Simon's new Xantia V6 and Leaf blog

[Mandrake]

I'd rather just do the job once guys, not twice a few days apart on my week off.

If they'd had the rear strut spheres and accumulator that are both in urgent need of replacement I would have got them to send those early, but they didn't. The ones they have aren't particularly urgent ones...

If you'd seen the condition of this car underneath you'd know that sphere removal is not going to be a problem - I've already wiped the junction of the rear strut spheres and cylinder clean and given it a good spray of LPS, there's no corrosion there at all, it looks almost like a New Zealand car...

I'm fairly optimistic about being able to get the spheres off without too much trouble. We're not talking about a 200k rust bucket here...

[Mandrake]

So I did a little bit of tinkering yesterday and adjusted the position of the windscreen wiper crank - it was annoying me that the wipers actually came back up about an inch before stopping and it was clear that the wiper motor has been out before and wasn't adjusted properly... In the process I found the missing nut for the the top of the LHM tank stuck inside the windscreen wiper cavity...pity I didn't find it before I stole the nut off the old car...

I checked on the leaking hydraulic pump and the top pipe o-ring is leaking quite a bit more now. Enough that the alternator has a thin coating of oil all over the front of it. I checked the LHM level and it required a small top up so there is definitely a significant leak and there aren't any other leaks visible on or under the car to explain the drop in level.

I suspect the dud accumulator sphere is putting a lot of strain on the o-ring by causing very high pressure spikes every time the regulator cuts in and out - the clicking is very rapid indeed, so it will be a relief to get the new accumulator sphere fitted - with luck on Friday if they are delivered by then.

Hopefully with the new accumulator sphere fitted the o-ring can last until late October - by then we will be moved into our new house and I will be able to work on the pump at my leisure in a garage out of the weather! I might as well take the pump out and do the job properly, replacing the iffy looking aux belt at the same time and cleaning the alternator.

Does anyone know off hand what size and depth ring spanner is needed to get the "difficult" mounting bolt for the pump out ? When we had the pump out of the old car Richard fortuitously had just the right deep reach ring spanner for the job without which it would have been impossible - I know for a fact I don't have a suitable spanner so will have to buy one to be able to do the job by myself, if I only I knew what size it was.

The buzzy bee noise when accelerating is definitely the exhaust hole in the pipe in front of the rear muffler and its getting worse. I'm thinking about putting a halfords wrap around patch around it to keep it quiet until we get a chance to look at repairing it properly.

I popped the cover off the fuse box for the first time and noticed a few things "missing". On the left hand side there is a blue relay missing and a maxi fuse missing in the middle at the bottom, anyone know what these are for ?



On the main fuse box on the right hand side fuse F4 is missing:



Unfortunately I didn't get an owners manual with the car, nor do I have Series 1 wiring diagrams so I have no idea what the missing fuses and relay are for...(does anyone have a 1997 S1 owners manual that covers the V6 that they want to sell ? Or for that matter electronic copies of S1 wiring diagrams ?)

[Trainman]

I'll have a look at mine in the morning and get back to you, you can usually pick handbooks up off flabby, if there's anything specific, let me know and I'll scan mine.

[CitroJim]

Simon, the missing relay is for headlight washers which I don't think you have...

Get the pump off an resealed as soon as you can as it can't be done in-situ. Otherwise you will end up like me and have an alternator caked in filth from the slow week of LHM spilling onto it and then getting muck mixed in with it. I was shocked and horrified at the state of mine and I know you would be too. Mine had to come off for a clean and that means dropping the aircon compressor. No need to depressurise it though...

The pump is easier to remove than it might initially look.

I have all the S1 diagrams so tell me what you want as and when and I'll make them available to you...

[RichardW]

service.citroen seems to show M8 mounting bolts, so I expect they are 13mm head Simon. You need a set like this: deep offset spanners which includes the all important 16 and 18mm that Citroen so love Now you (nearly) have a garage there's no excuse not to start filling it with tools, is there???

