Bidding on old xantia, has two problems.

atpbx

atpbx

atpbx

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Im currently highest bidder on a 2000cc N reg xantia (only £155) to use to get to work.

It has two problems the seller says:

One, the suspension doenst pump up.
And two, the ABS light is on and stopping is a bit dubious, but its got a couple of months T&T on it so i figure, if i get it for a couple of hundred notes its a gamble i can take if i can get it sorted cheaply or just bang it straight back out again if i cant.

So whats the deal with the suspension? they recon they had a new part fitted and that sorted the problem, and it might "need adjusting"?
And what could be the ABS problem?

I'm half an hour from a Specialist Citroen breaker for bits and bobs, and the workshop at the depot will fit parts for me, i'm just after a rough idea how much i'm going to be looking at shelling out.
 
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There could be a number of reasons why the suspension won't rise on the Xantia.

Some of them could be very cheap to fix, others could be very expensive to fix. Could be the hydraulic pump, could be the height corrector, could be the clip which connects the linkage to the height corrector..
 
As said could be a number of things. The problem is that most mechanics don't have a clue about Xantia suspension so your average garage may not be that helpful. secondly a good working N plate one should be about £500 so you may as well get one that actually works.
 
Unfortunately from mine and friends experience cars advertised with faults have generally been checked out and deemed uneconomical. It really depends on how good you are with cars and how much it is worth to you when bidding. many times what the owner deems uneconomical you would be more than happy to pay to have repaired.
 
The only reason i'm bidding on it is:

A- I am a cheap skate when it comes to cars.
B- There is literaly NOTHING with less than a 180000 miles, thats working, has a valid MOT to drive it from the seller, thats less than 15 years old available at the minute for less than £500.
So if i get it for £200, that leaves me £300 notes to get it going, and im better off than buying a £500 wreck.
There was a nice Rover 620 on there for a buy it now of £550 but, it was an old rover.
;)

As ive said, at the minute its £155 quid, with tax and MOT, so its less than a day at the football, less than a half decent graphics card, and more importantly, IF it can be fixed it saves me £4000 this year in diesel and rental on the truck (as i can reduce the lease from 50k to 35k)
 
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The thing is with the Xantia they are so cheap to buy working it seems pointless to me to buy them not working. Especially if it's a petrol Xantia as these are practically worthless anyway despite being good cars. Perhaps the thing to most watch out for on the Xantia is the heater matrix. To repair this is a full days labour. You can tell if a Xantia heater matrix is dieing by checking two things

Funky smell when heater and blower is on? -Curry or Deiselish? Walk Away
Check the passenger carpet (under the mat if it has one) if it's at all damp then walk?
Smell Antifreeze in the cabin. Walk

Reason being that although a heater matrix is not expensive, a full days labour for a guy rip the dash out of the Xantia and put a new matrix in is expensive. So is a new head gasket if the leaking matrix has starved the cooling system of coolant, so is a new radiator if radweld has been put in and clogged up the system.. Also check the coolant- if it looks wierd walk away. Why, because it's likely someone has put radweld (or similar) in the system to tempararily seal up the system which eventually clogs everything up.

There are so many cheap Xantias to choose from that there's no point in buying a duff one.
 
I suppose im in a fairly decent position with this:

I'm a fairly competant mechanic (although i've never even sat in a citroen let alone fixed one) it will not be my only means of transport so i have TIME to fix it once i know whats up with it.
It will give me something to do anyway.
Thanks for the input guys.
:)
 
A good working petrol should be buyable for about £300 and a good working high mileage TD should be about £500. Hence why I don't suggest you spend much on the one you are bidding on.
 
Got it for the £155 in the end.
I had no intention of spending a huge amount, i can throw it away if its anything major at that price.
Its just the back that wont go up apparently.
Oh, its got a full service history as well supposedly, and 93K on the clock.

I should also add im only paying for half of it as me and my brother are both buying it and sharing the commuting costs.
So if it works out, ill be £3500 better off over the year (including running it).
 
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Well that should be cheap motoring if you get it going. Good luck with it, the Xantia is a great cruiser and perfect for any sort of "daily hack" usage in my opinion. Really comfortable barge!!
 
For 155 quid, you could just slap a set of non-adjustable shocks inside the struts and say screw it to the funky suspension.....


ABS problem would most likely be a whacked wheel sensor. Either that or a break in the wiring harness. Both fairly easy to determine with a multimeter.
 
As said, the ABS problem will be a wheel sensor, the fronts are easy to do, the backs are quite a pain. As well as getting rusted into the rear of the hub, the wire is routed through quite a convoluted route.
The height problem could be knackered sphere's but is most likely the height adjustment on the back. There's also a plastic bit underneath which connected the rod coming from the lever inside the car to the adjustment "part" (can't remember it's actual name) underneath, this gets quite stiff due to lack of use of the height adjustment lever.
 
For 155 quid, you could just slap a set of non-adjustable shocks inside the struts and say screw it to the funky suspension.....
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Lol -spat out my tea with that one:) . So whats the technical solution to fix the ABS problem - take the abs bulb out of the dash . . . . ?

R

Mehul
 
MehulLakhani said:
Lol -spat out my tea with that one:) . So whats the technical solution to fix the ABS problem - take the abs bulb out of the dash . . . . ?

R

Mehul
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Thats what most backstreet car dealers would do! Either that or take the clocks out and wire the abs light to the airbag light!
 
Brakes are the most important thing on the car so find out why the light is on at least.

Then tackle the suspension if need be.
 
djbenjo said:
Thats what most backstreet car dealers would do! Either that or take the clocks out and wire the abs light to the airbag light!
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Taking the bulb out is pointless though as the car wouldn't get an MOT, if the car has ABS installed then the ABS light has to come on and go out to pass the MOT. Unless you mean wire it so both are wired directly to the airbag light? :p
 
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