1997 Xantia 1.9TD Estate - 05/07

[chinkostu]

If those seats are better to sit in it might be worth either swapping the lot or getting them retrimmed?

[ekjdm14]

Finally, we discovered the positive terminal cover hiding underneath the reservoir, not sure how it got there and didn't know it was missing but it's nice to have it and be able to refit that when the job is done.

Found a lot of those in Xantia engine bays over the years much as I've found quite a collection of lost glowplugs behind the injection pumps

If you ever happen to purchase a '96 ZX at any point in the future (distant future we hope as its a keeper!) you'll no doubt also find a 10mm deep & 8mm standard 1/4" drive sockets back there haha, haven't yet managed to retrieve them with any magnet or grab contraption! Gave up & bought a new 8-13mm rail of sockets instead haha. What is your technique, remove the pump? lol

[CitroJim]

The best cloth seats for a Xantia is Activa ones... They are gorgeous...

[ekjdm14]

......I'm glad I'm not alone with the seating position issues, there was a point where I was beginning to think I was alone with the issue.

I'll try out these Peugeot seats once I've collected them, they look a different shape which might help. Just having a bit more knee support would help and the Pug seats might offer that......

You're far from alone on this, I find it nigh on impossible to get the seat in our ZX in a comfortable position to the point that I end up adjusting the backrest every 10-15mins to work a different group of muscles! (I always have the seat right back as I'm a lanky bugger!) I was starting to think it was just me getting old (usually I did notice a slight ache in my back for a few days when "adjusting" to a different car but we've had the ZX on the road for a couple of months now & still no better so maybe it is just the way mid '90s Citroen seats are designed.

I'd have to agree the 405 seats are likely to be a big help, not to mention the lovely plush velour they also came with on some models. They're some of the most comfortable seats I've ever had the pleasure to park my backside on so they should help.

[Stickyfinger]

