Xantia's very cold!!

[walcit]

Just replaced the heater matrix in my Xantia 1.9d LX. Everything went ok, but after switching on the heater fan it would only seem to work on max (although I was selecting possibly the middle of the slider switch). Now, after looking in the heater control unit, and after having a 'bit of a fiddle', the fan doesnt work at all. Could this be a problem with the selector switch itself? I could have disturbed it somehow after replacing the matrix? any ideas?

Also I have a few other issues....
Cliking every 7 seconds....New Accumulator Sphere?
Knock in the front drivers side when going over a bump....Drop Link?Drivers side lock not working.......Swap with passenger side which works?
I would also like to replace the LHM fluid but how much is it? where can I get some?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

[graham593192]

New Accumulator - Correct

New Drop link - Correct - best to do both sides together

LHM fluid about £4 a litre from local motor factors or £10 a litre from local Citroen stealer

Heater and Lock - pass!

[Peter.N.]

The fan problem shouldn't be difficult to diagnose if you have a voltmeter, check for voltage on the fan terminals, probably thick red and black wires, you should have 12 volts, if you do, the motor is faulty, if not, there is either a fault wth the switch or wiring.

Clicking every 7 seconds doesn't indicate a flat accucmlator sphere but it does sound on the way out, so I would change it.

Drop links are not expensive and can be obtained from GSF as can LHM fluid at a very reasonable price. If you dont have one near you, they do a very good mail order service, look up their website.

[Peter.N.]

Missed by 2 seconds!!

[Mandrake]

Clicking every 7 seconds doesn't indicate a flat accucmlator sphere but it does sound on the way out, so I would change it.

7 seconds is most definately flat, much more so than just "on the way".

Regulator cycle time on a new accumulator should be over 3 minutes... anything under 30 seconds is cause for concern, although on Hydractive 2 models leaky HA electovalves can cause very short cycle times even if the accumulator is ok.

(Mine cycles every 12 seconds due to a leaky front electrovalve even though the accumulator is new - if I unplug the power to the electovalve the cycle time goes up to nearly 4 minutes)

Regards,
Simon

[Mandrake]

Drivers side lock not working.......Swap with passenger side which works?

Yes, or you could strip and repair the lock. I presume the lock is freewheeling ? EG you put the key in and it just turns and turns ? Dad's car had the same problem and we were able to repair the lock.

In theory you can get the lock out by pulling the small rubber bung out in the edge of the door, and inserting a screwdriver in the right place to press the release clip for the barrel, and slide out the barrel, but in practice we found this impossible when the lock was faulty, so we ended up having to take the door card off and remove the door handle completely. (Not as difficult as I expected, but "fun" refitting it)

When you get the barrel out you can strip the lock right down into a few pieces and you'll probably find that the sliding section which is supposed to push inwards with the key is frozen solid, preventing the tumblers from lining up with the right places on the key, and keeping the barrel in the "anti-theft" mode where it just spins around freely.

A bit of penetrating lubricant like LPS1 and a lot of jiggling and fiddling and you should be able to free it up, grease it slightly, and reassemble the lock. You can test whether its working just in the handle without having to fit the handle back in the car.

I have an article somewhere with pictures I can dig out if necessary. The one we fixed has been working fine for 6 months since we did it

Edit: Found the file with the description of how to repair the locks and uploaded it:

http://homepages.igrin.co.nz/simon/imag ... _locks.pdf

Thanks to the forum member that sent me this file some time back, I've forgotten who it was but it sure helped us repair the lock! It is written for the XM so the method of getting the barrel out is different as the XM handle is totally different, but from that point on it is applicable to the barrel in the Xantia locks...

Regards,
Simon

[Peter.N.]

Mine is ticking every 30 secs with a new sphere, before I replaced it, 2 seconds was the norm. I have had two other XMs with u/s spheres, ticking every couple of seconds, which on two occasions led to failure of the high pressure pipe joint at the pump. You have to have very good hydraulics for it only to pump once in 3 minutes!

[Mandrake]

Mine is ticking every 30 secs with a new sphere, before I replaced it, 2 seconds was the norm. I have had two other XMs with u/s spheres, ticking every couple of seconds, which on two occasions led to failure of the high pressure pipe joint at the pump. You have to have very good hydraulics for it only to pump once in 3 minutes!

