Simon's new Xantia V6 and Leaf blog

[myglaren]

Sailun winter tyres are reportedly quite good and low cost.
I went for Sailun tyres in August but there were non in stock so have four ditchfinders on at the moment.
Actually not that bad. Will try Sailun next time, which won't be long the way I get through tyres.

[elma]

I use winter tyres for about 3 months every year. This year I have Dunlop winter response and I'm very happy with them. I live up a big hill and never struggle to get up or down. One thing people seem to overlook with summer vs winter tyres is that the rubber compound is different as well as the tread pattern. Summer tyres have rubber that softens as the temperature rises above 7°c, winter tyres get grippier the lower the temp drops below 7°c. Even with winter cheapies vs good summer tyres at this time of year the difference is night and day.

[Mandrake]

Still not sure what to do - it seems that 205/60/R15 is not a common size any more and the winter tyre selection in this size is small to non-existent on many of the tyre websites... and those that do have any are over £100 each. For some reason although the load and speed rating on the door card is 91V most websites list the car as needing 91W. And some websites only go up to an H or T speed rating in 205/60/R15 (too slow) even after doing a REG search for the car! (Even if I tell it 91V manually it gives me matches for H and T as well, which are too slow and thus illegal)

I also have the problem that almost nowhere near me will balance centerless rims - I already phoned around a dozen places last time I was trying to get a new tyre fitted including a couple that black circle specifically said could balance centerless rims to be told "sorry we can't balance those".

The only place near me that has balanced them for me before is National Tyres and Autocare in Motherwell but their website lists NO winter tyres in my size. (I will try phoning them tomorrow though to see what else they can do)

Trying to find somewhere that both has good deals on winter tyres in the correct size AND can balance the centerless rims seems like a very tall order...

I'm in a bit of a quandary because I will soon have two sets of rims, and the whole idea of the second set of rims was so that I could keep a summer and winter set of tyres and not have to pay anyone to swap tyres between rims every season...as soon as I saw the weather change in the winter I could swap the wheels over in the garage.

So I do want to get some decent (but not too expensive) winter tyres to go on the current rims, and will have summer tyres on the other rims.

[DHallworth]

Simon, if you go down the winter wheel route just buy your tyres online and bring them to me when you collect the wheels, I'll fit them to the rims and balance them for you.

David.

[DHallworth]

Feel free to take a trip up, Mike!

[Mandrake]

Simon, if you go down the winter wheel route just buy your tyres online and bring them to me when you collect the wheels, I'll fit them to the rims and balance them for you.

David that's very kind of you - I may take you up on that offer if I do go ahead and get some winter tyres.

Not having to worry about finding somewhere that can also balance the centerless rims means I could shop around for a better deal on the tyres and order online for delivery. I'll have a look and see what's on offer - still can't decide what brands/types to consider, and now that I'm replacing a faulty battery as well we'll have to see how much money is left over.

The house has progressed another step today so getting a move in date could be imminent - I'm not sure whether to look for tyres before moving or leave it until after moving, as that could be pretty soon!

[RichardW]

If David's happy to swap them over you can have the pair I've got here and swap them over to your alloys - that will make a good start! They're not doing any good in my garage.... You can get away with lower speed ratings on winter tyres - H is rated for 130mph (which is I think what mine are) - unless you are going to drive across Germany foot to the floor on the Autobahn, that's more than enough for UK use!

[Mandrake]

A lot has happened since my last update...

A couple of weeks ago I finally took the car into Mackies for a gearbox hot flush.

It does seem to have improved the gearbox somewhat, they commented that it "looked like it has been done before", which I'm assuming just means the oil was cleaner than they were expecting at the mileage... They also explained that because the filter can't be removed in-situ on that gearbox (which we already know) what they do is repeated forward and reverse flush cycles...

I wasn't aware that they could be reverse flushed, but apparently they can and I guess that helps to clear both sides of the filter. They said it was on the flushing machine for about 4 hours...

I was wondering where they connected their machine to because they hadn't disturbed the air filter box above the oil cooler, today I discovered this:



There's clearly a small weep from the banjo joint, if I had to guess I would say they didn't replace the washers with new ones... This joint was absolutely bone dry and leak free before I took it into them...

