Problems 1995 xantia 1.9Td.

jmd · Post by **jmd** » 04 Dec 2006, 12:22

have just bought a 1995 citroen xantia 1.9lx td with 200k on clock.
I have noticed alot of problems with it, which i have read on the forum.

Problems- drivers seat wont stay up, speedo sticks at 50mph, key wont lock car, suspension at back wont lift, and most importantly the car is blowing out oil beside the timing belt, as i think the head gasket is blown.

Can anyone suggest ways of sorting these problems, mainly the speedo problem to start with.
thanks

Thanks very much
Colm okane

Post by **Peter.N.** » 04 Dec 2006, 16:42

If the speedo sticks at 50 mph after you have turned the engine off, it must be the instrument itself that is sticking.

Rear suspension not lifting (must be pretty uncomfortable if your driving it like that) Probably the plastic coupling broken on the rear height corrector or the linkage is sticking.

Blowing oil out. Depends exactly where, unlikely to be the head gasket if you are not loosing any water, could be the camshaft or crankshaft seal.

citroenxm · Post by **citroenxm** » 04 Dec 2006, 21:39

Hi Jmd

Brave buying a 200k xantia, I'd go for a little lower milage then work up to 200k myself...

Anyway..

Peter N has pretty much cracked 3 of your problems, plastic link on the rear, 4 quid from citroen, if not at worse, broken anti roll bar link... Get it on ramps and have a good look around the sphere unit in the CENTRE behind the apre wheel. I'd bet Cam Seal too, is the belt oil contaminated, this will confirm it...

As for your seat, pull up the plastic trim around the side of the seat, you should then see a braket of a strange shape, behind the leaver, whats happened is a screw or two has fallen out, they may well be on the flour some were, or vaccummed up.. They use a fine thread, with the lever up first, I think, place the FRONT screw in place first, then that should hold the lever properly, then rotate the lever to the down position, you can then put the rear screw in!!...

Try that for starters..

Good luck

Regards
citroenxm

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 04 Dec 2006, 22:41

Interesting to see the mention of a broken anti-roll bar link! I'd never read
a mention of this in the past, or at least not realised the implication...

that was until I had mine snap on Friday!! What a total load of doo! The
nylon link is fine and the lever moves freely on the height corrector so all
I can determine is the actual metal rusted away at the narrowest point.
There's a third of the cross section which is rusty as the rest of the whole
link is, the remaining piece is clean shiny metal where it's sheared...

What a total load of doo!

Andrew

jmd · Post by **jmd** » 05 Dec 2006, 12:17

My mechanic thinks it is a head gasket as there are a lot of fumes(blue) from exhaust. He reckons the pistons have come up to far.

citroenxm · Post by **citroenxm** » 05 Dec 2006, 12:45

[quote="andmcit"]Interesting to see the mention of a broken anti-roll bar link! I'd never read
a mention of this in the past, or at least not realised the implication...

Well andrew you learn something every day!. I've had two cars come in with a broken link!!! A Series 2 V6! and a Series one R reg...

Both cars had good clips, but both HAD NOT rusted, but had sheard completly with a nice good clean break.

JMD.

BE CAREFULL... High milage injectors can cause a LOT of blue smoke too!!! Try a set of injectors if you have access to a spare set. TD injectors are meant to be re-conditioned every 65k miles or so

Regards
citroenxm

Post by **CitroJim** » 05 Dec 2006, 13:11

jmd wrote:My mechanic thinks it is a head gasket as there are a lot of fumes(blue) from exhaust. He reckons the pistons have come up to far.

With advice like that, I'd change your mechanic

Blue smoke can have many causes, the injectors being one likely one but it's not necessarily being caused by engine oil burning directly. I'd be tempted to give the engine a full service including all filters and an oil change. The blue fumes may even be just crankcase fumes being drawn into the inlet tract. These engines have a very oily inlet tract due to how the crankcase breather works. A pipe goes from the oil filler body through an oil trap into the air intake trunking just upstream of the air filter. If this is full of oily gunk it will give these symptoms. It is made worse if the air filter is choked because a higher depression acts on the crankcase breather and sucks more oil fumes intio the inlet tract.

So what is wrong with buying a Xantia on 200K? Just nicely run in really

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 05 Dec 2006, 14:38

Crankcase pressure will cause the thing to leak from everywhere - and I mean everywhere - especially the whole of the rocker cover seal which is not meant to cope with pressure. A rough test is to remove the filler cap when the engine is warm. If you choke and have to move away - you've got problems - a few fumes gently wafting out is nothing to worry about.

Crankcase pressure is caused generally by worn pistons, rings and bores and means major engine works. Its often accompanied by poor starting and heavy oil consumption.

citroenxm · Post by **citroenxm** » 05 Dec 2006, 19:37

citrojim wrote:
jmd wrote:So what is wrong with buying a Xantia on 200K? Just nicely run in really

ABSOLUTLY!! But unfortunally, most have had lots of abuse by then, as I said, buy with a little lower milage, and run to 200,000+ miles you know were you are yourself then..

Regards
citroenxm

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 05 Dec 2006, 21:22

citroenxm wrote:I've had two cars come in with a broken link!!!
A Series 2 V6! and a Series one R reg...

Both cars had good clips, but both HAD NOT rusted, but had sheard
completly with a nice good clean break.

Totally crap design - talk about the weakest link!!

Wonder how many decent cars have already been crushed because
of the 'funny citroen suspension not lifting up...'

Andrew