1997 1.9TD Estate - A Tyre-ing question about handling

[Timmo]

Great news it passed beko, another year under the belt!
Mines due next month!

[Hell Razor5543]

Yay!

[ekjdm14]

220k? At least another 10-15 years in that

Glad to hear the Xant' is back on the straight 'n' narrow emissions-wise too, the fact it passed a non-turbo smoke test with the pump back to standard just goes to show how sound the engine is after 136k. Another one that should be good for the foreseeable.

[CitroJim]

220k? At least another 10-15 years in that

Glad to hear the Xant' is back on the straight 'n' narrow emissions-wise too, the fact it passed a non-turbo smoke test with the pump back to standard just goes to show how sound the engine is after 136k. Another one that should be good for the foreseeable.

When well cared for the XUD is one tremendously wonderful engine...

Gabriel is on 207K and runs like a fine Swiss watch. It could pass for a engine that has done a tenth of that...

The rest of Gabriel is in far better order than her 207K might suggest. I hope she has another 10-15 years in her too...

Mind you, given the mileage I do that will perhaps add another 10 or 15K on to her

[elma]

I can certainly vouch for that, Gabrielle runs as well as my first 3 1.9tds did a decade ago. I've struggled to find one in such health for the last few years.

[CitroJim]

I've struggled to find one in such health for the last few years.

I consider myself very lucky indeed to have Gabriel

[elma]

I've struggled to find one in such health for the last few years.

I consider myself very lucky indeed to have Gabriel

Indeed you are, she's definitely a good one.

Congratulations on the pass as well Beko, I've visited this thread so often but I don't think I said well done just yet. The XUD9 is by far my favourite engine for a road car, now you've got it into shape it should be economical and reliable in return for not a massive amount of your effort.

[beko1987]

It's a different car! Got 600 miles under it now and it is different! More slow and wafty. I hesitate to add possibly a bit less economical though. Being a tightwad usually, I only put £20 in here and there, enough for 2 weeks commuting to work, or near as damnit 200 miles. Last count though, I got 160 miles before the light came on... But then I did realise it had that in just before the MOT, so possibly not a true reflection of useage.

I've done 60 miles of back roads now (filled up on the way home from work for the christmas break) and the needle hasn't really moved, or it moved a bit but goes back to the same position when I next turn it on. But I think it's needing more revs to pull away, or get up to speed than before. It's in the back of my mind to rotate my LDA pin to the ground side again (it's not as aggressive though) and turn the fuel in 2/3 turns and see what it's like. Pep it up a bit, although not to the extremes it was at before.

In other news, the blower fans are being strange. Their newest trick is not working at all when I first turn the car on, but coming to life with a few blips of the throttle, then working fine! I thought back to the other week when they came on FULL BLAST all the time for 2 days, and ordered a heater motor resistor pack in the hope it might be that. I did start worrying about the ignition switch, but it's had that already a year or so ago, and once the blowers start they work fine. Must get a new heater control box too, having the speed knob broken is annoying, I have to use a small screwdriver to move the fan speeds to de mist the screen!

Is there a fix for broken rear window heater strips? Only the top half of my window has them working, I can see where the broken ones have de-laminated and broken the contact strips.

Drivers door lightswitch works when it wants - not too bothered about that

Handbrake light now works when it wants! Might buy it a new switch, again not too bothered! I even saw the sidelights tell tale 2 weeks ago, then off it went again. Very much not tearing the dashboard apart in this weather though, so it can stay intermittent!

She also very much needs a wash, but again, that's not important! Been looking at car phone holders instead, anyone any experience with these? http://www.co-star.co.uk/prod/4237/dash ... -2000.html It should fit my S1 shouldn't it? Then I can get one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brodit-Passiv ... SwuhhXXnRX and hide one of these behind the dashboard - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-Converter- ... 5731.m3795. As you can see, ultra important stuff!

[Timmo]

You can get the heated screen repair pens to do the job, silver conductive paint stylee, mine has a couple gone, keep thinking of the pens! Mask up either side the boken one, paint it on, job done allegedly,

[Timmo]

Re the phone, mine sits in the tray underneath the centre column, when it isn't in my pocket, i Don't use it when in the car for anything other than music through the tape converter.

[CitroJim]

Generally good news then, excellent

Must get a new heater control box too, having the speed knob broken is annoying, I have to use a small screwdriver to move the fan speeds to de mist the screen!

