matrix on these cars (I speak from experience).
Wheel bearing should be no more tricky than any other car - I cant think of anything that would cause grief on the Lag - oh check the tank straps are not rusting through as they sit in a rubber band which collects water. There are 2 straps.

pete@co.uk · Post by **pete@co.uk** » 12 Aug 2005, 00:47

hi marty
thanks for the advice on these cars the tank straps do you mean the diesel tank?. i tried to find another xant but could,nt find a decent one for the right price i did have a look at an r reg one and that turned out that the fanbelt pullys were playing up and the cluch well i could hardly change gear and the guy wanted £800 for it thats just one of many but i still like those cars and would go back to one somtime.
pete...............

Post by **martyhopkirk** » 12 Aug 2005, 01:08

Yes the Diesel tank - they sit in a rubber band affair which traps water betwen it and the strap - the tank dropped on of my P reg car and was only held in place by the filler when the big one failed shortly followed by the smaller one. The matrix is a pain to change if you have A/C otherwise you just have to remove the glove box and passenger airbag to get to it.
The Lag has a tendancy to eat gearboxes about 80K miles. Unsure why this is, but mine ate one at 45K - I could only get the rebuilt box guaranteed for 5000 miles (and fortunatly I wrote it off before the warranty expired) - there was another Lag in the transmissions place when mine went in. Symptoms are a worsening of seleting (first & rev to start with) then lack of forward motion in any gear.