Hi all, just posted in the new member area, I have just found this foum, I have a few xantia mk1 questions to ask that i will list for ease and hopfully can be answered. A little, lot!! of history on my xantia, I bought my 94 td sx 8 years ago from a friend who had a starting fault for £180, took ages to start in the morning but was fine once started, Sound familier? he had spent £800 on a s/h pump and lots of work but still the same..anyhow, i fixed a joined/repaired pipe, altho it wasnt leaking mind, and all was well, this car had 157,000 miles on then, I think i put 3 new abs sensors on it, cam belt and full service and all was good. the main thing I will say tho from experience is keep the car hot and with fresh coolant , i have replaced the thermostat every time the needle stays slightly below 80odeg c at normal running, as the fuel consumption drops a lot, I was getting about 470 to 500 miles a tank at first then i replaced the stat, the car from that day has never deviated from the 680 ish mark per tank, every tank and it is driven very hard over 8 years and the car has now done just short of 280,000 miles. In that time has only let me down, i.e wouldnt start once, i turned the key and only had position 1 lights on, so no fuel pump stop valve power, fortunatly had some speaker wire and put a supply to the fuel stop valve and off we went. It is now due its 4th cam belt in my ownership, 7th set of front tyres, so it is time to sort out some long term issues and other items that need attention due to its hard and long life. the car has been maintained by me and no expence spared in my experience with the car it seems to eat front end suspension and brake pads, ie drop links, wishbone bushes, track rod ends and ball joints, but it does get driven very hard over demanding roads. I have put only 1 front and rear height correctors on , one high pressure pipe on the car, 3 sets of spheres all round which is a testiment to the citroen suspension system that people are scared of!!!!. never had a rear end issue at all with brakes or arms, tyres seem to last forever there also. At 220000 I replaced the clutch and headgasket as it had the dreaded front oil leak, +a few of the above items again. last big spend had strut top mounts, all new discs and pads wheel bearings, flexi hoses,6 spheres,new door as it had rotted away, uj on the column, drivers door window meter, etc etc etc etc. that was about 48,000 miles ago. the car has also been running on waste veg oil filtered to 1 micron for the past 65000 miles, the only problem i have encountered with this is the tank pick up gause gets cloged up quite frequently. So, I have just sorned it again and have moved back down to driving my low mileage (235,000) mile v70 tdi.
i can now go through the xantia and keep it in tip top condition hut only if i can sort these issues...if you are still awake I will ask the points.
1.The front suspension is not right, been like it now for about 3 years, if you bounce the suspension it is very hard at light pressure but moves fluidly with more pressure, On the road that equates to terrible at slow speeds and over speed bumps, over fast B roads isnt too bad because of the extra load, as above, it has been like this through a sphere change, new top mounts and all the suspension work twice now, makes no difference, on lowering the car, at the front, one side starts to drop very very slighty first and also the front has recently started to grown, when lifting and lowering it does so in surges rather than fluidly like the rear, so the spheres are 2years old, but was the same when replaced, the top mounts 2 years old, again the same when replaces, new height corrector 6 months ago, still the same. I have lived with it for a ling time now, but if i am going to keep it going i want these issues sorted...Any ideas??
2 the car is now 18 years old and this winter has taken its toll, most bits are easy but others are not, so, I am on the look out for white mk1 body pannels.
3 my key fob packed a few years ago,if i found a second hand one can you re programme them or do you need to go to citroen? it is the infra red with the red light and two button type again, if anyone knows where there is one.
4 last but not least, the rear height corrector is leaking, I have wiped it off to see if it is a pipe seal first, but if not, can you get the internal seals seperatly?
sorry for the long post.. any help greatly appreciated.
