Russ's 2.1 SED Auto now in Mandarin

[russ92xmsed]

How about a big warning triangle sticker on each wheel!

Tell you one thing... Sport setting is interesting.

[White Exec]

Too bl**dy right!!! Never use it...

[captainhaddock]

I have 4 different pressure gauges and the one at the petrol station is different also.....Now I did manage to drive over my 'best' one and replaced it with a new. It is slightly different also. hmmm

Glad the car is behaving well Russ, get that starter motor switched!

[russ92xmsed]

Spent most of the day under the back of the car scraping old underseal off where it had started to peel, treating any surface rust.. There was much of it as you can imagine,... to then start undersealing the whole car.

I am hoping I got to the farthest rear subframe mounts in time. Both sides had peeling underseal. Not a great sign must admit, but some screw driver jabbing produced no holes. I suspect dropping the subframe might be a different story. But for now they have been treated and will be oiled within too.
The rear subframe really needs sorting out, nothing to horrendous, but it is time to stop everything in its tracks. Or at least try.

It was certainly time to start doing all this. I think leaving it for another winter might have been a huge mistake.

Also, a nice surprise is there has been an improvement in performance.. Only slight I will admit,.. Replacing those rubber manifold connectors I did yesterday. There had always been this curious high pitched wheezing noise when accelerating or cruising at motorway speeds. Something my other one never did. Anyway all gone now.

[russ92xmsed]

More undersealing done today. Concentrating on the rear subframe mainly. It's now mostly coated in underseal, just got the drivers side to do now behind the liner ect. There are sooooo many nooks and crannies though..Very frustrating! Plus it doesn't help when your spray nozzle stops spraying, with loads left in the can. ERGH! It's soaking in thinners. Had to resort to a brush in places.

I took the passenger rear wheel off to get to the subframe ect, and noticed that the rear calipers are binding. The pads, which look brand new, are rubbing on the disc. So I think some action is needed there.

It's certianly looking neater under there. The spare wheel carrier is in quite good nick and will be treated too. Should be quite smart when all done, but nothing like Vince's efforts though!

I just hope all this will work that's my main concern!!

[russ92xmsed]

I have finally finished undersealing the back of the car. It's all neat and tidy and all rust has been treated. Well I say that but there's probably some lurking somewhere....
It was also the opportunity to tackle the spare wheel carrier. So here it is being rust converted.



And with finished stone chip paint and fresh underseal.





I saved it in the nick of time I think, I am finding a lot of this on this car at the moment!! The underseal was doing its best to detach itself and rust was bubbling up on the inside of the tray. But really overall it was in quite good condition.
So now it's all treated, it was put back onto the car this afternoon.

I have also started to move up towards the front. The drivers side sill has now been sorted out underseal wise. The hydraulic pipes on the other side have been gunked and I have oiled the innards of the rear subframe. Sills next for that job.

I swapped over my fuel filter housing from my old grey car last week, as it was almost brand new. And that has helped with the cold start a bit. It seems to be idling much happier now too, although I think the pump could do with tweaking maybe.

I think I have also found an urgent job to do. The drivers foot well is damp. I can't smell coolant or the usual curry smell, but some investigations tomorrow will mostly likely find a leaky heater matrix. URGH!

[dollywobbler]

I'd personally go for paint over the top of stonechip, as it's porous - so allows water through to attack the metal. Interesting reading - something I need to tackle on my new XM.

Is your headlining damp? Mine looks dry, but when I rub my fingers along it, water soon starts dripping down. I think the fault is the seal on the glass in my case as the drains are working properly.

[russ92xmsed]

Ah, thanks for the tip Ian. I will paint that then.

No ...headlining is fine. Sunroof is fine. I know from bitter experience from my old XM where everything that could let in water did. So from that point of view it's not the sunroof. This is wetter and I believe there are tell tail brown stains from the pipes on the carpet. It's too wet to be the sunroof.

Still it's easier to replace an XM matrix than a Xantia .....

[White Exec]

Tell me more about stonechip paint (all makes???) being porous. I can't see the point of a paint that lets water through, and then keeps it in contact with the surface it's meant to protect...! Or are all stonechip paints intended to be overpainted?

[russ92xmsed]

That is a good point Chris. Hmmmmm, not sure what to do now! I'll reread the can and see if it should be painted over. All it says from memory is that you can. Doesn't mean you must....