Hello Chaps....new owner

[Stickfinger]

I do not know yet, the longest drive I have had now was the 5 miles to the MoT station (mate with trade insurance)....now it has an MoT I will insure/tax.....it does strike me as a big old soft bus however

[Dieselman]

Late series 2 are the softest of all Xm, but still have very tidy handling.

[White Exec]

Soft, yet taut when needed. Just try it briskly through some winding B-roads, when the system will flip to Firm as required.
The grip and lack of roll is uncanny. Pushed to the limit, with helpful tyres, it will not let go suddenly, but just let you know in good time.

After all that hard work, you're meant to enjoy the ride!

[Julianw]

I bet you're chuffed to bits! Well done!

[xantia_v6]

I do not know yet, the longest drive I have had now was the 5 miles to the MoT station (mate with trade insurance)....now it has an MoT I will insure/tax.....it does strike me as a big old soft bus however

It is difficult to impress a man who owns a V6 Activa...

[Stickfinger]

Rats, Water leak !

Pipes 11 & 9 are leaking from the joint where the pipes sleeve into the spigot that inserts into the housing. I have a replacement for 11 but not 9.....as they are leaking from where the pipe sleeves into the o-ring spigot I think maybe they can be repaired.....time to beg my mate up the hill and see if he does brazing.

[Stickfinger]

update:

Tried to get the pipes off tonight.....the first one I tried (the worst leak ...No 11)....the pipe came out of the section that makes the spigot, just popped out leaving the spigot section in the housing. We will see in the morning what my attempts bring with the attempt to withdraw the other pipe.

Very tempted to make a rubber hose joiner if I can figure out a heat shield for it.

[Dieselman]

Don't. You have these pipes on the spare engine?

These were the pipes I asked you for, my bypass pipe was completely corroded at the rubber connector end.

These don't have spigots, the pipe is swaged to create a ring for the clamp to act against, to hold the end into the housing.
What can happen is that due to movement the swage cracks, then breaks off.
It's possibly a result of movement when the head was removed, but also ensure they are properly clamped to the engine.
Theoretically, you should be able to weld, or braze, the swaged flange back together.
Adding an insert would add significant strength to the repair.

Worst case scenario would be to tap the thermostat housing and screw in some Bsp fittings, then rubber hose onto the those.

At least it happened after the Mot.

[Stickfinger]

I have only No11 on the spare engine.
This was rusty but after a good session with a wire brush has cleaned up OK. It is now clean and painted.

I can confirm that at the housing end (where the spigot is) where the pipe inserts.....the spigot part of the pipe IS braised onto the main length, the "gold colour of the solder" was seen when that area was polished by the wire brush . It is this braising that has failed on my pipe 11, it has not snapped at this union .....the pipe still sleeves into the spigot part.
I suspect this has been caused by internal corrosion under/at the braised joint made worse by a very short section where it sleeves into the wider spigot section of pipe.

Why not add a rubber joint if it can be protected from the exhaust/turbo heat ? (I have silicon tube available and it would only need to be a very short section, assuming a heat shield can be fabricated/tube wrapped with heat shield tape)

[Stickfinger]

Update:
We can see here with the larger of the two pipes (a few wiggles opened up the small "crack" very quickly) how the corrosion has worked its way under and caused the braised area to separate from the mild steel. You can see the sleeved area the main pipe slots into. The smaller pipe has failed in exactly the same place/way also.