Breaking Activa

[arkweld]

eBay item number:202092423743
With leather seats .

[bobins]

MOT had expired a couple of months ago. When it was last MOTd a year ago it had passed, but with advisories on various brake pipe / cables / discs, but nothing too serious. Wonder what finally took it off the road to be scrapped ?

[Stickyfinger]

That will be gone then

[Michel]

MOT had expired a couple of months ago. When it was last MOTd a year ago it had passed, but with advisories on various brake pipe / cables / discs, but nothing too serious. Wonder what finally took it off the road to be scrapped ?

If you're not doing the work yourself all those, if they are now failures make it totally uneconomical to repair. In this area at our local specialist that lot would set you back near enough a grand.. Or more.

[Michel]

MOT had expired a couple of months ago. When it was last MOTd a year ago it had passed, but with advisories on various brake pipe / cables / discs, but nothing too serious. Wonder what finally took it off the road to be scrapped ?

If you're not doing the work yourself all those, if they are now failures, make it totally uneconomical to repair. In this area at our local specialist that lot would set you back near enough a grand.. Or more.

[wurlycorner]

Hi all
Not been on for ages...

I had spotted this one the day it was listed, thought it looked pretty good and it's near me (and ever nearer my barn and car trailer ) so got straight in touch about buying it complete - fancied the idea of fixing it up, putting it on the road for for the mrs to use for a while and then see where we go

Went to see it today and spent about 40 mins with the old girl.
Unfortunately I have left empty handed.
Findings...

Good;
Shell; Straight, no rust (I mean none!) in great condition - really excellent shape, except for lacquer peel all over (both wings, bonnet, boot, door tops etc.)
Interior; pax and rear seats in good condition, drivers seat has bolster wear and a hole in the leather. Carpets very dirty, otherwise all ok
Suspension; Corner and accumulator spheres look relatively new (though always difficult to tell) rest look very old. All pipework in excellent condition (some has been replaced after-market cuprinickel and looks like a decent job). Active control works fine (responds SOOOO much better than mine!)
Brakes; Front calipers/discs look fine (not run for a while so the discs are corroded) pads worn down.

Bad;
Suspension; Rear ram leaks (worse than mine and that corner of the rear sub-frame is well coated in built-up LHM, but I suspect would probably still pass the MOT ok). Suspension was on the deck when I got there (but in high setting) and took a whole 3 minutes of engine running before it started to react in anyway. When it did, the back rose slowly and got to height and then more waiting before the front reacted, again very slowly. Lowering down to normal height setting needed a load of encouragement (sitting on the corners) to get it to lower. After that, it seemed soft enough. Usual leak from pump.
Cooling; System was completely empty. Rad was generally completely knackered all over. It's been repaired with silicone on one side which seems to hold, but the bottom hose connector is split (which I know from personal experience means the metal quick-connector end on the hose is rusted to buggery (it's expanded and caused the plastic to fail) meaning new hose needed - NFP! Also the cooling fan didn't operate.
Engine; Runs absolutely fine, but something on the drive belt side is screaming (couldn't work out what, but bearing on something has gone). I assume the head gasket has gone because there is mayonnaise in the oil filler cap.
Drive-train; Pax inner CV joint has dumped its grease (so assume needs new gaitor)
Exhaust; rear box is not that old by the looks, but is rotten all over, centre section is missing (from cat back - cat is just hanging on the sub-frame)
Brakes; Needs complete rear brake replacement, calipers, caliper bolts, discs, pads. All completely and utterly u/s. Drivers side rear disc heat/dust/backing shield is missing
Electronics; Didn't check everything but the Engine Management Light was on

I was only able to just move it round the yard and run it 20m or so, but didn't notice anything bad in steering/suspension etc.

In essence, to get it back on the road it needs;
- Rad
- Lower Rad Hose (NFP and impossible to copy)
- Full exhaust (I think the section in front of the cat is also damaged)
- Complete rear brake overhaul
- Engine swap or all of the top and side of the engine stripping (by the time you've stripped the head and pulled the cam side of the engine apart to service cambelt and find out what bearing is knackered, tbh I'd just have it out and swap it with my spare)

After that it would still need a complete re-paint to get it looking smart.

They want £500 for the car and having seen it, sadly this car just needs too much money (and time) on top of that, to put it back on the road. It's a real shame, because I bet it drives much better than mine ever has!


Apparently someone else wants to come and look at it to take it whole, so I didn't take any bits off it in the hope they might take it and put it back on the road.
But if not and it's going to be broken, please note that means I want first dibs on the following so that I can finally get mine properly sorted - which I do NEED to do, for my sanity and enjoyment!;
- Seats
- Wheels
- Sunroof mechanism
- Parcel Shelf
- Activa Control Arms/front valvey thing whatever it's called
- Hydractive electro-valves
- Strut Tops
- Spheres
- Activa badges
- ECU's
- Engine Bay Fuse Box
- Bonnet
- Fuel filler cap
+ Interested in all the a/c system...

I've already discussed price on most of the above with the breakers yard.

[Michel]

They want £500 for the car ..

That's the funniest thing I've seen or heard all day today! It's worth scrap value, and that's all. Anyone who pays more than scrap value is completely and utterly insane. Remember, Citroenmad Chris sold his excellent condition, tweaked runner for not much more than that! I sold an MOT runner complete with a new set of spheres (needed fitting) for £350 a couple of years ago!

There's hardly any Activas left, and I'd imagine nearly all the owners now are members here.. so you all know I'm right. I say let the scrapper sweat a bit then pick up the whole car for scrap value..

[wurlycorner]

They want £500 not because that's what they paid for it, or because that's what it would cost to buy a runner, but because that's what they can make by breaking it - and they're probably fair in that assessment.

[Michel]

They can't make that off it in parts unless someone is daft enough to pay top dollar for the parts in the first place...

Most of it is standard Xantia stuff.

[Stickyfinger]

£500....not a chance....
Leaking rams are the only worth while parts (maybe the seats @ £60 as they are ripped)

[wurlycorner]

You're thinking re-sale value of parts only, not including metal recycling...
The steel is worth sod all of course, but you may well be surprised how much you can get for a cat, lead acid battery and alloy wheels (I was - when I took some to a metal dealer earlier this year!)

[CitroJim]

Agreed on price... For £500 I'd be looking at something fully functional, with a reasonable MOT and needing only reasonable TLC to make it reasonably good and far less than this particular example clearly needs...

As a guide, I'd not be looking for a great deal more for mine (less the private plate it wears)...

It's all fixable but not at that kind of price...

[wurlycorner]

Well...

After having walked away...



That is all...