Admiral51 Citroen Adventures

[admiral51]

Righty ho update time

New cambelt water pump and aux belt fitted antifreeze topped up and all done in under 10mins well thats how long it took for the 2 phone calls one to say what i needed done,the second to be told it was ready
Ok i left it with the garage when i left for Ireland wednesday and picked it up today on return to yard (friday) and all this for £100
Aux belt tensioner is no longer at max adjustment and there is less noise from the engine bay on tickover

Good news on the damage to the car from its impact with the debris everything is fine apart from wheel and tyre so as a matter of routine its going in to have 2 new front tyres one new wheel(well to me ) balancing and the tracking done all for the correct price they have even admitted liability less than 5 days after accident and accepted the quote

As for Ireland it was brilliant only trouble i was working and didnt get to see a lot but the roads with the extra lane (hard shoulder) should be brought over here certainly keeps the traffic moving

Colin

[admiral51]

Just returned from a very pleasant and relaxing 2 week holiday towing my caravan around north yorkshire scotland and the midlands.

I am really pleased with the way the Xantia tows a van seems really stable and not a lot of wallow eaither
Just worked out that over 1500 miles of which 1300+ were towing miles i returned a healthy average of 33.26 mpg but it cost £230 in fuel

Had no problems at all with car or van even though the furthest either had gone was 20 miles before this little trip so as you can imagine i had an anxious first few hours listening for problems

It never used a drop of oil or water and the ride was getting better by the mile as the hydraflush got hot and finally started to really clean the system and no leaks there either

This afternoon i went out to get a few bits of shopping and on my return i switched engine off only to hear the aux belt give up the ghost as detailed in the citroen section

Whilst being a little annoyed im also very lucky as it appears no damage to cambelt

Colin

[CitroJim]

Hi Colin,

Delighted you had a excellent holiday and that the car did a sterling job Xantias are seriously good towcars and I'd not tow with anything not hydropneumatically suspended personally. All three of mine have towbars but I've only towed the caravan with the 1.9TD. I'm still waiting to see how the 2.1 tows. I expect big things of it

Sorry the car threw its toys out of its pram at the end of it all. It just proves Xac's first law of Xantia ownership. They wait until they're home before embarrassing themselves

The tensioner is not the absolute nighmare of a job that it looks. In fact it is quite easy. Have a look at my blog. It's in there somewhere detailing how Xac replaced his. Look for references to broken windscreens and you'll find it

[admiral51]

Car has now been fixed and is running like a dream just goes to prove that sometimes you only get what you pay for and in this case i was only paying for parts not the expertise
it turns out it was the main bush behind the carrier arm that had failed must try and get my hands dirty next time things go wrong

Fingers crossed for tuesday 16th as the 1.9 n/a has her MOT have only managed to find a slight leak from one of the rear corner spheres but hope its just the seal that needs looking at will check that tomorrow and then its fingers crossed as its been trouble free for the last 12 months and its my daily commute car for work

If as expected(hoped ) it passes its time for cambelt/waterpump and aux belt and a thorough check of the rollers and carrier arm

Colin

[admiral51]

Well the 1.9 n/a went for its MOT and has passed without a single advisory

All i had to do before it went in was replace the n/s/r sphere seal as this was leaking slightly 8) 8)

The car has done 8500 miles in last 12 months and all ive had to do over that time is the leakoff pipes lhm + oil filter changes,nothing other than routine items. Looks like spending the time and effort getting it right in the first 5 months of ownership have paid off ...............................trouble free motoring

Maybe i shouldnt have said that thats really tempting fate....................

Colin

[CitroJim]

Colin, that's fantastic news

You're dead right. Spend some time and money getting them really tip-top and then they just sail on for ever with just normal routine care and maintenance..

Tempting fate perhaps myself but I give all mine a good check every week and it's rare indeed to find anything that needs doing, just the odd fluid top-up here and there.

