bordercollie

Just the usual words of caution- Make sure you use axle stands when you replace/remove the rear spheres, as the vehicle can drop suddenly down once the sphere pressure is released. 2 people crushed in Scotland alone, (that I know of) since 2010, that didn't take this precaution!! :(

I have a Citroen Xantia, "W" Reg'd (2000), 1761cc Saloon, running on Petrol/lpg. Recently I leaned on the half-open driver's side window glass when I was outside the car, and this must have broken the cable that pulls the window open and closed, or the cable has come away from it's runners. The window's electric motor still works when the 'up' and 'down' switches are pressed, but I have had to wedge the window open in case it falls into the door well. (1) How do I remove the drivers door panel, to gain access to the inside? I can only find a couple of 'star' screw fittings but are there more, and where are they? (2) Has anyone got a diagram or instructions to refit the window glass back onto the operating cable, as I think it may have wrapped itself around the main motor pulley wheel. (3) If the window operating cable IS snapped, where can I get one cheap, and roughly how much do they cost? Any advice or help would be appreciated, thanks.

I have a 2000, "W" Registered, 1.9l Xantia lx, running on both petrol and lpg. The ride has recently become 'bouncy'- even uneven road surfaces are causing the car to bounce up/down 2 or 3 times before stabilising again. It was only MoT'd 4 weeks ago, and passed ok. The suspension is rising ok after starting the engine, and the height is altering ok, and staying at the set height, either high OR low, without any sinking. Doesn't seem to be any leaks of fluid anywhere, certainly around the front spheres (incidentally which look fairly new compared to other components) Brakes are working fine with no loss of power too. The only difference I've noted is the suspension seems to be sinking back down, more quicker than it used to be, after turning the engine off. A silly question as I'm into computers, not cars- where exactly is the lhm reservoir under the bonnet- how do I recognise it? (Photo would help) and how do I check if the fluid needs topped up? (Told you I was thick!) If it is the spheres that need replaced, how much would it cost to buy new ones- do I need all 4 replaced, or just the 2 rear spheres which I suspect may be the root of the problem? Finally, if I got my local mechanic to replace the rear spheres for me, and assuming I had got hold of a set of spheres elsewhere, anyone an idea what the average cost of doing this would be? Any advice would be appreciated, thanx.

I had a similar problem after I bought my Xantia last year- after a lot of fiddling about, I found that someone had tampered with the embedded Keycode unit, resulting in it locking all entries out. My local Citroen garage said that someone?? had tried to bypass the Keycode so a non-chipped key could be used. They wanted over £180 to fix it. I had eventually to take it to a garage that had a code reader- they managed to reset the code to one of my choice in just 5 minutes, but I had also to buy a new key that had the new code put on its' chip- total cost was around the £80 mark, I'm afraid. There are lots of garages that do this listed on most Search Engines, try to find one local to your region. By the way, nearly all garages that reset Keycodes insist on you having the logbook, insurance certificate, driving licence plus another proof of address, with you, before they will touch the car, to avoid fraud.... Best of luck! David Grieve

I have had a "W" Reg'd, 2000 Xantia, 1761cc, for the last year, and prior to owning it, it had been converted to run on both Petrol and LPG Autogas. In case you don't know, after switching on the ignition, the car runs using Petrol for about 3-5 minutes, in order to pre-heat the autogas, which it then automatically switches to, turning off the Petrol. This means that over the last year, I reckon I have run the car using Autogas 99.9% of the time, and using Petrol, only the other 0.9%. I took it for it's MoT Test today, and was surprised that it failed the Exhaust Emissions Test. The results Print-out read:- NATURAL IDLE TEST- ACTUAL CO 0.413% LIMITS <= 0.500% PASSED SECOND FAST IDLE TEST- ACTUAL CO 0.757% LIMITS <=0.300% FAIL ACTUAL HC 53ppm LIMITS <=200ppm PASSED LAMBDA 1.102 LIMITS 0.970-1.030 FAIL FAST IDLE TEST- ACTUAL CO 0.710% LIMITS <=0.300% FAIL ACTUAL HC 57ppm LIMITS <=200ppm PASSED LAMBDA 1.213 LIMITS 0.970-1.030 FAIL OVERALL RESULT: FAILED Exhaust Emissions Test Am I right in assuming that normally in a Petrol-only car, a high CO level, coupled with a low HC level, could mean the mixture is too rich, resulting in unburned fuel (HC) causing the high CO levels ? The MoT Tester at the garage, told me that he had met similar emissions problems of this nature, resulting in a failed MoT Emissions Test, with other dual fueled LPG cars- his explanation was that using the LPG nearly 100% of the time, doesn't let the catalytic converter work efficiently, and causes fluctuating emission levels, on the short occasions when Petrol IS being used as the fuel. (Like during the MoT Test itself???) He went on to tell me that before I take the car for a MoT Re-Test, in 10 days time, I should - (1) Change the air filter, in case this is clogged and reducing O2 supply to the engine (2) Take the car out for an hour long 'burn-out',(his words) using Petrol supply only, to burn off any deposits in the engine and the catalytic converter (3) 24 hours before the next MoT Re-Test is due, make sure I only run the car using Petrol only, and don't use the lpg autogas as the fuel supply during this period. Does any of this make sense to you? Is the advice given to me correct and would it 'cure' the emissions problem? Has anyone else any ideas what has caused the high CO and low HC levels, and has this happened to you too? Any ideas and advice would be much appreciated, thank you. David Grieve of Scotland