Gold Sinker Mk1

[aerodynamica]

As a further pointer, the ABS rear sensors look like they have to be destroyed to remove them now so despite all this tugging and prodding of the rear sensors and the old strong arm tactics on that firsr RH arm sensor, thay actually still work with the ABS light going out. But I'm now thinking I need to keep the look out for a replacement set of rear ABS sensors. Am I right in thinking the early Xantias had some different version of the ABS? And that the sensor are different? I changed one front sensor and it needed the mounting boss cut down in length by a good 4-5 mm but otherwise it was a straight swap. Is it only XMs I'm thinking of with terrible rear ABS sensors that can't be found unless you have a much later model?.. This is a 1993 early Xantia VSX

[aerodynamica]

It can also be somewhat dependent on the material your clothing is made of - synthetics and wool generally the worst.

I'm gonna have to stop wearing these 1990s shell suits I think, I might keep the massive gold medallion though

[CitroJim]

Excellent work Graeme Shame the bodgers had been there before you on one side.. That as a right holy mess they made but all will be good now...

I'm amazed they did not give the old race removal a bit of thought and worked out how to do it properly... But then, that's a bodger's way isn't it...

[chinkostu]

Rear sensors are the same G it's only the fronts that changed

Fills me with dread looking at that picture, who the hell does that on the other side, how hard was it in general to do the bearings?

[les]

Cut a nick out of the top of the abs mounting hole as per the fronts makes life easy for any future removal

[aerodynamica]

Rear sensors are the same G it's only the fronts that changed

Fills me with dread looking at that picture, who the hell does that on the other side, how hard was it in general to do the bearings?

Cheers that's good to know - as for doing rear arm bearings! Well it depends on your facilities. I have access to a garage with good light and an inspection lamp, over the years I've accumulated car (citroen specific) tools that proved a good investment such as big impact sockets and swan - neck spanners etc so it depends on what you've got there. If you have a garage with a work bench and vise, good axle stands, a trolley jack, a torque wrench and 24mm socket, a lump hammer and a variety of drifts, lots of WD40, good pliers and other tools and a set of torx type sockets for the anti roll bar bolts then you're on to a good start. But when things go wrong that you can't always predict such as the above I would have been stumped to grind those bad chiseled bits down without a dremel and little grinding stone fitment so you just never know what extra tools you'd need.

I think the main thing for these heavier jobs is time though. I set aside a full saturday to do just one side but after doing the one side it was only early afternoon so I carried on with the other side, after all the anti roll bar was disconnected on the other side anyway.

Some people have far better facilities than me such as proper 4 - post lifts and every possible tool including the home made variety.. but if you have at least the tools I listed you can probably do this fairly easily.

You also need to be limber enough to be happy lying on your back cranking away at bolts under the car, wasting lots of time and energy getting back up again when you discover yet another tool is still up on the work bench and manouvreing awkward, heavy bits out such as the suspension arm while not crushing your fingers, damaging eg ABS sensor cable, or getting the brakes manky with oil or dripping LHM.... it's even harder when the working space is quite small like in this garage.

I've done the arm bearings job a few times now - twice on CXs (harder than Xantia) and once on a BX (exactly the same) and it's not bad. I'd say the hardest bits are dealing with the nightmare of if the pushrod pin can't come out , you then have to either work around it by taking the push rod out with the arm (also difficult) or stop and spend even longer removing the stuck pin over weeks with combinations of heat and wd40 etc.. dealing with delays caused by things like the ABS sensor being stuck and such like. It's why I do a pre flight check of all the stuff that has to come off - wire brush every bolt and nut and pipe union to be touched then WD40 and wait a week..

I also took the spare wheel carrier out (1x 13mm bolt) as it gives you lots of space then.

Getting the arm out isn't that hard: raised and supported on axle stands, rear wheels off, depressureise suspension, remove the inner rear wheel sheilds (3x 10mm bolts), if ABS, remove the sensor via 1 bolt and it supposedly wriggles out of its hole. Big 24mm socket with long breaker bar to the arm pivot bolt and a second 24 mm spanner on the nut on the inside, 10mm bolt to remove the brake pipe guide, on the inner side of the arm, torx head socket for the 4x anti roll bar bolts (2 a side) and a breaker bar to loosen them (doesn't need to be a big one), disconnect the plastic notorious link for the height corrector. This leaves the anti roll bar disconnected from each arm but the ARB can safely remain in place sitting loosely between each side. Remove the brake caliper (2x 17mm bolt, caveat: loosen these slowly in case they have never been touched ) and remove the brake disk (one little securing screw that 'usually' loosens easily..) Then it's remove the arm pivot bolt - should just tap out from the inside and then carefully manouvre the arm out. Clean the arm with wire brush, clean around each end of the pivot with the arm bearings and take a break because the next bit is the hard bit....

