Have a 97 yr Xantia LXTD "Temptation" with circa 72K miles. Run the car on a tight budget so bypass normal main dealer type sevicing. I use a local one man band type mechanic with premises and normally pay cash. Can people confirm that the 180 pounds he charged me for a cambelt change and the replacement of the dodgy water pump he found whilst down there and new coolent was fair. I have no reason to doubt it is fair but having rediscovered this forum I thought I would put it to you experts. My mechanic did tell me after that the belt change on the Xantia is a horrible job.
Thanks in advance
Mark W
Cheap Xantia sevicing (I think?)
Moderator: RichardW
I would agree with both replies so far. I have used a similar operative in the past. A brilliant fitter in Birmingham only specialising in Cits. He charged me GBP50 labour for a cam belt change on my old AX plus the part. With the water pump thrown in I can't see that it's a rip off and would consider it reasonable - although I'd have a go at doing it myself now of course.
Actually Mark just to add to all your posts, I think it's good to find a really reliable mechanic in the terms you describe on the basis that even if you could put your hand to most things, most of us don't have the inclination or finances to put a complete workshop together. Sometimes a job just does require specialist tools which either have to made or bought which for me can't be justified if it's easier and cheaper to go to a good mechanic. However, given the choice I'd rather DIY and use the money saved on something else like a couple of new decent tyres or replacement disks etc.
It is common practice to replace the waterpump - if any slight wearproblem detected.
A worn waterpump is known to develop into a total trashed engine within a few Kmiles.
You don't want to spend the same money once again a bit later - just because the waterpump suddenly tells you it's garage time.
The waterpump is a wearpart - just like the belt idler pulleys - on ANY car.
A worn waterpump is known to develop into a total trashed engine within a few Kmiles.
You don't want to spend the same money once again a bit later - just because the waterpump suddenly tells you it's garage time.
The waterpump is a wearpart - just like the belt idler pulleys - on ANY car.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by JoSawday</i>
Do I detect a pattern here. Just checked my bill for when I had a new cam belt and guess what I needed a new water pump too. Although I trust my local independant it does seem a bit odd that all these water pumps fail at the same interval as the cam belt. Or am I just being cynical?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Jo,
Agree with Anders & Jeremy on this one as regards the pump.
The pumps on modern Cits aren't of the big robust variety as was the case with the earlier cars, CX & the like and are treated almost as a consumable.
Good wokshop practice is to change a water pump with the cambelt or at worst with every second cambelt & the price of the pump is such so that this isn't a big impost.
Think yourself lucky you don't own one of the Jap cars with a 1.8 litre motor as I have, in the form of a mini bus which blew a pump and was changed along with a cambelt (8 hours work) that then lasted 14 months and about 5,000klms whereupon it blew another pump (another 8 hours work) after which it subsequently blew a head gasket after another 12 months and about 3,000 klms, which again turned the seal of the pump inside out & hence required a third one (and innumerable hours labour) and which is now waiting to be passed on to some other lucky person to enjoy the famed "Japanese reliability" that the anti- French car set like to tell us about. [:p][:p]
Now for the big crunch; being Japanese, the price of the pump is about 3 to 4 times that of the Citroen.[:0]
The upside, if you can call it such, is that when the pump fails on one of these, although it proceeds to dump the contents of the cooling system in quick smart time, even if it were to trash the belt in the process, this particular Jap motor is a "non interference" type unlike the Cit engines, however, overall cost & longeivity is on the side of the Citroen and made cheaper to maintain due to the cheaper throwaway pumps. For the record, the Jap vehicle I speak of has just reached 250,000 klms, so it's not a high mileage vehicle in Cit terms.
Alan S
Do I detect a pattern here. Just checked my bill for when I had a new cam belt and guess what I needed a new water pump too. Although I trust my local independant it does seem a bit odd that all these water pumps fail at the same interval as the cam belt. Or am I just being cynical?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Jo,
Agree with Anders & Jeremy on this one as regards the pump.
The pumps on modern Cits aren't of the big robust variety as was the case with the earlier cars, CX & the like and are treated almost as a consumable.
Good wokshop practice is to change a water pump with the cambelt or at worst with every second cambelt & the price of the pump is such so that this isn't a big impost.
Think yourself lucky you don't own one of the Jap cars with a 1.8 litre motor as I have, in the form of a mini bus which blew a pump and was changed along with a cambelt (8 hours work) that then lasted 14 months and about 5,000klms whereupon it blew another pump (another 8 hours work) after which it subsequently blew a head gasket after another 12 months and about 3,000 klms, which again turned the seal of the pump inside out & hence required a third one (and innumerable hours labour) and which is now waiting to be passed on to some other lucky person to enjoy the famed "Japanese reliability" that the anti- French car set like to tell us about. [:p][:p]
Now for the big crunch; being Japanese, the price of the pump is about 3 to 4 times that of the Citroen.[:0]
The upside, if you can call it such, is that when the pump fails on one of these, although it proceeds to dump the contents of the cooling system in quick smart time, even if it were to trash the belt in the process, this particular Jap motor is a "non interference" type unlike the Cit engines, however, overall cost & longeivity is on the side of the Citroen and made cheaper to maintain due to the cheaper throwaway pumps. For the record, the Jap vehicle I speak of has just reached 250,000 klms, so it's not a high mileage vehicle in Cit terms.
Alan S
Thanks everybody who responded. When I called in at the workshop my mechanic was under the car at the time surrounded by coolent. Said he could tell just by having looked at the pump that it was on it's way out. Showed me the inside of the top of pump (I think?) which was full of dried antifreeze type crud.
Thanks again
Mark W
Thanks again
Mark W
I know this is cross posting & my apologies for doing so, but here's a story worth reading to confirm what has been said.
http://www.andyspares.com/discussionfor ... IC_ID=3971
Alan S[:D]
http://www.andyspares.com/discussionfor ... IC_ID=3971
Alan S[:D]