That's likely 99% of the problem...

Be careful with blower speed controllers bought from a certain auction site.. These are some that don't work! They have the wrong transistor fitted... Best to repair (or let me) repair the old one...

I may have a heater control box you can have too...

[elma]

Read reviews of those conductive pens, I went through several of them finding one that actually conducted to repair a PCB at work. Quite a lot of them seem to have much more resin than metal and are useless.
The one that did the job came from rs and was blue and white in my case.

[ekjdm14]

The blower fan has started acting the silly bugger in my 406 the last week or so too, quite strange though in that generally it works but then randomly cuts out, sometimes coming back to life on it's own but sometimes requiring a slide of the switch... Why is it always winter that seems to bring out heating/demisting/lighting faults? (other than they're getting much more use this time of year!)

The perceived drop in fuel economy is likely down to driving style, having been used to the previous increased power I think it's possible your driving style is causing you to be a bit heavy on the loud pedal & hang onto the revs for longer than necessary with the standard state of tune. I always found that our ZX accelerated best between 1700 & 3000 rpm, feeding in the "throttle" progressively as the revs built but never really going more than 3/4 of the way to the floor. (actually, in deference to my lead-footed style I seem to remember slackening the cable off so it only allowed 3/4 travel at the pump )

[beko1987]

What ho people!

All has been nice and quiet on my Xantia front! I've just been driving it really, and it's been fine. I even washed it last weekend.

However, as we all know these things rarely last and last thursday night I started to feel a click coming from the clutch pedal. Having read about this issue extensively my heart sank and I prayed to the french gods that it would last until the weekend so I could have a look.

This did not work, coming home from work friday night, 4 miles from my house, I go for a downshift and dunk, pedal drops to the floor with the box in neutral. Nadgers. Luckily I was by a nice quiet little road so coasted in, and assessed the situation. Fully expecting the clip to be broken (it's been done before, it went on a previous owner one day), I tore off the felt undertray bit, and to my surprise the clip is fine, the cable had come out the back of it. I tried by the torch of my phone to get it back in, but my fingers would only just brush the cable and clip. Stupidly, I had no tools in the car, it had had a single bed in it all week, which I finally got rid of thursday night (was driving back from that when I heard the click of doom, so there I was, in my office clothes and a small fleece, in the snow at 6.30. Then my phone died...

By a small virtue, I broke down a 3 minute walk from a forum member from another forum I knew quite well, so I walked over to his, and he made me a cup of tea and let me use his phone, firstly to Amy, who luckily had her sister round who lived very near to where I broke down, who bought a phone charger over, then the AA who came very promptly.

The AA guy was great tbh, quite pleased to have a nice mechanical issue to work on and between us we had the battery and airbox out, and he showed me how to remove the clutch cable from the gearbox, then with him in the footwell with various screwdrivers and a bit of bent brake pipe, and me feeding the cable in and out from the engine bay, he got it clipped back in and followed me home, where it was fine. It was fine this morning too tbh.

But now I don't trust it! I was actually hoping it was physically broken, but because the cable just popped out for no apparent reason, I'm now a bit paranoid it'll do it again. Gear changes are now very light on the clutch, and I'm popping it into neutral alot more now... Has anyone had this happen before? Is it one of those things and will probably be fine, or do I need to get the clip changed as a matter of course? It's got the white style clip on, and the guy said that the end of the clutch cable looked bent to him, so maybe it's been re-fitted incorrectly, which might account for the several inches of dead movement at the top of the pedal, and why the clutch disengages after about 5mm of depression.

Do I just assume it's fixed, carry on as usual and wait for the click again, and carry enough tools with me to clip the cable back in? Or should I get the pedal out and change the clip just in case? I did think about doing it this weekend just gone but it was too cold, I was out doing something else and couldn't feel my hands, I didn't fancy the job tbh. I should also possibly buy a new clutch cable and fit that and adjust it (it's a manual adjust I think, it has the threaded bar and locking nuts at the gearbox end), but would probably need pointers on that too.

I've also put a phone charger in the car...

[CitroJim]

I'd be very tempted to replace the clip myself Sam...

I always carry a spare with enough tools to swap it on the road if need be...

It's a terrible design isn't it...

Question: How heavy is your clutch? If it is really heavy then this is a sign the clutch is well worn and up for swapping. A heavy clutch will put great strain on the clutch clip..

Gabriel's is quite heavy now and I have a clutch in stock ready...