Liquid suspension - HMS Xantia

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 02 Sep 2008, 19:57

Pushed my luck a bit this morning on the trek to work but fortunately it
did work out OK with the Xantia being totally outstanding, surefooted and
a true gem but I may have doubts the next time. I've suddenly a far
greater respect for it than this time yesterday.

A very VERY big flood stopped progress this morning and I naturally flipped
the Xantia height lever into high and made steady smooth progress into
the depths...

strange spot actually, the road borders directly onto a usually modest river
with a spindly railing marking a separation between the two when it does
inevitably flood! <<be afraid, very afraid...>>

At it's deepest point I was trying not to think about exactly how deep it was,
but it WAS deep! Not over the bonnet but deeper than I thought although I
carried on past the point of no return and guessed where the river was
right round the blind bend under a railway line bridge above...

Said it was scary!! I know the road in the dry very well but metaphorically
got cold feet with mind pictures of cars with water lapping over their
windows and hoped my judgment was true of the roads geography!

In hindsight I was probably a total muppet storing immense blind
faith in the power of Citroen but I nor the car's interior got a drop wet
and the car lives to fight another day!

OK, OK, everyone now tell me the exhaust will disintegrate and fall off,
the wheel bearings are all toast and the driveshafts and floor box sections
are scrap iron now - seriously, do I panic about anything in particular
- the car actually seems a lot better for having all the accumulated crap
washed off it's underside! Are the rear arms hollow like the CX's? Does
it matter!? The engine oil and water levels and hyraulics check out OK.

Andrew

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 02 Sep 2008, 20:09

your just luck it didnt do a REN**LT scenic on you, and suck all that wet stuff up the air intake, as it would hydralic the engine to the point were it was destroyed

regards malcolm

Post by **CitroJim** » 02 Sep 2008, 20:11

Floods 0, Xantia 1

What a car, eh?

You were seriously lucky not to hydro the engine Andrew. Do you know how low the air intake is

You must have kept a good bow wave going and thus the intake only saw air.

Which Xantia of your fleet was it?

Nothing will have suffered majorly, especially not any bodywork. It's designed to get wet every time it rains and boy oh boy has it rained today over in East Anglia.

Yes, the rear arms are hollow as far as I know. They have a plug near the the stub axle boss.

One heck of a way to give its underside a wash though

For the record, my Xantias regularly get a good underfloor wash. My journey to work takes me along a small stream that floods the road to a depth of three to six inches at the drop of a hat summer and winter. The stream itself is not really to blame, more the rampant vegetation that is allowed to grow in it unchecked and the huge amounts of run-off from agricultural land further up the hill for which totally inadequate provision for it to drain harmlessly away is made.

After years of this regular treatment, none of my cars have suffered but like yours, they're spotless underneath

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 02 Sep 2008, 20:11

citronut wrote:your just luck it didnt do a REN**LT scenic on you, and suck all that wet stuff up the air intake, as it would hydralic the engine to the point were it was destroyed

regards malcolm

Did that with my 95 Xantia TD, drained the engine (by turning it over with the injectors out) after draining the air intake pipes and intercooler.
New battery and airfilter and she was good as new.
Fantasticly indestructable engines!

deian · Post by **deian** » 02 Sep 2008, 20:48

citrojim wrote: Which Xantia of your fleet was it?
:

I like that question.

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 02 Sep 2008, 22:57

The good ship lollypop Td estate!!

Wonder if the extra undertray, sound deadening panel saved my conrods
and camshaft caps then...

The intercooler pipework has been painstakingly checked to prevent any
horses roaming free so the inlet breather behind the headlight may not
have seen any unnecessary activity!

I kept a steady 2nd with a noticeable pulse bow wave ahead of progress...
I'll have to get a LR snorkel for it tomorrow then, great fun and all that.

I probably need to worry about the seals on the rear trailing arms to make
sure the bearings haven't gone; this TD estate is showing 225k miles and
is in reliable daily use without a murmour or histronics!

Damn good cars!!

Andrew

lexi · Post by **lexi** » 02 Sep 2008, 23:04

Get a Cnorkel on it!!

pete_wood_uk · Post by **pete_wood_uk** » 03 Sep 2008, 08:43

I spent 10 years dunking my Xantias (and my CX) in winter, driving across the Ouse Washes when they flood, the washes being only a couple of hundred yards from my old house.

I took care not to dunk the air inlet, so the first year was a bit tentative whilst I worked out a set of roadside markers - "river on the uphill side of that rock, turn round and go the other way...." kinda thing - but once done I could dunk them routinely and no harm seemed to be done. Suspension up, bottom gear, feet off, off we go... Doing it on a dark wet windy rainy night used to put the fear of God into passengers, as their lunatic driver sets off across an apparently endless inland sea...

I was worried about soaking hot wheel bearings, etc, but they all seemed to survive. The only noticeable side effect was the "crack" setting off first thing the following morning, where the pads/discs would have stuck together, having parked it cold and wet the night before....

Pete

Stunned Monkey · Post by **Stunned Monkey** » 04 Sep 2008, 19:49

BEWARE - I tried crossing some water in my HDi that I knew the BX would've done without even blinking. I killed the engine, and it turned into an insurance job. This was when the car was only a year old.

The HDi air intake is down roughly behind the left front foglight!!! It doesn't have a handy snorkel type affair like the BX (and presumably the TD Xantias)

Also be very careful of anything vaguely deep in the HDi's as the gearbox is a true champion at sucking up water through its vent. I was told by Citroen that there was even a service bulletin for those having problems that the valve be rotated to point further up (or something) - it didn't seem to make a difference in the years I was doing a commute along country lanes that regularly had heowge puddles and minor floods.

I change my gear oil every second service now. There's always crap in it, and the gear change always improves afterwards.

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 04 Sep 2008, 21:17

Stunned Monkey wrote: The HDi air intake is down roughly behind the left front foglight!!! It doesn't have a handy snorkel type affair like the BX (and presumably the TD Xantias)

That's where it is on the 1.9TDs, pretty sure it's the same across all the Xantias.

I flooded my engine doing about 2000rpm slowing down as I saw the lake across the road coming round a bend.
Drained air pipes and engine and was good as new.

You're lucky you were able to claim on your insurance, many companies refuse to pay as "no accident occured"

Stunned Monkey · Post by **Stunned Monkey** » 05 Sep 2008, 11:21

Xac wrote: You're lucky you were able to claim on your insurance, many companies refuse to pay as "no accident occured"

It came under accidental damage.... although the insurance company's incompetence meant the car was trailered away from Citroen to an approved bodyshop, despite my repeated insistance that it idn't need bodywork... eventually, they trailered it straight back to where it started. It wasn't a happy time, and I put nearly 10,000 miles on the Saxo loan car the dealer gave me... still, it was my own stupid fault.