Mikes V6 ES9 Manual Exclusive

[xantia_v6]

We arrived back in France yesterday, so got the XM out this morning. It doesn't seem to have deteriorated over the winter and is running nicely. I have a number of maintenance tasks scheduled for it in the next few weeks. Saw 2 Xantias and an XM 2.5 in the supermarket car park this morning. Played around with a pollen filter mount this afternoon, described here.

[CitroJim]

Excellent Mike, pleased you've reached France and that the XM seems unscathed following its rest

I guess the car is used to it now given all the resting it has done during its life!

[xantia_v6]

The XM has been doing light duty for the last 6 weeks, and generally behaving itself. Last week we took it for a run to Eurodisney, a 650km round trip, almost all on the autoroute. It averaged 9.2 lires/100km (31 MPG), which is slightly better than I usually manage on the autoroute.

I decided that it really is time to replace the tyres, it still has half worn factory-original MXV3As on the rear, and half worn Pilot primacies on the front dating from 2002. Today I ordered a set of Michelin Energy+ in the correct specification, and then went downstairs to check the actual state of the current tyres (which I have been checking every week or so) and this is what I found...

tyre1.jpg

tyre2.jpg

Good thing I ordered tyres for fitting on Friday, as we are going touring in Switzerland on Monday...

[CitroJim]

That's some interesting damage on them Mike but hopefully just because they were so old. I think you got your value out of them!

[Jan-hendrik]

Good thing I ordered tyres for fitting on Friday, as we are going touring in Switzerland on Monday...

Yes, wise decision. I would not drive around at speed on tyres older than 8 years.
BTW, who balances the wheels for you?
Enjoy your touring

[White Exec]

I don't think those old tyres owe you anything at all. Out here, if stored outdoors, the sidewall rubber hardens and ages in the UV. Jan's right about tyre life.

You'll like the Energys. They're a quiet and worthy successor to the MXVs and Primacys, and seem to suit the XM well.

Give my regards to the Grimselpass; we had some great times in Switzerland, with both BX and XM.

[xantia_v6]

BTW, who balances the wheels for you?

Good question. I got the tyres from Norauto, because they could get the correct size quickly, and were reasonably priced About €100 per tyre.
When ordering I warned them that I had centre-less wheels.
They fitted the tyres OK, then found and setup the centre less adapter for the balancer, and balanced the wheels (attempt 1)
On leaving I immediately went for the nearest autoroute to check the balance which became suddenly bad at 120 kph. I took it back,and they found that one of the front wheels has shed a weight, so they rebalanced the front wheels. (attempt 2).
Going home via the autoroute, the shaking was still bad above about 127 kph, so I took it back again, it had shed another weight.
This time they removed all 4 wheels and rebalanced with stick-on weights inside (attempt 3).
I got about 50 metres from the workshop before noticing a scraping noise. on one back wheel, the brake shield was hitting the balance weights and had knocked a couple off.
Took it back and they repositioned the we rights to avoid the brake shield (attempt 4).
It now rides reasonably smoothly up to and somewhat beyond 130kph, although I suspect that one of the rear wheels could be slightly out of balance, but enough is enough for now.

[Jan-hendrik]

Hi Mike,
I think you now know why I asked the question

[xantia_v6]

Well, the little jaunt to Switzerland went well, and the car behaved itself as it should.

This weekend I found time to change the timing belt. The car is 15 years old and has nearly done 80,000 km (50,000 miles for imperialists), there was evidence that it had already been changed, as the top engine mount bolts had been disturbed, but no record of when. I even asked at the dealer who had always serviced the car for the original owner, but they had no record of a belt change.

I had accumulated a timing belt, new-style tensioner, new-style water pump, some idler wheels and a new aux belt.

I was hoping that when the belt was previously changed that a new-style tensioner and pump had already been fitted, which would make the job so much quicker, but on removing the covers found the original tensioner and water pump (but a newish looking belt).

My first problem was that the 8mm bar I had cut up to make lock in pins was oversize and would not go into the holes, so I spent an hour with a dremel sanding wheel reducing the diameter of the pins...

Then I found that the water pump I had bought was the last of the 3 types, and of no use at all. I was aware of the difference when I ordered it, so I am not sure how I got it wrong, must have just clicked on the wrong link, but it is too late to send it back now.

I had no hope of obtaining the correct pump locally, so I looked at the one just removed. At first glance it had a trail of lime scale from the bearing drain hole (not a good look), but a bit of probing determined that the white gunge was just melted grease, and (touch wood) the pump is still OK. So out with the hacksaw to modify the old pump to fit with the new tensioner.

After that it all went together well.

[CitroJim]

Excellent Mike

You remind me I have to do the same job on my V6 Xantia