Xantia Hydractive disaster!

[aerodynamica]

I've just returned from the Chevrons rally- which was great - and Auld Katy the xantia performed flawlessly...

With a day off today I decided to follow on from the topic:

viewtopic.php?t=62439

And carry out the work to the rear electro valve. Remove, dismantle, carefully stretch the small spring. Great then have renewed hydractive... went well for the front one but disaster today with the rear.

Spare wheel etc out the way and the electro valve removed without fuss, it was only when I went to seperare the electro valve parts that it went wrong: unscrewing the thread locked part was tight .... so much so that the whole thing snapped in half..

What the hell to do!? The xantia was reversed up on ramps on the drive in front of the DS that was in the garage... the Xantia was partially in the garage preventing the door being closed so I couldn't leave it like this... how to get it off the axle stands? There's no way to run the system with this even remotely leaking let alone snapped.. Brainwave I had was to drill the electrovalve core and tap to M10 and fit a bolt to block it off.. first 2 attempts failed - leaking badly. Finally got it corked by using flat washers to mate up to the bolt head. It's holding and I swapped the cars around but I've now got to find a replacement valve.

Glad it happened after the rally though!

[GiveMeABreak]

Chevronics have an XM one here if any good?

https://www.chevronics.co.uk/product/hy ... -valve-xm/

[aerodynamica]

Yes i think it's the same

[aerodynamica]

..although... £150 + vat + postage... ?

[GiveMeABreak]

I know - but considering these are getting harder to find - I thought it worth a mention.

[white exec]

These are not easy parts to separate, as the fine thread is factory coated with loctite.
Steady, firm action usually breaks the seal.

[aerodynamica]

Thanks Marc - appreciated (it may have come across otherwise)

[aerodynamica]

These are not easy parts to separate, as the fine thread is factory coated with loctite.
Steady, firm action usually breaks the seal.

Yes, and I found the front one to be a fair effort but it did come off all the same. O well.

[aerodynamica]

I've sourced a full firmness regulator on ebay - it also appears to be the sought-after modified type. It is from a breaker online. It looks like it has been sand blasted and that's potentially not good. It was also quite a lot at £99.99 especially since there is a NOS firmness regulator listed at £80 albeit without the electro valve.

Anyway I enquired and he's let it go for 80 so hopefully it'll arrive this week.

....and I'll not snap the blimmin thing this time..

[aerodynamica]

Some pictures of the snappage:

Here is the plugged EV body in place, under pressure - you can see the result of the leaking previous two attempts with the dark patches behind. This final version of the 'plug' has the screw fully tightened against a series of flat washers.

The first attempt. Red threadlock and the cavity of the needle valve internally plugged by sealant that squeezed out as the screw was tightened down. This is the one that didn't work...

Snapped. Threadlock is stronger than metal

[aerodynamica]

Not to be put off though! I finally removed both rear struts once I had the Xantia in the garage and the rear end supported. I'd been wanting to attach the rear struts for a while - both strut gaiters are split and I had 2 NOS strut gaiters waiting for their day!

The pipe union connections were very hard to remove - especially the N/S one that's close to the exhaust back box as it was corroding at the union nut and seemed to be twisting whith the nut. I managed to slowly free it in steps with wd40 and it was out. It is however, pitted a bit and I wonder how long it can last.

Both rear struts came out quite straightforward otherwise.

Both were split.

Cleaned up, new gaiters, greased pushrods, sphere mating face de rusted. One of the two gaiter clips tightening screw snapped and pinged away - I'll see about making replacement bits.

[aerodynamica]

Bad to worse!

I got the firmness regulator in the post - very quick indeed. But! As I feared, been shot blasted to make it look better and they've not plugged any hydraulic ports.....

But worse, the precious electrovalve has had someone attack it already.... without success. The upper part came out without much fuss but right away I spotted a hairline crack on the valve body.

Worse! The valve body large hex at the base is so badly damaged that no tool could fit. There's barely a hex left. There's even traced of what looks like chemical metal at the join.

Ebay scrapyard parts....

Im gonna have to get the chevronics one after all.

I swapped the front good electrovalve to the rear so i could at least refit all the rear parts. Thats done and i fitted the plugged electrovalve body in the front and that's holding so the car can run and raise etc. But what a nightmare. I have a new exhaust back box coming as well so hope to get the rear end all finished and can deal with the disaster at the front now that's much easier to reach.

[white exec]

Oh dear, what a let-down - and not that cheap, either. Hopefully they'll refund.
Careful with swapping the regulators on the Xantia (on a permanent basis), because the dampers are different front and back.

[aerodynamica]

Hi Chris, sorry I should have clarified: it's only the electro valve that I swapped

[Harlequin]

Paul Breeze Roberts has a collection of xantia parts