I'm back! (And looking for a Citroen...)

[Mandrake]

Nothing like a good rant, Simon

Kenny

Yep, although I'm still waiting for the bolts, further delayed!

[Mandrake]

Ok, I give up, this Citroen dealer who shall go nameless seems to be taking the Mickey out of me How hard can it be to supply a few bolts ?

Bolts originally ordered on the 13th of June, told it would be 2 days, they didn't arrive, no phone call to advise of delays, checked with them on the 19th, sorry they're on back order until the 26th, waited until the 27th, no phone call, phoned them up again, promised they would arrive on the 28th, no phone call, phoned them again on the 29th, promised it would be the 2nd, phoned today (5th) sorry they're still on back order and delayed again, will phone you back today with an update, no phone call received.

This is an absolute joke, its been 3 weeks now since the original order with no end in sight, I've had to postpone the visit to lexi who had kindly offered to help me do the job because the parts simply didn't arrive on time, I'm now going away on holiday for 2 weeks this monday, won't be back until the end of july and have an MOT due in August which I really must do the brakes before, and I'm starting to panic.

Does back order from Citroen really take such a long time or are the local agents just incompetent ? Despite taking my number on 3 occasions and promising to phone me back on at least 5 different occasions they have NEVER once phoned me back, so I end up wasting my lunch breaks trying to phone them to chase it up. (WHEN they answer the phone...)

My concern is if I try to order them from another citroen dealer am I just going to face the same indeterminate "back order" delay for what should be a relatively common part, and end up paying for 2 lots of bolts that don't arrive until after the MOT is due ? It's not as if calliper mount rust on a Xantia isn't a common problem...

(Even if another dealer could order them faster, I have no way of picking them up unless they would post them out, as it would be too far to get there and back in a lunch break to collect them...)

Has anyone else had this much trouble getting hold of Xantia (hatch) rear calliper bolts ? Am I going to be forced to just attempt the job without spares on hand so I can get the next MOT ?

[addo]

Can you ask anyone to post you a set? I looked on one of the parts cars the other week with a view to sending you some - musta been good'uns as they were already pinched.

[Deanxm]

i ordered some xm bits and waited 6 weeks for them, back order is a bit of a lotery, stuff can arrive within a week or 6 and nobody knows whats going on with back order.

D

[Mandrake]

i ordered some xm bits and waited 6 weeks for them, back order is a bit of a lotery, stuff can arrive within a week or 6 and nobody knows whats going on with back order.

That's what I was afraid of. If it's Citroen that are the delay rather than the individual agents I guess I'll just have to wait patiently and hope they arrive by the time I'm back from holiday.

[Mandrake]

Hi Gang,

Finally the bolts have arrived, (after 42 days... yes, I see the irony of that as a Douglas Adams fan...) but I'm now not going to get a chance to visit lexi before the MOT is due due to our schedules, doh! Judging by how well the brakes are working since my original freeing up of the pistons etc I think the brakes will actually squeak through this MOT, so I'm just going to have to chance it and worry about what to do if they fail.

The real subject of this post is about **£!!@***()!! handbrake cables though. I've just spent all afternoon, some of it rain drenched trying to fit two new handbrake cables. What an absolute unmitigated disaster. I now have a beached whale for a car until I figure out what to do, as I can't even seem to get it back to how it was with one cable, and I don't fancy having no handbrake at all...(the rain also finally drove me inside)

Took me a while to figure out how to remove the heat shield and get access to the handbrake balancer, the position of the two bolts holding it was obviously designed by a sadist, even after completely removing the heat shield access is a nightmare, but finally dropped it down.

The first thing I noticed is that the balancer seems to be seized, or at least wont turn freely both ways... I tried to lubricate it and work it back and forth but it seems to have a bump in the middle that stops it passing smoothly over the central position. No rust, as its alloy. Whether thats going to be a problem or not I don't know.

So I try to fit the replacement (a Pagid cable from carparts4less) for the snapped left hand cable, and I'm there scratching my head wondering why I can't get the cable to hook over the balancer when I realise that the amount of travel of the cable is no where near what it should be. Even when the centre cable is pulled right through one way and the sheath is pushed into the balancer box, the centre can't even reach the balancer! Comparing it with both the right hand original cable and the new right hand GSF cable shows that although the outer appears to be the right length, the inner is too short (thus too little travel) by a good 30-40 mm - the original cables have about twice the travel. So that cable is completely useless, and obviously the wrong one.

