All Things V6...

[DHallworth]

Well, yesterday was an interesting day... It saw me standing with the fire brigade surrounding another bloody Range Rover...

I was on my way to the MOT, when I stopped at a set of traffic lights I smelt something that was a bit hot. I stopped in the local Tesco and felt the brakes on the two right wheels, both were stone cold, I walked around the passengers side of the car and saw smoke bellowing out of the front left wheel. Upon closer inspection I could see little yellow flames coming from the brake pads. I ran across to the fire station and grabbed a fire extinguisher, it was the wrong type but I figured something was better then nothing.



Anyway, I covered the whole wheel with the powder and then phoned the fire brigade as I was just across the road from the petrol station and I figured it better to be safe then sorry.



After the fire brigade had quenched everything I called dad and got him to bring my other Range Rover and trailer the 5 miles to the Tesco so I could tow this one home. I've not yet stripped it down but I've ordered a new caliper, carrier, discs, pads and a new brake flexi, total cost was £89 + VAT so was pretty reasonable.

What I did find strange though, was for the brakes to be stuck that hard I'd of expected it to feel unstable or start wandering under braking. It didn't though. It was perfectly composed to drive and when braking for the roundabouts and the traffic lights felt fine. I wasn't in a rush so was only braking very gently right enough, but still, it felt perfect.

At least it didn't fail it's MOT I guess...

I walked past the XM in the workshop today and decided that I was fed up looking at it and not driving it so I've taxed it today and will be giving it a run to the Moffat Car Show on Sunday. Looking forward to giving it a run as I've not driven it other then to get petrol in it in Autumn last year before it went away. It's last proper trip was to Cosford in September so it'll do it good to have a run.

David.

[Mandrake]

Well, yesterday was an interesting day... It saw me standing with the fire brigade surrounding another bloody Range Rover...

I was on my way to the MOT, when I stopped at a set of traffic lights I smelt something that was a bit hot. I stopped in the local Tesco and felt the brakes on the two right wheels, both were stone cold, I walked around the passengers side of the car and saw smoke bellowing out of the front left wheel. Upon closer inspection I could see little yellow flames coming from the brake pads. I ran across to the fire station and grabbed a fire extinguisher, it was the wrong type but I figured something was better then nothing.

Geeze David, what is it with you and Range Rovers!!

I think you need to stick to some nice reliable Citroen's....

Glad you're ok and that it wasn't a complete melt down this time...

[Stickyfinger]

Oh dear David, they must be C5 calipers on those R-Rovers !

I had to pee on my inner front wheel once.....surprising how accurate you can be at times.....surprising how acrid as well, not recommended

[BW]

Sorry to hear about the Range Rover. Really glad you're bringing the XM to Moffat though, a few down due to tech problems and people just not coming. I'll have my 2cv. Good run out on the Saturday too, we're staying on the rugby club field.
Hope to make the meeting tomorrow night too.

[daviemck2006]

I think rovers know you prefer Citroens (or combo vans lol)

[DHallworth]

Well I decided tonight that I'd go and have a look at the exhaust on the XM as it's had a hole in it for a while, it was either going to get a patch welded over it or Gun Gum on it, thankfully the Gun Gum seemed to do the trick which saved me a bit of time.

I've had the XM 5 years this month and when looking under it I saw that the two very slight LHM weeps had gotten slightly worse so this evening, 2 days before I want the car I've stripped it down into pieces and removed the two pipes. One of them is nice and short and curves around the front centre sphere, the other is a bit of a pig to get off as it runs from the pump, along the front rocker cover, down the side of the engine, around the front centre sphere and into a couple where the other half of the pipe goes around to the steering rack.

I noticed that there was some LHM on the alternator as well so I took the hydraulic pump feed pipe from the reservoir to the pump off so that I could remake the end on it, as the black o ring on the hydraulic pump under the cap that the metal pipe goes into is now 5 years old I've replaced that again tonight as well just for good measure.

There's no marks on these pipes and I know that there have been a few V6 XM owners who have had problems with these two pipes cured by having the metal to rubber joint recrimped so I'm going to try that tomorrow and then rebuild everything in hope that it's LHM tight.

Bill, I was hoping to get to The Stables tomorrow evening in the XM but that might not happen now unless I get finished at work sharpish to get it back together, if re-assembly is making good progress I'll bring something for a run over, if it's not then I'll see you in Moffat on Sunday... Hopefully in an XM!!

David.

[DHallworth]

After a busy evening, the XM is now back together and appears to be bone dry and weep free on all of the pipes. The exhaust is nice and quiet as well Weather depending it'll be getting a good run on Sunday, failing that, I'll get it booked in for MOT one day next week so it's not been a waste of work anyway.

I can't complain really, other then doing the timing belt when I got the XM, I've never had to put a spanner near it other then to patch the exhaust last year.

David.

[bxzx16v]

Get a well kept older car and they can prove to be more reliable than new/newer cars, that's my experience so far with my old Zx16v and even the 406, not to mention there cheaper to fix when they require fixing.

Mark

[xantia_v6]

What you use to crimp the XM hoses? Mine will need doing sometime, although they dry up in warm weather.
Are you going to investigate the availability of parts from the ex-savoy XM? It would seem a pity if nothing is saved, but I am too far away, and no trip to the UK on the horizon.

