Xantia V6 broken exhaust (update: and rough low rpm running)

[RichardW]

Never mind the house - is the garage up to spec???? Hope it works out - at least you have got to see this one!

[Ben82]

Never mind the house - is the garage up to spec???? Hope it works out - at least you have got to see this one!

haha, that's been my requirement with our recent house hunting... either "does it have a decent garage?" or "is there enough space to build one?"

[Mandrake]

Never mind the house - is the garage up to spec???? Hope it works out - at least you have got to see this one!

Interesting question as the listing clearly says garage, twice in fact, but google/bing satellite images don't show a garage nor anywhere that one could fit that wouldn't be visible from the road, and one wasn't visible during a brief incognito drive by on the road... Of course satellite images can be years out of date, so I really hope its not a mistake in the listing...

The actual viewing isn't until the 13th as its still occupied...

[Ben82]

Never mind the house - is the garage up to spec???? Hope it works out - at least you have got to see this one!

Interesting question as the listing clearly says garage, twice in fact, but google/bing satellite images don't show a garage nor anywhere that one could fit that wouldn't be visible from the road, and one wasn't visible during a brief incognito drive by on the road... Of course satellite images can be years out of date, so I really hope its not a mistake in the listing...

The actual viewing isn't until the 13th as its still occupied...

Simon, could it be a garage in a block away from the property? Generally happens in the uk with terraced houses though, rather than detached/semidetached.

[Mandrake]

Don't know Ben, I don't think so. Its a semi detached and although there is a car garage its at the end of a double adjacent driveway shared with the neighbouring house and its on their side of the double drive, so looks like it belongs to them! Very confusing.

[CitroJim]

I quite agree the presence of a suitable garage is critical in the acquisition of a residence..

My ideal with be a ground floor entirely given over to garage with a small but adequate flat above. The garage must be able to accommodate at least three cars and a full workshop with three-phase mains supply.

Not found such a property yet and I'm not really trying too hard because I love my neighbours too much which actually, all joking aside is the most important thing of all. Good neighbours are priceless so do take that into careful consideration Simon

[Mandrake]

Phoned the estate agents, they assure us there is a garage, but we shall see...perhaps their idea of garage is my idea of garden shed A garage is for driving a car into, right ? Or does it mean something different on this side of the world...

I really hope so, as it would bring jobs such as the timing belt into the realms of practicality... there is no way I would tackle a job like that outdoors, in Scotland!

[Stempy]

Garages here are often so small that you can't open the car door when you drive in. You'll probably need a double garage if you stand any hope of actually working on the car inside.

[CitroJim]

Most garages are now so small you can't actually fit a car into them. Garages seem to be designed the days to accommodate a 1965 Fraud Anglia. Have you seen how tiny they look now compared to a modern car? I saw a MK1 Austin 1100 the other day and that looked microscopic too...

[RichardW]

My friends have just bought a new house with a 'garage' - it's not even big enough to fit a current model Corsa in - and the Avensis hatch they've also got sticks out 2 feet!

You just have to man up Simon - there was about 4" of snow and temp was hovering around freezing when I changed the belt on my HDi - I did push the Visa outside though, and get the front in the garage so at least we didn't have to scrabble about in the snow!

The builder that lived down the road when we lived on the IOW built his own house - it was on a sloping plot, so the house was basically a (large) bungalow - and had a space underneath the same size as the house that served as a garage / workshop. I remember it being huge, and having a high ceiling (proper lift territory) - but then I wasn't that big at the time, so maybe it's not as big as I remember....

[Mandrake]

It's not the cold I'm worried about so much Richard, (it was barely above zero the first time I visited you for exhaust help ) it's just that I HATE being rained on when I'm in the middle of a job on the car, knowing full well that once it starts raining it probably won't stop for days! Wind is sometimes a problem too when things keep blowing away or you have leaves and twigs off trees trying to land in the manifold inlet ports as you take the manifold off, or in the funnel while you're trying to put gearbox oil in... Even if I can just get the front of the car in shelter and out of the elements that would be a big help.

I certainly do miss the houses and garages back in NZ. They're both ridiculously small and cramped over here unless you pay a fortune. Even a standard single garage had enough room to drive a Xantia right in, close the door behind it and change a timing belt with plenty of room to walk around the car or open doors. (Been there, done that!)

