Xantia brake + clutch pedals

[j_roc]

Evening people, I got (another) problem with my Xantia - the clutch and brake pedal both seem to be low to the floor. When I put my foot underneath the pedals I can lift them up towards the dashboard a hell of a long way. Is there any way of adjusting the pedals back to the way they were when it left the factory? I know you can adjust the clutch by the locknut under the airbox - what should be the amount of pedal free play afterwards? - I cant use the measuring pedal down and pedal up method as the car dont have a steering rack on it at the moment! So if you know what the amount of free play after normal clutch adjustment is I can adjust my clutch until I get that desired amount. Many thanks.

[CitroJim]

Normal for the brake pedal to be low. It's only an ornament to make the Xantia look like an ordinary car! The clutch should have 6 inches of travel (150mm in funny measurements) and can be adjusted at the gearbox end of the clutch cable by slackening the locknut and adjusting the inner nut to get the requsite travel. Use a breaker bar with a mark 6 inches along it as a handy measuring tool. When the pedal is 6 inches above the carpet measured at the top just under where the rubber pad goes, your're spot on. It should then bite about half way up it's travel then if all else clutch-wise is OK.

[j_roc]

Do you mean from the level floor (not the bottom of the bulkhead) to the very bottom of the break pedal?

[citronut]

both pedles should be same hight,if brake pedle is low plastic plunger in back ofpedle might be broken,there has been discution on this site regards bodging this device regards malcolm

[RichardW]

No, on the Xantia the brake pedal is much lower than either the clutch or the throttle, and yes it's normal for there to be loads of upwards free play, particularly in the brake pedal. Just measure the clutch pedal by putting a tape against it in the approx direction of movement and measure the travel of the top of the pedal. When right it looks a long way up compared to the brake!

[charentejohn]

Just done this as I felt the clutch was a bit down, and missed a couple of gears recently which was obviouly not my fault so must be the cluch.

Ended up with the clutch pedal about 2x the height of brake and accelerator, looks wierd. When pressed down travels about 50mm (measured with a stick from shoe to steering) before disengaging. I find the clutch good in that there is no sharp bite point, just ease the pedal up and away it goes.
Not a precise measurement but close enough, I assume this is just normal clutch wear after 120k miles and seems ok otherwise.

Easy to adjust without removing the air filter, undid locknut and tightened adjustment nut with just fingers, then re-tightened locknut with spanners.

[CitroJim]

So the clutch is biting roughly in the middle of it's travel is it then John? If so then fine. So long as the pedal at rest is around 100mm above the floor when at rest then no worries at all...

So yours has a manually adjusted clutch? I thought all had automatically adjusting ones after about 1997 or did Citroen ditch that silly idea with the 90 HDi?

[citroenxm]

they are interchangeable jim... you can swap an auto adjust for a manual adjust....

[charentejohn]

The mists are clearing and on the horizon I see a clever french car designer.....

Now I get the 100mm/150mm etc settings. Just measured the pedals and - clutch 150mm brake 90mm accelerator 85mm from the floor (more or less). The clever bit is that when the pedal is depressed to disengage the clutch that happens at about 90mm ish from the floor. So it feels 'right' that at that point all pedals are about level.
Previously my pedal was about 20mm too low and I think I had the habit of bringing it level sometimes when not concentrating, so the clutch was starting to bite. I know people have their preferences but this makes sense to me anyway.

I did read somewhere that the HDI 90s had the old TD gearbox (rod operated) which mine has, also seems to come with the TD manual clutch too. Suits me as no problem adjusting it now I know.