My Xantia HDi

[Toby_HDi]

Think its time for me to get a blog going considering the work I have planned for the Xantia. Will get some pictures up soon too.

I bought it 9 months ago (Nov 2007) for £955, not a bad price I thought as its an X reg in fairly good nick with a decent engine (very economical too - HDi 110). It replaced my much beloved Vauxhall Vectra which was a 2.5 V6, the fuel bills for the Xantia were most welcome after the Vectra . Do miss the Vectra though, was an excellent car that was fully kitted out with all the toys and was a lot of fun! Just had to go due to ever increasing fuel prices.

The Xantia came with no service history and I was a bit naughty driving it around for 7 months without doing anything at all to it. The engine seems bombproof and on a run I can easily get 50mpg from it. Hopefully with a bit of tweaks to the engine I can see that closer to 60mpg.

Anyway, a couple of months ago I decided to stick with the car due to fuel prices and I was curious to see how a hydropneumatic Citroen should ride.
Therefore I endeavoured to go over the car with a tooth comb, giving it everything it needs.

I did the spheres two weeks ago as well as bled the brakes and changed the LHM for Hydraflush. Has already done 600 miles with the hydraflush in, lots of miles last week with a trip to Malvern, then on to Cardiff and back to Malvern, then back to Ringwood as well as popping to town in Malvern and to Worcester a couple of times.

It feels slightly better now but I still think its running a bit harshly so something to look at in the months to come.

In the pipeline:

Timing belt, tensioner, pulley and aux belt and tensioner
Filters and fluids
Replace the brakes - discs and pads
Two new front tyres

Also just want to go around the car getting the exterior looking as close to brand new as possible. Same with the interior, few bits of broken plastic and things in there. Looking at swapping out the seats for leather Exclusive seats and adding cruise control (which I believe will be quite a feat in an HDi)

So as you can see I have lots planned for the car, lots of things which I haven't mentioned. Looking to get the car as close to new condition as possible and am wanting to do as much of it as possible myself. It's all a learning curve for me but I'm enjoying Xantia ownership at the moment and look forward to spending many a Sunday and other days off getting stuck in to sorting the car.

Watch This Space!

[CitroJim]

Watch This Space!

With interest Toby...

I reckon you joined the forum when you first got the Xantia and it has been very good to see over the months how you have grown with it and got to grips with the first of the bigger jobs on it and how your knowledge is coming along in leaps and bounds

Soon the Vauxhall will be just a dim memory and you'll wonder what you ever saw in them..

I liken starting out with a hydraulic Citroen to becoming a parent for the first time. At first it's a very scary prospect with lots of problems and sleepless nights but over time you become wise and get the subject pretty well sussed. Then it's time to bring another one into the family and it starts all over again Yes, I've seen you have a hankering for an Activa Toby An only Xantia is an unhappy Xantia. You must have at least two.

Just like young childern, Xantias thrive on lots of attention and can be good at emptying your pockets on occasion but they also bring about much joy and pleasure along with a fair bit of sorrow at times

[XantiaMan]

Get some pictures up!

[Toby_HDi]

Today I decided to do a 'dry run' of changing the cambelt. I thought it would be a good idea to go through the motions but not actually take the belt off. This was so I could get a feel for the job and make sure I knew where all the screws and bolts were.

Well.....

I went out, jacked it up etc and then started to take the arch liner off - What a pain! That took me a good while and in the end one bolt wouldn't budge but I managed to swing it round so it was out of the way.

There I was confronted with part of the aux belt and a couple of pulleys, I was disappointed to say the least that access seems to be no better through the wheelarch. Though I did manage to remove a comical amount of dirt from behind the mud guard on removal of it.

Anyway, after that it looked like rain and I was very annoyed after fighting with the arch liner (which during the process of removing actually bent the arch somewhat - Xantia wings really are quite flimsy)
javascript:emoticon(':roll:')
I then fought to put the arch liner back on and refitted the wheel and left it. I just can't see how I'm going to be able to get the cambelt done.

All in all, a pointless exercise and I'm not too happy at present. The joys of Citroen ownership I suppose

As for pictures, they will be posted up when I get round to taking some

[Toby_HDi]

A quick update.

Been out earlier to check the strut tops, wasn't really a through inspection. They do look ok though, even though I know that doesn't mean a thing. Didn't want to poke them about too much though.

I now see what people mean with the amount of movement on the struts when steering is turned lock to lock it's shocking!

Been mooching about on ebay recently, trying to find an Exclusive that I can buy for parts. Can use it as a donor for all the goodies my SX doesn't have as well as for body parts that are a bit scruffy on mine. Not having much joy at the moment though, will keep looking.

[Toby_HDi]

Just done a nice trip in the HDi

Went up to Malvern, then to Birmingham and back, and finally back down here. She went smooth as anything - I've noticed it's a lot smoother when there is actually a good amount of fuel in the tank. Prior to the trip it was running around town with no more then £10 worth of fuel in the tank. Put £40 in for the trip.

It's still not right on the suspension though, sticky front struts and the back still sinks on switching the engine off, even the the accumulator sphere has been changed. I fear there is a leak somewhere. It's also still too 'fussy'. It doesn't feel like a Xantia has been described as feeling. I guess I need someone with Xantia experience to confirm.

On the fuel front, I can't complain. So far (and I have squeezed it throughly - will be filling up next time I go out in it) 430 miles on £40.

I've worked that out as dead on 60mpg Happy Days!

[andmcit]

I now see what people mean with the amount of movement on the struts when steering is turned lock to lock it's shocking!

Amazing they really manage to stay together in any shape at all!!

Been mooching about on ebay recently, trying to find an Exclusive that I can buy for parts. Can use it as a donor for all the goodies my SX doesn't have as well as for body parts that are a bit scruffy on mine. Not having much joy at the moment though, will keep looking.