Well, it's not that bad.. The central support tube the big pivot bolt went through must be drifted out - it can be easily damaged making the refit of the pivot bolt hard/ impossible so I used a 3/4" socket extension placed in the tube narrow end first so it all but vanishes in the tube except the widened end, Get the arm up on a work bench, pref. in a vice with the socket extension at the top and hammer it to drift the tube out. It will move believe me and you keep drifting it down until it is clear of the outer race of the arm bearings. The arm bearings on the other end will come out still attached to the tube (or more likely the remains of the bearings will cascade out in a dry rusted pick n' mix of fragments so get ready for that..
Then remove and clean the tube. lift the upper set of bearings that remain sitting in place at the topmost end and seperate the bearings from the stepped thrust washer with its rubber seal and notice that there is a shim on this end - don't lose that! Keep the shim and thrust washer together and then collect the tube with the other end bearing and thrust washer still attached, use a vice opened to a gap just wider than the tube but close enough to sit the thrust washer and other arm bearing on the top and use the socket extension again to drift the tube out of the thrust washer, collect the thrust washer (it's the same as the other (outer) side that has the shim) and clean and set it on the side for refitting. Clean the tube, clean the inside of the arm of old grease etc, and get your new pair of arm bearings ready. Then you have to drift out the inner bearing races (the bit with the damage in the above picture) these take a bit of time because although they're only located in the arm by fit, and therefore can be drifted out with a rod from the other end ( heavy hammer action needed) they are hard to drift out due to the fitment of a plastic tube fitted in the middle of the arm between each bearing inner race. I think the agreed method is to remove the plastic tube by destroying it so I did so by splitting it from one end to the other with a chisel and hammer. It then can be prised out and with long nose pliers, grab the split end and twist inwards to reduce it to a smaller size to pull out. Then the bearing races can be bashed out from the opposite side with a steel rod with a good flat end and a heavy hammer. They come flying out - tap them at opposite sides to drift them out e.g tap in one place then again but 180 degrees away then at the two other points 90, 270 to drift it out and then , yes it flies out like a rat up a pipe. Repeat for the other end and clean all the inside with meths and when dry you could coat it all with some light oil. Inspect the inner arm for damage caused by drifting out.. then get your shiny new bearings out. First tapping the new inner race in using a big socket ( I think I used a 30mm one) this allows it to drift into place nice and straight. I put in a line of grease in the seat for the race using a bicycle grease gun that has an excellent pointed applicator. You know when the bearing race is tapped fully in by the change in noise of the tapping.. The grease squeeses out up behind it too. Then before putting in the race on the other end you need to replace the plastic tube. It goes in quite easily from the other end but make sure it's centered in the shoulder behind the bearing inner race before tapping in from the other end otherwise you'll damage and distort it all (ask me how I found out... ) then for the other bearing race in behind it from the other bearing set.
The new arm bearings I got were SKF make and came coated in a light oil. This is not enough!! I used the bicycle grease gun to pack the bearings with grease in between each of the rollers - this is a good idea to try to make them last as long as possible - you cannnot over grease this type of bearing because they do not 'spin' as such they move about 45 degrees maximum in one direction their entire life! Then place one set of bearings in the fitted bearing race in the arm, add more grease - too much is just about enough. Then a tricky bit. Arm in the vice with the new bearing sitting at the topmost end. You now need to re-drift the tube back in from the top and tap it down through the bearing centre until the upper end of the tube it level with the top arm surface (it actually stands a good few mm proud of it once both ends are done but intially tap til it's level) then fit the shim on (this is the 'outer' end of the arm so it's the side with the brake caliper on it) and then push on the thrust washer complete with its new seal ( I had to order these seperately from the arm bearing kit) with the little 'spring' to the outside and fill with grease. Tap with a hammer to get it all level. The other end of the tube needs the arm bearings drifted on to the tube with care because you're striking the bearings and need to use a socket that's big enough to seat only on the outer bearing race without hitting the rollers themselves - I think a 15mm socket (?) allows you to tap the bearing down the tube a few mm till you can follow it on with the other thrust washer that when drifted, taps the bearings along in turn until they home in the inner race in the arm. Before it's fully home though pack this end too with plenty of grease. It's likely then the tube will be off centre sticking too far out one end and too far in the other. I just used the hammering flat on a vice to rest it on to tap the other end of the tube/ thrust washer until both ends were flush.