[MikeT]

Good result Colin, may it long continue. 8)

[admiral51]

First off an apology 3 months without an update

Things had been a bit quiet on the Xantia front,both have been behaving really well not even used a drop of fluids

As its that time of year again it must mean my annual pilgrimace (intentional ) to MIL in Scotland so the TD has had a minor service both front spheres oil/filter change hydraflush and filter clean air filter and fuel filter not much change from £80

Unfortunately i dont get to drive her very often SWMBO can be very possesive but having driven her this morning it felt like i was back in luxury

My only problem appears to be with the drivers seat mountings as explained in the citroen forum but im sure that will be easily fixed

Colin

[admiral51]

Had a chance to have a closer look at my seat mounting problem this morning whilst i was bleeding the brakes and it would appear that the problem is not going to be easily fixed

It would appear that the best option will be to strip the interior out and have a plate welded over the mounting support with a hole tapped into it although i will need to aquire some info on whether this will affect its MOT worthiness etc

Having done the service yesterday and carefully wiped underneath the engine etc i noticed this morning a small drip of LHM on the underside of the alternator
It would appear it is leaking from the HP as there is also a small amount of LHM ontop of the alternator--hopefully its just a seal but have opened a new thread in the citroen forum

So much for 3 months of trouble free motoring i knew i was tempting fate

Colin

[admiral51]

Just a quick update as im packed and ready for the trip to Scotland hopefully will have acces at the BIL to the FCF so will be able to update from there

Many thanks to DickieG (Richard) for his help and advice on the HP leak but it would appear someone has had a go at it before i bought the car and has succeded in rounding off the 12mm union so im going to trust to luck and hope that it gets me to the end of my journey

Im sure there is a way around this particular problem but time has run out today and the 1.9 d is not really upto a 1000 mile round trip again just yet

All the best for a good new Christmas and New Year to one and all

Colin

[jgra1]

Have a good one Colin

[admiral51]

Well just arrived back home after what was an eventful trip up and back to Scotland

Absolutely knackered so will do a proper update tomorrow as and when/if i wake up

Trouble free trip..............................you must be joking

Colin

[red_dwarfers]

Oh dear Colin!
I look forward to reading your post tomorrow

[admiral51]

Righty Ho the truth must come out

Left a lot later than planned on wed 24th at 4am rather than tues 23 at 11.30 pm for the 500+ mile trip to Scotland. As its all motorway/dualcarriageway from Ringwood to Greenock (475 miles 8) ) swift progress was made with SWIMBO Son and dog sleeping soundly we arrived at Gretna a shade after 9am

The problems then became all to regular
First off,having had a wonderful coffee 10 miles down the road the n/s/f tyre developed a puncture -must have driven over something in the services .Not sure of the temperature but all i can say is the dog refused to budge from the car but wheel was swiftly changed without the need to empty the boot (glad i dont have the vectra ) and soon on our way.
The fuel gauge decided not to play fair and dropped to just below empty (without the light on ) going through Glasgow on the M8 about 20 miles from where i knew a garage was---- not brave enough on christmas eve morning to drive around Glasgow looking for one
Fuel was duly added at Greenock (49 litres) so gauge is at least reading on the low side rather than being over optamistic but it was here that the big problem reared its ugly head

Now you remember that leaking HP seal...................
The leak was getting close to being like a tap dripping and had decided not to damage the alternator but drip onto the aux belt and transferring itself over all known pulleys and rollers
It also let the belt slide rather than ride on the rollers and was getting a nice bevelled lip on one edge couldnt have done any better with a router

We limped into Largs a shade before 1pm so overall progress was not to bad but i knew i didnt have all the tools i needed for the jobs to be tackled and everything was shut till mon 29th deep joy

I managed to get the car booked into a local garage on tues 30th and they supplied and fitted a new aux belt and cleaned all the rollers/pulleys and got my HP seal fitted all for the reasonable price of £70

We left Largs at 4pm and arrived home at 11.30pm with just a 15 min stop at Carlisle with an average speed over 515 miles of 72.3 mph

Having now filled the car brim full i managed to average out over 1030 miles 44.96 mpg with 2 adults 1 teenager and a hefty border collie so more than happy with that

It never used a drop of oil or water so engine wise its performing more than adequately well impressed 8) 8)

All thats needed now is the seat sorted and the ride height but tonight is now for relaxing

Happy New Year to one and all

Colin

[CitroJim]

And a very happy new year to you and yours Colin

Welcome home! Well that was not so bad. When I saw your first post I thought something much, much worse had happened.. That was seriously good service to get the LHM leak done for just £70. Good to see not every garage is a rip-off merchant