I'm not sure whether to take it back or just fit the new washers I already have that I bought for the previous car that are still in my toolbox... It's a big inconvenience for me to get the car back to them again for the day due to their location, and due to us being the middle of........MOVING HOUSE!

The house move is a story in itself, suffice to say that we have been "moving" for about a week but have ended up having to do a fair bit of renovating before we can actually move in and stay properly...so I still don't really have a good place to do this banjo joint.

Another thing that is worrying me beside the banjo leak, is in the last several days (after hundreds of miles of driving back and forth during moving and renovating etc) the front suspension on the car has started to make a very worrying "creaking" noise.

I can't tell for sure if it's coming from both sides or just the front left, but when the car is stopped with the foot brake on if I release the brake in drive I get a creak, if I accelerate I get another creak, if I then brake it creaks again - basically any change between braking and accelerating at very low speaks causes a lot of creaking.

This has crept up only in the last few days. Today I noticed it is also creaking quite badly if I rock the steering from side to side - I had my other half rock the steering for me while I listened outside, I can't hear it above the engine bay but if I listen in both wheel arches there is a loud continuous creak for as long as you are turning the wheel. It seems slightly louder on the left hand side but is quite loud on the right too.

Of course I'm s**t myself thinking I've got a failing front left strut top that is about to go POP through my bonnet - does anyone know if a creaking noise when turning the steering and alternating between brake and power is a warning sign ?

The only other thing I can think of is I accidentally drove through some deep (maybe a foot deep) water at about 70mph in the dark on a motorway about a week ago - frightened the hell out of me as I didn't see it coming, was overtaking a truck at the time and had to fight to control the steering so that I didn't get pulled into the centre barrier by the drag of the water on the right hand side.

The whole right hand side of the car was soaked (solid sheet of water over the windscreen) and it was bad enough that once I regained control I was worrying about whether the engine had sucked in enough water to hydra-lock... Apparently not, because the engine is still running fine and I can't see anything wrong under the bonnet or wheel arches since... but the creaking noise has only started since then and snuck up fairly rapidly.

So I'm wondering if the water could have soaked my hand brake cables causing them to seize ? I think they were already getting a bit seized and are possibly already chafed through thus might allow water into them when the wheel arch was completely flooded.

So anyone have any ideas what the creaking noise is ? It seems to be getting worse by the day and I'm almost afraid to drive the car now in case it is a strut top ready to let go, yet we're in the middle of moving and renovating so I really need to keep driving the car...not to mention we're booked in for a wekend stay at Aviemore next weekend!

PS does anyone know the correct Nm for the banjo bolt ?

[CitroJim]

Good to hear from you Simon, been wondering where you were too...

Have you tried lubricating the struts? Wipe a bit of LHM on them and see if the creaking goes..

Excellent new that the house move is finally in flight

Interesting on the hot flushes...

PS does anyone know the correct Nm for the banjo bolt ?

No, but I'm sure I'll have it somewhere... Surprised Mackie's didn't replace the washers as a matter of course...

[CitroJim]

Simon,

I've checked my documentation and cannot find any torque setting for the banjo..

Tight enough but not too tight is the watchword.. There s a risk of crushing the banjo if you go too tightly...

[RichardW]

Hi Simon - long time no hear, was thinking you had gone and bought a rice burner run about or something

Good news on the house!! What work have you been up to in it? Need to borrow any power tools Trust me, you NEED an SDS drill. Even if you only want to drill one small hole in a solid wall - they make a normal hammer drill look like a toy!

Creaking noise....an odd one. Personally I doubt it's the strut top(s) as there is no movement there on a Xantia when the wheel is turned AFAIK - the piston rod is fixed and the strut turns around it below (or is it? Does the gaiter wind up when you turn the steering? Or does that rotate on the strut as well?) It should be easy to put your mind at rest anyway - if they are bad, then they will be visibly so from the top and bottom. Also as it creaks as you put the power on / off, that would seem to me not be strut top related as there would be no movement there. I wonder if the bushes on the lower arm(s) have failed. We got all sorts of odd noises from our ZX when it had a totally wrecked bush.

[Mandrake]

No, but I'm sure I'll have it somewhere... Surprised Mackie's didn't replace the washers as a matter of course...

