Elmas Xantia V6 and Musical Stuff

[elma]

It's all about getting a decent dog walk for me. I like to sit about for a bit afterwards or I tend to keel over in the middle of the day.

I feel recovered from work now and shall be getting on with a few car things today. Namely that boot light, cleaning the engine bay well the whole car and having another go at the idle speed. I'm hoping for not a lot of rain as I'd like to take off the window seals for a good clean and reshape. They aren't plush against the windows so I will put them in a tray of hot water and reshape them a little. I have a fog light that lets condensation in too so will see if that can be easily fixed.

My shopping list is getting a bit silly for the car now. It's along the lines of £350 for strut tops and new boots, £45 for last 2 spheres, £20 for bushes, £30 for track rod ends, £150 tracking and tyres, £100 cam belt kit and water pump and £45 turbo pipes. A grand total of £730 I'd still spend loads more as well boot struts for example or the Lhm leak. I'm lucky I have loads of parts lying around or this would get out of control. I think maybe it's bad to have a car thats a hobby

[CitroJim]

Elma, have your strut tops rebuilt by Elastomer in Lithuania. He charges 75 euros each and he does a good job. Several of us on here have had tops rebuilt by him...

And have a good successful day today

[elma]

I'd ruled him out on price, I thought he was £75 per side plus shipping. The only problem with that for me is the car is needed almost every day. What was the turnaround time for you? Maybe a bit of planned downtime could be managed for a good saving. It'd be £120 plus I guess £50 for shipping so £160 cheaper because the new boots will still be £20. Takes my forecast down to £520, I could manage that this month.

[CitroJim]

That's the problem with Elastomer, the realistic turn-around time is at least two weeks.

There was once talk of holding a buffer stock in the UK, both for XM and Xantia tops but I'm not sure what the situatio is on that...

[elma]

Thats a bit long for me to manage. I'll just spread the work over 2 months as planned. Bit of a gamble strut tops vs cam belt, I figure strut tops first because they are the bit that could potentially cause a nasty bump. Buffer stock seems clever or even spare knackered ones to refurb. Mine will be available soon if anyone with a Hydractive Xantia is in the same situation as me.

[Northern_Mike]

I figure strut tops first because they are the bit that could potentially cause a nasty bump

I had two timing belt break. One in the outside lane of the A4 approaching Hanger Lane at about 9am.. and the other in the outside lane of the M6 near Sandbach services at a considerable speed (water pump failed)...

Strut tops aren't the only things that can cause a nasty bump :-p

[Hell Razor5543]

It could be worth asking Paul (citroenxm) if he has any strut tops that are suitable for your car. If so, you might consider getting them done, and then swapping them over.

The modified strut tops apparently have a modification to prevent them from spearing the bonnet if they fail in the future. Standard strut tops don't.

I have heard of a BX that had its timing belt fail at speed. It damaged the head, and broke the camshaft into three pieces.

[CitroJim]

I have heard of a BX that had its timing belt fail at speed. It damaged the head, and broke the camshaft into three pieces.

Sadly, that's a pretty common result on an XUD7 and 9 which is why it's so important to do the cambelt regularly and to do it just for peace of mind if you have no previous history of the job being done.

The XUD11 (2.1) and DW10 8V HDi have a different head with rockers. If the belt breaks on those normally and usually only the rockers break and they can be replaced. The problem with an XUD 7 or 9 head is as well as the cam breaking the cam bearing caps also break and strictly these cannot be replaced as the originals are line bored on the head. You might be lucky and find a cap that's a fair fit but it's in lottery winning territory.

I would recommend that the very first job you do is th cam belt...

Good idea to see if anyone has any strut tops you can borrow whilst yours are done Elma.

How bad are yours? Do you have real concerns about them?

[Northern_Mike]

I have heard of a BX that had its timing belt fail at speed. It damaged the head, and broke the camshaft into three pieces.

Yes, my ZX 1.9TD failed "at speed". There was so much smoke and oil about the place when I coasted to a halt, I called the fire brigade because I thought it was on fire.

[elma]

Cambelt I am a bit concerned about, it's due on mileage and on time plus it was sat for a year so should be done regardless. The History with the car confirms this.



The strut tops really scare me. N/S looks like this. The light is from a torch underneath



The O/S doesn't look so bad but the rubber is falling apart.


Maybe I'll put off the track rod ends, tyres and tracking in order to do the cambelt and strut tops faster. I am in the lucky position where I have a spare engine so I guess I have been a bit more worried about bending the bonnet.

[CitroJim]

Those strut tops do look a little past their best Elma. Are the base plates solid and can you see and feel rust under the rubber just below the sheet metal dome? If it's all gone badly crunchy under the done and the baseplate is distinctly thin in places then there is a cause for concern.

I'd be very tempted to to strut tops and cambelt/waterpump as a priority...

[elma]

The N/S is all weak and rusty. I daren't touch it at all. When I bought the car I thought it wasn't to bad but when I got home I played with it a bit with a screwdriver and it just disintegrates. The O/S has intact metal but the rubber is worn and perished, it shows no sign of metal failure but needless to say I don't trust it. I guess the cambelt is in similar condition. Decision is made really, looking at my shopping list from earlier.

£350 for strut tops and new boots, £45 for last 2 spheres, £20 for bushes, £30 for track rod ends, £150 tracking and tyres, £100 cam belt kit and water pump and £45 turbo pipes. A grand total of £730

My budget for this month will be about £500 so Strut tops, spheres, bushes and cambelt kit at £515.
Then next month I can do track rods, front tyres, tracking and mot. I think after that the car will be fairly low maintenance

[CitroJim]

That's what I have found with all my Xantias, spend a lot initially to get them good and then they go on for years needing very little.

Biggest secret to success is to check them over regularly and do any work needed quickly before it turns into something big...

[elma]

Came across my first real tricky job yesterday. Bad enough that I didn't even try to do it. I didn't expect the nut on the front brake hose to be a particularly big ordeal. By the time I'd cleaned around it and could see what I had to turn I wasn't very happy. It's been mishandled, probably, in the past and I've gut a rusty lump with nothing to grip. I'm a tad concerned, even with a flaring tool I don't really see where the pipe goes or the access to fix it. I'll post some pictures later, didn't take any yesterday as I was too busy panicking. Really going to need some advice and maybe even help with this one, I'm frightened to ask a garage too as they probably don't have Citroen flaring tools and could make more problems for me. MOT is sometime towards the end of January so this is Priority 1 with strut tops and cambelt.

On a more positive note I have ordered my Cambelt kit and water pump. I'll more than likely order my strut tops later as well but might just be getting N/S for now, will know more this afternoon. Today I have planned for after dog walk an engine oil change and the same for the gearbox. I finally got hold of my copper washers. I should be putting my Hydraflush in as well but from experience thats the job I always save for tomorrow.

[elma]

Engine oil just changed at 105,129miles. Gearbox oil needs a square socket so I'm off to get one now. No pic of Brake line yet as camera battery not playing today.