Elmas Xantia V6 and Musical Stuff

[elma]

Back On the 18/10/14 I bought myself a nice old Xantia from a young lad in Liverpool.
He was off to uni and needed to free up the funds.
My vans kingpins, amongst other things, had failed the MOT despite the repairs being simple and cheap I did not have time to do them and get to work.

So having seen these pictures on Gumtree I went over to have a look.


It was on just over 103k and had only done 800miles over the last 12 months.
It has full service history in that everything ever done to the car is written in the log book.
Up until the end of 2000 the book is stamped by a dealer, after that the work is just written down.
The little notebook is a diary of how much fuel was put in, on which date and what the mileage was.
There is a running tally of MPG and also weather the car was towing or not covering 17 years.


On looking at it I wrote in my note book:

Steering: Good and straight
Brakes: Binding, weak but safe.
Suspension: F Spheres Good, Rear Spheres Kaput, NSF Strut Top worn, rear bump stops missing.
Thermostat, Leaking and sticking, replace housing and thermostat.
Clutch, good, thrust bearing bad.
Engine, service is up to date, leak off pipes worn, accelerator cable incorrect, turbo not boosting, poor idle, cam belt due.
Leak, front hydraulic pipe to Hydractive sphere mount.
Tyres, Front worn, legal. Rear N/S has puncture (not repairable) O/S virtually new. Tyres are firestone 185 65 15 88h.
Rear arms: Solid

It made it home with no drama which is around 95 miles.
I had Paid £330 for it.

[elma]

Up Until the 26th the Xantia mostly just sat on the drive. The van was still legal so other than looking over the Xantia not a lot happened. On the 27th I sold my welder and scrapped the van, freeing up the funds to Tax and Insure the Xantia. I also bought a thermostat and 2 spare seals for £12.47 and chucked in a bottle of redex. The thermostat went straight in, I was surprised but the housing was immaculate inside and all the nasty crystals and corrosion were on the outside only.

The rev counter was dead so I removed the sensor. It had been inserted too far and the end was ground off. I took the one from the Peugeot and fitted it. The rev counter did come back to life but misreads terribly. I think I need to put the sensor in another 1/2mm or so, I was a bit cautious because of the state of the old one.

Whilst doing this I found this unplugged brown clip which still hasn't been returned to it's home.


I had a good play with the turbo as well. Starting by disconnecting the arm from the waste gate actuator and trying it in all positions. It made no difference. I couldn't get to the clip to take the air pipe off and spin the turbo by hand so I removed the one from my scrap 306 only to find its impeller severely damaged. I decideded to put a new impeller and service kit on it but that didn't help now so I hit the Xantias turbo a bit with a small hammer. It has started to make a quiet spooling up noise since then but not really given much boost except on the first drive after the where it went well.

That was all I had time for before my next stint of work. So on the 28th it was taxed and insured and I drove it to work and back from 29/10 to 1/11. It behaved ok other than the rear suspension not existing and the brakes being rubbish. I lumped the nsf front wheel into a kerb in the carpark on day 1 so the tyre was destroyed. Thats how it's ended up with 14s, from the 306, on the front for now. I sourced rear spheres on my work days to fit in the days off but no other progress was made. I also now noticed that the heater matrix was a little leaky and bunged in some radweld stuff. Don't like it but matrix can come out in Summer, theres no way thats a Winter job for me.

I didn't really bond with the car much in the first week. The combination of the suspension and brakes didn't make it as enjoyable as I remembered and after the tyre I was just annoyed. The spheres were a nightmare to get hold of as well but I thought that was all in hand after I found what seemed to be the right factor. I found it strange taking my breaks as well, I used to jump in the back of the van and lie down or cook. The Xantia is different and will take a bit of getting used to.

[CitroJim]

Excellent Elma, great to see you now running a blog and that car looks a good tidy example. Definitely worth spending some quality time on to get fully in order

[bxzx16v]

A nice looking example, loving the cream leather.

Mark

[elma]

So I'm at the end of my third day off. Have spent a fair bit of time helping the Xantia
Day 1. 2/11
Didn't do much car stuff today. Collected my spheres from my parents, Mum collected them for me on Saturday as Sunday was my first day off. Had a fiddle with the turbo pipes and found that the inlet was hard as nails and the outlet was like a balloon. Tried this little bodge which has made a minor improvement but pipes need replacing.



