Blower's goosed [ sorted ]

HDI Dave · Post by **HDI Dave** » 13 Dec 2010, 20:09

Hey all,
Sorry to bore you all to death with another blower problem, but
I'd be ever so grateful of some leccy guru guidance..electrics are my weak point

The blower's always seemed dodgy to me, it didn't come on untill you ramped it up to the max on the slider jobby,then move it to lower setting/s and it was ok.

Today, steamed up screen,blower on max, fine for 2 seconds then a 'pfft' sound..now nowt.

First plan of attack chaps?

Is there a fuse,(but then again summat must be wrong if it were to blow a fuse?) Be too simple that anyway!

Relays..hmm, as above, I'm a relayphobe, but could muddle through with a bit of guidance.

Oh and my search function aint great for some reason,I just get pages of everything..even blogs!

A link or three to a remedial guide would be greatly appreciated

1999 T reg Xantia 2.0 HDI sx

Cheers, Dave.

falling-out-with-my-car · Post by **falling-out-with-my-car** » 14 Dec 2010, 13:33

Dave,

the heater blower motor brushes go through continuos use on the xantias.
I found you could get a little extra time out of the blower motor by thumping the left side upper carpeted cover of the passenger footwell which has the blower motor behind it, you should hear a fizzing noise as the motor starts to activate at least all my faulty fan blowers used to make this noise as they were switched on whilst hearing this noise I would thump the blower with the side of my hand to get it working when the brushes got stuck about three times a week.

fixing it properly.

if you unscrew the star screws holding in the material cover above the passenger footwell , there are three screws one which is a bit difficult to get at up behind the passenger wheelarch inside the car securing the motor in place, if you undo the three screws after unplugging the pink and grey leads from the motor housing you should be able to extract the blower motor from the car by pulling it down. use a mirror and a torch shone in the mirror to take a look at the round blower motor before removing it.

most scrap yards only charge a few quid for these heater blowers as they know that they tend to fail I took a chance and only paid a fiver for mine at it works perfectly which saved trying to take the old sealed unit appart to replace the brushes, although I had to do some simple earth wiring mods to fit it. my Dad on the other hand has an older mk1 xantia in which citroen put servicveable blower units which could be taken apart, I guess because yours is a T-reg it probably has the later sealed blower motor in it, but you never know you might have the old type blower motor, both which seem to be a universal fitting. once you realise how easy it is to remove the old unit it shouldnt take you any longer than ten mins to replace the blower motor next time. wrap up warm its cold out there.

Post by **RichardW** » 14 Dec 2010, 15:53

Drop the blower out and check if you've got 12V on the thick black and red leads going to it. If so, then proceed as above. If not, then you need to go looking somewhere else for a fault. On MK2s there is a relay above the throttle pedal (the forward most one, the only 30A one there) - I lost the switch feed to mine for some reason. Is your HRW still working?

PS Note for testing... the blower will only run when the engine is running

falling-out-with-my-car · Post by **falling-out-with-my-car** » 14 Dec 2010, 16:04

I think the colour of that relay is green

HDI Dave · Post by **HDI Dave** » 15 Dec 2010, 14:05

Sorted

Cheers guys for your replies.

Stumbled upon the supersticky,which is in plain view

and found this post:

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=24786

which led me to this excellent behemouth post of info/links,(Mandrakes):

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=21372

Checked me fuses under the drivers dash,fine, checked,well,wiggled, the green 30 amp relay above the throttle pedal..(it's a biatch to unclip,I couldn't get both clips off,it would hold a solid lead relay let alone a plastic relay!)

Found the blower motor under the glove box,for some reason I was thinking it would be around/behind the centre console!
Anyway,trusty old 1000 BC multimeter and tools ready,thinking this is gonna be a real p.i.t.ass job..
I unplugged/plugged the blower brown multiplug and the small red and black connectors a few times and hey presto...blower fully working,on all speeds..well I was amazed,thinking, nahh,that's got to be too simple! Haha.
Took the car out and it went off a couple of times,back on when I tapped the said area, so I unplugged again, small file and sandpapered em, bit of WD and some vaseline and so far so good

Thanks to everyone in those links,within links..there's too many to mention,recall!

Stepto1 · Post by **Stepto1** » 15 Dec 2010, 14:34

Guess what, my blower is playing up now! Stopped working on the way home. Got back, checked fuse which was ok. Then it's just started working fine! Any ideas? Guess it's on its way out.

HDI Dave · Post by **HDI Dave** » 15 Dec 2010, 16:08

S1 or S2 Xantia?

If you're lucky,like me on this one, it could be just that brown connector.

Series 1's can be the ignition switch etc.

It's all in those links pal,tons of info,read through em for a bit and all becomes clear

Stepto1 · Post by **Stepto1** » 15 Dec 2010, 17:41

S1. Guessing it's the ignition switch as that would explain why it worked after it was 'turned off and then turned back on again'!!!

Post by **CitroJim** » 15 Dec 2010, 18:13

Stepto1 wrote:S1. Guessing it's the ignition switch as that would explain why it worked after it was 'turned off and then turned back on again'!!!

On an S1 the clincher to diagnosing the problem as the ignition switch is if the heated rear window also dies at the same time.

Stepto1 · Post by **Stepto1** » 15 Dec 2010, 23:09

Nice one. If the blower dies I'll check it. If it is the switch is it just a trip to the scrapies for a replacement or is it more involved?

Clogzz · Post by **Clogzz** » 16 Dec 2010, 10:37

It’s quite a bit more involved.
The replacement switch will come attached to an old lock barrel with key.
If you transfer the lot, you will have to use the 'new' key in the ignition and the old key in the doors and boot.
The switch can be separated from the new barrel and transferred to your present one.
A barrel with switch from a wreck may be worse than your present one.
The key may be worn and the blower switch won't be far behind … it’s usually ahead.

It would be best to add a relay to feed the blower as referred to in the posts above.

falling-out-with-my-car · Post by **falling-out-with-my-car** » 16 Dec 2010, 12:03

judging by that photo, you are a lot shorter than I imagined, how the heck do you manage to drive that big motor???

glad its all sorted now a windscreen that wont demist is a real pain in the neck.

regards Nigel.