hi,
just joined as i'm about to go xantia td shopping and was wondering if there was anything i should add to my 'things to look out for' list.
1) hydraulic 'clicks' should be 1-2 minutes apart.
2) raise and lower suspension to check for struts sticking
3) raise suspension to high and check lhm level
4) pump brakes and check for suspension hardening up (my old bx used to do this)
5) temperature should be between 80-90
6) white smoke means a likely broken turbo
7) lots of black smoke not good either?
8) turbo should be audiable but not excessively so
9) make sure the heater works correctly not just hot / cold with no warm.
10) usual mayonaise in the oil cap, oil quality, tyres, etc. checks.
any other citroen / xantia specific checks would be much aprieciated as i'm moving to a xantia for reasons of economy so buying a lemon would NOT be a good thing.
thanks in advance for any help
cheers
julian
Hello and help
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CITROEN-SUCKER
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julian2002
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thanks guys,
james,
unfortunately the zx isn;t quite big enough. i used to car pool with a friend who had a TD volcane and have to say it was a very impressive performer. the one time i drove it though the lack of adjustable steering column and it's general dimensions made it difficult for me to get comfortable. (i'm a pretty big guy)
cheers
julian
james,
unfortunately the zx isn;t quite big enough. i used to car pool with a friend who had a TD volcane and have to say it was a very impressive performer. the one time i drove it though the lack of adjustable steering column and it's general dimensions made it difficult for me to get comfortable. (i'm a pretty big guy)
cheers
julian
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philhoward
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JohnD
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Don't be too concerned if the hydraulic clicks are more than 1 - 2 mins apart. Even if it's rapid, chances are that a new accumulator will improve it. Check the colour of the coolant. Muddy brown liquid will indicate a neglected system, laying up engine trouble in the future. Likewise with the colour of the LHM. Should be bright green. Anything different could spell trouble.
Julian,
There is a limited amount you can actually check when looking at a car, many things need wheels off or tests the seller would not put up with. Here's a few ideas in no particular order...
Engine: I strongly think regular oil changes with a quality oil are the key to engine life, if you can get one with a history proving this it is a huge plus. What proof is there of a recent timing belt change?..very important.
Clutch: If you search on this forum you will see a failing clutch is now one of the biggest problems on these cars. If it has covered anything between 70,000mls - 150,000mls it may be on the original clutch and due a replacement. A fair price for a proper job may be £400...can be more! Anything that feels very heavy or sluggish with an odd take-up point should be avoided or very cheap.
Coolant: As mentioned by others this wants to be a nice clean antifreeze colour. Any signs of brown deposits in the coolant, or white marks in the engine bay where it's boiled then leave well alone. On a sensible test run 80 is about right on most gauges. If there is any sign that the heater matrix has leaked into the footwells run very fast unless you fancy taking the dash out! Two yearly coolant changes are important with soft water and quality glycol.
Heater: On cars with aircon check it cools properly. Heater blower odd operation or failure is common on aircon models.
Starting: Make 100% sure you see it started from cold. There are some (just the odd one) that are pigs on the first start of the day. You'll see threads on here where folks spend ages trying to resolve this. A slightly chuggy start for first 10secs is usually OK as it will simply be glowplugs. For a fair test wait 4secs after the glowplug lamp goes out before starting.
Smoke: As you say any white smoke and walk away. A brief dump of black smoke on full turbo boost is not unusual and often then doesn't happen again until the car has been poodled about a bit more.
Overall feel: These cars should be very refined if in good order, I'd call it nearer BMW than Ford.
Hydraulics: Yep look/listen for very odd behaviour but bear in mind every Xantia is slightly different in the way it acts. For example some that are perfectly fine in everyday running have the most odd way of manually rising and falling. If you could draw a small sample of LHM this will tell a great deal about maintenance. Anything other than nice bright green as mentioned above is worrying.
Ride: This should be excellent with a slightly firmer feel than an earlier Citroen. If bouncy or very harsh likely to be spheres.
Brakes/ABS: If fitted with ABS check light comes on with ign and goes out properly. Front wheel sensor failing is common (part about £65) and some cars have failed ECUs (£250 exchange). Brakes may have an odd "pulsing" feel, this may be gas in the LHM but on many it is a character you have to get used to. Rear discs and pads often in poor condition. There is a simply sorted problem with the rear calipers that can lead to constant and annoying squealing. Handbrake cables are to the front wheels and will seize/snap at the point where they bend round to the calipers. Cheap to buy, hard to fit!
Electrics: As mentioned by others it is wearing to sort a Xantia with a lot of small electrical issues, buy one that is at least 95% in this area. Check all electric windows go up and down...and smoothly without excess noise. The lift wires break up and fail. New units are £80 front, more at the rear.
Age/Model/Condition: It is far better to get a low mileage older car with no known faults that a newer one with so many issues you will spend your whole time posting here or repairing it. You might be better to avoid a VSX model as these do seem to suffer issues with a poor ride and suspesion faults. Even at 10yrs old and with 120,000mls plus a Xantia can have a near mint interior with undented and rust free body. Avoid cars with blemishes (never economic to repair) in/out and move onto a better one.
