Cost of repairing head gasket failure

[citroenxm]

ah if it has got too hot then thatsa different story...

no temp guage. ive never seen a xantia without a temp guage even base ones... or is this not a xantia car...

the engine is still in this xantia.. im sorry i didnt follow up.. im not sure what happend or where i went..

[endorfin]

It's a ZX, with a 1.9 non turbo XUD.

Yeah it is likely it got very hot as there is no temp gauge just one of those stupid lights that only come on when its too late. Except in this case it didn't even come on.

[Dieselman]

Have you tried towing the car to start it, I bet it goes then and probably starts afterwards. That first one I got involved in wouldn't go off the starter motor at all, but went after a 10 foot tow, even with the valve clearances being way too tight, so losing compression.

[robert_e_smart]

Quick word of warning if doing a tow start, don't use first gear! I pulled the front of a scrapper Xantia this way when tow starting it with a tractor!

[Dieselman]

Ha hahahahahahahahahah


Robert, we can always count on you...

[robert_e_smart]

Got it started though The old man (Whos car it once was, and tractor driver) was not impressed!

[endorfin]

Not heard anything further from the garage.

We were having a trawl through t'internet looking for XUD engines locally in case this became the only route and came across a 1997 ZX 1.9 AUTO with 90,000 miles priced at £550 with 12 months MOT, thought this would be ideal for the missus as she can only drive autos. Went to see it and it was extremely clean and tidy, I honestly believe the 90k miles are genuine as it drives like a new car, engine is excellent and there is no wear at all in the interior, all MOTs seem to tally the miles. Negotiated a price of £415.
The service bills only go up to 2004 and 72k so it's likely the cambelt hasn't been done so it will be overdue now so that will be the first thing to deal with.

Only thing is, it's extremely sluggish, I expected this having owned a diesel auto model before, this may sound stupid but is there any way of modifiying a non turbo into a turbo without changing the engine and gearbox to give it a bit more oomph.

Another thing with it (yeah I know I said only thing!) is locking the doors is tempremental, rear os door doesn't lock, driver's door needs a couple of tries, I think it originally came with central locking but has failed, I can't remember what I need to be looking to fix this, is there a regulator box for this? This is the SX trim model which I know is the base model on the XM but this seems to have everything, PAS, electric mirrors, windows, sunroof, immobiliser pad etc so seems unlikely it wouldn't have central locking too.

With regard to the head gasket ZX, if the garage manage to fix it I will probably sell this on, or if it's buggered try and sell it for scrap and cut my losses, perhaps sell the head separately as it's now more or less reconditioned.

[citroenxm]

fitting a turbo onto the atmo engine will be hassle. you need to put in an oil drain into the sump from the turbo and tap and drill the oil feed for oil supply to the turbo.. possibly a stronger head gasket too so again the only way is to fit an already turbod engine instead...

[citroenxm]

by the way.. sx trim on the zx and xantia is mid spec level and yes as you say on s2 xm's its base...

[Dieselman]

An atmo diesel auto will be a slow beast full stop and there's nothing you can do because the engine can't ingest more air so can't accept more fuel.
Check the accelerator cable is pulling the fuel pump all the way. Some of these cars use a spring loaded cable to allow the damper strut to reduce the instant pull so keep smoke down. The damper force overcomes the spring so the cable is effectively stretched. Remove the damper and reset the cable.

A really hard thrashing might liven it up a bit if it's been pottering about for ages, but otherwise...
I think the door locking will be the door locks rather than a relay unit.
What spec car is it, Aura?