My Xantia Activa

[David Hallworth]

Thanks Vince. It needs a little bodywork doing now as I managed to catch the front of the 407 with the Activa but it's not done much damage thankfully. Other needing a good wash at present I'm convinced it's now the perfect Xantia. I took Will out for a run in it this morning after he visited on his way home with another V6. I think he now understands why I spent the money on it that I did to get it to where it is now

Will hopefully get it down to one of the rallys next year

David.

[Dieselman]

WOW, what a tale.

As the Activa is road legal, why not just drive it to B&L and back again?

[David Hallworth]

It had a leaking heater matrix that was dripping onto the rubber mat inside it. I also didn't want to leave it stranded down there in case we discovered something we weren't bargaining for when doing the conversion.

I also didn't really want to stick 1000 miles on it either!

Good job I'd decided a long time before going to trailer it as there wasn't enough space in the Activa to get everything I needed to in!

David.

[Ciaran]

Bloody hell David!

I'm just glad you (and the Activa) are unscathed.
What a horrible experience, have you any idea what caused the fire to start?

Ciarán

[David Hallworth]

When it cut out and I saw smoke coming from under the bonnet I did initially wonder if it was steam as it was right where the heater matrix pipes come through the bulkhead. Unfortunately it wasn't, it appeared to be the fusebox that was on fire!

I passed the spot about 3 weeks ago going down south in my new Range Rover, my scorch marks are still fresh as anything on the hard shoulder, you'd think it had burnt yesterday!!

David.

[Ciaran]

Wow, shocking, and a the loss of a lovely Range Rover - an LPG one too!

Did you have any trouble with the gas tank exploding when it burned? I have an LPG XM and often wondered what would happen regarding the gas, god forbid should the car catch fire.

The burn marks will be there for some time to come, there's a dual carriageway near home nicknamed Joyriders alley, it's littered with dozens of potholes and melted tarmac caused by burning cars, they've given up resurfacing it as it just gets instantly destroyed, and unfortunately, the melted, scorched tarmac lasts years.

You've made your mark on that section of the M6 anyway!

Must be the spot for bad luck, the 5th gear on my S1 failed about 10 miles past Lancaster a few years ago

Just glad you're now back on track with a new 'Rover and the Activa is looking and running great

Ciarán

[David Hallworth]

Ciaran, the LPG was worrying me a little when it was burning as I'd just filled it about 8 miles before!!

The valves on the tank are designed so that if they get hot they melt and let the gas out in a controlled manner rather then pressurising the tank effectively creating a bomb in the boot.

The fire brigade ripped the gas tank out of mine after they'd put the car out and the tank was completely empty. That's probably why the car burnt as well as it did!

David.