Ok I thought I might as well replace the right hand cable - although it hasn't snapped yet its very tatty looking, so I attempt to fit the GSF supplied cable. I then discover that it can't even reach both ends at the same time! So I take it back out again and compare it to the original and the original is a good 60-80 mm longer in the sheath than the GSF one that claims to be for the right hand side. (Yes I double checked the part numbers on their website, and it says right hand side) Unbelievable. Both cables from two different suppliers and so much trouble spent trying to ensure I got the right cables and they are both wrong.

Then I thought perhaps the GSF cable is the right length for the left hand side, so I decided to put the old right hand cable back in and fit the GSF cable on the left hand side - looked more promising but the cable sheath is still a bit too short. It does reach but I can see there isn't enough to allow for steering. What's more now that both cables are connected and the balancer is even instead of pulled to one side I can't get the centre wire of either side over the hook on the brake calliper

So my questions are, what on earth is going on with these cables ? If they were the right cables the job would have been done by now. Also, is there a length adjustment for the handbrake somewhere under the centre console that will give me a bit more length to allow the centre wires to actually reach ? As it is I can't engage the centre on the calliper on either side, and the lock nuts are also completely rusted and disintegrated on the original right hand cable making adjusting that side impossible.

With the amount of grief this job has given me today I'm feeling like just plunking down for the original Citroen cables, I can't see any other sure fire way of getting the exact right cables, and I no longer have the patience to mess around trying more 3rd party cables in the hope that some might fit. The problem with that of course is how long will it take this time, if calliper bolts took 42 days. MOT due by the 19th of August, the clock is ticking...

[Mandrake]

Simon,

I have just checked the Ouinton hazel site where it quotes

Cable, parking brake Length: 1313 mm
Fitting Position: Left Front BC 2807

Cable, parking brake Length: 1364 mm
Fitting Position: Right Front BC 3766

I input your vehicle as V6 hatchback Mk 1 and Mk 2 have the same details

FYI

Kenny

Hi Kenny,

Do you have a URL for that website where you found the listings ?

Regards
Simon

[Mandrake]

Spoke to GSF on the phone today, they didn't seem too interested or helpful, I tried to point out that their website had contradictory information even within the same page... (one said front right at the top and just below that left rear (!!) lists the correct length for the right hand side, but is actually a left hand 1262mm cable when delivered!) and that the part numbers for left and right cables seem to be swapped over, since the cable I got ordered as a right hand cable was about 60-80mm shorter than the original, thus must be a left cable, but if thats so its only a 1262mm left cable (smaller engine) - when I fitted it to the left side it did reach but looked like it didn't have enough length for the steering to comfortably turn without the cable pulling tight.

He phoned me back later and left a message saying sorry its the wrong cable for the V6, send it back and we'll refund it. Fat lot of use that is when it would cost me as much to return it as the cable cost

So the moral of the story is, if ordering hand brake cables from GSF for a "big engine" Xantia like the V6, forget it, they don't stock a 1295mm left hand cable at all, despite their website claiming their 1262mm cable is compatible with the V6. And even if you have a small engine Xantia, the part numbers seem to be mixed up between left and right so if you're not ordering both sides its pot luck as to whether you'll get the correct cable or not! (Just order both...)

Just looking at some other sources of cable (in case Citroen will take too long, again) and it seems that many suppliers list the same left hand cable of 1262mm for all models of Xantia, including V6:

http://www.brakeworld.co.uk/brakeworld/ ... ab9013.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anybody have any ideas why the same cable length for the left cable regardless of engine seems to be so pervasive in the after market handbrake cable listings ? Do they just figure that its "near enough", and never mind if it doesn't work properly ? I'm really baffled that such an error could have propagated so widely.

[Mandrake]

For those of you not yet tired of the handbrake cable saga, I have more entertainment for you.

