Has anyone got one of these please?? "REVISED 30/09/12""

[falling-out-with-my-car]

Hi,

We are searching for a front Rubber Hydraulic pipe from a Xantia VSX, it is the rubber pipe that runs from the front accumulator to the metal hydraulic tubing that then runs all the way around the back of the engine to the pwr steering.

apparently it musy be a VSX one as the pressures involved in the other models do not require the same size pipe.
as advuiszed by pleiades citroen specialists.

Pleiades tried to do a repair as the pipes are difficult to find these days but unfortunately it didnt hold and burst this mornning. apparently if removing from a xantia the metal pipes at either end can be cut with tin snips as l;ong as they are left at a decent length so that Martin at Pleiades can make some new connectors to fit the pipes at both ends.

Can anybody help please , this is for my 79 year old Father who relies on his Mk1 Vsx a lot these days, Not for a boy racer, please PM me if you can help with a Landline phone number and perhaps we can arrange to collect and pay or maybe organise a postage system.

Many thanks in advance ,

Regards Nigel ,..

[DickieG]

It might help if you mention the engine it's fitted with, i.e. TD or what version of 2.0 petrol.

[falling-out-with-my-car]

DickieG,

This would make a good sticky for any future losses of these hoses from a VSX xantia or any xantia come to that,
Citroen do not supply the rubber hose any more and neither do GSF, apparently the model doesnt matter it is the amount of spheres and hydra-active properties of the vechicle that makes the pipe able to take much higher pressure on the VSX, compared to other xantias. evidentially an XM hose would not suffice as the pressdure rating of the hose is different again.
The C5 uses a completely different system, so nothing adaptable there either.

Right I have found a perfect solution , the rubber pipe must be able to withstand pressure of at least 140 Bar or 2030.53 Psi.

this one is 10 inches long and will withstand 4800 Psi price £7.50 link below.

http://www.hosdirect.co.uk/index.php?ma ... 50066e560b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The only problem being is that the connections are 3/8 bsp female so we need 2 x 3/8 Bsp male to M12 female adapter's and this is where this company comes in the cost of each adapter is around £2.50 each here is the link.

http://www.redlinehydraulics.co.uk/acatalog/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I rang them up and they said yes they stock 3/8 Bsp male to M12 female connectors.

the little supply issue to replace this hydraulic pipe on the VSX is hopefully solved I telphoned Martin at Pleiades to check that the shorter 10 inch pipe would be ok and he seems fairly satisfied that it would be ok.

amazing what you can acheive with all the information and a mornning on the internet isnt it.

I shall keep all the details for future use. hopefully this will save a few more VSX xantia's from the terrible drive to the scrappy only to be melted down to make cheap chinneese cars and washing machines.

best wishes,

Nigel.

[CitroJim]

Excellent stuff Nigel Thanks for that, very useful!

[falling-out-with-my-car]

Jim you are very welcome,

I believe that the connectors on other models with the XUD type engine have different size connectors apparently it is only the VSX xantia that has M12 connectors to fit a female connection on the ends of the original rubber hose,, the hydraulic supply pipes are larger on the VSX and smaller on say a 1.9 SX diesel with only six spheres and no hydra-active system, I am not aware of the size of the metal Hydraulic pipe connectors on the 1.9TD SX Xud but I shall ask Martin at Pleiades when I see him next and edit the above to include the correct size so that the 3/8 female connections on the new rubber hose can be connected to the other models and so people can order the correct size adapters for the other cars.

regards Nigel.

[falling-out-with-my-car]

Jim,

I thought it only fair to return to this thread and post that the High Pressure connectors found in the link above are M12 in thread size but not compatable with the citroen hydraulic pressure lines.
My Father took the connectors with the hose to Martin at Pleiades Citroen specialists who then cut the connectors drilled them out and retapped them fitting the ends with some rubber seals then he pressure tested the whole replacement rubber hose and adapted fittings on his test hydraulic bench rig.
By the time we managed to trailer the Xantia VSX to the Pleiades Garage Martin also had a hydraulic supply rubber pipe from a rolls royce ready to fit just in case the smaller pipe (above) didnt work.
Well the small pipe we sourced from the above link seemed to go in ok and works fairly well but the VSX has some noise like a groanning sound in the steering when almost on full lock, I had a similar problem in my S2 the teflon bUshes at the end of the steering rack had dried out caussing a Brrrrr sound when on full lock, we are hoping that this is a similar problem with the VSX as most of the LHM was drained when the rubber Hydraulic hose burst, it could be a lack of lubrication in the rack or an air lock somewhere so the resolve is to drive the car do some citroen areobics once a week and see if ther noise dissapears eventually, otherwise the new fitting seems to work very well but for this little noise almost on full lock. Martin tried the rolls royce hose to see if the noise would go away but it didnt, anyway the Rolls pipe was way to long almost 2 feet long. the main thing is the VSX doesnt have to be scrapped because we can not source an orriginal part anymore.
It is a shame that the fittings needed to be adapted but all in all if you live 200 miles away from Pleiades it wouldn't be too bad in postage to send two small fittings to them to have them adapted and returned by post would it? and Now they know what they are doing to resolve the problem of the rubber feed pipe splitting to some extent it is at least one solution, rather than having a completely useless VSX with no suspension, steering or brakes. the pipe that comes out of the end of the rubber hose on the opposite end to the front accumulator does need to be extended slightly to accomodate a shorter rubber hose but I am pretty sure that Martin would be able to supply a short extention metal pipe as well.

regards Nigel.