Hi Peter,

Maybe the XM has other possible sources of leakage compared to a Xantia.... is it Hydractive (2) ? If so try disabling the Hydractive electrovalves as a test and you may find the cycle time goes up dramatically like mine does.

Mine varies anywhere between 12 seconds to around 30 seconds on a day to day basis due to random variations in the electrovalve leakage.

From what I can gather from a few people I've discussed it with, leaky electrovalves seems to be becoming a common problem as the cars age Even worse, the valves themselves seem to be very expensive, and not easily available in NZ...

With the valve unplugged the cycle time is about 3 minutes, after I had a go at removing and blowing the valve clean it temporarily stopped leaking, and the cycle time went up to nearly 5 minutes

Unfortunately it is leaking again and back down to 12 seconds now...

By the way my Dad's Non-Hydractive 2 Xantia cycles about every 1 minute 30 seconds, and it has an accumulator that is down to about 30 bars.

Regards,
Simon

[Peter.N.]

Hi Mandrake.

Thanks for the info. I forgot I wasn't comparing like with like. I have had, I think 10 hydropnumatics, 3 CXs, 3 BXs, and 4 XMs and I dont think any of them had the pressure stay up that long, but I must admit most were high milers, one of the XMs at 292k and my last td Safari at 266k, so this was probably down to wear in the systems, so I was only basing my comments on my own experience. As I tend to drive my cars more than repair them, 30 seconds will do me as long as it still works OK. It does take a while for the pressure to come up on very cold mornings, in spite of the fact that I have recently fitted a new pump, so maybe the filters are clogged, I will have to have a look. Hopefully, it doesn't get cold enough down there to give you that problem!

[walcit]

Ive ordered a new accumulator sphere, but Im worried now that its not that. I do have a weep around the accumulator (I think its coming from that 'hose pipe' (it can be seen from underneath), prob just a hose clip.
Do you think its the accumulator then? well I'll have to change it noe since I've bought one!!

[Peter.N.]

They work very hard and dont last all that long, so you wont do any harm replacing it, and once every 7 seconds is certainly not good, we are all agreed on that!

[Clogzz]

after switching on the heater fan it would only seem to work on max. Now, the fan doesnt work at all.

Does it have air conditioning, or a resistor as pictured here:

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... c&start=15

If it has the resistor, there is a thermal fuse link in it that causes high speed only when it blows.
No go at all since, the heater fuse, probably F20, 30 Amps green, in fuse box under dash has blown.
This may be caused by a short in the resistor, or in the motor, or caused by the 'bit of a fiddle'.

[Mandrake]

Ive ordered a new accumulator sphere, but Im worried now that its not that. I do have a weep around the accumulator (I think its coming from that 'hose pipe' (it can be seen from underneath), prob just a hose clip.
Do you think its the accumulator then? well I'll have to change it noe since I've bought one!!

Don't panic

As yours is an LX it will not have Hydractive 2, and therefore has no Electrovalve to leak as I was describing... therefore 7 seconds means the accumulator really is worn out...

Regards,
Simon

[Mandrake]

Hi Mandrake.

Thanks for the info. I forgot I wasn't comparing like with like. I have had, I think 10 hydropnumatics, 3 CXs, 3 BXs, and 4 XMs and I dont think any of them had the pressure stay up that long, but I must admit most were high milers, one of the XMs at 292k and my last td Safari at 266k, so this was probably down to wear in the systems, so I was only basing my comments on my own experience. As I tend to drive my cars more than repair them, 30 seconds will do me as long as it still works OK. It does take a while for the pressure to come up on very cold mornings, in spite of the fact that I have recently fitted a new pump, so maybe the filters are clogged, I will have to have a look. Hopefully, it doesn't get cold enough down there to give you that problem!

The leaky electrovalve on mine does slow down the lifting process quite noticably.... as some of the pumping effort of the pump is wasted by the leakage. When I think about it it is rather a lot of leakage - the cut out pressure of the regulator is 170 bars, and the cut in pressure is 145 bars, so the leakage is enough to cause a drop from 170 to 145 in only 12 seconds

Other side effects are both the front and the back intermitantly sticking in hard mode during driving, the rear rising then dropping and rising again in the mornings, and both front and rear popping up like a cork when going from maximum height to normal height. All these things I've managed to confirm are caused by the one leaky valve.... (because all these symptoms stopped after the valve was cleaned and stopped leaking and returned when the valve became leaky again...)

Regards,
Simon