I contacted Quinton Hazel who referred me to a local Auto parts dealer who supplies them. I tried the dealer who looked them up on his system and found that one of the cables is out of stock with an indeterminate back order time, (can't remember now if it was left or right cable) but he offered to supply me "First Line" (?) cables which were in stock with a one day delivery time and assured me they were good quality, so I said sure, why not.

I went to pick those up today and.... one of the cables isn't even remotely like the original. For starters, there are no lock nuts at the wheel hub end, just a knurled collet of some kind, therefore no way to adjust the cable. Secondly the amount of cable "travel" (sheath to centre length difference) is huge - around 150mm, while the original cables have a travel of around 70mm. Even if it did have adjustment lock nuts the sheath would not push up against the balancer box, and the bump on the outside of the cable was too big in diameter to slide into the plastic tubes that come out of the balancer box...

Although helpful and well meaning it took a lot of persuading to convince him it simply wouldn't fit - I went and grabbed the GSF cable out of the boot of the car to show him what the fittings on the ends should be like. He had to admit it didn't look anything like the right cable. He showed me the part number listings on the suppliers website and it definitely said it was the right cable for my exact model of Xantia. Another pattern parts supplier who has completely the wrong cable for the Xantia. Sigh.

The other cable looked like it MIGHT fit, but I wasn't willing to chance it.

Next step was to admit defeat and phone the local Citroen agents at £45 each cable...only to be told that the right hand cable (original from Citroen) has been discontinued and is no longer available! They can supply the left cable though, in V6 1295mm length, which supposedly will come next Wednesday. We shall see, not holding my breath yet...

GSF sent me a (small engine 1264mm) left cable when I ordered a right cable (the listings on the website are reversed) so I've now ordered the opposite part number from them which will hopefully be a right hand cable despite saying its the left hand one!

If I wasn't desperately trying to get an MOT by the 19th this would all be hilariously funny....

[lexi]

Shame that Simon. Not good that parts are discontinuing from Citroen either.

Its' never simple with the V6.........although the drive makes up for it.

Some decent weather would help your cause.

[Mandrake]

It's not the cars fault, just getting hold of the right cables... It just baffles me how many different suppliers can have the wrong cables listed on their system, including GSF who still seem to have left and right cables mixed up, and also list the small engine (1264mm) left hand cable for the V6. GSF phoned me back and confessed that they couldn't supply the correct cable for the V6 due to the different length, but their website still says that cable fits the V6 for the next sucker that orders one...

When I saw the First Line cable today I just about burst out laughing, it was not even remotely like the correct cable, with totally different fittings at the ends.

Now that I've had it all apart once it's actually not that hard a job to do, the main difficulty is getting the heat shield off and removing the balancer box, which requires impossibly thin fingers to remove one of the bolts

I reckon I could do the whole job in well under an hour now I'm familiar with it, with correct cables that fit.

When I do finally get it done I'll document here exactly which cables I got which fit, so no one else has to go through the same farce of trying to find the correct cables...

And yes, driving the V6 makes it worthwhile. A few days with it off the road sitting on stands with cables partly fitted and walking to work again reminded me of how much I enjoy driving it

[addo]

There is a bloke here who would sell you one used and rust free, but it would be quite dear.

[Mandrake]

There is a bloke here who would sell you one used and rust free, but it would be quite dear.

Heh heh. You should see whats left of the cable that isn't snapped. Lock nuts completely and utterly rusted together, and probably rusted down by one spanner size The cable is still intact but no way to adjust it when I replace the other cable, hence replacing both cables...

[Mandrake]

Something has just occurred to me, and I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner... But assuming GSF can supply a 1335mm cable that is intended for the right hand side (which I think is what is now on its way) could I just fit this on the left hand side in place of the correct 1295mm length ? As far as I know the fittings and cable travel are the same on both.

Obviously if the cable is too short it will pull tight when on steering lock, but if it's 40mm too long it shouldn't be a problem ? The way the cable passess through the guide loops and routes to the balancer it looks like there is plenty of room for it to curve in a larger arc if it's a bit too long without any problems.

Not ideal perhaps but might work fine and get me an MOT...

[Mandrake]

Handbrake cables sorted!!! Too tired to post details tonight, will update you all on the end of the saga and the takeaway lessons tomorrow