Xantia Brake Bleeding

steviewonder7 · Post by **steviewonder7** » 09 Jan 2006, 11:18

Hi Folks,
I've heard of a method for bleeding the brakes on the Xantia where you need another person to operate to brake pedal(whilst engine running).I have a 'mityvac' brake bleeding kit and was wondering if it was possible to use this piece of kit(it being a one man band kit) instead of the method mentioned above.
Can anyone for any known reason say whether this is possible or not to use the said kit or should I bleed the brakes another way?
Thanks for your answers in advance.
Steve

Post by **RichardW** » 09 Jan 2006, 12:08

No need for any fancy brake bleeding kit on a Xantia - the car does all the work for you

Engine running, wedge the brake pedal down with a piece of wood off the front seat, now open the bleed screw and the system pressure will push the fluid through (piece of hose into a jar obviously!). Piece of cake. Note that you need to suspension on high to do the rears or you won't get any pressure, and it may also be worth getting long tubes which you can put back into the tank, as you sometimes need to bleed a LOT of LHM (like litres worth) before you get all the air out. If not bled for a while, I'd run the inital dirty stuff into a jar, and then when it runs clean(er) route it back to the LHM tank. Biggest problems are getting to the front nipples (try removing the handbrake cable from the caliper) and getting the rear ones undone (lots of heat and WD-40, and go very steady!). Other than that bleeding the brakes on a hydraulic cit is easier than most cars.

mezuk04 · Post by **mezuk04** » 09 Jan 2006, 14:19

Biggest problems are getting to the front nipples
Aint that the truth
Wonder if that worked (the quote box that is)

I thought that was the answer Richard but i wasnt confident to say it, i know now at least.

Has that worked now

mezuk04 · Post by **mezuk04** » 09 Jan 2006, 14:21

OOps obviously not..shall stop trying the quote bit then

Clogzz · Post by **Clogzz** » 09 Jan 2006, 15:32

mezuk04 wrote:shall stop trying

How about experimenting until it pays off ?
Try erasing the words of the quote that you don't want, making very sure to keep the 2 outer "quote" words, and also their brackets.
There are other means, but this would be the best way to start off with, and the only one I use.

steviewonder7 · Post by **steviewonder7** » 10 Jan 2006, 10:44

Thanks for the idea Peter,I'll probably give that a go.I've got about 4 litres of spare LHM fluid so that should keep me going.I've got a feeling I'll need them
because the other day I emptied and cleaned the Lhm reservoir and didnt like what i found-that being dirty Lhm fluid and two LHM filters with small holes in them and covered in thin gunge.Had to put them back after cleaning them with petrol as I my replacement filters were delayed in the post and I needed the car.Looks like the car never ever had the lhm reservoir serviced in its life despite the car having a so called full service (citroen) history and 76k miles on the clock when purchased.I'm not sure(without going to look at the service manual) how often the reservoir and fluid should have regular maintenance.Going by what I found it was not done on this car.