1998 Citroen Xantia 1.9TD threw cambelt damaged engine.

[Northern_Mike]

Buy a C5. We'll see a lot more of you on the forum, then.

Sod that for a game of soldiers.

Ah, in fact, buy mine!

[falling-out-with-my-car]

are they really that bad? funny enough I was going to ask about them. seems I am stuck with the xantia being
the only reasonable sized car I ca get into why oh why dont they make big enough cars for tall people.
what about the old citroen Synergie vans are they bad as well?

[jgra1]

C5 HDi 8v Manual - get a decent one with history and you could be ok,..

I got mine July last year.. I changed tyres yesterday, and the oil/filter in April, but otherwise nothing else is causing worry.. odd to have a car that keeps going... touch wood.. Med tomorrow!

about 20,000 miles in 14 months, and car now on 135K

John

[Northern_Mike]

are they really that bad? funny enough I was going to ask about them. seems I am stuck with the xantia being
the only reasonable sized car I ca get into why oh why dont they make big enough cars for tall people.
what about the old citroen Synergie vans are they bad as well?

C5s - well, the MK1 cars are the only ones I have experience of, are great....when they work. You appear to either get a good one or bad one, with nothing in between!

The 8v HDi with aircon but no climate would be the one to go for. Run Lexia on it before purchase, find religion, pray daily...

[falling-out-with-my-car]

what about an X-reg 2000 HDi forte xantia I know I'll have to live with the cat permenantly fitted but is that all that is bad with the HDi in an xantia S2 Hatch?

thanks Nigel.

[citroenxm]

The 8v HDi IS the BEST HDi engine in the range, other then the 2.0 16v 138bhp fitted from 2005 onwards to C5.

I have one in mine, currently on 259k and ONLY ever needed to change the engine mounted fuel pump and one of the injector seals! Still strong as ever! Its an amazing engine which will do huge miles AND give you 50mpg.

Better of the two is the 110bhp.. Check for TWO air pipes on the right of the engine for 110bhp engines. Youll have hydraulic clutch then, and cable gearchanges. HOWEVER, the HDI engines will NOT without a doubt run on Veggie oil what so ever!

Though, if you really can be bothered, well made Bio Diesel is perfectly acceptable.

There not much to go wrong with the HDi 110, electro valves on the off side suspension inner turret can play up giving turbo problems, its very UNLIKELY To be the turbo itself. They are happy on Semi Synthetic oil, and theres only a couple of sensors on the engine which again are rather reliable. Ive not changed ANY sensors yet.

[falling-out-with-my-car]

Thanks for all of that It seems if I want to find an xantia that hasnt been killed completely Ive got to travel at least a hundred miles to see one, there are no decent ones locally in Northamptonshire unless youve got a pocket load of cash to spare.
off to see one Saturday an Hdi 1.9TD forte, sounds like it wont have air- con but thats no gret loss these days.
I gave up cleanning used veg oil about two weeks ago and handed my suppliers to someone up the road, it is taking up to much room in my shed -room I need for model boats and other stuff. will let you know how saturday pans out if I end up buying the Hdi hatch or not.
Thanks.
Nigel.

[RichardW]

>> Hdi 1.9TD forte



All the HDis are 2.0 (well 1.997 to be precise)

All MK2s have AC - even the poverty spec ones - and many of the late Fortes are 110s (like mine). No rear electric windows - and only a manual mirror on the driverside, and the mirrors are not heated, which is perhaps my only real bugbear with it.

[falling-out-with-my-car]

Yes sorry I did mean HDi 2.0 Litre Ive got 1.9TD on the brain these days Ive been searchinhg since Monday always typing 1.9TD xantia, even if the results show a 2.0 litre HDi xantia.
sounds exactly like the SX spec to me they must have changed the model names but kept the same secification as the SX
I hope my nearly new spheres fit to, maybe that is to much to ask.
I have just phoned the seller he still has the car, just got to hope itas still there in the mornning and that he will give me a
reciept dated Sunday so I can drive it home. didnt realise they all had air-con thats a bonus for when the global warmming starts
Do the 2 litre models still smash the camshaft if the belt goes? or is the stroke a little shorter than the 1.9TD?
I'm going to make an inspection window on my next cam casing out of clear acrylic so I can see what is going on when I open the bonnet.
I put a new manual mirror on my old estate Xantia and it only cost me £30 the equivilent electrically heated mirror would have been nearly £200 thats a tad expensive for a mirror you can reach with a demisting cloth by openning the window.

