Xantia newbie questions

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Kubel
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Xantia newbie questions

Post by Kubel »

Having been impressed by the reliability of a chum’s Xantia I finally succumbed and bought one (1996 1.9 TD). The car I bought had suffered with one crumbling strut top that the previous owner had replaced with a used strut, reusing the original sphere. He then reckons the ride went ‘hard’ all round. When I got the car I replaced the other strut (again using the previous sphere) the ride is still solid. The car rises and falls with no problems. I tried to bleed any air out of the system at the front sphere bleed (don’t have the correct name for it – it’s the one behind the radiator) but nothing came out, no air, no fluid, nowt! Sphere change, perhaps???

A couple of other things...............

Is there any way of switching off the alarm system totally? I don’t need it and it’s a pain having to punch in the numbers every time.

Can I switch off the airbag?
jeremy
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Post by jeremy »

When your car is at normal height with the engine running - the suspension should compress if a corner is pushed down - just like a normal car. If you can't compress a corner - the sphere has failed and when you remove it you will find it full of LHM. New spheres are available for about £20 from places like GSF - and the front ones are easy to change with an appropriate tool to undo them.

You should check the car is reaching the correct height - the height correctors (one front, one back) can sieze, and usually result in the car sitting low at one end.
jeremy
citronut
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Post by citronut »

i would certainly try new spheres first, i find AMTEC to be good as supplied and i blive owned by GSF,

im sure you can disable the key pad but have never done it, im sure some one will know on here
regards malcolm
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Post by MikeT »

I think the bleed screw you found is the de-pressurising bolt used to de-pressure the hydraulic fluid prior to things like sphere removal.

However, do be aware this bolt should only be unscrewed enough (appx 1/4 turn) as the ball-bearing that does the sealing can pop out of it's housing and doing up the bolt is not enought to re-seat it. If you completely remove the bolt, the ball may make a high-speed bid for freedom and never again be found!

As for the keycode - I quite enjoyed the added security but I do believe that if you input the correct number and then remove the keypad, it will not reset and stay unlocked. By the way, it is in no way connected to the alarm system so you won't lose that protection.
jmd
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Keypad

Post by jmd »

Start your car, with the engine running lift out the keypad, remove the wiring plug, ( leave it removed) and you shouls be able to start your car in future without inputting those numbers
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

It is indeed an easy quick fix renewing the front spheres, although I feel
for the car to originally completely firm up hard, it cannot simply just be
down to the removal and refitting of the two front spheres. Did the correct
one's get fitted back on off the exchange struts?

The comment raised about ride height is a very good point as the
operating range of movement may be well out of adjustment on the height
correctors even if the manual lever operates the various heights correctly.
is wrong.

If you want to disable the airbag and keycode immobiliser it may create
problems with your insurance if it ever came out in a situation where they
didn't work because you've disconnected them. Sure, you can switch these
off as the airbag requires power to operate; if you must, there'll be two
feed wires to the airbag and you will need to check that you disconnect
the correct one rather than the radio controls.

For the inconvenience of a few seconds keying in a 4 digit number you
may just manage to keep hold of the car as unfortunately in these times
of soaring scrap metal prices, a lot of vehicles are simply disappearing!
Anything to hamper or prevent this happening is a good idea!

Andrew
citronut
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Post by citronut »

you must NOT UNDER ANY SERCUMSTANCE disconect thE air bag before alowing the system to discharge its curent, this is done by diconectting the cars battery at least 20 minns before touching the air bag/connectors, it is VERY DANGEROUS TO DO OTHER WISE

regards malcolm
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

I didn't say it was a good idea anyway now, did I? ;)

Andrew
Kubel
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Post by Kubel »

Certainly, the sphere I replaced was the one taken from the car's original (crumbly) strut. As far as I know (which is as far back as the guy who sold it to me) the other sphere was the car's original too.

Maybe not a good idea to do in the keypad & airbag then...............
The airbag light flashes (not uncommon, having read other postings) but at other times will stay on permanently. Is on all the time how it's supposed to be?
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Clogzz
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Post by Clogzz »

No, the airbag light must be on for about 3 seconds at ignition, and then go out to indicate that all is normal.
There are plugs/sockets under the front seats that go intermittent and cause the light to be on.
Cleaning or hardwiring will fix them.
2002 C5 2.0i AL4 230,000 km 76372389
Kubel
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Post by Kubel »

Thanks for everyone's replies.
I'll leave the keypad and airbag alone!
I picked up another Xantia for spares and was pleased to find it had a pair of Pleiades replacement front spheres fitted - these have now been fitted to my car and have given me front suspension at last! However the back seems hard still so I will try changing the rear spheres over. When I took the front spheres off one of them was gushing a fountain of LHM even when taken away from the car while the other one didn't. Obviously there is some leakage when changing the spheres. Which one was the duff one? Are the rear spheres interchangeable with front ones?
jeremy
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Post by jeremy »

The LHM fountain is due to a failed sphere. There's still a little gas in it but not enough to suspend the car or expel the LHM when you lower the car prior to removing the sphere - so when all pressure is removed it feebly empties - hence the fountain. If the thing is totally flat - 1/2 litre of LHM will come out when its removed - but no fountain.

Spheres are application specific and there are numerous types for each application.

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=24036
jeremy
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