2 Xantia Q's:gearbox oil and aux drive belt

Gaskin · Unread post by **Gaskin** » 17 Jul 2005, 03:27

So 2 questions in several parts....
1.)My Xantia has a transmission type whine that seems to occur at 40mph regardless of which gear or neutral and whether clutch is in or out. So my first idea is to change the gearbox oil. Haynes book makes it out to be fairly straight forward. Is it? If so then how level does the car have to be?
2.)When do people change aux drivebelts? (apart from just after they have broken!) Again Haynes implies it is a straight forward job, but talks about manual tensioning using so expensive dealer only kit and automatic tensioners. I guess you do not need to tension it if it has an automatic tensioner. Is this right?
Cheers
Duncan

Unread post by **Peter.N.** » 17 Jul 2005, 12:57

Are you sure it is the transmission? Front wheel bearings can make a similar noise, listen to tne noise while you are cornering, is it louder in one direction? if so it will be the bearing that is taking the weight.
Regarding the belts, if they look as though they are wearing its better to change them than have them break, its not a difficult job, just tighten them until you cant make the pulleys slip and then a little bit more.

JohnD · Unread post by **JohnD** » 17 Jul 2005, 15:33

I put on a new auxiliary belt every time I change the cambelt - and that's every 40K. I would rather do that than contemplate putting on a belt at the roadside.

Kowalski · Unread post by **Kowalski** » 17 Jul 2005, 17:28

The thing about a snapped aux belt on a Xantia is that you lose your hydraulic pump. That means no power steering, no suspension and (most importantly) no brakes. Its not like a "normal" car where you could drive it until the battery went flat.