V6 Xantia......... the beginning of another adventure

[Trainman]

You''ll feel a lot better by getting that out in the open now

No I don't, I've had fantastic support getting this sorted, and to a degree I feel like I'm letting those people that have supported me down I know they will say not, but it's the kind of person I am.....

I understand that attitude, but you haven't let anybody down. Would you have bought it had you known what needed to be done? No, you wouldn't, you would have waited until something better had come along (such as Mandrakes' new V6).

Simon's is a cracking car, there's no two ways about it, would I have bought it, probably not...... only because I would never have thought of putting LPG on the Xantia...... Having said that, if I hadn't of had the Xantia then I wouldn't be looking at LPG on the Peugeot.... so in a roundabout sort of way it has given me something back, just not what I had hoped for.....

[Hell Razor5543]

Are you sure about that re. LPG? Jim had it on his XM (same engine), and I think it might have been mentioned when we were 'chivvying' Simon towards that new V6.

Now what we need to do is work out a way of making LDG (Liquefied Dieselium Gas! ) for those of us who run Boris's latest tax targets!

[Mandrake]

You''ll feel a lot better by getting that out in the open now

No I don't, I've had fantastic support getting this sorted, and to a degree I feel like I'm letting those people that have supported me down I know they will say not, but it's the kind of person I am.....

Good grief, I'm getting a strong sense of déjà vu with this whole situation!

[KP]

Just veg the diesel and register it as alternate fuel and get your &10 off the rfl every year as well you can do this with an LPG car as well.

[Hell Razor5543]

You''ll feel a lot better by getting that out in the open now

No I don't, I've had fantastic support getting this sorted, and to a degree I feel like I'm letting those people that have supported me down I know they will say not, but it's the kind of person I am.....

Good grief, I'm getting a strong sense of déjà vu with this whole situation!

And that is why this Forum is loved so much. People help each other out, and don't want to let each other down. Why cannot society be more like that?

[Hell Razor5543]

Just veg the diesel and register it as alternate fuel and get your &10 off the rfl every year as well you can do this with an LPG car as well.

Can this be done with an HDi engine. I didn't think it could be.

[Trainman]

Rather interestingly I decided to take the Xantia today, she was well behaved to start with, so once I got her on a straight bit of road I tried moving the gear selector from drive to 3 then to 2, nothing changed, however the car was still changing up and down in auto mode..... could the gear selector be knack...... er broken I wonder?

James you make a fair point about this forum, it is one of the few places where people go out of their way to help others.

This car, at the moment stands me at around £2500, I know I'm going to lose money, and to be honest, probably a significant amount, but, you know what, it doesn't matter, fundamentally this car is in excellent condition, Jim went over it with a fine tooth comb and the only thing he found was two hoses that want replacing because they are cracking, somebody will get a stonking car, once it's sorted, and I shall be keeping a close eye on who ever it goes to.....

[Hell Razor5543]

Rather interestingly I decided to take the Xantia today, she was well behaved to start with, so once I got her on a straight bit of road I tried moving the gear selector from drive to 3 then to 2, nothing changed, however the car was still changing up and down in auto mode..... could the gear selector be knack...... er broken I wonder?

I would be inclined to remove the switch (if it isn't a major job to do so), and then treat it to a massive dose of PROPER contact cleaner (Servisol is one of the best, but not cheap. NASA use it neat, but then it costs telephone numbers!). If the switch can be safely dismantled so much the better. You can then inspect the contacts, clean them individually and grease the sliding bits. If any contacts have got burnt (through arcing) then it is easy to clean them up and (if needed) coat them with some solder.

[Mandrake]

Good grief, I'm getting a strong sense of déjà vu with this whole situation!

And that is why this Forum is loved so much. People help each other out, and don't want to let each other down. Why cannot society be more like that?

Well there's that too of course, but I was more meaning that Steve seems to have found himself in a very similar predicament to me - a Xantia V6 that has had so much done on it and with a lot of help from the forum and yet still isn't working right, and is now faced with the decision of whether to keep it or move it on... although I would argue that Steve's has far less wrong with it than my old one did, albeit the problem that is left whilst almost certainly minor when found could be quite a thorny one to find.

Rather interestingly I decided to take the Xantia today, she was well behaved to start with, so once I got her on a straight bit of road I tried moving the gear selector from drive to 3 then to 2, nothing changed, however the car was still changing up and down in auto mode..... could the gear selector be knack...... er broken I wonder?

What speed were you doing at time, was it over 40mph ? If you were only doing 25mph you would have already been in 2nd gear thus going from drive to 3 to 2 would have done nothing...

It is possible to force it to go UP a gear even if you're going too slow if you put it in snow mode - now 1, 2, 3 will force it down OR up into that gear - basically full manual control of the first three gears. You can start off from stationary in 2nd or 3rd using this technique.

If you think it's not taking any notice of the gear lever 1,2,3,D positions - pop the Lexia back on and go into the parameters measurement section of the gearbox - one of the sub sections (can't remember which one but it will take you seconds to find) shows you all the driver control inputs to the ECU - and will tell you in real-time the position of the gear lever and sport/snow switches. The engine doesn't even need to be running for this to work, provided the ignition key is on.

If you move the gear lever and the ECU doesn't register the same position on the Lexia then you know you have a problem with the ECU's reading of the switch... however I have to say I don't think you'll find anything wrong there because it doesn't match up with the fault code you're seeing which is an engine speed signal problem - but still worth double checking.

James you make a fair point about this forum, it is one of the few places where people go out of their way to help others.

This car, at the moment stands me at around £2500, I know I'm going to lose money, and to be honest, probably a significant amount, but, you know what, it doesn't matter, fundamentally this car is in excellent condition, Jim went over it with a fine tooth comb and the only thing he found was two hoses that want replacing because they are cracking, somebody will get a stonking car, once it's sorted, and I shall be keeping a close eye on who ever it goes to.....

In the two years I had my first one I'd say it cost me over £1000 in unnecessary work and parts, extra oil changes for the gearbox etc (which is not cheap) so that £400 car end up costing me more like £1500, not counting normal petrol, tyres, insurance etc... but I got to a point where I had to cut my losses and move on because I knew the gearbox had limited life left and I was never going to get it running to my satisfaction.

I don't think you're anywhere near that degree of desperation, however if having too many cars and not enough parking spaces forces your hand then I guess what happens happens! Is Sir Jim still going to get a chance to have it for a week or is that off the table now ?

[KP]

So your keeping the C6 and selling he xantia now?

[Trainman]

Simon, thanks for that will have a look tomorrow, Incidently I pinned out the cable David Sent me and it's wired differently to mine on about 8 connections.....

Will, I think so, I love driving the C6 and far more importantly I trust it

[bxzx16v]

Tough choice Steve. The 407 is a beauty by the way.

Mark

[Hell Razor5543]

Will, I think so, I love driving the C6 and far more importantly I trust it

And THAT is the most important reason to keep her. If you had the time and space I'd say keep both and get the Xantia up to scratch, but that isn't a viable option any more (now you are getting the 407).

[Northern_Mike]

Tough choice Steve.

C6 wins every time for me. While the Xantia might be a lovely car, a C6 it is not.

Even I still stop and stare at C6s...!

[Trainman]

I know James, doesn't make it any easier though......