If a car can't fit in it, why bother to build it ? Just call it a shed, not a garage.

I notice the same problem with supermarket car parks etc in the UK... the Xantia is too long to fit in some parks that go up against walls, and the Xantia is hardly a large car by today's standards ! Also not enough room to turn into many parks without a 3 point turn...

[Mandrake]

That is correct James but if the cooler is blocked or otherwise not circulating then by now your gearbox would literally be toast Simon! HP20s do not like running hot.

Easy to test, just feel the return hose from the cooler - the hose that disappears into the bottom of the rad. And indeed the cooler is on it's own circuit; a similar one to the heater matrix.

I have a nasty feeling the gearbox might actually be overheating and burning the oil Jim...

In the last month or so I've noticed a lot more "shuddering" when trying to pull at slow speeds in high gears - most obviously 2nd or 3rd gear when at the low end of the rev range for that gear and ONLY when the torque converter clutch is locked up, for example this happens when I turn into our road just before our car park, its a slight incline and I end up in 2nd gear at only 1200rpm or so but with the lockup clutch locked, when I try to accelerate the transmission shudders quite a bit. It's always done this slightly but its got a lot worse recently.

The best way I can describe it is the shudder you get engaging a manual clutch when oil has dripped onto the clutch surface...

I'm pretty certain its the torque converter lockup clutch that's shuddering. The symptoms are very similar to what they were just before I did the 4 oil changes in a row last year, and there is quite a bit more "bearing noise" from the clutch just as its going from unlocked to locked.

I wonder if there is an air lock or blockage preventing the heat exchanger from working, during short trips it wouldn't cause an issue but on some of the prolonged trips perhaps its overheating and burning the oil... The lack of power, reluctance to unlock the torque converter when hot etc are all symptomatic of the gearbox going into over-temperature protection mode, particularly the refusal to unlock the torque converter under acceleration as keeping the lockup clutch locked as much as possible is one of the first things the ECU does when overheating. (since an unlocked torque converter generates a lot of heat due to the slip)

Perhaps the oil got burnt during our 800 mile trip around Scotland last year (which was a few weeks before it started groaning) and upset the lockup clutch, I went and changed the oil which alleviated the symptoms for a few months but maybe the real issue was overheating the oil on long trips, so now the oil is getting overheated and burnt again...

Perhaps I need to drop a small sample of oil out of the box, a cupful or so to see if it is in fact black again. And also check the hoses to the heat exchanger and monitor the gearbox oil temperature on the next long trip we go on.

If the oil is burnt again from overheating then I guess if/when I found and fixed the cooling issue I'd have to do several oil changes again to get the burnt oil out!

The other possibility if its not burnt oil is that the lockup clutch linings are just plain worn out, which I can't do anything about...

[Ben82]

Simon, I seem to recall reading in one of the many Citroen docs on the subject that if the oil looks or smells burnt then it has one of those big red messages that says "replace gearbox"!

Maybe a bit over the top but may mean one of Jim's pet projects is in order if that is indeed the case? Not something I would want to undertake

[Mandrake]

Yes I've seen the same recomendation... but bear in mind the context, its advice to dealers / service agents on what to do if a low mileage gearbox still under warranty has burnt oil - replacing it is prudent because if they don't it will come back to bite them later.

With a 15 year old 100,000 mile car more than a decade out of warranty and worth under £400 you pay your money and take your chances...

Unless the clutch linings are burnt up, finding/fixing the cooling issue soon and doing several more flushes of oil may save it. I thought it was a gonner last October until I did the oil changes and until recently it had been running well again...but who knows, maybe its about to die, no way to know!

Of course I could be completely wrong about it overheating but I will certainly be putting the Lexia on it the next long trip we do to monitor the gearbox oil temperature...pity I don't have an ELIT because a full blown Lexia is rather a pain to leave connected on a long trip.

[CitroJim]

Simon, easy way to see if it's overheating. Take it for a ride with the Lexia and note the gearbox temperature at regular intervals and during a good thrash..

The offer remains open. You get the gearbox to me in a clean condition and I'll rebuild it for you at cost... You arrange transport to and from along with a TC refurb and I'll do the rest. I won't lift engines or have the car here. Only a bare and clean gearbox.

How's that?