[DHallworth]

I've PM'd Malcolm about the parts from his old XM but apparently the insurance company haven't released it to the breakers yard yet.

I took the hoses to the local hydraulic company and they just nipped them up a bit. I've done 200 miles in the XM in the last couple of days and both hoses are now bone dry!

David.

[DHallworth]

I decided last week that I'd put the XM in for an MOT just to keep the paperwork going more then anything as it's not going to be used very much this year. I took it to the Moffat Classic Car Show last weekend where it racked up 200 miles effortlessly but I really enjoyed driving it so rather then leaving it in the garage I decided I'd MOT it and then I can use it when the mood takes.

I'm pleased to report that this car has now passed it's 5th MOT under my ownership without even so much as an advisory on any of them

Last year she covered 950 miles going to the XM 25 Rally at RAF Cosford, this year she probably won't do as much but at least she'll now be able to do something

David.

[DHallworth]

Since the XM passed it's MOT everything has been running pretty smoothly on the car front. The C6 is perfect apart from very, very occasionally moaning about the N/S/R ABS sensor, the silver XM is perfect and the Activa has been behaving itself too, or so I thought.

I had it at a car show a fortnight ago. A few days afterwards I realised my jacket was still sitting on the front passengers seat and it was chucking it down. I went to the car and got my jacket and noticed a little bit of water sitting on the front rubber mat. It was at this point that it dawned on me... Paul had pointed it out to me at the Northern that the scuttle had started to become separated on the passengers side, just above the heater box.

After some advice from Jim and others, today I stuck my hand under the passenger side carpet and found that there was a puddle under the carpet. I took the seats out and then removed the carpet and hung it out to dry. I went out this afternoon and bought some silicon sealant that "sticks anything to anything" and this evening I stripped the scuttle off the car, cleaned it all up and resealed it so thankfully it's now water proof again.

Whilst the front seats are out of the car I'm going to use this opportunity to replace the foam that's knackered on the drivers seat.

Last night I put discs and pads on the red S2 V6 XM I've got as I wanted to get it in for an MOT. I went to it and it started first time but came up on the screen with an ABS fault. Lexia pointed me to the N/S/F ABS sensor and when checking it with a multimeter it turns out the sensor has gone open circuit so that now needs an ABS sensor.

I then put the red P38 on the ramp last night to do the caliper and discs and pads on that after the incident going to the MOT a couple of weeks ago. It started first time but when I opened the door to get out of it on the ramp the dash lit up like a Christmas tree and the rear wiper did a sweep of the rear screen so there's power going somewhere when it shouldn't. It's usually water dripping down the bulkhead and onto an electrical plug in the front footwell. And to top it all off today, the Fedex driver reckoned he couldn't find out house and didn't deliver the parts I was waiting for!

It's on days like the last 2 that I really feel like selling everything and keeping one daily car and one exotic toy.

David.

[Mandrake]

David you just about gave me a heart attack.

For some reason when I clicked on your post it took me to the top of the page that began "Well, yesterday was an interesting day... It saw me standing with the fire brigade surrounding another bloody Range Rover..."

It wasn't until I recognised the photos as ones I'd seen already that I realised this wasn't a 3rd incident...

[DHallworth]

Well the Activa is now back together with nice dry carpets. Taking the carpets out of the Xantia is actually surprisingly easy and refitting them only takes 30 minutes or so.

After having lost interest in it recently when I found it wet a good drive in it the other night after putting the seats back in it has reminded me why I do indeed love this car.

The C6 has thankfully stopped it's ABS warnings coming up on the screen so I've not had to touch that. It was detailed last week so is sitting gleaming on the driveway at the moment. The Iron Grey paintwork looks as smooth as glass, ready for it's trip to RAF Cosford at the weekend for the C6 10th Anniversary gathering.

Since my last post I've also acquired a new project...

There's a young lad on a farm about 2 miles from here who I went to school with. I've not seen him for years though. His Gran popped in to see me a couple of weeks ago and said that he had an old Land Rover that he had to get rid of as he hasn't used it for about a year. She wanted to know if I was interested.

I popped up and had a look at it and was pleasantly surprised...











It's a 1984 2.25 litre Diesel. It's the later variant of the engine with a 5 bearing crank, rather then the earlier 3 bearing crank. When we started talking about the Landy, he said that as long as it doesn't get scrapped I could take it away and restore it.

A couple of days later I ventured back up and the old Donk ended up back at home.





I put a battery on it and tried cranking it, sure enough, it started cranking. I stopped cranking it, gave it some heat from the glow plugs, cranked it again and it started. It ran nicely on all 4 cylinders but smoked a little. The manifold gasket was blowing, you could see diesel fumes under the bonnet. When operating the throttle, the cable popped out of it's end piece so it needs replaced now too.

I can't get over how cheap things are for these old Landy's.

Anyway, it'll make a change to be working on something like this rather then a Citroen for a change!

David.

[Zelandeth]

You lucky sod! I'd love an old Landy of that era, but just can't justify the prices they usually fetch. I've worked on them with a friend a good few times and love the fact that they're basically a giant Mecanno set. If I was to ever get one, it'd have to be from that sort of era. Sadly unless I win the lottery, never likely to happen!

What sort of state is the chassis in? Will be watching this with interest.