Remember Xantias are worth very little, you should get a really good one whatever budget you have (well assuming it is £750+)...never pay too much.
That's it for now. Good luck with the search.
David
There is a limited amount you can actually check when looking at a car, many things need wheels off or tests the seller would not put up with. Here's a few ideas in no particular order...
Engine: I strongly think regular oil changes with a quality oil are the key to engine life, if you can get one with a history proving this it is a huge plus. What proof is there of a recent timing belt change?..very important.
Clutch: If you search on this forum you will see a failing clutch is now one of the biggest problems on these cars. If it has covered anything between 70,000mls - 150,000mls it may be on the original clutch and due a replacement. A fair price for a proper job may be £400...can be more! Anything that feels very heavy or sluggish with an odd take-up point should be avoided or very cheap.
Coolant: As mentioned by others this wants to be a nice clean antifreeze colour. Any signs of brown deposits in the coolant, or white marks in the engine bay where it's boiled then leave well alone. On a sensible test run 80 is about right on most gauges. If there is any sign that the heater matrix has leaked into the footwells run very fast unless you fancy taking the dash out! Two yearly coolant changes are important with soft water and quality glycol.
Heater: On cars with aircon check it cools properly. Heater blower odd operation or failure is common on aircon models.
Starting: Make 100% sure you see it started from cold. There are some (just the odd one) that are pigs on the first start of the day. You'll see threads on here where folks spend ages trying to resolve this. A slightly chuggy start for first 10secs is usually OK as it will simply be glowplugs. For a fair test wait 4secs after the glowplug lamp goes out before starting.
Smoke: As you say any white smoke and walk away. A brief dump of black smoke on full turbo boost is not unusual and often then doesn't happen again until the car has been poodled about a bit more.
Overall feel: These cars should be very refined if in good order, I'd call it nearer BMW than Ford.
Hydraulics: Yep look/listen for very odd behaviour but bear in mind every Xantia is slightly different in the way it acts. For example some that are perfectly fine in everyday running have the most odd way of manually rising and falling. If you could draw a small sample of LHM this will tell a great deal about maintenance. Anything other than nice bright green as mentioned above is worrying.
Ride: This should be excellent with a slightly firmer feel than an earlier Citroen. If bouncy or very harsh likely to be spheres.
Brakes/ABS: If fitted with ABS check light comes on with ign and goes out properly. Front wheel sensor failing is common (part about £65) and some cars have failed ECUs (£250 exchange). Brakes may have an odd "pulsing" feel, this may be gas in the LHM but on many it is a character you have to get used to. Rear discs and pads often in poor condition. There is a simply sorted problem with the rear calipers that can lead to constant and annoying squealing. Handbrake cables are to the front wheels and will seize/snap at the point where they bend round to the calipers. Cheap to buy, hard to fit!
Electrics: As mentioned by others it is wearing to sort a Xantia with a lot of small electrical issues, buy one that is at least 95% in this area. Check all electric windows go up and down...and smoothly without excess noise. The lift wires break up and fail. New units are £80 front, more at the rear.
Age/Model/Condition: It is far better to get a low mileage older car with no known faults that a newer one with so many issues you will spend your whole time posting here or repairing it. You might be better to avoid a VSX model as these do seem to suffer issues with a poor ride and suspesion faults. Even at 10yrs old and with 120,000mls plus a Xantia can have a near mint interior with undented and rust free body. Avoid cars with blemishes (never economic to repair) in/out and move onto a better one.
Remember Xantias are worth very little, you should get a really good one whatever budget you have (well assuming it is £750+)...never pay too much.
That's it for now. Good luck with the search.
David
Good tip when looking at hyd citroens !
Take a short length of clear tubing with you, washer hose is good, syphon a little of the antifreeze out to check the colour, mine looked nice and pink in the header tank, when i did this it looked very murky brown.
Then do the same with the LHM and hold it up to the light, again mine looked not to bad in the tank, when I syphoned it was a very dark brown colour, I changed it the next day[xx(].
With a bit of practice you won't swallow any either.[xx(]
Take a short length of clear tubing with you, washer hose is good, syphon a little of the antifreeze out to check the colour, mine looked nice and pink in the header tank, when i did this it looked very murky brown.
Then do the same with the LHM and hold it up to the light, again mine looked not to bad in the tank, when I syphoned it was a very dark brown colour, I changed it the next day[xx(].
With a bit of practice you won't swallow any either.[xx(]
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julian2002
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thanks for all the tips. i saw 4 over the weekend.
1 was very sluggish, but had done 150k miles.
2 has the abs light on and no mot so i couldn;t test drive.