Auto Trader did a good "COMFORT" survey.... LOL C4 above the new C5x7


1 ROVER 75 95.45%

2 SAAB 9-5 OLD 95.34%

3 VOLVO S60 94.83%

4 VOLVO V50 92.92%

5 MERCEDES E-CLASS MKIII 92.89%

6 JAGUAR XF 92.14%

7 ALFA ROMEO 159 91.43%

8 NISSAN QASHQAI 91.37%

9 SKODA YETI 91.14%

10 SKODA SUPERB NEW 90.77%

11 VOLVO S40 90.74%

12 JAGUAR S-TYPE 90.69%

13 LEXUS IS NEW 90.53%

14 SAAB 9-3 90.26%

15 HONDA ACCORD MKVII 89.88%

16 LAND ROVER FREELANDER NEW 89.78%

17 CITROEN C4 PICASSO 89.63%

18 HYUNDAI I30 (clean) 88.38%

19 Vauxhall INSIGNIA 88.28%

20 MERCEDES E-CLASS MKIV 88.25%

21 CITROEN C5 NEW 88.00%

22 MERCEDES C-CLASS MKIII 87.55%

23 RENAULT LAGUNA MKIII 87.50%

24 SEAT ALTEA 87.30%

25 SEAT LEON MKII 87.02%

26 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF MKVI 86.80%

27 FORD S-MAX 86.67%

28 VAUXHALL ASTRA MKVI 86.56%

29 SKODA OCTAVIA NEW 86.53%

30 KIA CEE'D 86.33%

31 SKODA FABIA NEW 86.27%

32 HONDA CR-V MKIII 86.24%

33 BMW 3-SERIES MKIV 86.18%

34 JAGUAR X-TYPE 86.07%

35 HYUNDAI COUPE 86.06%

36 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT 2000-2005 86.05%

37 FORD MONDEO MKIV 85.92%

38 AUDI TT/ROADSTER NEW 85.71%

39 MERCEDES A-CLASS NEW 85.60%

40 BMW 5-SERIES MKV 85.52%

41 LAND ROVER FREELANDER OLD 85.45%

42 VOLKSWAGEN TOURAN 85.40%

43 ALFA ROMEO 156 85.35%

44 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF MKV 84.98%

45 AUDI A5 84.92%

46 AUDI A6 MKIII 84.84%

47 MERCEDES C-CLASS MKII 84.81%

48 VOLKSWAGEN SCIROCCO 84.72%

49 RENAULT SCENIC/GRAND SCENIC MKII 84.68%

50 BMW 3-SERIES MKIII 84.62%

51 RENAULT MEGANE MKIII 84.48%

52 MAZDA RX-8 84.47%

53 FORD FIESTA MKVI 84.37%

54 MAZDA 6 NEW 84.18%

55 CITROEN C4 OLD 84.13%

56 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT OLD 84.13%

57 BMW 1-SERIES 84.08%

58 HONDA CIVIC MKVIII 84.00%

59 MAZDA 6 OLD 83.82%

60 AUDI A4 MKIII 83.82%

61 CITROEN XSARA PICASSO 83.66%

62 TOYOTA AURIS 83.60%

63 FORD FOCUS OLD 83.53%

64 VAUXHALL ZAFIRA NEW 83.53%

65 AUDI A3 83.50%

66 AUDI A4 MKIV 83.43%

67 FORD MONDEO MKIII 83.38%

68 TOYOTA AVENSIS OLD 83.33%

69 HONDA CIVIC MKVII 83.27%

70 MAZDA MX-5/RC MKIII 83.06%

71 VAUXHALL MERIVA OLD 82.30%

72 RENAULT CLIO MKIII 82.25%

73 SEAT IBIZA MKIV 82.18%

74 VAUXHALL CORSA NEW 82.11%

75 RENAULT MEGANE MKII 82.00%

76 HONDA JAZZ NEW 81.74%

77 MINI ONE/COOPER/COOPER S NEW 81.36%

78 HONDA JAZZ OLD 80.75%

79 NISSAN NOTE 80.75%

80 FORD C-MAX OLD 80.44%

81 FIAT 500 80.25%

82 VAUXHALL VECTRA MKIII 80.09%

83 PEUGEOT 207 80.00%

84 FIAT GRANDE PUNTO 79.70%

85 NISSAN MICRA MKIII 79.53%

86 MAZDA 2 NEW 78.43%

87 FIAT BRAVO 78.13%

88 FIAT PANDA 78.00%

89 TOYOTA COROLLA 77.70%

90 PEUGEOT 307 77.62%

91 VOLKSWAGEN POLO MKIV 77.43%

92 FORD FOCUS 1998-2004 77.14%

93 RENAULT CLIO MKII 76.90%

94 TOYOTA YARIS NEW 76.71%

5 VAUXHALL ASTRA MKV 76.60%

96 FORD FIESTA MKV 76.14%

97 MINI ONE/COOPER/COOPER S OLD 76.06%

98 FIAT PUNTO 75.41%

99 FORD KA OLD 74.44%

100 VAUXHALL CORSA OLD 73.80%

[vulgalour]

Now that the water leaks appear to be resolved in the Xantia we could finally put the carpets back in. Thought it would be a good opportunity to give everything a vacuum and scrub up some of the difficult to access but easy to see plastics at the same time right up until my ancient DC01 broke. First job was to remove the front seats and get everything cleared out ready for the carpets to go in. I don't really like fitting carpets, it has to be said, and I'm now nursing quite a few cuts, grazes and nicks on my hands after doing this job.


Took out the spare seatbelt buckle in the back, there's always been one too many and for some reason I never thought to remove the broken one until now. We now have a suitable quantity of seatbelt buckles in the back.


Everything nice and tidy and clean as it always has been in my ownership. After refitting the carpets and centre console - made easier by disconnecting the handbrake cable, though it's fiddly to reconnect once the centre console is in place - I noticed that the airbag wire Mike had repaired has broken again, must be enough of a connection for the light not to stay on.


I only managed to get the rear carpets and rear seat backs vacuumed before the DC01 conked out on me so the rest will have to be done another day. It is a much nicer place now all the seats and everything are back in.




This weekend I collect the Peugeot 405 front seats, I hope they make the Xantia comfortable for me.

[vulgalour]

I've collected the Peugeot seats and it's not entirely a straight swap as they came from a pre-airbag car. They appear to be slightly wider than the Xantia seats but are immensely more comfortable, I just need to find the time to get them swapped in. Best of all, they're a very similar colour to the Xantia interior so they don't look like they're going to be that badly out of place.

I've had nothing doing on the car front just lately. My regular art job has been keeping me very busy and the garage has also been too busy for me to get time and space for the Renault and the Princess. Xantia just keeps being great.  So apart from recently collecting some Peugeot 405 seats and a Transit minibus bench, and then delivering the bench before heading home, there's been nothing much to report. That is, until tonight. For £notalot I acquired a chintz-tastic three-piece suite that's practically brand new and rather than hire a van I made great use of the Xantia's immense load carrying ability. I've moved furniture with cars I've owned before, but I think a full three piece suite in one go is a new high score. It was only when you got to around 60mph that the car felt anything other than utterly normal, it was very easy to forget there was a sofa on the roof.







You do get a lot of attention these days when you have anything of any size on the roof. I remember this sort of thing being much more commonplace 20 years ago, people just used their car because it was convenient and cheap, no idea why people don't do it so much these days.

[chinkostu]

Are the mounts the same? Otherwise see if you can swap the bases over with the seatbelt.


Good work getting a sofa on the car. Best i've done is get a load of stock for my job in the boot, will have to weigh how much but it was floor to ceiling boot to front seats and not light at all. Car was obviously slower but no affect on handling, took it like a champ!

[bxzx16v]

What don't you like about the xantia seats? I've done close on 200k in Xantia's without a problem .

Mark

[vulgalour]

Xantia seats are too hard and the wrong shape for my back. As mentioned previously, with recent family history on both sides of serious back problems, it's hardly surprising I have some issues. All this is hopefully no longer a problem...

