XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

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falling-out-with-my-car
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

Have you ever bought a drill with spare brushes in the pack? usually they will fit the xantia blower motors with a bit of filling to shape. some blower motors come apart with a couple of screws on the back panel and some are moulded together. if there is a sticker on the back of the motor it may well have three screw holes with Philips screws in two of them undo the two screws and pull out the small spade connector and the motor section should seperate from the casing giving you access to the brushes you may need to de-solder the old brushes and solder the new ones in they are sometimes available on e-bay to yes here they are still available. (link below) if the comutator is still in good nick its worth a punt against the price of a new motor. the brushes may also be sticking in their slide tubes I had one pair that almost wore down to the wire. If I saw motors going on scrap yards cheap I always looked for the ones with the screws in the back casing they can usually be dismantled.
we have a couple now one in the car one fixed ready to go. as you never know do you? usually scrappys will sell them for about a fiver these days as they know they developed faults so they sell them cheap Ive bought a couple reported to have not worked and these worked for years before giving up. here's that link to the brushes.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pair-of-Heate ... 1624735848" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

regards Nigel.
Citroen Xantia S2 1.9 TD estate 189K soon to be broken for parts Jan 2017 headlamps & radiator fan assembly already spoken for & A 1987 Citroen 2CV6 special just for fun.
New addition Citroen C5 2.0 HDi Exclusive Hatch purchased 09/12/2016 with 83K on the clock.
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falling-out-with-my-car
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

I know this sounds a bit cheeky but try charging the battery my S2 fan plays up if the battery is low i.e. ive been doing a lot of short trips starting the engine and not putting enough charge back (10 mins running), check the negative terminal is clean and tight also the negative lead on the gearbox may be loose.
the brown plug that holds four leads that plugs into the blower fan could be the culprit I ended up removing mine and replacing it with a 75 amp chop block to connect to the old cables and I used mains solid copper core cable for the new leads attaching them to the blower with female spade connectors and the plastic sheaths you can buy to make sure none of them touch. I have noticed at times since the rewire that the fan wont operate until I raise the revs of the engine and drive off this usually indicates that the battery is due for an overnight charge.
it could also be worn brushes sticking they are usually available on ebay for about a fiver a set but will probably need filing down to make them fit properly and soldering in place, I have just put new brushes in an old fan which will make it last about another five years of continuous use.
Citroen Xantia S2 1.9 TD estate 189K soon to be broken for parts Jan 2017 headlamps & radiator fan assembly already spoken for & A 1987 Citroen 2CV6 special just for fun.
New addition Citroen C5 2.0 HDi Exclusive Hatch purchased 09/12/2016 with 83K on the clock.
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by AirCooledHeaven »

falling-out-with-my-car wrote: the brown plug that holds four leads that plugs into the blower fan could be the culprit I ended up removing mine and replacing it with a 75 amp chop block to connect to the old cables and I used mains solid copper core cable for the new leads attaching them to the blower with female spade connectors and the plastic sheaths you can buy to make sure none of them touch.
+1 for this solution, repeated problems with my Synergie blower, now fixed. Seems like the 4 way connector on the bottom of these blower motors can't handle the current leading to overheating and burning of the contacts.
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falling-out-with-my-car
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

Great glad its sorted, the mains solid core cable seems to do the trick well, mains cooker cable could be even better
but a tad difficult to attach to a standard sized spade connector.
I don't think the manufacturers ever consider the current draw from the fan motors properly and opted for a cheap multi-core cable. what they haven't considered is that resistance increases with age.
Citroen Xantia S2 1.9 TD estate 189K soon to be broken for parts Jan 2017 headlamps & radiator fan assembly already spoken for & A 1987 Citroen 2CV6 special just for fun.
New addition Citroen C5 2.0 HDi Exclusive Hatch purchased 09/12/2016 with 83K on the clock.
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by CitroJim »

Problems on the brown plug can often be spotted by smell... It happened on My Activa recently, the clue was a whiff of burning when the blower was running fast - and hence drawing most current...

It was not strong, just enough to be aware of...
Jim

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falling-out-with-my-car
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

#-o ahhh but when your alternator goes home it to produces smoke that is dragged through the cabin by the fan.
as I found out recently.
I think the removal of the wobbly brown plug and six inches of the red and black cables is probably the best thing to do for safety sake in all cases. The multi-core copper cable seems to attract the Black Death over the years as moisture creeps into the ends of the cables.
Citroen Xantia S2 1.9 TD estate 189K soon to be broken for parts Jan 2017 headlamps & radiator fan assembly already spoken for & A 1987 Citroen 2CV6 special just for fun.
New addition Citroen C5 2.0 HDi Exclusive Hatch purchased 09/12/2016 with 83K on the clock.
stupidxantia
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by stupidxantia »

Fixed my Blower fan this afternoon!
My intermittent fan was caused by the main feed connector to the motor itself starting to short out and melting the connector block and part of the wiring to the motor itself!
For the love of god if you have this fault check the wiring inside the fan unit itself (it's really easy to remove) and just make sure you don't have imminent fire under there .... what the hell is it with the French and bad wiring, car is great, wiring is unfortunately shady at best in some areas lol

