Am I fighting a losing battle, heater matrix leaking 1997 Xsara TD.

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Agent29
Posts: 29
Joined: 15 Apr 2021, 06:14
Location: Huntingdon
My Cars: 1994 Peugeot 205 STDT, 1997 Citroen Xsara SX TD.
Gone but not forgotten:
1999 Xsara VTS
1997 Citroen ZX SX TD
1990 Citroen BX TGD Auto
1991 Citroen TXD Auto
1987 Citroen RD Auto
1991 Peugeot 309 GLD
x 2

Am I fighting a losing battle, heater matrix leaking 1997 Xsara TD.

Post by Agent29 »

I recently purchased this 1997 Xsara TD in a poor state requiring a few jobs hoping to get it right and use as my daily runner. Ive had many xud driven motors over the years, I like them. I have owned my Peugeot 205 STDT 1.8TD for over seven years and continue to love it. Its easy to work on and can gain access to most things.

I thought the Xsara would be not that dissimilar to the 205, but I appear to be wrong.

I have already posted in this forum regarding blower issues but whilst dismantling the dash this afternoon to investigate further I noticed a puddle of coolant in the passenger footwell and a drip from the heater unit which was accelerated by turning the engine over. my concern is the automatic aircon, can the heater matrix be removed without disturbing the aircon or am I fighting a losing battle with this car? I have disassembled most of the dash and removed the scuttle cover and wiper arms in preparation but am reluctant to progress any further if its a no go on the aircon front.

There seems to be under 10 Xsara SX TD's on the road registered in 97 and 20 or so from 98 onwards so they are getting rare. It was my intention to save this motor. It would be a shame to let it go.
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xantia_v6
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Re: Am I fighting a losing battle, heater matrix leaking 1997 Xsara TD.

Post by xantia_v6 »

See viewtopic.php?t=37771 for some clues.
Agent29
Posts: 29
Joined: 15 Apr 2021, 06:14
Location: Huntingdon
My Cars: 1994 Peugeot 205 STDT, 1997 Citroen Xsara SX TD.
Gone but not forgotten:
1999 Xsara VTS
1997 Citroen ZX SX TD
1990 Citroen BX TGD Auto
1991 Citroen TXD Auto
1987 Citroen RD Auto
1991 Peugeot 309 GLD
x 2

Re: Am I fighting a losing battle, heater matrix leaking 1997 Xsara TD.

Post by Agent29 »

Thankyou for the link, I did come across this post before creating a new topic. It is good to know that there are success stories.

The post was for the MKII facelift derivative with HDI engine and aircon. Besides the cosmetic changes to the front end and the introduction of the HDI engine I am unaware of what other changes Citroen made that would differ from my pre-facelift MK1 XUD9TE with aircon? would there be any additional hurdles or problems I could face?

Admittedly I have to concede that car communities evolve as new models are released. There will be limited information on a 24 year old Citroen that was deemed uninspiring and sanitised by Citroen's standard when it was a current model, and not as popular as the Picasso.

I will attempt to remove the matrix over the coming days, I would however like to gain any additional information on separating the heater control unit to avoid disturbing the aircon. there seems to be very little information on this and the Haynes manual makes no reference to aircon when removing the heater unit, unless I have missed it?

Many thanks.
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xantia_v6
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1975 Jaguar XJ-S pre-HE (NZ)
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Re: Am I fighting a losing battle, heater matrix leaking 1997 Xsara TD.

Post by xantia_v6 »

I don't know the layout on the Xsara, but on other Citroens of the era, the A/C evaporator was in a plastic casing that is separate form the main casing which holds the heater matrix and control flaps. On the Xantia (although again Haynes does not mention it) the 2 plastic cases can be separated by undoing a couple of screws, then the heater box can be lifted without touching the A/C.
Agent29
Posts: 29
Joined: 15 Apr 2021, 06:14
Location: Huntingdon
My Cars: 1994 Peugeot 205 STDT, 1997 Citroen Xsara SX TD.
Gone but not forgotten:
1999 Xsara VTS
1997 Citroen ZX SX TD
1990 Citroen BX TGD Auto
1991 Citroen TXD Auto
1987 Citroen RD Auto
1991 Peugeot 309 GLD
x 2

Re: Am I fighting a losing battle, heater matrix leaking 1997 Xsara TD.

Post by Agent29 »

Thankyou very much for your assistance, It would appear the evaporator is indeed separate, illustrations from http://www.catcar.info which itself I have only just discovered seem to support this. I will start to tackle this today and post an update as and when I make progress.
Agent29
Posts: 29
Joined: 15 Apr 2021, 06:14
Location: Huntingdon
My Cars: 1994 Peugeot 205 STDT, 1997 Citroen Xsara SX TD.
Gone but not forgotten:
1999 Xsara VTS
1997 Citroen ZX SX TD
1990 Citroen BX TGD Auto
1991 Citroen TXD Auto
1987 Citroen RD Auto
1991 Peugeot 309 GLD
x 2

Re: Am I fighting a losing battle, heater matrix leaking 1997 Xsara TD.

Post by Agent29 »

Well I've started, but Im not even halfway through. any ideas on how to remove the moderately inaccessible heater pipes? its a bit of a bugger to do so far to say the least.
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Agent29
Posts: 29
Joined: 15 Apr 2021, 06:14
Location: Huntingdon
My Cars: 1994 Peugeot 205 STDT, 1997 Citroen Xsara SX TD.
Gone but not forgotten:
1999 Xsara VTS
1997 Citroen ZX SX TD
1990 Citroen BX TGD Auto
1991 Citroen TXD Auto
1987 Citroen RD Auto
1991 Peugeot 309 GLD
x 2

Re: Am I fighting a losing battle, heater matrix leaking 1997 Xsara TD.

Post by Agent29 »

Well I finally got the offending object out of the car, Im not looking forward to reassembly. I had to remove the intercooler and associated pipes to get to the heater matrix union. There was very little room for manoeuvre and the pipes initially wouldn't budge.

I held a two foot pry bar between the bulkhead and union to the right and whilst holding the cambelt side of the union with my forefingers and the clip with my left thumb gently wiggled it side to side and it came out quite easily. Getting the heater into a position to extract the matrix was an absolute sod.
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Paul-R
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Re: Am I fighting a losing battle, heater matrix leaking 1997 Xsara TD.

Post by Paul-R »

How much skin did you leave behind in the car? That is the true measure of how difficult a job is!
As I get older I think a lot about the hereafter - I go into a room and then wonder what I'm here after.

Inside every old person is a young person wondering what the hell happened.

"Trying is the first step towards failure" ~ Homer J Simpson​
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Re: Am I fighting a losing battle, heater matrix leaking 1997 Xsara TD.

Post by admiral51 »

Well done on getting this far, why they start with the heater matrix and build the car around it heaven only knows :)
Agent29
Posts: 29
Joined: 15 Apr 2021, 06:14
Location: Huntingdon
My Cars: 1994 Peugeot 205 STDT, 1997 Citroen Xsara SX TD.
Gone but not forgotten:
1999 Xsara VTS
1997 Citroen ZX SX TD
1990 Citroen BX TGD Auto
1991 Citroen TXD Auto
1987 Citroen RD Auto
1991 Peugeot 309 GLD
x 2

Re: Am I fighting a losing battle, heater matrix leaking 1997 Xsara TD.

Post by Agent29 »

Yes It does seem farcical that a perishable item is buried so deeply within the bowels of the cabin. As to its difficulty, I'm currently contemplating skin grafts and tempted to stencil my blood type on the side of the car as its far easier for the NHS to scoop what they require out of the footwells.
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