Thanks Nigel.

[RichardW]

Forte is equivalent to LX spec - which is a bonus really, as they don't get the stupid Alcantra seats that wear out!

Providing it's the same hatch / estate form, and yours was not an Exclusive, then the spheres will fit.

On the HDi, the valves are driven by rockers off the cam shaft, so if the belt goes, it just breaks a few rockers - no need to have the head off, just fit the new rockers (and recover the old needle bearings!) and away you go. Having said that the belt interval is 10 years / 100k and it's very reliable - pretty rare to hear of one breaking.

Mirrors are only an issue because I defrost the car with a fan heater, then jump in and drive off, and always forget that the mirrors are still frosted up!

Hope the one you are looking at turns out to be a good 'un!!

[falling-out-with-my-car]

Richard,
thankls for the info it seems that maybe moving on to an HDi xantia could be a good thing then.
Thats a heck of a belt change interval I wonder if they recommend a special type of belt to last that long.
The one I am going to see is a very light metalic green hatchback, Ive never seen a Xantia Hatch in this
light green metallic colour before. the seat cloth is light grey with spots similar to the seats in the old SX
Xantia estate. I always thought it was very hard wearing, i shall keep the old drivers seat esspecially as the cloth matches.
I hope its a go to because it is rather a long drive to get there 150 miles.
Thanks again. I'll certainly let you know what happens, I emailed a chap selling an estate in oxford today this one has leather seats and is an HDi 2 litre as well but the drivers window is not wionding up or down and there is a dent in the rear N/S passenger door. the price is good but my old doors are the wrong colour unfortunately and winter is approaching very quickly.
regards Nigel.

[falling-out-with-my-car]

well after a very long three hour drive doing the 150 mile trip down to Portsmouth well Southsea really I finally laid eyes on the 2000 X-reg hatchback light green metalic xantia HDi and body work wise the car was in very good condition I checked the oil level first and to my suprize there was hardly any oil in the sump it was just tickling the end of the dipstick dissapointment number one.
Then after getting over the shock of lifting the bonnet to see a huge gap between the radiator and the engine I wondered where all the ancilleries had gone on the side of the engine citroen must have hidden the alternator somewhere else in the Hdi because it wasnt in its usual place and neither was the LHM pump.
with the suspension on high I had a good look underneath for corrosion and realised that the new spheres he said he had fitted all round were only limited to the front ones, I then trurned my attention to the interior the heater fan actually worked perfectly and all the windows woumnd down and up again properly the seats and carpet were imaculate even the heater worked absolutely fine, then I thought before I let the suspension down I'll check the Lhm level and I noticed that it was a little bit high so I thought maybe the level indicator was a little bit stuck so I flicked it to see if it would drop and it didnt then I decided to prise off the cap and I noticed water inside the cap I shone my torch down the LHm tank and saw that the height of the LHm was very high indeed I put my forfinger in the fluid and out came yes youve guessed it yellow dot 3 or dot 4 brake fluid and not LHM, so the car tonight is still 150 miles away, the seals are probably all going to go over the comming week or so if not it will certainly sieze up by then anyway through lack of lubrication in the engine, an otherwise fine example of an xantia wrecked because some pratt thought he would save a few quid puting yellow brake fluid into the lhm tank. and the search goes on.
regards Nigel.

[RichardW]

Ah well, bad luck Nigel.... Old LHM can look pretty yellow - it has a very distinctive smell though! The anciliaries are deffo there on the engine in the same place as the 1.9TD - pump, then alt, then AC comp. The injection pump is much smaller I suppose, so that makes it look quite different to the 1.9TD.

I had a quick look on Autotrader to see if I could see the one you were looking at, but it wasn't there, however, there is one that is newly listed, and apparently only done 31k miles!! Could be a good buy (strong money at £1800 though) - and it's in Falmouth....

[falling-out-with-my-car]

Richard its the green one of the two in this link.

http://www.exchangeandmart.co.uk/used-c ... ith-xantia" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think I'll need to save up some more pennies and just run the 2cv for a while longer

I take out the 2cv and then I shout at people when I get out of the car they just don't realise how noisey it is in a 2cv

doing 60mph.

regards Nigel.

[Northern_Mike]

I used to wear earplugs in my 2CV on long journeys..