Xantia Brakes

casso · Unread post by **casso** » 30 Mar 2006, 22:21

Car is '98 Xantia TD. Problem is brake pedal has gone to the floor !! After driving home very slowly (luckily only a mile form home) using handbrake I found a plastic rod about 2'' long on the floor. It looks as if this has slipped off under the pedal ?

How is this supposed to be held in place ? Can't see in the dark but will have a look tomorrow. How did it fall out ? I had just gotten into the car, could I have inadvertantly kicked under the pedal. Surely it must be more securely held. Very scared.

any advice appreciated, thanks

Mandrake · Unread post by **Mandrake** » 30 Mar 2006, 22:37

Hi,

Do you mean a black plastic cylinder with a ring around the middle ?

Thats a unit that has the imfamous brake pedal spring inside it. (You'll find you can probably squeeze it by hand, if a previous owner hasn't already replaced the spring with a tube)

It's just held in by being a tight captive fit.... lift the brake pedal as high as you can, and feel around the upper end of the back of the brack pedal arm and you'll find a hole. Face the wider end of the tube towards the brake pedal arm and push it into that hole. It should be a pretty snug fit.

It's tight enough and with a small enough gap to the firewall that it can't really fall out on its own, if I had to guess I'd say someone put it back in around the wrong way so it was loose in the hole.

Regards,
Simon

AndersDK · Unread post by **AndersDK** » 30 Mar 2006, 22:38

Yuk !

Loosing the brakes during drive is absolutely no fun

This is the second time I read about an owner getting this problem on a Xantia - I'm about to say it can not be a coincedence

Why that plastic spring rod has left its place is a mystery.
I'd say that something else may have come apart down there at the brake pedal for this to happen.

Xantia brakes has been discussed extensively on this forum :

Try a search using this criteria : "Xantia and brake and pedal"
You will get loads of postings - including the previous owner with same problem as yours.

casso · Unread post by **casso** » 31 Mar 2006, 12:47

Thanks for replies.

Had another look in daylight. The plastic rod has come apart leaving one end attached to the brake pedal (with the spring) and the end that goes into the brake valve had detached and fallen on the floor. I've put it back together and it's working as before but I can't figure how it happened and more importantly how to stop it happening again.

Should the rod just pull apart or should it be more secure ?

I can confirm however that the handbrake is quite efficient when pulled very hard by a frightened driver !

Mandrake · Unread post by **Mandrake** » 31 Mar 2006, 20:57

casso wrote:Thanks for replies.

Had another look in daylight. The plastic rod has come apart leaving one end attached to the brake pedal (with the spring) and the end that goes into the brake valve had detached and fallen on the floor. I've put it back together and it's working as before but I can't figure how it happened and more importantly how to stop it happening again.

Should the rod just pull apart or should it be more secure ?

Did you find the two split rings that hold it together ? It shouldn't be able to just fall apart. There are the two split rings that stop the end falling off as you describe, then there is a sleeve that pushes up against the split rings to stop them coming out. The sleeve is held in place by being pushed against the shoulder of the brake pedal arm.

The only way it could fall in half would be if it moved away from the arm and the sleeve slid uphill - which shouldn't be possible because every time you push the pedal you're pressing that sleeve back over the split rings... so I'm a bit mystified...

I can confirm however that the handbrake is quite efficient when pulled very hard by a frightened driver !

Yeah it is pretty good. All Citroens have the handbrake on the front, and in the case of the Xantia it operates on the main pads as well.

On my last MOT test the handbrake scored more than the minimum requirement for the front footbrake! (And the footbrake scored 2.8 times the minimum)

Just for kicks I've tried the handbrake going down a (deserted) fairly steep windy hill and although it took at least twice the distance of the footbrake, it did stop me, which impressed me...

Regards,
Simon