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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by sparksie »

stupidxantia wrote:Fixed my Blower fan this afternoon!
My intermittent fan was caused by the main feed connector to the motor itself starting to short out and melting the connector block and part of the wiring to the motor itself!
For the love of god if you have this fault check the wiring inside the fan unit itself (it's really easy to remove) and just make sure you don't have imminent fire under there .... what the hell is it with the French and bad wiring, car is great, wiring is unfortunately shady at best in some areas lol

Graham
Seconded.
Who else remembers the under bonnet fires in Renault 18s and their siblings?
Or the dash fires in 19s, that gave a classy "tinted windscreen" effect?
All caused by wiring no longer adequately protected by the fuses, now that age has had an effect, combined with (in some cases, at least!) stiffer motors drawing higher currents.
Peugeot/Citroen products are less known for spontaneous combustion, but I'm at a loss to explain why!
I've seen seized fan motors fail to blow fuses and whole sections of loom melt into a solid congealed mess. I can only surmise that PSA wiring is more flame retardant.
On a different point, regarding the fixes advocated earlier in this thread, you shouldn't use solid core cables in a vehicular application. Only multi stranded flexible cables are approved for this use. If you must, in an emergency, use solid household cables, then keep the runs very short and support them well.
And finally, so called "chop connectors" are almost as unreliable as twisted wires. Over time they unscrew sufficiently to cause a resistance, become hot, etc., etc... They can even unscrew enough to lose their grip on the wires. Use professional crimping tools with quality crimp connections, or better yet, solder them and cover with correctly sized heat shrink sleeving. At a pinch, self amalgamating tape seems to do a good job.
Insulating tape is only for temporary jobs. It always loses its adhesive and falls off, invariably at an inconvenient time and in an unreachable location. I never use it.
Happy Christmas to all on here.
I may not get another chance to say it, with the way internet access is at the moment...
Sparksie

2000 Xantia 1.9TurboD
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

sparksie, think it has a lot to do with the public always replacing a smaller fuse with a larger fuse
especially when one particular fuse keeps blowing again and again.
Citroen Xantia S2 1.9 TD estate 189K soon to be broken for parts Jan 2017 headlamps & radiator fan assembly already spoken for & A 1987 Citroen 2CV6 special just for fun.
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by CitroJim »

Indeed, I once heard a very wise and intelligent person who thought about it from first principles and her view was to gradually increase the size of fuse until it stopped blowing!
Jim

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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

Jim it works my old ill agro had cut down nails in the fuse box,, ha ha ha.
I wouldn't dream of doing that to the Citroens HONESTLY!! besides its a lot harder with blade fuses
although the 2cv does have cylindrical fuses Hmmmmm :roll: :roll: :roll: :rofl2:

my solid core copper electrical cables are only 2 inches long Sparksie and the
spade connectors for the heater fan are soldered on. I used the 75amp electrical chop block with two screws to clamp the solid wires
in each joint which makes it all serviceable if need be. :wink:
Citroen Xantia S2 1.9 TD estate 189K soon to be broken for parts Jan 2017 headlamps & radiator fan assembly already spoken for & A 1987 Citroen 2CV6 special just for fun.
New addition Citroen C5 2.0 HDi Exclusive Hatch purchased 09/12/2016 with 83K on the clock.
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by RobinMasters »

Has anyone got copies of the pictures/diagrams of how to do this? None the links in the thread seem to anymore.
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

RobinMasters.

its easier than you think. most people are apprehensive at first but it only takes a few minutes
once you have the hang of it, just three Philips head screws in the squared off plastic tabs
in a triangular formation around the circumference of the fan motor.

the top of the triangle being at the back of the motor closest to the bulkhead
which is where you will find the back screw. the other two screws are at the other two points of the
imaginary triangle or the bottom of the triangle. I hope that is clear enough.

to get the fan out
use a mirror on the floor of the foot well glass pointing up at the fan unit and shine the torch in the mirror
observe the three mounting screws for the fan unit working using the mirror and torch to locate the screwdriver in the screw heads.

The back screw will need a very short stubby Philips screwdriver
to get it out, the two front ones a longer screwdriver will suffice.

pull the brown plug from the heater fan undo the pink lead black plug and the motor comes away from the car.
examine all leads for burning/overheating and replace if necessary. I got rid of the brown plug and soldered new spade connectors to
new wires and then used 75amp chop bloc to reconnect to the car wiring. I have all three speeds back now on the fan motor
something it never did on the old brown plug connector, I was lucky to get two speeds on the fan.

regards.

Nigel.
Citroen Xantia S2 1.9 TD estate 189K soon to be broken for parts Jan 2017 headlamps & radiator fan assembly already spoken for & A 1987 Citroen 2CV6 special just for fun.
New addition Citroen C5 2.0 HDi Exclusive Hatch purchased 09/12/2016 with 83K on the clock.
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by xantia_v6 »

RobinMasters wrote:Has anyone got copies of the pictures/diagrams of how to do this? None the links in the thread seem to anymore.
Can you clarify which job you want to do, and which car?
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Re: XANTIA BLOWER WORKING INTERMITTENTLY

Post by RobinMasters »

xantia_v6 wrote:
RobinMasters wrote:Has anyone got copies of the pictures/diagrams of how to do this? None the links in the thread seem to anymore.
Can you clarify which job you want to do, and which car?
Sorry, yes, that would have been useful information to add.

S1, blower relay mod.
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