[KP]

I wouldn't bother with the halfords thing, it's a bit thin.

If use the following;
Cleaned out baked bean tin
Wire from coat hanger
Gun gum paste
Sandpaper.

Sand off all around the hole back to bare metal.
Apply exhaust gun fun around the hole in a nice circle shape.
Cut bottom cm off the baked bean tin and then slit the can down the vertical and cut to the right hieght you need.
Bend tin before fitting to the right curvature as best you can.
Fit tin around the hole and then use the wire from the coat hanger around it and then using some pliers tighten it right down and start the engine

Job done and will probably last longer than the rest of the exhaust and technically you've now got a partially stainless steel exhaust system lol

[Mandrake]

service.citroen seems to show M8 mounting bolts, so I expect they are 13mm head Simon. You need a set like this: deep offset spanners which includes the all important 16 and 18mm that Citroen so love Now you (nearly) have a garage there's no excuse not to start filling it with tools, is there???

Thanks Richard, I do need a set of spanners like that, I'm tempted to hit buy to help fill out my tool collection.

The only thing is though, do you think those ones are deep enough for that specific job ? I'm pretty sure the one we used was twice as deep as that with a very steep angle - and the nut was a right PITA to reach, so I'm not sure that one of those would actually do the job ?

In other news, I just got a text from DPD telling me that my spheres will be delivered between 10:12 and 11:12 this morning, a number of days earlier than I was expecting - result! Might even get the spheres done today, although I haven't prepared for the job yet as I wasn't expecting them so soon. Have to dig out all the tools and things that I'll need...

Did I ever get back that long reach spark plug tube socket that I use as an extension for the sphere removal tool ?

[KP]

Always start soaking the threads for spheres as soon as you think you might want to change them, especially the non corner ones.

[Hell Razor5543]

Do make up Xacs' sphere removal tool if you haven't already got one. It definitely does work. Something else you might want to do is to loosen off the spheres on a regular basis (say, every 6 months), as when I recently replaced them on Gracie the only one that needed help in moving was the accumulator sphere. All the rest were hand tight and came off easily (2 hours all told, including brake bleeding!).

[Mandrake]

No need for Xac's tool, I have one of these...

[CitroJim]

Does that tool work OK Simon? I've seen those in the past on the 'bay and wondered if the bolt lock works well on really tight spheres... Is there a risk of distorting the band?

I agree with you Will on the exhaust repair. A baked bean tin and a tub of gun gum will be much better than the so-called repair kits you can get. I tried one on my old XM and it was not really 100%...

[Mandrake]

Yes, they will shift even the most stubborn spheres Jim, although for those a bit of tube slipped over the handle to roughly double the handle length for more leverage is necessary...(at least for pipsqueaks like me! )

I haven't actually used this one yet - I had one that was identical but only had one bolt instead of two - that one did the silver problem child's spheres, and was also the removal tool that ripped a chunk of cylinder off the rear strut on Richard's defunct Xantia, so it's more than up to the job, too good if anything.

I ended up giving that one to Richard (who then promptly sent his Xantia to the baked beans factory ) and picked up another one from the same seller with the two bolt design.

The one bolt design did cause the loop to distort a bit when you do the bolt up really tight - I sometimes had to tap the loop with a hammer after use to correct its shape so I could slip it over the next sphere - I'm hoping that the two bolts will minimise this effect by spreading the load.

For £15 it's hard to go wrong though...

And just as I was finishing that the delivery has arrived! I'm like a kid about to open Christmas presents! Pity the weather is looking oppressive and overcast...

[Hell Razor5543]

I'll see if I can get the fan on the south side of Reading to blow you some better weather!

[CitroJim]

That's great Simon, good to know that tool works well Sounds like it's as good as the pukka Pleiades tool.

(who then promptly sent his Xantia to the baked beans factory ) .

Just think, it could be a little of Richard's old car that ends up patching your exhaust!

[Hell Razor5543]

I think the spheres have arrived. He hasn't updated the blog, so he must be fitting them (and then hooning around checking they work!).