Advice needed ASAP! Xantia Heater stuck on hot

trooper30 · Post by **trooper30** » 19 Apr 2011, 19:23

Hiya fellas, long time no speaky! Right have a real problem. The hearter in the wifes Xantia is stuck on hot, slide switch has no effect. The blowers dont work either but I aint to bothered about that. She is off on Holiday with the kids tomorrow an 10.30 and its gonna be torture going to Somerset from Milton keynes with the heater stuck on hot in this weather!
Sooooo has anyone got a quick fix for this, even if I have to break somthing to get the heat off, can always repair it when she gets back from holiday!

Any ideas at all are worth trying

Cheers Fellas

spider · Post by **spider** » 19 Apr 2011, 19:26

If its cable operated for the flap then the cable has probably come off or broken.

I'm not 100% familiar with these heater box's though, but the water is circulated all the time, a simple flap controls hot / cold by passing air around the matrix or not.

If you can examine the panel with the heater controls to see if the cable has broken or not and then look up in the footwells to see which one it is (move the others so you know which one is not working) assuming that one is externally accessible.

Sorry this reply is a bit generic.

trooper30 · Post by **trooper30** » 19 Apr 2011, 19:42

Not sure if the hot and cold slider on the panner is cable driven or not on her 2000 HDi, had a look and cant really feel any cable tension on the slider, where as I can on the other sliders just not the hot and cold

Post by **CitroJim** » 19 Apr 2011, 19:43

The heat control flap is motorised in the Xantia and it's possible the gears have stripped/otherwise become damaged. Clogzz has written about it in the past so a search of his old posts will be worth mulling over.

The end of the motor can be spotted if you look up at the bottom of the heater box from the passenger footwell. A quick "fix" night be to remove the motor and drive the flap closed.

It is not possible to easily or quickly bypass the matrix.

Where in Somerset are you going to? Butlins at Minehead by any chance? I ask as I'm a Somerset lad and spent many of my formative years near Minehead...

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 19 Apr 2011, 19:44

They have the auto temperature control dont they. Is the fan sensor in the dash still working?

Post by **CitroJim** » 19 Apr 2011, 19:49

Citroenmad wrote:They have the auto temperature control dont they. Is the fan sensor in the dash still working?

That normally causes them to be cold Chris

It's a good point though, the aircon system bristles with sensors and a lexia is really needed to check it over for good health. Also, a Lexia can motor the flap independently of the controls to test the mechanical aspects of it...

trooper30 · Post by **trooper30** » 19 Apr 2011, 19:59

Not sure if this is a factor but about 6 monthe ago the fan blower stoped working, after many questions asked and lots of tearing hair out I bodged by shorting out 2 particular pins on the green relay in the drivers footwell above the throttle peadle. It all worked peachy, aircon, blower settings, the lot
full thread here so you can see exactly what I did

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/p ... ly&t=35349

Wifes just told me that yesterday that the wire used to short the pins fell off, she tried to shove it back in, there was a small blue flash and a fizzle, nothing worked at all, heater stuck on hot. And all the day before she goes to Taunton on the hotest day of the year so far!

Women, cant live with them, cant shoot them!

trooper30 · Post by **trooper30** » 19 Apr 2011, 20:04

CitroJim wrote:
It's a good point though, the aircon system bristles with sensors and a lexia is really needed to check it over for good health. Also, a Lexia can motor the flap independently of the controls to test the mechanical aspects of it...

Yea your right there Jim, really anoys me that the only problem with this Hdi is the bloody fans and heater! The car itself is mint with a lovely engine, You seen it yourself Jim so you know what I mean! But this heater and blower is the bloody bane of my life!

Post by **CitroJim** » 19 Apr 2011, 21:01

trooper30 wrote:You seen it yourself Jim so you know what I mean! But this heater and blower is the bloody bane of my life!

Indeed, funnily enough I was thinking of it last weekend, one of the cleaned and tidiest Xantias I've ever seen

You'd better nip over and see me at a mutually convenient time, see if we can sort it...

trooper30 · Post by **trooper30** » 19 Apr 2011, 22:13

CitroJim wrote:
trooper30 wrote:You seen it yourself Jim so you know what I mean! But this heater and blower is the bloody bane of my life!
Indeed, funnily enough I was thinking of it last weekend, one of the cleaned and tidiest Xantias I've ever seen
You'd better nip over and see me at a mutually convenient time, see if we can sort it...

Yup will deffo do that Jim before I get so hacked off with it and take a still-saw to it! Well to avoid the onslaught of the hot heater the wife has decided to leave for Taunton at 5am hopefully arriving before the day warms up.
Gives me 10 days to hopefully find an answer to the heater issue before the summer really starts, if not the cars gonna have to go as I cant have the kids riding about in a microwave. It's so annoying as only a few days ago it was all working perfectly with ice cold aircon, and now it's a furnace in there.

Clogzz · Post by **Clogzz** » 20 Apr 2011, 15:22

Thanks for the reference, Jim !

Motorised flap topic about lack of heat, but same cause:
http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=33379

As a stopgap you may close the vents and set to recirculated air so there won’t be any heat coming in with the blower not working.

411514 · Post by **411514** » 20 Apr 2011, 18:56

surely removing the fuse for the blower would be a quick bodge or do other important circuits use the same one

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 20 Apr 2011, 19:13

411514 wrote:surely removing the fuse for the blower would be a quick bodge or do other important circuits use the same one

Even without the blower running there is still airflow as the car moves.