Ever wondered whats behind.......

[citroenxm]

The rear panel Rot that xantias suffer from???? I did too, and today while at the farm, the scrap Xantia had a patch.. so it met my heel...







And YES! The rot patch IS OUTSIDE OF THE REAR ARCH profile! so it is No Way rear splash from wheels.

I took a pic of the inside of the hole with a flash on my phone, but it failed to work, so Ill do it again next time im up there..

I can clearly see the top side of the rear arch!!

Actually in the last pic, the white seen on the botton left of the hole is the sealant "Mastic" that Citroen use on seams...

Looking at it now, I wonder if its a Seam seal failiure hence the hit n miss on some that do some that dont...

[Zelandeth]

Interestin . I've got a whacking great dent there on my nearside, but no rust thankfully!

Wonder if this could be a condensation issue? Quite a way from panel edges, so likely not touched by paint. Takes very little water to get in there to start condensation and corrosion. As a Lada Niva owner I know that only too well...our inner front wings rot out for the same reason.

[CitroJim]

Gosh, that’s quite crumbly inside too Paul...

Can you go any deeper in with the inspection or is that car to be repaired?

[citroenxm]

Scrapper mr jim.. The car is positiond ready to get the engine out... thats all I want.. then its going.. so yes we can open it up more no problem.. prehaps we could sticky this topic too as it could be qiite important like the door shut one??

[CitroJim]

That'll be really good to cut into it further Paul and making it a sticky will be done!

Thanks for this, all good useful stuff

[Eddie Nuff]

Hmmm interesting! Mine has a couple of tiny rust bubbles on the NSR which haven't broken the paint yet, but they are up on the crease at the bottom of the C pillar. They have to be sorted before it's too late.

[citroenxm]

Well got some "Internal" shots tonight... and heres whats behind that rot on the outside...









So there you are... make what you like of how and why, inside there it happens..

[Citroenmad]

Very interesting

There will be a gap around the panel and wheel arch to allow water to get in, as its clearly not from inside-out.

I suspect, as with the rear door opening/sill area, it is a bad seam around the rear panel and inner wheel arch.

It does seem that some Xantias have a better 'seal' and therefore don't rot out like others do. For example, very late estates tend to be by far the worst for this area and the door opening rust.

Its why I don't use mine in the winter to save the salt from getting in there and I hardly even use them in the rain now!

[citroenxm]

Hi chris..

I posted else where about the rear door shuts.. thats a leading wheel arch edge fault as I found on an M reg car..

[CitroJim]

Thanks Paul for updating this thread

[Xantianut]

Aha! That's where the water's getting into the passenger compartment of the old girl.

She's headed for the scrapper. Not much else of use on her TBH.