MOT preparation....give it a clean

[minijet]

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My 2.0 turbo went for it's MOT last week.
The only preparation I do for the test is to cross my fingers and hope for the best .

It failed. Worn rear pads, cracked mirror lens and two LHM leaks (around the OSF strut and accumulator).

Well, I changed the pads and mirror lens......that was easy enough , but finding the LHM leaks

I decided to give it a good clean underneath and inside the wheel arches so that I could see where it was leaking.
So, two cans of Jizer and fourteen quids worth of jet wash later, I have spotless wheel arches, engine and subframes and not a drop of LHM to be seen.

I left it a couple of days to see where the LHM was leaking from but everything was still clean a dry, so I submitted it for the retest.

It passed .

I just thought I'd mention this in case there's anyone else who, like me, didn't think to check for leaks before getting the car MOT'd......

Oh, and don't forget to check the brakes and mirrors

Paul



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[Dean]

Hi Paul

Good to see it passed Paul , the leak thing is a little strange, the estate i had failed on 4 seperate leaks, non of which existed the underside was spotless, not a drop of oil anywhere, they said it needed a pair of new rear cylinders, a new pressure reg and a hydractive block.....that would be expensive considering it didnt need any of these things

D

[andmcit]

MOT testers do get a tad worried about LHM leakage and any stray stains will start alarm bells ringing
and a likely fail but to be fair their remit is any fluid leakage is dangerous and I guess over time on
a low pressure leak there comes a point where the level if not topped up will affect the brakes and
steering etc.

I had a real bind recently trying to source the reason for the rather sodden front subframe on a VSX
Xantia. The first was determined to be a slightly loose clamp on the head of the LHM reservoir that
was allowing the returns to drop fluid onto the top of the reservoir and run off down onto the pressure
sensor etc making them look very iffy. Sorted with a decent fuel pipe clamp.

The other was far more significant and after a thorough and time consuming process of cleaning with
GUNK was determined to be a badly leaking pinion head on the rack. After seeing how the fluid was
coming out as hard as it was due to the car being scrupulously clean I bit the bullet and changed the
rack.

The car is now the cleanest spotlessly easy to work on car I now know so it's worth the hassles even
when the MOT gives the bad news and starts pointing at expensive hydraulic components!!

Andrew

[Peter.N.]

If LHM leakage was a critera for failure - none of mine would pass. In this part of the world the underneath of most cars, and certainly mine, are covered in mud, making it very difficult to locate the leak, if its that obvious that it can be seen in spite of the mud - possibly it would fail. As mine are probably the only XMs he sees. he probably thinks that they are all like that.

Peter

[minijet]

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Thanks Dean, it's always a nice bonus to get another years motoring out of an old car .

The tester wrote on the failure sheet 'serious fluid leak from the suspension strut', even though in my oppinion it was just a damp patch and impossible to tell what the fluid was.

I should have mentioned that a few weeks (maybe months) ago, the OSF strut return pipe split and leaked LHM everywhere.
I suppose that could have been the reason for the fluid all around the strut, wish bone and other parts.
Also, I changed the water pump recently, and spilt a lot of coolant in that area.

The other 'leak' was around that bit under the front of the car, just in front of the gearbox, where a lot of pipes all converge. I assume it's the accumulator.
One of the unions was a bit loose so I tightened it up and there's been no sign of any leak since.

I've had this car about 18 months, and I've only had to top up the LHM once. I have to top up the oil every few weeks........perhaps the mystery fluid leaks weren't LHM at all.........

Anyway, like Andrew I now have a seriously clean car that's much easier to work on - there is actually a label visible on one of the steering linkages now.

I had to make a quick getaway from the jet wash though, as I left a big pile of road crap in the middle of the spray booth (about fourteen years worth to be precise ), and there was a sign that said no off road motorcycles or cars.......for obvious reasons......but nothing that dynarod can't put right................

.

[robert_e_smart]

For our Govt run MOT test centres in Northern Ireland, we have to pressure wash the underside of the car, wheel arches, and lower engine bay. The interior also has to be reasonably clean!

