Xantia Instrument Panel Removal.

David Goddard · Post by **David Goddard** » 21 Sep 2003, 13:22

At last I have got round to removing the panel to change several lights.
Procedure:
Steering wheel off (follow air bag removl instructions).
Top and bottom shrouds off.
Black fill-in piece above the fuse box removed (2 screws)
Switch panel off (screws on the right, clips on the left)
Un-plug switches.
Instrument panel is held by 2 screws at the bottom and one at the top.
Panel is fulled forward and the 4 electrical connectors un-plugged.
The trick is to carefully ease out the to plasic clip which will have stuck to the padded cowl. Use a small knife. Otherwise the panel won't budge!
I bought 10 new bulbs - there are at least 20 - may be 25. I though that only 3 of mine had blown. In fact 6 had including the low oil level light - which would never have been illuminated in the cars life!

kafkaian · Post by **kafkaian** » 21 Sep 2003, 21:35

Where did you buy your bulbs from David? Hell-Affords apparently do not supply them, then they did try to charge me 10 quid for a new headlamp bulb today which I duly bought from A.B Fletcher of Birmingham for a mere £3.49, so I wouldn't bother with them anyway.

David Goddard · Post by **David Goddard** » 22 Sep 2003, 02:18

I bought them from a Citroen garage - £0.50/each. I noticed in Halfords today that they sell them for £1.50/ea!!!
The Citroen (and Halfords) part no. is 286.
I think Andyspares sell them.
It's nice having a fully illuninated dash board again.

kafkaian · Post by **kafkaian** » 22 Sep 2003, 02:53

Thanks for the info David. This contradicts what I was told today at Halfords, Birmingham, Selly Oak branch and they were indeed not on their corresponding list. Perhaps, according to Halford's marketing team, Citroën cars do not exist in Birmingham !!!! Now that would be funny.
GSF N95932 BULB 12V 1,2W 5MM WEDGE DASHBOARD BULB 12V 1.2W CAPLESS (286) 35 pence (41 pence VAT inclusive)

frankielunn · Post by **frankielunn** » 17 Aug 2006, 17:05

Did my dash lights today changed 8 bulbs didnt realise there were so many back there,bit fidly especially the shrouds also the centre screw retainer in top of dash cowl definately need to prise it out carefully or it won't budge as david's previous post mentioned.... but now all illuminated fair dinkum.got bulbs from europarts 30p each.... HAYNES useless as usual.

davethewheel · Post by **davethewheel** » 17 Aug 2006, 17:51

i never bother with taking the steering wheel off, i have a flexi torque driver and can always manage to get to the screws, it does involve a bit of bending of the plastics but i've never broken anything

frankielunn · Post by **frankielunn** » 17 Aug 2006, 18:37

yes david i tried doing it with steering wheel on but it wasnt hard to take it off,only prob i had was getting at screws holding airbag on, you have to turn steering wheel thro 180 degrees so you can get at the holes behind but as you have disconnected battery you can't start engine to get the power steering pump going so brut force is needed which goes against the grain as thinking of doing damage trying to turn the wheel with no power if you get my drift anyway thats another job done.many more to do tho i'm afraid.

stoofer · Post by **stoofer** » 17 Aug 2006, 19:37

I have a Mk2, Haynes says helpfully that it 'might' be a sealed unit and I 'may not' be able to replace any bulbs - oh so wonderfully useful, thanks Haynes, I'm glad I paid good money for you.

whats the truth?

2512Steve · Post by **2512Steve** » 17 Aug 2006, 22:41

Hi,

Alternative method instead of taking off air-bag and steering wheel is, after removing top & bottom covers and disconnecting switches, to undo the four nuts that hold the column in place and drop the column. Just make sure that all connections are pushed firmly home, as you will have to dismantle everything again if any of the switches don't work (I've done it twice).

Might seem a bit heavy-handed, but it does give extra room to access all the screws, saves dismantling the steering wheel/air-bag and possible mis-alignment of the steering wheel when putting it back on.

Regards,
Steve

Post by **RichardW** » 18 Aug 2006, 07:54

"Alternative method instead of taking off air-bag and steering wheel is, after removing top & bottom covers and disconnecting switches, to undo the four nuts that hold the column in place and drop the column."

Isn't the whole point that you have to take the steering wheel off to get the shrouds off, since the upper shroud has to come off first to give access to the screw(s?) that go downwards into the bottom shroud - and the steering column goes through the top shroud?

Unless someone's been there before and cut the top shroud and wrecked the screw

reblack68 · Post by **reblack68** » 19 Aug 2006, 10:31

The only reason the shrouds have to come off is to gain access to the screws behind them. This can just be done with the top shroud in place (but unscrewed) so it would be quite easy with the column dropped. I considered dropping the column myself but had a go at reaching the screws first and managed quite easily. It all depends how much you like doing fiddly stuff.

stoofer · Post by **stoofer** » 21 Aug 2006, 17:01

stoofer wrote:I have a Mk2, Haynes says helpfully that it 'might' be a sealed unit and I 'may not' be able to replace any bulbs - oh so wonderfully useful, thanks Haynes, I'm glad I paid good money for you.

whats the truth?

to answer my own question: the bulbs can be replaced easily on the Mk II dash, and its easy to take the whole thing apart if needs be.

davek-uk · Post by **davek-uk** » 22 Aug 2006, 08:49

I've had the shrouds off a couple of times with the column in place but in the lowest position. It's pretty easy, but fiddly, and requires gentle bending of the plastic to get the screwdriver in to get the screws.

CDazza76 · Post by **CDazza76** » 27 Aug 2006, 16:54

hi all

sorry if i sound a bit thick i need to replace a few bulbs in my instument panel but i have no idea how to get the airbag off with out it blowing my head off lol could some one tell me how to do this please

regards
cdazza76

Clogzz · Post by **Clogzz** » 28 Aug 2006, 12:30

There’s no risk of the airbag deploying for no reason when removing it.
There are quite a few topics here dealing with steering wheel removal, but this is all I could easily find:

http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/showth ... p?p=291077