Day 2. 3/11
First thing in the morning the dog had to go to the vets, I took the opportunity to go buy a couple of bits, mostly tools. Firstly a set of wipers, fitted straight away so I have 3 good ones now. Then down to the post office to collect my new mirror, bit of a bargain at £22.



I then had to fit the rear spheres. I wasn't too happy with the spheres as I ordered 4 but only 3 turned up. I am missing the Hydractive centre sphere, which is currently on order. They weren't to hard to fit really, I always thought of them as a bit like changing light bulbs.



Whilst doing the rear spheres I managed to order some new tyres. I've opted for Dunlop Winter Response 2 which will be going on the rear axle and I'll get the same for the front next month when I sort out the strut tops, bushes and tracking. Spheres made a massive difference and instantly made the front end feel like it needs some fresh ones.

Day3. 4/11
Went shopping first. Brought home front discs and pads, Oil and filter but no copper washer, fuel filter, 1L LHM and Brake cleaner. I fitted the fuel filter first as it only takes seconds and the next job was to adjust the diesel pump. You may be able to see that the fuel injection damper has been adjusted about 10mm to compensate for the badly fitted accelerator cable. Initially the idle and fast idle rocker wouldn't move, it wasn't seized the settings had just been changed to the same eliminating the movement. I spent some time fiddling with it and have made a vast improvement. I need to replace the accelerator cable to get it just right though as it sticks where it is routed incorrectly and is cut too short to be of any use.


Once I finished fiddling with the pump I fitted some new front brakes. The old ones were half worn on 3 pads but the N/S outside pad was down to 1mm. I fitted new discs because of this, for the price of them it's hardly worth taking the thickness out of the old ones to match the overwork side. I will measure them up and maybe spin them down if a decent amount of tolerance will be left on them for when the new ones are worn out.



It got dark before I finished that so limited pictures. I bled the front brakes as well, will bleed whole system tomorrow as originally intended Once I did the brakes I replaced the bulb in the boot, which still doesn't work. Slightly annoying and will get fixed tomorrow with the reversing lights.

On going for a run it became apparent the O/S Front brake is rubbing. I know it's the handbrake adjuster as it has 2 wide nuts on it and I thought it was too tight a fit. The callipers were lovely, lots of crud on them but perfect sliders and seals. I believe if I look through the history they will have had a seal kit not too long ago. On the less good side the O/S flexible pipe is nearly torn through and needs replacing. I have one but will get a pipe flaring tool before I risk that.

Car looks like this right now. Check out the fake wood and the silly front wheels.



Tomorrow I will be aiming to get the rear brakes done, rev counter working and reversing light fixed. I also want to get the thing clean. Gearbox and engine oil have to wait until next week as I have been unable to get the sump washers this week. Hydraflush also has to wait for next week due to weather and laziness. I really hope the centre sphere arrives tomorrow so I can fit it, the rear is bumpy with just the other 3 done.

The car has cost £800 so far including all the parts I have fitted, bought or mentioned ordering (i.e. the centre sphere, oils, hydra flush and rear tyres) Not including Tax or Insurance.

[elma]

Day 4 5/11

Got the rear brake pads changed and the brakes bled.
Didn't get much else done, the centre sphere arrived at 16.00 and I had finished with the car so it had to wait.
The rear callipers are suffering from the corrosion problem.
It will be addressed later when the majority of the work on the car is done along with new rear disks.



I had work for the next 4 days so no progress.

10/11 Day 1 Busy with other things.
11/11 Day 2 (of 2 off)

Firstly changed centre sphere, camera ran out of power so only got a picture of the old one.
Was an ok job to do, just have to remove the spare wheel tray for access.
Much easier than the anti sink sphere.
While I was down there I noticed that I don't like the condition of the rear height corrector linkage.
I will be looking into that shortly, the car rides low at the back too so that can be addressed at the same time.



I also swapped the rear speakers for some ok ones I had lying around.
The ones in the back of the car were worn and hissy.

13/11 Day1 (of 1)

Got my new tyres today.
Finally all four corners on the same size wheel and tyre!
The fitting place scuffed up one of the wheels really well though.
Heres some pictures of the side they didn't hurt.



I replaced the headlight bulbs with Osram Nightbreakers as well today.
They have made a massive difference, I was struggling at night before.

Back to work for 4 days after this.
Car is behaving alright now, the front left sphere is low or ruptured though.
The car bounces on the front corner like a pogo stick turning right.
The brakes work really well but they are binding.
The engine is freeing up ok, the turbo still doesn't achieve full boost but with the zip tie bodge it can be felt and heard.
With this in mind I'm confident that after I do the cam belt I can replace the turbo pipes and restore the performance to the engine.

