But the car had once been the car of the French embassy here in Estonia. Currently, there are ten XMs registered in the entire country. There is one more diesel like this. I received the car last fall, as a trade-in for a 96 Ford Taurus. During the test drive, everything was according to the description. The owner talked about a rattling wheel bearing, but there was nothing to be heard, so I dared to drive it home 150 kilometers away. The drive home went smoothly, but the next day when I drove the car to the garage, the bearing was really bad.
The first jobs I had to do were to replace the necessary things so that the technical inspection could be done and I could drive on the road. The wheel bearing needed replacing, one of the first brake hoses was in the wrong position and almost rubbed itself through. It took a lot of effort to get it out from under one of the hinges, and in the end I had to remove the hub. The turbo hose had also broken off, it was hissing a lot and there was black smoke in the back too. After fixing these problems, it passed the technical inspection nicely. Next, I had the windshield properly glued.
I currently drive the car almost every day so I can understand what else needs to be done.
But there are still plenty of problem areas. The suspension. The car is too stiff, so I assume that the balls need replacing. Now I would need the ball codes to find the right non-hydroactive balls. Then in a couple of hours the car will sink. Have I understood correctly that the main root of the problem is the non-return valve, which is located under the hood in front of the engine?
The brakes need to be serviced, the calipers cleaned, the discs and pads checked, it vibrates when braking, one disc is definitely bent.
The mirrors still need to be worked on from the outside, they are backwards and the mounts are broken.
There is a lot more tinkering inside. When I got the car, the windshield was 80% loose, which is why the ceiling is moldy and the interior light is not working. The ceiling needs to be removed and washed. At the same time, the wiring can also be repaired, which has oxidized. If the interior is already being dismantled, the dash needs to be replaced, there is a very large hole on the left and there are three screw holes by the glove compartment. I can get a decent dash from a donor car that I recently bought for spare parts. It is a 2.0 petrol, but apart from the engine, most things fit. While dismantling the interior, you can get the speedometer to work, it doesn't show speed or count kilometers. The fuel gauge also shows fence tape, maybe I can put one of the two clock blocks back together. If the dashboard is out, you can also fix the wires. Unfortunately, this car was once in the hands of some sheep, the original tape recorder was cut out along with the wires.
I looked for the right wires and initially installed a modern tape recorder, but its power has now wandered somewhere. There is also something wrong with the displays, the clock is pretty dark all the time. The door display worked, now it was off for a week and started working again yesterday.The door lock buttons need repair. There is a hole in the driver's seat. Fortunately, the donor interior is the same, but there is a hole in the driver's seat. I'll see if I can put a passenger seat cushion on it, or have one of the two sewn together, one has a hole in the front part, the other in the back.
There is definitely something else that needs to be done that I can't remember right now, but I'll do things as I have time.
When I bought the car, there were random alloy wheels on it. The original steel wheels with Y4 fairings were included. Since I can't get Y3 fairings anywhere, I chose Volvo Libra rims for the summer rims. The center hole had to be made a little bigger. The bolt holes are very large, so I had to buy new bolts. There are almost no bolts with a 12x1.25 large head. "Wobbler nuts" bolts were used, and they could easily be used to put 5x112 rims on them.
A few pictures too
Now we are offering a Xantia as a spare part, we can get the necessary spheres from there. I have to go and check it out.