Unless I missed out something that's it. You refit the arm, pivot bolt (grease up the bolt and inside of the tube to stop it rusting.. common on CXs where you couldn't get the bolt out the tube and hence, can't get the arm out the car! And reassemble the rest in reverse. I opted to raise both rear arms to the half way position to refit the anti roll bar. Tighten the arm pivot bolt to circa 130N.m and recheck it after an hour or so. Same with the 4 anti roll bar bolts - can't recall the torque for them but it's nowhere near 130! Refit the rest, the last thing to go in is probably the suspension push rod and the pin, I took the opportunity to grease the locating seat on the push rod and the pin itself... for next time... Bleed the brakes, run the engine and pressureise the suspension, fit the wheels and when back on the wheels check the ride height as I found mine had drifted up quite a bit possibly due to the anti roll bar being refitted slightly further forward on the arms than before as there's a lot of movement on it before it's tightened. I was unsure if there's a set position it's meant to be at so I just ensured both sides were the same. Once it's all on it's wheels again prepare to be in awe of the smoothness of the ride and the straight- tracking feel of the car on the road.

Erk! I got a bit carried away there - didn't intend to post a full how-to. Feel free to add / correct anything here

[aerodynamica]

Cut a nick out of the top of the abs mounting hole as per the fronts makes life easy for any future removal

Ah that IS a good tip - and it makes you wonder why they didn't do the same as the front from the factory (unless they changed it for later Xantias)
at least it's not like the XM where you can't cut a slot in it

[CitroJim]

That's an excellent howto Graeme

It needs to go in the Wiki

[chinkostu]

That's an excellent howto Graeme

It needs to go in the Wiki

if anyone fancies adding pictures

[CitroJim]

That's an excellent howto Graeme

It needs to go in the Wiki

if anyone fancies adding pictures

That would be even better

[aerodynamica]

Ha I'msurprised its not been covered already, it's not that well written. Ha I used to take photos of this kind of stuff all the time

[aerodynamica]

Auld Katy running well but after replacing the speedo cable as a step in this thread about the Hydractive:

https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... =3&t=56235

I'd damaged the brake valve return pipe connection. It was split at the 'T' as usual. I've had this go on practically every hydraulic Citroen I've owned except the GSA... but looking at the part on the Xantia it looks like they did try to make it more durable than the same part on the CX. Anyway. I replaced the T section and extension to the lower return to the doseur with clear tubing. Tested over 2 days and holding well. I was quite surprised at just how much LHM was lost from the system overnight from this point. It is lower than the LHM tank so probably syphoned out over night.


The Hydractive warning lamp on the dashboard, deleted on Xantias after less than a year of production is something I was looking into reinstating after looking at it while the speedometer and instruments were out to do the speedo cable job.

I fitted a new bulb to the location in the instruments, traced the circuit and found the correct pin out at the multi plug, point 11 on the red plug, strangely I found there is a wire connected to it but no way to know where it terminates in the loom somewhere. I modified the white multi plug at the hydractive ECU at pin 10 (the pin that would connect to the lamp in the dash) and fitted a terminal and wire to the pin via the plug and connected it outside the car through the door to the connection at the wire to the red plug in the instruments. I'd tested the output from the ECU pin with a multimeter initially and found the output was alternating between 6v and 0 that made me think it was a kind of square wave and wondered if it was a flashing light. I couldn't get the test lamp to work but decided to go ahead to connect the dashboard lamp anyway and found....... that it lights! Switch on the ignition and the hydractive light comes on and flashes (indicating a stored fault) then goes off.



If the link works ( photobucket has become really troublesome lately) you can see the lamp light up and flash. So it confirms that the pins in question are both correct and that it does actually work. I have yet to wire it correctly to find a connection through the bulkhead but I think I will wire it up after all.

I still wonder why they eliminated the lamp from Xantias but not XMs. I mean the fact the lamp flashes shows a stored ffault in the ECU but there is no way to know this without the lamp! The lamp inside the sport button doesn't flash.

Anyway, also had a look at the iffy boot lamp tilt switch and found that after cleaning the two internal contacts for the ball bearing that it is improved but would actually prefer to replace the switch - does anyone have a prat number for this?

I also drained the diesel out of the filter housing as I was getting the 'water in fuel' lamp. I drained it, soaked up the remainder with a new cloth and used compressed air to completely dry the whole housing, replaced, refilled and primed it all , started up and the lamp was STILL on! it went out after about 6 miles but I have a feeling it will be back...

[myglaren]

False indication of water in diesel was a common problem and later models deleted that option. Had it in my sinker too and was told to ignore it but the mechanic disconnected the sensor eventually.

[chinkostu]

My water in fuel light came on sometimes if I was properly hoofing the car. I ended up removing the bulb.


the tilt switch is P/N 6366 37, about £6 from the dealers! I think some people get a traditional mercury switch and jiffy that in instead

[aerodynamica]

I might unplug it ... if it comes back..