Help req: S reg (UK) 1.9TD Xantia cooling/ water issues

[the-fat-controller]

Going up a BIG hill with the caravan on the rear last Saturday, and steam/ smoke started coming out of the fresh air vents in the centre of the dash (they were open at the time).

The temp started to rise, but I stopped it by putting the heater on.

On arrival at my destination some 5-6 miles further on, I notice water leaking out under the car.

Today, driving home, I've had to fill the water twice in 120 miles of motorway driving, although the symptoms have got worse and now consist of:

As soon as I put the heater on, the windows steam up inside virtually straight away - although there is a small amount of steaming up without the blower actually on.

With the heater blower on, there is water leaking onto the pax side footwell (RHD car), on the right hand side of the footwell, roughly at the back end of the centre console.

There are now brown "rusty water" stains (obviously rad water?) running down the carpet, from the heater vents below the gear lever in the centre console. Both front footwells are wet through!

Finally, there appears to be oil in the header tank - although I can't definitely proove this wasn't here before this incident!

When I turn the engine off, or sit idling for a minute or two, there is water leaking from under the engine, although I can't say for definite exactly where from yet.

The cars a 1998 RHD Xantia 1.9TD LX. It's a manual, with air-con.

Question is - what the hells gone???? I'm guessing at the head gasket, but wondering WHY that would put water inside the car - guess thats a separate issue with the matrix that's just happened to occur at the same time?

Any help would be appreciated, as I'm not the most technically minded when it comes to diagnosis - but I DO have a spare 1995 1.9TD SX scrapper sat on the drive that I MAY be able to rescue some bits from if they're interchangeable (like the carpets???)


Thanks in advance,

Lee.

[CitroJim]

Hi Lee,

That'll be for almost sure your heater matrix has gone A very common Xantia problem and loads of posts on here about replacing it.

It sounds like yours has gone too far for Forte or bars leaks to do a temporary repair

It's a bit of a task to replace it as the whole of the dash has to be removed to get at it. Apart from that, not too bad but be careful of the matrix hose connection elbows; they're a bit fragile.

Bank on loosing a weekend to do the job.

[davek-uk]

My first thoughts are that in overheating the pressure of the boiling coolant has blown the heater matrix. The steaming up and water dripping from the vents all point to the matrix leaking for sure. You'll have to investigate the possibility of the head gasket going as well. Firstly, ensure you have topped up the cooling system properly with a header tank - fill, bleed and run until the fan cuts in twice. If you have problems doing this, with water blowing out before you've completed, the head gasket is suspect. Good luck.

[myglaren]

I'll third the heater matrix diagnosis, same happened with mine but developed over a few weeks.
The replacement one exploded a couple of weeks out of warranty too.
The car was written off by then so it went to the scrapyard.

[bigjl2]

Same symptoms when the matrix went on my R25.

[weety]

same symptons when my matrix started going (though radweld held it until i scrapped the car).... the old bx used to suffer a head gasket failure where it 'blew' into the cooling system....thus increasing the pressure in the cooling system.... if you have similar failure it could have blown the matrix

tricky to spot as well as you dont get any of the usual symptons (just a constant loss colling system)