Sudden Loss Of Water, is it the pump???

[genius149]

Sadly my 2.5 TD Exclusive decided to start losing a little water the other day. I could cope with it losing a couple of pints during the run to work etc. with the intention of a full investigation this weekend, but I just joined the dual carriageway and the car overheated and told me to slow down. I made it (gingerly) to the nearest supermarket car park, looked under the bonnet and the belt for the water pump had broken and the water that I had just put in, made a big green puddle of coolant under the car (did that before I noticed the belt ).

The question is...

How easy/expensive is a replacement pump & belt?

or

do I sell the car complete or break it - considering it also needs £300 worth of welding under both front floor pans and it has done a meagre 185,600 miles still returning 41mpg?

Advice/offers on both please!!
Neil

[mebedforduk]

PO had the pump and belt replaced on my 2.5 Excl at the end of last year for £162.00.

It had covered about 160K then

Got the same quandry on my 2.1 at the moment, was going to break it. However, after putting it through a mot it needs the same welding as yours plus a strut top plus bits and bobs. Miles - over 250K

Hopefully going to get all done for £300.00 (welding by a bloke for two crates of XXXX).

Been looking around at XM alternatives for the last couple of years - cant find any without spending silly high money.

Criteria:
Big comfy car
Good MPG
AC
Plenty of grunt
Cheap

They are not out there,
Alfa 156 JTD - good grunt , good MPG, AC very harsh and not cheap.
Merc - not cheap and expensive when go wrong
F**D - Err no!!
Audi - Silly expensive
bmw- Even bigger no

So, I say, spend the £500 and keep it running for at least till next MOT, then look again. £500 would be less than the depreciation on one of the above anyway.

41MPG that should be enough incentive

Cheers
mark

[Niek]

What needs to get welded? Never heard of anything like it before!

Get the pump and belt and DIY???

[Peter.N.]

I've nver had a rusty XM either, this is all news to me.

Peter.N.

[mebedforduk]

My welding is on the sills/ floor pans/jacking points where its folded the plates over and pulled the seems apart.

Nowt to do with me - I use trusty trolley jack

[genius149]

Mine has rusted in exactly the same place as Mark's.

Sadly, the (as suspected) seized water pump, oil in the cooler thing, turbo on it's last legs, new brakes, disks and tyres all round and the fact that even though I have rewired the (notorious) front drivers side window to a mk 1 one-touch regulator, the glass keeps "falling" off it's guide means that the Xantia I was trying to sell is now my main transport.

Anyone need any parts? - the interior is leather & alcantara and luvverly.

[Niek]

That's too bad.

I'll have the interior in heartbeat though
Only problem is that I'm in the Netherlands, and shipping costs are likely to be quite high.

Maybe try fixing a problem at a time to spread the costs?

[mebedforduk]

If you have the space

Put it on a sorn and keep it - Dont be too eager to break it just yet.

I kept my first S1 for two years off the road and now realise I should have paid the ££ and kept it running.

My first S2 has had two spells of sitting the drive then having new life breathed into it. Its now on its third spell of retirement.

Go car hunting with your shopping list of requirements and then look again at the XM sitting on the driveway will zero value. How much will a new car cost? then how much will repairing the XM cost.

Remember also a new car is unknown, you could end up spending the XM repair costs several times over after shelling out the best part of a few grand.

Mark

[xmexclusive]

Hi

I agree with Mark about the alternative to keeping an XM running being a leap into the unkown and potentially more expensive. Some of the older Mk 2's are now selling for less than they will raise from spares.

I too have seen the jacking point rust problem in a 1994 TD auto that I cut up. When the vertical jacking points are bent up the plates that delaminate include the framing to the footwell floor. This also cracks the bitumastic paint that covers the plate ends both underneath the car and on the top of the floor inside the car. This is all covered with a thick rubber layer and then the carpet. A leaking heater or even continual wet feet can lead to the metal floor area being permanently soaked despite the carpet drying out. The cracked seams rust well particularly at the strained spot welds. Until I lifted the carpet and underlay while scrapping the car I was certain that there were no rust problems.

Regards

XMexc

[xmexclusive]

Hi Genius149

Have you sorted the water pump etc on your 2.5 exclusive or are you still looking to get rid of it. If so I think I have solved my parking problem and might be interested.

Regards

XMexc

[genius149]

Hi Xmexc

I haven't solved it yet. It is currently parked in the communal car park waiting for me to empty it's contents and give it a tidy up. I may have a buyer locally but its a friend of a friend who has an XM so it may not happen.

Obviously if you wanted it you would need to tow it - although it would start to drive on the back of a recovery truck, I think the head survived intact as the amount of grunt it had shocked my mate who parked it after we towed it back from the local garage the other day.

I'm not after a huge amount for it, but it would be nice to make space for my next project...

I'm in Margate btw

Neil

This post has been edited by genius149 on October 10, 2005 08:23 pm

[xmexclusive]

Hi Genius 149

Any time left on the MOT and tax on your 2.5 exclusive. I have had a look at the cost of shipping it to me and it might be just as cheap for me to pay for the water pump repairs so that it can be used by you for a while longer then driven over to me. As you can see I am still interested in buying it, so please let me know.

Regards

XMexc

[genius149]

Excellent idea. It has tax until end of march and MOT is in May

[xmexclusive]

Hi Genius 149

We need to sort out a bit more about repair costs, final sale date and price then but it might just work out.

Regards

XMexc