Xantia stop light and coolant temperature lights flashing.

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DickieG
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Xantia stop light and coolant temperature lights flashing.

Post by DickieG »

With the wet weather today causing condensation on the windows of my HDi I turned on the air conditioning in order to remove it but within seconds of pushing the A/C button both the Stop and coolant temperature lights started flashing (the temperature gauge displayed normal operating temperature of just over 80­°C), turning off the A/C stopped the lights flashing. A quick check under the bonnet revealed that the cooling fans weren't running even though the A/C compressor was engaged (A/C demisted the windows).

Thinking I was about to have to embark on the delights of testing the cooling fan relays/Bitron unit/fan motors, when I got home I plugged in my Lexia to find that the engine ECU had recorded a fault with the cooling fans operating speed. I then went to the actuator menu on Lexia where it allows you to test the operation of the cooling fans at both low and fast speed directly from Lexia simply by pressing a button. When I did that the fans would only run at high speed, thereby suggesting that one of the fan motors may be faulty.

However once I cleared the recorded fault from the engine ECU the fans operated correctly at both slow and fast speeds via Lexia as well as when the A/C was turned on with the engine running, in addition the stop and coolant temperature lights no longer flash.

Without the aid of Lexia I would have been pulling out relays/fan motors and then been left scratching my head looking for the cause of the fault.

Posted as a "useful fix" on S2 Xantia's.
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Post by addo »

It may have defaulted originally due to excess startup current.

The issue I had with cooling fans was not worn out brushes as per X1, but the porous rear bush for its armature shaft seized on. That famous squealing noise was this self-centering bush spinning in its spring steel retaining fingers. :?

Anyhow - the seizing caused excess current draw, which then compromised the relays and wiring. It looked exactitiously like the photo Clogzz took. Based on this, I'd suggest you pop the cover of your relay clutch and check them out for scorching...

Regards, Adam.
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Re: Xantia stop light and coolant temperature lights flashin

Post by MikeT »

DickieG wrote:However once I cleared the recorded fault from the engine ECU the fans operated correctly
Very interesting . . . . and annoying at the same time if it turns out to be the same with mine though I don't have an operative A/C and don't get any flashing lights.
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Post by DickieG »

Thanks Adam I'll bear that in mind, funnily enough I gave the fans a quick flick yesterday when I swapped front bumpers and found them to be spinning very free/quietly, I'll whip off the relay cover and take a close look at the contacts. I must say I was very surprised that clearing the fault code brought the slow speed of the fans to life again, hence why I posted this to potentially save others potentially wasting time and money. No mention is made of this issue in any of the Citroën diagnostic manual's.
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Post by addo »

Mine "felt" normal enough, too. Startup current draw was the big difference between the good fan and the bad one. If you have the relays out, you can power each fan alone, and measure its current draw.

BTW part of my repair included cooking the porous bush in high spec ATF at 110°C for twenty minutes then standing overnight, and de-galling the shaft with P600 and kerosene to get a couple of thou clearance. It had just been built too tight, and ingress of a little dust caused seizure.
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Post by CitroJim »

Richard,

It'll be worth looking a little further into this. One of the fans died on my Activa and the give-away was that the dying one was very free to spin whreas the good one put up a degree of resistance to spinning.

I noticed that the bad one not only ran slower than the good one but windmilled for a much longer period after they switched of than the good one did. In fact, the bad one was still merrily spinning long after the good one had come to a halt. If both are healthy, they'll both come to rest at about the same time.

In the case of my dead one, it was badly worn brushes. They're not easy to open up but with care they can be and with a bit of ingenuity, the brushes can be replaced. In fact, I think it was you, Adam, who said brushes from a Ryobi power tool were good substitutes?

The have four brushes and in many respects are like a baby starter-motor, even to having a permanant magnet field.
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Post by DickieG »

Thanks Jim/Adam I'll take a closer look tomorrow, I would have delved further into it this evening but ran for cover as it was raining like a monsoon.
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Post by DickieG »

I checked the operation of the fans today, they start/stop very quietly in unison the only thing I found was a minor amount of corrosion on the middle fan relay contacts which I've cleaned up as a precaution.
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Re: Xantia stop light and coolant temperature lights flashin

Post by ianrobbo »

DickieG wrote: Without the aid of Lexia I would have been pulling out relays/fan motors and then been left scratching my head looking for the cause of the fault.
Yes, this is interesting - I've had very similar faults on mine, although the coolant temp/stop lights only flash very occasionally these days, and I've never connected them with the aircon - but my cooling fans don't work, I've checked power supplies and changed all 3 relays to no avail - so before I delve deeper into the fan electrics (when the weather's better), where do I get me one of these Lexia diagnostic tools?
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Re: Xantia stop light and coolant temperature lights flashin

Post by DickieG »

ianrobbo wrote:where do I get me one of these Lexia diagnostic tools?
They're ex-main dealer diagnostic tools, expect to pay £350+ from eBay.
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Post by addo »

Is the Bitron under a separate menu item in Lexia? My "Produit de Chine" doesn't have an apparent listing for it. Every other ECU on the car has no issues with dialogue.
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Post by DickieG »

addo wrote:Is the Bitron under a separate menu item in Lexia? My "Produit de Chine" doesn't have an apparent listing for it. Every other ECU on the car has no issues with dialogue.
On my Lexia 2 (genuine) there's no listing. for the Bitron itself other than the A/C Ecu
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Post by addo »

Thanks, DG.

I can access the aircon ECU no problem and do the cabin blower fan "exercises" plus read interior temps, but thought it was different to the Bitron controller?

Maybe the Bitron output I'm thinking about (Pin D1 of the earlier 30-pin socket?) comes up in other measurement tests, rather than diagnostic mode, as it's a voltage read only.

Regards, Adam.
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Post by DickieG »

addo wrote:Maybe the Bitron output I'm thinking about (Pin D1 of the earlier 30-pin socket?) comes up in other measurement tests, rather than diagnostic mode, as it's a voltage read only.
There's the harness tester for such tests, I don't know how you'd go about that on a Lexia 3, on my Lexia 2 the automatic harness tester is a box located under the Lexia tablet on it's main stand. In addition you then need the relevant breakout harness according to whatever you are working on.
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