A few Q's about my Xantia.

[TehAgent]

Well, car started this morning with not so much as a blurp. thought it might have something to do with me giving the primer pump a few squeezes. so I'm just wondering if its to do with the fuel, disregarding the U bend bit of the pipe, then it filtering back into the tank.

Had a good clean up of the Hydraulic pump, and looks like there is definitely some sort of small leakage on that nut. so going to go tighten it a little, as its only very small.

Its definitely just the front that sinks back down, as it was like this. this morning when i went out to sort the car out. MOT isn't until MAY so still got a bit of time to get things sorted out.

Found another spilt pipe on the Turbo as well. so going to have to replace that too.

Don't you just love cars. You can spend a life time looking at the engine checking to see if everything is fine. and just when you think it is. every thing goes wrong.

From that link, i take it that the Xantia is based on BX technology?

Anyway here's my check list of things i still need to do lol

- Replace spare tire, as the one that came with the car. has a nail in it
- Sort out the suspension
- Find faulty ABS sensor / ECU and replace accordingly
- Find possible Air-leak into fuel supply
- New brake disks and pads for the front
- New Passenger side wing / door. as the previous owner had a prang in the car. and the wing is the wrong color and the door has a dent in it
- New back box as its starting to blow.
- Get a new battery. as the one i have just doesn't hold a charge any more.

I'm pretty certain its not the alternator. as the battery will go dead in about 3 days, even if its not attached to the car. Unfortunately its not a self service one. so cant even top it up with some new distilled water.

Ooh one more thing about the suspension, when its on the lowest setting. so the car is flat on the ground. it refuses to raise back up to the driving position. you have to put it in its highest setting first. then drop the car back down to the driving setting. is this normal?

Sorry for all the Questions. I'm used to cars with standard suspension set ups.

[deian]

It's actually a link to my picture... 8) I knew someone would find some use for it one day. No problems linking to it, it's why it's there.

Whats the chances TehAgents front height corrector needs cleaning?

Yes I love cars, I love my car, we love citroen's more here.

A new battery wouldn't do any harm, but check that yours isn't draining? With the ignition off, pull out fuses and look for sparks, or your good with an multimeter probe it all over the place.

[Mandrake]

Had a good clean up of the Hydraulic pump, and looks like there is definitely some sort of small leakage on that nut. so going to go tighten it a little, as its only very small.

Careful about over tightening it. Those pipes don't have any seals, they're just a flare joint, and if you overtighten them, they actually tend to leak more, because it can distort the end of the pipe.

What I'd probably do is undo it completely, clean the hole and the end of the pipe in case there is any grit on it, reseat it and do it up again to a moderate tightness.

(Remember to open the pressure regulator bleed screw before doing this)

To be able to move it away from the pump you'd need to unbolt a few of the support brackets that hold the pipe along its length so that it can flex over a long length - you don't want to put a permanent bend in the pipe by bending it over a short length.

Its definitely just the front that sinks back down, as it was like this. this morning when i went out to sort the car out.

Ok, if its only the front then it could be the front anti-sink valve faulty, (which is located under the LHM tank) or one of the front struts has high leakage.

Ooh one more thing about the suspension, when its on the lowest setting. so the car is flat on the ground. it refuses to raise back up to the driving position. you have to put it in its highest setting first. then drop the car back down to the driving setting. is this normal?

No its not normal. But first - are you sure its actually doing that ? On an anti-sink model it takes a good two minutes or so (and longer on yours for some reason) to go from fully down and depressurized to normal height, are you sure you aren't just getting bored of waiting and fiddling with the lever ?

Does it only do it at one end or both ?

If it really is doing it, its one of two things - either the height corrector linkages are a bit rusty or otherwise not moving freely, and probably need a good clean and lubricate, or the manual override linkage may be out of adjustment. (There is a clamp on each end of the rod that runs along the length of the car from the lever)

Had this exact problem on my mums 1993 1.9TD recently - when going from right down (after a sphere change) to normal height the rear suspension would sometimes not lift at all, unless you put it to maximum for a few seconds and back to normal.

After adjusting the manual override setting at the rear, it works fine now. See a recent post from me to deian on how to adjust it.

Regards,
Simon

[TehAgent]

I must admit, it was probably me getting Bord waiting for the car to raise. ill try it again in the morning and get back to you. ill also have a go at cleaning that pipe end and bolt.

Can you tell if the front strut is leaking by raising the car and looking at it?
Ive checked the front strut seal during December and they looked alright then.

Part from the suspension that is doing my head in, I'm trying to get the car ready for its MOT, that's coming up in may.

Thanks for all the help so far. Its my first legal car, so i'm trying to do the best i can with it. only had it since September last year. and it only cost me £250. its done just under 118k miles on a R plate. So its kind of like a restoration project for me at the minute. So i tend to pick on all the small things as i Await the big things to raise there heads.

Anyway, ill stop babbling, its now 12:48 Am and i need me sleep again lol