3 was in good condition but was absolute poverty spec
4 was good condition, pulled like a train and low miles but had a little 'mayonaise' in the oil filler, the rev counter 'hunted' at idle and the clutch didn;t bite until very near the top of the pedal's travel. (plus it was expensive)
so nothing found as yet. hopefully there'll be a few more on the market next weekend and i may try looking in a different area as well.
once again thanks for the suggestions
cheers
julian
1 was very sluggish, but had done 150k miles.
2 has the abs light on and no mot so i couldn;t test drive.
3 was in good condition but was absolute poverty spec
4 was good condition, pulled like a train and low miles but had a little 'mayonaise' in the oil filler, the rev counter 'hunted' at idle and the clutch didn;t bite until very near the top of the pedal's travel. (plus it was expensive)
so nothing found as yet. hopefully there'll be a few more on the market next weekend and i may try looking in a different area as well.
once again thanks for the suggestions
cheers
julian
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RichardW
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Julian,
Don't worry about the clutch biting at the top - the 'inside out' pull design of the clutch means this is always the case on these cars - and if you adjust the pedal as per the Haynes spec you end up with a very long travel - keep meaning to adjust mine back to something more sensible but haven't got around to it yet!
Keep looking there are good ones out there!
Don't worry about the clutch biting at the top - the 'inside out' pull design of the clutch means this is always the case on these cars - and if you adjust the pedal as per the Haynes spec you end up with a very long travel - keep meaning to adjust mine back to something more sensible but haven't got around to it yet!
Keep looking there are good ones out there!
Richard,
Sorry to be at all different in my thinking to your post above but...
When a Xantia TD clutch is new or in the first half of its life ajusting per Haynes will produce a perfect pedal feel and a bite close to the bottom of the travel.
As they age it is often useful to "fiddle" the ajustment a little to a personal preference...but the reason we need to do this is to compensate for a clutch that will need replacing sooner or later.
You know I've just observed my own Xantia clutch through the last months/weeks/days of its life (changed it now) and eventually the bite was so high just brushing the pedal was enough to allow the engine to spin away faster than the road speed.
Julian is right to be wary of any Xantia clutch that feels at all odd. Sometimes they can be adjusted but so often the clutch change lottery falls in your lap.
David
Sorry to be at all different in my thinking to your post above but...
When a Xantia TD clutch is new or in the first half of its life ajusting per Haynes will produce a perfect pedal feel and a bite close to the bottom of the travel.
As they age it is often useful to "fiddle" the ajustment a little to a personal preference...but the reason we need to do this is to compensate for a clutch that will need replacing sooner or later.
You know I've just observed my own Xantia clutch through the last months/weeks/days of its life (changed it now) and eventually the bite was so high just brushing the pedal was enough to allow the engine to spin away faster than the road speed.
Julian is right to be wary of any Xantia clutch that feels at all odd. Sometimes they can be adjusted but so often the clutch change lottery falls in your lap.
David
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RichardW
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'13 3008 1.6 HDi GripControl - x 996
I tried to post this before but it threw a strop....
My thinking is based on the fact that it's a pull clutch and therefore the biting point will always occur after a given amount of travel. Seems I am wrong (I only have one to drive, and it's not a new clutch!) - and maybe on thinking about this, as the angle between the release bearing and fork change as the clutch wears the biting point will move....? Ours has not changed over the 27k we've had it (72 - 99k) and it has always come in at the top of the travel. Perhaps I will be doing it sooner than I think! I have only noticed the ZX has less pedal travel and is a bit heavier - can't think whether it comes in near the top or not - I'll experiment on the way home!
Ooops, sorry, hijacked Julian's thread! There was a T Reg 1.9TD with 19k miles for sale not far from me a few weeks ago, for £2800, which seemed a very very keen price to me!
My thinking is based on the fact that it's a pull clutch and therefore the biting point will always occur after a given amount of travel. Seems I am wrong (I only have one to drive, and it's not a new clutch!) - and maybe on thinking about this, as the angle between the release bearing and fork change as the clutch wears the biting point will move....? Ours has not changed over the 27k we've had it (72 - 99k) and it has always come in at the top of the travel. Perhaps I will be doing it sooner than I think! I have only noticed the ZX has less pedal travel and is a bit heavier - can't think whether it comes in near the top or not - I'll experiment on the way home!
Ooops, sorry, hijacked Julian's thread! There was a T Reg 1.9TD with 19k miles for sale not far from me a few weeks ago, for £2800, which seemed a very very keen price to me!
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julian2002
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by julian2002</i>
just noticed that DJ Woolard, has said to steer clear of vsx models due to suspension problems, is there any particular reason why the vsx models are more prone to this than say the sx?
cheers
julian
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Only that their suspension is more complicated than the LX/SX base models. The Activas have more complexity than the VSXs, personally I'd accept a VSX but be wary of buying an Activa.
just noticed that DJ Woolard, has said to steer clear of vsx models due to suspension problems, is there any particular reason why the vsx models are more prone to this than say the sx?
cheers
julian
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Only that their suspension is more complicated than the LX/SX base models. The Activas have more complexity than the VSXs, personally I'd accept a VSX but be wary of buying an Activa.