The rationale being that a cleaner car is easier to inspect etc etc. They can refuse to test a car if it is not deemed to be clean enough. It has its benefits, all winter salt and grime is washed off the car. The downside being washing off any underseal if it is weak. I also use it as a good time to re-wax oil the CX when it is clean underneath.

So, put your car up on the ramps, crouch down beside it and pressure wash the underside of the car.

P.S. Andrew, how hard was the Steering rack to change on the Xantia? The pinion valve is leaking on our Xantia now as well, it has lasted well, she has 198k on the clock. I would like to avoid it being scrapped in the future due to the leaky rack.

[minijet]

.

If LHM leakage was a critera for failure - none of mine would pass. In this part of the world the underneath of most cars, and certainly mine, are covered in mud, making it very difficult to locate the leak, if its that obvious that it can be seen in spite of the mud - possibly it would fail. As mine are probably the only XMs he sees. he probably thinks that they are all like that.

Peter

Mine is the only XM my MOT tester ever sees, so he doesn't realise they are all like that

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[andmcit]

Right Robert!!

I made a real meal of this job as I'd only ever REMOVED racks OFF Xantiae in the past and usually
where the engine was already removed and realistically nothing was totally precious about going
back together again so a bit rough'n ready.

I handpicked the nicest looking rack as it was deemed there was no significant difference between
them - big mistake! There are actually colour coded collars on the pinion head and as I found out
the hard way after fitting the rack once, it needed removal to permit a different rack/pinion to be
used with matching hydraulic feed pipe ports. I can now change a rack from start to finish in about
1 1/2 hours though!!

What worked for me is as follows;

1: supported with front in air and wheels removed
2: heat shield removed and hydraulic feed pipes undone
3: large TORX bolt undone on end of universal clamp on rack spline
4: steering column undone and firmly pulled back off spline on pinion
5: undo offside bottom balljoint and both sides track rod ends
6: remove bottom wishbone arm and ARB clamp bracket
7: pop off steering rack hydraulic return on nearside rear of front subframe
8: undo both bolts fastening rack to subframe
9: carefully fish out captives on rack and washers
10: feed the rack out of the offside wheelarch being careful to feed it past the two loose hydraulic feeds

CHECK THE HYDRAULIC SEALS ON THE PINION AND LIKE FOR LIKE COMPATIBILITY OF ANY PINION
OR REPLACEMENT RACK WITH THE REMOVED ONE!!

The only real issue with fitting is ensuring you have a helper support the steering column and carefully
guide the main shaft over the splines on the rack - obviously it goes without saying that it will make the
lot work properly straight off if you can get the splines all correctly orientated and the coloured collar
in the correct orientation too. In the end the rack will still physically run from lock to lock whatever the
steering column isn't right for the steering wheel position.

I found I had my rack slightly out as I didn't pay enough attention to exact orientation and this basically
means the head under the airbag will be out of position messing up the cancel on the indicator even if
you remove and re-seat the steering wheel - the indicator/airbag/radio head can be swung around
to the desired position with the steering wheel off so getting exact positioning isn't ultra critical at the
rack end.

Wish I'd taken piccies now but the weather conditions were totally dire and I almost drowned under the car...

Andrew

[andmcit]

Found one pinion on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Citroen-Xantia-St ... 286.c0.m14

Saw another about the same price a few days ago but it's not showing up now.

Andrew

[robert_e_smart]

Thanks Andrew,

I had feared that the sub-frame would have to be dropped and that it wouldn't be worth the hassle of it all.

If the leak gets much worse then I'll look at getting it sorted out, although my sister who drives the car will not be pleased with me at prolonging the life of the car.

My next project is MOTing the white XM, an afternoons work will sort it out, and then the mammoth task of sorting out my newly acquired CX 20, I need to replace the rear subframe, Head Gasket, and do loads of welding to it. Thankfully I got the Athena MOTd on saturday, and my XMs are behaving themselves at the moment. So hopefully the Xantia will behave itself until I have more time to do something with it.

Here are some snaps of the CX 20 when it first met the Athena a few weeks ago.
http://athena.cx/main.php?g2_itemId=1394