Xantia Braking Problems

nridley · Unread post by **nridley** » 16 Feb 2005, 20:29

Hello one and all - I have been reading many of the problems with various Citroens with interest and am now pleading with all of your Citroen brains to help me with my brakes! I have a Xantia SX, 1993 (L) 1.9TD. I have had many cars and can honestly say that, considering the price I paid for it (£500) it is one of the most under estimated cars on the road today for comfortability. The condition is immaculate both inside and out, and the engine has done 166,000 miles now (I bought it on 155k in September '04) and still going strong. I am by no means a mechanic, but I do my own basic work (oil, filters, brake pads, rocker gasket etc) and maintain the car well. However, my brakes are getting progressively worse and worse.
Under normal braking from about 70mph I get a deep rumble. Secondly, they are pulsing - not rapidly - but I have to press the brake peddle harder and harder. I checked my pads at the weekend and saw they were getting low, but not badly low, so thought I'd change them anyway. On the offside front wheel I removed the pads and saw that one pad was thin and the other quite thick. Then it became apparent I couldn't push the caliper back, so clearly, I am only braking on one front wheel. When I went to remove the caliper, I couldn't for the life of me remove the bolts. Any ideas?! I know that this is probably the cause of the rumble but I can't see how it would be responsible for the pulsing.
I recently changed the spheres and LHM fluid and I thought that this made a difference. The car was very bouncy when I bought it so changing the spheres was the right thing to do. But I think it might have just been the placebo effect as the brakes are definitely getting worse.
Somebody has told me about it possibly not being the caliper but the sliders. Now, as I said, I am no mechanic and don't have a clue about what these are or how these can be fixed. I haven't put new pads on, obviously, as the caliper will not budge to make way for the new thickness. I am cringing at the thought of taking it to the garage as I am not the world's wealthiest chap and do not like admitting defeat!
Any ideas would be very much appreciated. My MOT is due at the end of this month so I really need to sort this as soon as possible. I am a high mileage driver and because of this have considered getting a new car, but why bother when I'm clocking up the miles so quickly. At least my Xantia is costing nothing in depreciation, and if the brakes were working perfectly, there would be absolutely nothing wrong with it.

jack.dempsey · Unread post by **jack.dempsey** » 16 Feb 2005, 20:37

The caliper does not simply 'push back', it has to be screwed back in a clockwise direction using a suitable tool and against the slots in the piston face. There are many references to screwing back the calipers within this forum. It is not necessary to remove the caliper to do this - although its easier if yoiu remove the handbrake cable, then swivel the caliper upwards to access the piston. You only need to remove the retaining pin to do this. The Haynes book of partial truths is quite good on this subject.

nridley · Unread post by **nridley** » 16 Feb 2005, 21:22

I will check my Haynes manual about that - I am pretty certain they mentioned nothing about screwing back the caliper as I read it in great detail when trying to sort it. Thanks for your help.

Kowalski · Unread post by **Kowalski** » 16 Feb 2005, 21:30

The front caliper piston definately needs to be screwed it, the screw mechanism is the auto adjustment mechanism for the handbrake.
The rear caliper pistons can just be pushed back.

nridley · Unread post by **nridley** » 16 Feb 2005, 21:34

I bet I was reading the rear brake pad instructions then. Typical me - I'll have a go at them this weekend then. Any ideas on the pulsing? Going to bleed the brakes and hoping that will cure that.

Unread post by **RichardW** » 16 Feb 2005, 21:44

The pulsing is not exactly unkown on Xantias. Bleeding the brakes will do no harm (don't forget this is not like bleeding the brakes on an 'ordinary' car - do it with the engine running, wedge the brake pedal down, then open each bleed nipple in turn). It might need a new accumulator sphere (how often does it tick?), after that you just might have to live with it, as it seems to be a feature of some Xantias.

Kowalski · Unread post by **Kowalski** » 16 Feb 2005, 21:52

Does the pulsing happen when the car isn't moving? If it does it can be a sign that you need a new accumulator sphere. If its only on the move it could be warped discs or sticking caliper slides.
I've had to grease the slides on both of the Xantia's I've had, and it smoothened up the breaking no end in both cases. The top pin is all you need to remove, its held in with a thread locking compound. When I've changed the top slides I've done it with the calipers fully assembled and the hand brake on (to hold everything together while you take the pin out).

nridley · Unread post by **nridley** » 17 Feb 2005, 14:28

Thanks for all of your advice! I have actually got a new accumulator sphere which I purchased from GSF when I changed all of the 4 other spheres. Never got around to changing it mind you - it's still in the box in the back of my car. I now have a job for Saturday!