Apparently not. Here are the old corroded washers next to the new pair that I bought for the old V6 and never fitted:



I've seen worse on the other car (where one split completely) but it's still corroded enough to leak, especially when the joint is as mucky looking as this: (after cleaning with petrol)



All cleaned up with new washers fitted:



Bone dry after a test drive. I got it up to 80 degrees (which is hard to do on this car...) and checked the level - a smidgen over the high mark so it may have been slightly overfilled before the leak.

I'm not going to complain as such but I will email them a picture of the leak and the state of the washers to bring it to their attention. We're driving up to Aviemore next weekend so I really wanted this fixed before then, so I'm happy with today's effort!

While I had the excuse that I was working on the car I finally got around to adjusting the ride height - I dropped the front by 10mm and raised the rear by 10mm - it rides better now and the ride height looks better proportioned to my eye... I also greased the struts. (No difference on the squeak, but the ride improved noticeably)

I still think the front suspension intermittently sticks in hard mode - especially after you've been driving for a while, so I think it could do with an electrovalve swap at the front...(the diode mod has already been done and it hasn't solved it)

[Mandrake]

Hi Simon - long time no hear, was thinking you had gone and bought a rice burner run about or something

Good news on the house!! What work have you been up to in it? Need to borrow any power tools Trust me, you NEED an SDS drill. Even if you only want to drill one small hole in a solid wall - they make a normal hammer drill look like a toy!

Too busy moving house to post on the forum or write email! (I haven't even updated my mum with what's going on yet ) No internet at the house until next Friday as well, and really crap mobile reception from both Three and EE - in the back rooms in the house it goes to GPRS or No Service so can't really use internet via phones either, unless I go upstairs or near a window in the front rooms...

Will PM later about the house when I get caught up a bit - I don't really want to air all it's dirty laundry in public...

Creaking noise....an odd one. Personally I doubt it's the strut top(s) as there is no movement there on a Xantia when the wheel is turned AFAIK - the piston rod is fixed and the strut turns around it below (or is it? Does the gaiter wind up when you turn the steering? Or does that rotate on the strut as well?) It should be easy to put your mind at rest anyway - if they are bad, then they will be visibly so from the top and bottom. Also as it creaks as you put the power on / off, that would seem to me not be strut top related as there would be no movement there. I wonder if the bushes on the lower arm(s) have failed. We got all sorts of odd noises from our ZX when it had a totally wrecked bush.

I had the wheel off repairing the banjo joint today and noticed that it doesn't creak at all turning the steering with no weight on the front left wheel (the front right was still carrying some weight) but it squeaks instead like a squeaky door hinge!

It's got to the point now where I can rock the steering wheel left and right while stationary and get an obvious creak each way. Also after doing the banjo joint and dropping the car down onto it's wheels when I was trying to manuvere to reverse out the gate I noticed that when I turned the wheel to the left I got a low/loud shuddering noise!

I'm pretty sure now that the problem is related to driving through road flooding at high speed - I think I've thrown a massive amount of water (possibly with salt) up into the steering linkages and steering rack and it's the steering system that is creaking and groaning... I haven't checked but I suppose it's possible the steering rack boot could be off or have a hole thus letting water in.

The question is what to do about it ? What parts of the steering system can be greased to restore normal operation ? The steering doesn't feel any heavier but it sure is noisy now...

BTW the strut tops on a Xantia do twist from side to side as you turn the steering wheel - a LOT! Thus my concern that the rubber could be failing. I peered underneath with a torch when I was greasing the struts and couldn't really see anything wrong though. The metal plate on the top side does have surface rust but nothing out of the ordinary I think...

Interesting that the noise went away when there was no weight on the front left wheel though. (Suspension was in high so the strut would still have been under load)

If it's still noisy next time I visit I might get a hand to go noise hunting!! It really needs one person to rock the steering while the other pokes about underneath trying to identify the location of the noise...

[Northern_Mike]

I can't help with any of that Simon, however when you get broadband working, if you're not already using it, download 3's "3 in touch" app for your phone. It lets you use wifi for calls and texts. I use it at home where my 3 signal is none existent.

Good luck in your new home!

Vorsprung berk Technik

[CitroJim]

Simon, my Activa has been creaking for years.. It used to bother me but it no longer does and it is normal for strut tops to move around good bit from lock to lock...

I could never trace the source of the creaks except it only creaks when it's hot in warm weather. Cold and cold it's silent...