After a frightfully busy week I've had some time today to do naff all. I'm no good at doing naff all so instead I determined to fit the Peugeot seats to the Xantia. Shortly after getting them I'd determined to repair the split seam in the driver's seat, it's a fiddly job to do without stripping the seat down. I made sure that the only damage was to the seam, it looks like the fabric has just given way on this edge but is otherwise quite sound.


Then, using long bead-headed pins hold the fabric about where you want it to sit. Slightly tricky with velour as it does have this tendency to roll up as you try and control it, and it's stretchy so it's easy to make it sit wrong. Patience is your friend with this job.


Finally, using a blanket stitch, pull the two halves of the fabric together until it's all closed up. Velour is great for hiding any unevenness in the stitching. This seat has seen many, many miles so you can excuse the slight sagginess, I'm happy with this. Better yet, no more need to put a cover on it.


Fast forward to today and I already knew that it was a simple matter of unbolting one set of seats and dropping the others in, at least in theory. However, I wanted to retain the airbag wiring and pretensioner bolts as I've still got an airbag fitted so that meant some chopping and changing. I'm not sure if it's the design of the seats, but the frame on the Xantia seats seems to be slightly deeper than the one on the Peugeot although all the bolt fixing holes are identical. Here's the underside of the Xantia drivers seat.


Here's the Peugeot seat after taking the runners off. I then had the problem that I couldn't remove the rest of the frame which I need to do if I want to swap the airbag stuff over. Problem being the fixings...


The bolts that hold the rail to the frame are really easy to get to and remove. The ones behind need a tool that has the relevant head but is Allen key shaped and wouldn't you know it I don't have one of those tools. I tried to use a regular Allen key but something about the shape of the bolt heads made this impossible. You can't get in to drill out or cut off the heads of the bolts to separate the frame either.


So unfortunately that means the driver's seat doesn't have the airbag bits fitted until I get the relevant tool. The bit that gets in the way on the drivers seat is the height adjuster bracketry, since this isn't fitted on the passenger seats that was much easier to move across. However, even this wasn't as straightforward as it should be since I found the corner of the seat frame had been twisted slightly, probably when it was being fought out of the Peugeot, I'm pretty sure this is the same corner that had the seat rail cut through.



Do you know what though, it didn't matter. With a pry bar I managed to get the bolts to line up and that pulled the frame back to square again once it was in the car. The seats don't look too bad in the cabin either, they're a close enough colour match to the original that you don't notice they're replacements so easily. I did swap one of the Xantia side trims on to the passenger seat to hide the airbag gubbins, a straight swap because of what I'd moved over. I'll do the same with the driver's seat once I get the frame properly sorted over.






Most importantly, the comfort levels have increased rather a lot which is the main reason I undertook this job. I feel much more confident that I could drive the car for a greater distance without pain and discomfort now that the hard Xantia seats have been removed.

Next on my list is a single spoke XM steering wheel to replace the Xantia one that's in there at the moment. This will also delete the airbag so all this seat base swapping stuff will likely become a moot point anyway as I'll probably delete the airbag stuff from the car completely.

I have been wondering if a Peugeot rear seat will fit in the Xantia next to match the front seats. Then I'd just need another seat or two for the fabric to retrim the door card inserts and you'd think it was all factory.

[Northern_Mike]

Nice work, but be careful about swapping the wheel for a non-airbag one. It could be an MOT failure depending on your tester's mood.

From 2013 onwards;
"The vehicle will fail the test if any airbag fitted as original equipment is obviously missing or defective"

[Stickyfinger]

Nice work, but be careful about swapping the wheel for a non-airbag one. It could be an MOT failure depending on your tester's mood.

From 2013 onwards;
"The vehicle will fail the test if any airbag fitted as original equipment is obviously missing or defective"

This

[chinkostu]

I did find an old 405 in a scrapyard many months back, had a sit inside while i was rooting around and found it to be far softer on the body.

They actually look like they belong there!

[vulgalour]

Ah yes, the airbag debate. I wasn't sure myself and felt none the wiser after reading up online so I asked MoT testers in the real world and online and got the unanimous response that it's perfectly okay to do providing I do it properly. That means decommissioning the airbag system so the dash light doesn't ignite and making sure there's no visible reference to airbags being fitted on the car. If to all intents and purposes the car appears to have no airbags fitted, it will not be tested for them at the age the Xantia is.

To that end, when I look at fitting an XM wheel I'll need to isolate and disconnect, possibly even remove, the airbag module, the wiring from under the Peugeot seats (so the old frames go back on again) and that should in turn remove the light from the dash. It'll also remove the only reference of airbags in the car which is on the current steering wheel.

@Chinkotsu: They're surprisingly well suited and they are lovely and soft, but not so soft that you have no support at all. The side bolsters help keep my arms in a comfortable position too so I'm not having to stretch to reach the wheel, even the lumber support feels better located than on the Xantia seats.

[chinkostu]

Why not an early s1 wheel? They did have a 2 spoke jobbie with no airbags on early s1 xantias.


Thinking of which, is yours one with the airbag light on the dash rather than the wheel? Mines on the wheel and makes me wonder if an MOT tester who's unfamiliar would fail it!