Your opinion... from a anxious noob.

[Kiiva]

Hi all!

New to the Citroen world. I always been attracted to a older Citroen, (XM or Xantia) and now i have a Xantia!
I really LOVE it. Never felt that about a car before. So normall i shouldnt really bother about this, but since i really are obsessed over rust and all. i wanted to ask you who know about this (yes, i suck at cars and mechanic!)

A friend took a look under my car today. And said "Oh my god! This isnt good or even okey. This is BAD!"
I took some photos from my phone, because i wanted to ask someone else. He knows about cars sure, but i just want to deny it.

Then again, being honest is better in the long run. If its really junk, then it is.
I cant tell the condition of a car just looking under it. I just see "stuff" there and i suppose its always a bit dirty under a car. So.. i will show you the photos and wish to hear just how bad this looks to you?

So here i can see that its really bad



Here is where i cant tell if its good, okey, bad or really crap:

[mickeymoon]

Your friend is talking nonsense. That looks clean as a whistle to me! That's just surface corrosion that can be ignored.

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[ekjdm14]

First photo is your standard jacking point abuse but doesn't look to have gone rotten so should be fine to straighten out and paint/underseal.

Sadly the rest of the pics wouldn't load for me but if Mickey says there's nothing to worry about, I would put my mind at rest.

Welcome to the wonderful, sometimes testing, but always interesting world of Hydro Citroens

[mickeymoon]

Put it this way, if I saw a Xantia that clean underneath here in the UK I'd snap it up like a shot!

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[Kiiva]

Put it this way, if I saw a Xantia that clean underneath here in the UK I'd snap it up like a shot!

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Honestly?? I cant tell you how much better i feel now. I'm not trolling, i'm just super OCD when it comes to things that i'm really attached to.
So now i question myself: "Maybe i did choose the "best" spots, unaware of it, but hoping that someone will convice me that its alright" (OCS hate it. Cant trust myself)

Well, anyhow.. i cant ignore the fact that i have that big hole inside the wheelhouse. And it shows when you open the backseat door... So i can only imagine how rotten it is in there.
But still i'm more than grateful for your posts. I did actually lose ALL interest of my car after he said that. Now i feel i want to walk out my apartment, and enjoy my car again. And this is thanks to you!
Even if the answer would be "yes, it looks really bad" then i would try to find another with less rust. I would feel bad for sure, but honest answers are better even if its something you dont want to hear.

[Kiiva]

First photo is your standard jacking point abuse but doesn't look to have gone rotten so should be fine to straighten out and paint/underseal.

Sadly the rest of the pics wouldn't load for me but if Mickey says there's nothing to worry about, I would put my mind at rest.

Welcome to the wonderful, sometimes testing, but always interesting world of Hydro Citroens

Oh, i couldnt see the pics at first either. But now it seems to be working.
And thank you for the welcoming!

[mickeymoon]

Can you post a picture of the hole near the door you mention?

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[Stickyfinger]

I can only see one image (the first one)

[Kiiva]

Can you post a picture of the hole near the door you mention?

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Inside the wheelhouse you mean?

[Kiiva]

I can only see one image (the first one)

Oh thats weird?? I will try and see if i can fix it!

[Kiiva]

Now it should be working

[Stickyfinger]

Working OK now.

From what I can see there are no problems of worth there.

There may be some areas that can do with some light repair to the under-seal (using products from the DINATROL I recommend) as would be expected with any car 20(ish) years old.
There are some good guides on-line on how to do this.

Common places to check are the Sill End plugs, rear subframe (the rear ones) mounts and the areas around the door/sill junction and behind the front wheel arch liners/door pillar for mud build up esp if you have mud flaps fitted.

[ekjdm14]

Pictures working now and I agree you have what looks to be a solid car to start with. The hole you describe sounds to me like the rusty jamb issue that affects all but the most pampered Xantiae, pics of that would be useful to see how much work it may or may not need but if you look at the 'sticky' posts in this forum you'll see it's a fairly standard Xantia issue. The post in question is called 'the answer to the rusty Xantia jamb' sorry I can't link it at the moment as I'm on an iPod not my laptop!

Congratulations on getting such a lovely looking car too, the black leather is my favourite

[Stickyfinger]

this link

viewtopic.php?t=42540&start=30

[ekjdm14]

Thanks Alasdair