Elmas Xantia V6 and Musical Stuff

[superloopy]

Just the passengers that rock n roll eh

[Stickyfinger]

at least the S1 Xantia's have a Jesus Christ handle for them

[Xantianut]

Ay up!

My mother christened it the Oh My God!!!!! handle.....

I do like a car that corners,,,,,

[elma]

After a lot of searching I have decided to buy the Scenic. I can't find a better car for the same money and having driven it for a couple of months I trust the car. It's not perfect but it only has niggles rather than problems and I've known it since it was 3 years old. I will be investing in a full service and a rocker gasket which I think will cure the niggles. I have a feeling it's all the result of a poor last service and won't actually need any fixing.

[lexi]

Put a few pics up please James.

[elma]

Sometimes a picture says everything.



Sorry no pictures of the Scenic, it's a great car but not a hobby at all.

[CitroJim]

Well bought James

Welcome to V6 ownership

[elma]

I'm very much looking forward to it Jim. It's my first 6 cylinder car so will be another massive Xantia learning process for me. I know there is an impressive amount of guides and information here on the forum which I will be studying. The list of little issues with the car really isn't that worrying. I believe I have a lot more to learn to take care of the engine and gearbox than I do to get the car back into shape.

The niggles that need tending to and how I intend to sort them are as follows:
1. The drivers seat will not move forward which Howard believes is a mechanical restriction on the left rail.
I'll be bringing a set of Torx Keys and trying to fix this before driving home just in case the seat is already too far back for me.

2. The headliner is sagging in the front.
I've read that using a steamer on the headliner can melt the gum allowing the headliner to be reapplied with a paint roller. I'll be trying this first and if it doesn't work looking at chopping out a section to reglue the fabric too and then fibreglass it back together.

3. The central locking plays up.
This I can live with for a while and will investigate in summer when I will be removing the interior for a serious Valet.

4. One rear door shut needs welding the other needs dressing and painting possibly welding.
This will be welded at work very soon and painted with rattle cans.

5. The boot lid needs paint.
I will paint it with cans when I fix the door shuts.

I plan to give it a service, including gearbox oil, in time for the mot in December and to change the cambelt in Summer 2017. All other jobs will be assessed by driving it home from Norwich to North Wales.

I'm not sure if I can afford this car as a daily driver and wouldn't try until it has proven reliable anyway. So it shall be my weekend car with the Scenic doing the daily chores in the short term. Once I've got the faults dealt with and a fresh Mot I'll decide If I can afford the V6 as my daily driver and probably sell the Scenic.

[CitroJim]

That's not such a bad to-do list James Hopefully the seat issue is just a problem with the switch.

I may have one here. We can have a look when you collect the car and hopefully fix it before you head for home...

The welding would have been the biggest for me and as you have that sorted, no problem...

They make excellent daily drivers and driven carefully are frugal enough too...

Just keep away from the sport button!!!

What are your plans for your other Xantias?

[elma]

Unfortunately both gone to scrap Jim. Red was destroyed in floods and I gave up on doing Greens clutch when I found the seat belt mounts were rotted through. No one was interested in Green and I was under pressure to get rid as I'm staying with my parents and they don't like old Xantias around the place at all. I have a feeling I'll be buying back the mirrors, wheels and tyres now.

I've been surprised by the prices of V6 parts as they are mostly cheaper than the 1.9td. So far the only expensive looking bits are the cambelt kit and the W rated tyres which seem to be almost impossible to find in 15". All the basic servicing stuff comes in at very little and the engine oil is £23 for 5 litres!

[CitroJim]

Ahh, sorry. I didn't realise that was what happened to Green and Red

Cambelt kit can be expensive if you do all of it but I find that you can often re-use the tensioner and jockeys if they are OK when examined...

Belt itself is not too expensive.

Main thing is to do the water pump and if not already done, swap to a C5-type tensioner.

Just use ordinary 10W 40 fleet oil in it, I always did. No need of anything special oil-wise.

Ditto W rated tyres. No need. The Activa was originally specified to use W rated tyres and then it changed to V rated tyres later in production; that may too be the case of the V6.

[superloopy]

My 98 reg v6 is specced to use V rated tyres.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

[CitroJim]

My 98 reg v6 is specced to use V rated tyres.

Thanks Mike, my belief confirmed

[elma]

Well thats handy to know as putting V in the place of W opens up a decent choice of tyres. With a 149mph speed rating V will be more than adequate. I won't be rushing to buy tyres though unless I find the ones fitted to be particularly terrible or faulty which I doubt.

Advice is spot on on the cambelt, I won't be replacing any serviceable tensioners. They have possibly been on the car 20 years when I get round to it though so I won't be upset if I have to do them. I'll maybe take the belt off and spin the guides for an assessment and a practice run before the real work starts.

The car is listed as using Total Quartz 5w40 fully synthetic oil. The price in the link is good if I buy 2 bottles it'll be £40 delivered with their extra 10% off offer. As the Scenic uses the same spec oil I think I'll go for that just to keep things simple.

Most importantly though I must arrange the collection of the car which will involve insurance, tax and a train ticket. It's looking like a big adventure already.

As a little footnote I'm pondering calling this one Blue. I don't actually name cars, well except for "Bling" my Gold 1.9td Lx I drove at Uni. I just got fed up of writing the Red one and the Green one in my blog and shortened it. Having had Red and Green I now think it would be weird not to complete the RGB trio.

[wurlycorner]

Good buy elma - I had agreed to buy the car if you hadn't popped up, so I am rather jealous (but also relieved, because, tbh, I don't need any more citroens to fix )