Xantia Activa - What to do?

This is the Forum for all your Citroen Technical Questions, Problems or Advice.

Moderator: RichardW

whitecrook2
Posts: 30
Joined: 29 Nov 2006, 12:59
Location: Clydebank, Sunny Scotland
My Cars:

Post by whitecrook2 »

Havng thought about this and read some more posts on here I have a couple of Qs.

Does the wire coming out the actual sensor come off? There's a white collar on the cable which /may/ come out if I pulled hard, but I assumed it was a molded wire. It looks rounded like a coax cable.
(the wire on the ECU side of the plug is 2 core - looks like thin mains cable)

That would allow me to confirm the cabling is OK, and the sensor is broken.

Do the replacement sensors come with the sensor at one end of a peice of cable and half of the spring plug at the other? I guess the answer to that would answer the first question.

Cheers
--
96 1.9td estate 170K, 97 R activa
andmcit
Posts: 4299
Joined: 03 Mar 2005, 17:59
Location: Swansea - South Wales
My Cars:
x 30

Post by andmcit »

whitecrook2 wrote: Do the replacement sensors come with the sensor at one end of a peice of
cable and half of the spring plug at the other? I guess the answer to that
would answer the first question.

Cheers
Yep, that's the way it works. No separate wiring - all in one.

I've had a sensor's lead wire cut close to where it goes into the hub pick
up end and once a reading of the severed end is determined to be OK a
bad kink/bend in the length of the lead was found to be the problem.

It was all soldered up and shrink sealed and weatherproofed and never
gave any more trouble ['twas on a CX BTW]. The thing will be thrown
away if you buy a new one anyway so you may as well try to
rescue/reuse it before it's binned.

You may of course find the field windings in the actual pick up slug isn't
working mind.

Andrew
whitecrook2
Posts: 30
Joined: 29 Nov 2006, 12:59
Location: Clydebank, Sunny Scotland
My Cars:

Post by whitecrook2 »

I cut the wire and checked for continuity but the sensor was duff. Got a new one, fitted it no problem, and ABS works now.

Also got a replacement tyre and booked it in for an MOT tomorrow morning.

Fingers crossed, then I can tax it before the year end...

In total I have spent about 700 including the cost of the car..
--
96 1.9td estate 170K, 97 R activa
andmcit
Posts: 4299
Joined: 03 Mar 2005, 17:59
Location: Swansea - South Wales
My Cars:
x 30

Post by andmcit »

It's been worth the battle - there aren't many other cars that remotely match
it for the same money - to put the 700 into perspective just look at the
under 1000 category in the AutoTrader - filled with total rubbish... lol:

Combined with the fact you know and can trust the brakes which is usually
the first thing you'd want to check/change upon purchasing a 'new' old car
straightaway anyway there shouldn't be any further bills/nasty surprises!!

Ok, there's the spheres, and the exhaust, and the strut tops... :wink: :lol:

All the best for the MOT - the only thing to fear, is fear itself etc etc :D

Enjoy!! Keep everyone updated...

Andrew
whitecrook2
Posts: 30
Joined: 29 Nov 2006, 12:59
Location: Clydebank, Sunny Scotland
My Cars:

Post by whitecrook2 »

I meant to post this a while ago, but you know new year etc.

The car passed :) with a couple of advisory's, I've lost the cert right now, but it was basically nothing much (number plate light dim etc) but braking efficiency was good enough, but not great.


How can I improve the braking power? The front has pretty recent discs and pads, and the rears are obviously brand new. Comparing to my LX the brakes in that are fierce, they really throw you forward if I brake hard.

If I brake real hard in the activa, it stops, but not as fiercely (could that be just the suspension?), Even if I do it hard enough to activate ABS it still doesn't seem as powerful as my other car.


I've come to the conclusion the tyres (nankings ) could be a massively better (esp in the wet) as It's been sideways on a few corners I know I can blat round in my estate. It's quite worrying, but the car seems to handle OK in a skid situation, all four wheels seem to skid in the same direction rather than the front or the back, as used to happen in my estate before I put decent rubber on it.
--
96 1.9td estate 170K, 97 R activa
whitecrook2
Posts: 30
Joined: 29 Nov 2006, 12:59
Location: Clydebank, Sunny Scotland
My Cars:

Post by whitecrook2 »

KevMayer wrote:I had an Activa and increased my boost by adjusting the waste gate actuator tension. 4 turns shorter on the actuator arm caused my boost to exceed 1 bar. I turned it back to 3 1/2 turns and the management light only came on under extreme conditions (like when I raced a Civic Type R).

cheers, Kev

OK, now the car is passed MOT and it's a bit lighter in the evenings it's time to try and sort out some of these things.

I had a look under the engine and found this waste gate arm, I read people saying to turn a nut?

I can't see any nut to turn, the arm is threaded and is flattened at the end connected to a rod through the flattened area, held in place by a circlip.

Is the procedure to remove the circlip and turn the arm (shorter or longer) then replace the circlip back on?

The circlip is pretty well shot I'll need a new one which I don't have so I didn't want to fiddle today.

I am looking to decrease the boost slightly to avoid K light coming on when I boot it. I suspect this may have been done by either the PO or someone else, the turbo kicking in is quite strong - I asked before if it's normal for wheelspin, but another question:

If I pull away normally (i.e. @ 1000rpm, clutch fully engaged) and then floor it, the car accelerates until the turbo kicks in and then it wheelspins just wondering if that's expected, moving from a 1.9TD the only way to get that to wheelspin is to move away at about 3K rpm and engage the clutch fast.

Thanks for reading
--
96 1.9td estate 170K, 97 R activa
KevMayer
Posts: 1051
Joined: 12 Sep 2003, 22:01
Location: Staffordshire, United Kingdom
My Cars:
x 2

Post by KevMayer »

When you look at the waste gate arm if you look at the sleeve which is screwed onto the threaded rod, you will see a dimple on the outside of the sleeve. The dimple is where the sleeve has been peened to lock it in place on the threaded rod once it had been set in the factory.

To move my sleeve I had to take off the actuator and arm assembly complete and drill out this peening to free the sleeve so that it can be turned along the threaded shaft.

Now, if the peening on your sleeve is intact, i.e. not drilled out, then your waste gate arm is probably standard and has not been altered. This will tell you that the reason for your high boost lies elsewhere.

Check the peening first.

If the peening is ok you need to look at the high pressure pipework back to your actuator to see if it's ok. If your actuator isn't receiving pressure feedback from the air inlet ducting just before the inlet manifold then your waste gate will be held shut. This will cause an overboost. i.e. if your waste gate is remaining closed then the boost can go sky high. Enough some times to cause the turbo to self destruct, however, the clever ECU prevents this by cutting the fuel if boost goes over 1 bar.

If you Activa seems to have loads of boost and power which is suddenly chopped by the ECU then i'd suggest that your waste gate is staying shut.

Cheers, Kev
Cheers, Kev

02 plate C5 2.2 Hdi Exclusive SE (now 170k miles 03/21).

Used to have:- Xantia 1.9 TurboD SX. 1996 Blue & 1998 Silver Activa. + 1992 BX TZD Turbo.
Post Reply