There can't me that many extras over the Sx apart from leather seat?
Wouldn't it be easier to just get an Exclusive and use that - you'd have the trick suspension, unless you fancy fitting that to the SX!?

What do you need for yours?

Andrew

[Toby_HDi]

Another quick update while I can get online.

Done a trip to Malvern and back twice this weekend. Ran nice and smooth and I have finally got round to buying some LM grease for the front struts. Hopefully that'll help things further.

So far I have got 670 miles from the tank which actually took 67 litres this time. That's mainly motorway driving at 70 mph with a bit of town driving mixed in. Makes me even more eager to find a way of getting a six speed gearbox in with a longer sixth gear.

[Toby_HDi]

Today was not a great day for Xantia ownership for me.

I bought the parts to do my cambelt and waterpump etc this week as I had the money sitting waiting and I thought if I don't buy them I'deat into the money and never get round to it. As I have some free time this weekend I decided to attempt the job, I wish I hadn't now

Yesterday afternoon I finished work and made a start, got it up on stands etc and removed the aux belt and the crank pulley. All went fairly smoothly

Today started with me trying to remove the right hand engine mount so I could raise or lower the engine for access to the timing belt cover and the belt itself. This took long enough as the BoL is useless and I couldn't find anything on FCF regarding the HDi mount. In the end I cracked it but the length of time it took was an omen.

After removing the mount I then started to remove the cover bolts when I looked underneath to see the engine was propped up by no more than half an inch of wood on the jack. Obviously the way in which a hydraulic trolley jack works did me no favours. At this point I tried to rectify the situation but realised it wasn't going to work so I refitted the engine mount (during which the engine did actually slip off the jack but I was lucky that I had another jack underneath that caught it - no damage done thankfully)

Two of the mount bolts went in fine but the third decided to cross thread itself and now it will not go in straight, it's now halfway in and so tight I can't tighten it any further. I'm not happy about this so I will need to get the thread retapped or worst case scenario a new lower mount.

I lost my temper at this point and decided that I wasn't going to do anything else so i reassembled everything; crank pulley, aux belt and arch liner all back on and lowered car to ground. All is fine methinks however I have ended up with a timing cover bolt left over (forgot the one right next to the mount) and am now missing a injector wiring bracket nut (fell into engine) and an engine cover clip (no big deal).

Car drives ok though I think (though it could be my mind worrying me) that there is more play in the mount (there are also some clunks when driving) than there was before. I didn't want to drive it but I did in the end very cautiously back to my house.

So now I sit here with the parts still in the boxes, the job not done, a bad temper and no skin left on my hands. I am not amused

My own fault really I suppose though.

[CitroJim]

Toby,

Not a good session. They happen to the best of us at times. so don't let it get you down. You might think some of us old stagers on here are all fully competent and never descend into muppetry but let me tell you, we do, regularly. Main thing is there is a way back. All is not lost, don't go saying Goodnight Vienna just yet...

Yes, the mount is a little different and they're different between the 90 and 110. Which one have you got? Not dissimilar in comcept to the 1.9TD (for the 90) anor the 2.1TD/Activa for the 110.

So you say you have cross threaded one of the bolts? Is that one of the vertical ones that bolts the horizontal part of the mount to the inner wing or one of the ones that bolt into the engine block proper? As it's only three bolts, they're all needed so you'll need a new casting. I hope and believe it's the vertical bolts you're speaking of... If you've crossed one of the bolts into the head/block then it's getting very close to Goodnight Vienna. I have a very similar problem on my 2.1TD. The mount is relying on three of the normal four bolts following a Gorilla stripping the thread into the head on the last but one cambelt change Luckily three go into the steel block and only one into the ally head so it survives OK although I keep a cautious eye on it. If it does cause problems I might well have to have the head off unless I could somehow helicoil it in-situ..

As for the secret of jacking on the sump, use a wide piece of wood right on the edge and get the jack cup centralised with the edge of the sumop and you'll have no issues.

Toby, I'm replying to your PM with a few ideas to get round this issue..

[MikeT]

Hi Toby,
I know too well how you feel but as Jim advises, don't despair. I was at a loose end yesterday and would have helped if asked (though I don't have road-legal transport at the moment). I have some spare time this week until Thursday if that's any good to you? At least, let me try and get the stud out for you, I've gained a lot of experience on that topic this year. I think you've got the same jack as mine so I could also demonstrate how to use it effectively. Let me know possible dates/times that are good for you and we'll see if we can get it sorted, ok?

[CitroJim]

Mike,

I've sent a PM to Toby offring some assistance.

I'm thinking here. You and Toby are near each other. Two birds with one stone perhaps? Sort Toby and give some time to your issues as well?

Thoughts?

[CitroJim]

Toby,

It's the 110 you have is it not?

In which case the engine mount looks like this?



If so, is the cross-threaded bolt one of either item 73 or 75 that secures item 10 to item 20?

Item 20 bolts onto the side of the engine.

[Toby_HDi]

Thanks to both Jim and Mike for your offers of help. I will have see what my work commitments are the next couple of weeks. I fear that I will be getting no or very minimal free time.

Yes Jim I have the 110.

The exact bolt that has cross threaded is the one labelled 75 immediately to the left of the mounting bush (number 11) It has chewed up the thread where it bolts in on part 20. It has a Torx recess in the head (T50). I have ordered a new lower casting (part 20) and that should arrive Wednesday.

Thanks again

[CitroJim]

That's a relief Toby, to know it's that bolt; the new casting will get you out of bother but there you need to take care for the reasons I mentioned on my 2.1TD. The bolts securing the casting will be tight.

Look out for a PM in a bit...