18/11 Day 1 (of 4) Day off, Sun out went to the Beach.

19/11 Day 2

Ordered 2 front corner spheres, the pogo stick effect is dangerous and unbearable.
Wanted 4 but front spheres are budgeted for next month, these 2 are an emergency.
Gave car a clean, was very sandy.
I've got some leather wipes and various interior cleaners I've been trying out on it.
I just gave the outside a wash and wax.
It'll get a proper polish soon, but not yet.
Was dark so I didn't finish cleaning inside.
Will add some pics tomorrow when it's all shiny.
I need to inspect the track rods and P bushes tomorrow as well.
Since doing the brakes and getting the pogo front n/s wheel it (nsf wheel) has also developed a bit of a nervous twitch.
I suspect the bush is gone and I have one on the kitchen table so it should be ok.

[elma]

It looks like it from that photo.
When it's settled at road height it rides about a finger low.
The rear tyres are in line with the arch lip, 0 fingers.
I think it feels the bumps a bit much too.

[elma]

20/11 Day 3
Here we are looking nice and clean.
Interior is sparkling, windows and trim aren't too bad and bodywork is not great.
Couple more weeks and it'll be gleaming.

I accidentally ordered the spheres for tomorrow not today so I'm off out to play now and the rest is getting done tomorrow.



The caravan club badge is going tomorrow as well, I'm not a member.

[elma]

Day 4 21/11

I'm stuck in the house waiting for the UPS man to bring my Front Spheres so other than hoovering and ironing I have a bit of time to play car today. I finally got the reversing lights working this morning. I started by checking the fuses, they were fine but several were the wrong rating so I replaced loads of them with the correct fuses. Once that was done I got a weird problem, with the ignition on the dipped lights dashboard lamp was flashing on and off. The little green relay by the fusebox was ticking at the same time. It was easily fixed by removing and putting back the green relay. After that I bridged the connector to the sensor and the lights worked so I pinched the sensor from my scrap 306 and suddenly the reversing lights work.



I also had a chance to get the rev counter working properly. Just a case of wiggling the sensor in a bit further and it's all working fine now.
The last little niggles I need to fix are that brown lead, I had a good look today and cannot find where it should be plugged in still. It's a brown 2 pin, pink inside and the wires to it are red and black.



The other thing annoying me is that the boot light won't work even with a new bulb, I'll probably look at that in a minute. Finally the passenger mirror doesn't remember the 2nd setting for reverse gear. I'm hoping thats fixed now, will look in a moment. Oh I managed to take off that caravan club badge too.

[Hell Razor5543]

In the boot lid, under the plastic trim, is a white component with two wires going to it. This is a simple tilt switch (small ball bearing touching a couple of contacts), and this is what triggers the boot light.

[CitroJim]

Elma, you might find that brown plug is a spare one that's never been connected! Quite often the Xantia loom contains spare bits for options and slightly different engines..

Does the interior of the plug look like it's been recently connected or does it look well aged and like it's always been disconnected? If so then it's a spare!

James is more than likely bang on the money with the boot light problem... Again, link it out to test.

If the boot light still fails then you'll have a broken wire in one of the concertinas by the hinges...

[Hell Razor5543]

If the boot light still fails then you'll have a broken wire in one of the concertinas by the hinges...

And then you will start swearing, as there is VERY little room to work, and repair wiring. The best trick would be to train pet rats in the art of soldering!

[elma]

I'm off for a look at both things now.
Also to test if my mirror tilts.

[elma]

Got the boot light working. It was the bearing sensor switch. I could only get it working intermittently so swapped it with the one from the 306 which works reliably.



The brown connector does look overly clean inside. I expect it is a blank, I will try to find a blanking plug on the peugeot and secure it out of the way as I find it annoying how it is.

Unfortunately my mirror doesn't hold a second setting for reverse gear, it's not important at the minute I'll investigate later.

Thanks for advice re switch and connector, saved a lot of my time.

One other thing that was fixed last week and I forgot to mention. Originally my speedo wasn't lit up properly between 0 and 40mph plus the fuel and outside temp gauges were unlit. It was fixed on the way home from work by banging the dashboard. They have stayed on since so no removing the steering wheel for me for now.

[CitroJim]

Elma, Excellent The old 306 is donating a good bit of useful stuff to the cause!

Have the spheres arrived yet?