Xantia expertise please

[petrolhead63]

Hi, new to this forum but a classic car nut. My Dad being the citroen man has had me find him a nice Xantia again, after a brief affair with his C5 which he just did not take too after BX, Xantia's etc. I just got him a lovely lovely series 2 exclusive auto.

A couple of things I wish to look into.

first is has developed a relay like tick tick ocnstantly under the steering column....just occasionaly it stops. If you activate the indicators or hazards the tick changes tone and speed to suit the flashers and actually sounds correct. Turn off indicator or hazards and fast tick tick tick again..any ideas?

Second....brakes work fine..ish. ABS kicks in if you stamp on them. The pedal seems dead and a bit hard though, no feel and a bit off or on, sometime the suddenly bite a bit harder...I think. All a little difficult to describe but just not quite right I feel. The brake pedal I notice does lift up and down but I think that is ok...it has an adjuster bolt to set its height in relation to the throttle. I am not an expert on these hydraulinc citroen systems but know it has a control valve...ideas again greatfully received.

[Northern_Mike]

Brakes sound like most of my Xantia have been - slightly wooden, dead feeling. LHM change and bleeding might make them feel better.

Clicking likely to be a worn/dirty indicator stalk. They often do this, sometimes accompanied by a wisp of smoke from the cowling round the column. Best solution is to replace the switch.

[CitroJim]

Welcome Mr. Head

A very common fault is that ticking. It comes from the indicator stalk and is often caused by conductive dirt in the swith bridging the contacts. Often a blast of compressed air will sort it... Otherwise they're reasonably amenable to being dismantled (carefully) and cleaned...

The second point is often just a feel thing. As standard there's a strong spring between the pedal and dosuer valve to give the pedal a feel of sponginess so they feel 'conventional'


A recognised modification is to ditch this spring and replace it with something solid and often a short length (the same as the free length of the spring) of 15mm water pipe is used. This gives the brake pedal a very positive feel but can be very on-off if yuo're not used to it or expecting it!

Both my Xantias are modified thus and I prefer it. It makes my XM brakes (which will feel more like BX brakes) very odd

The spring is encased in a black plastic cylinder on the back of the pedal.

As your dad has an S2 auto with the AL4 (HP20 if he has a V6) gearbox I suggest you research on here the importance of regularly changing the gearbox oil with the right stuff... They are nominally sealed for life but don't you believe it!

EDIT: Ahh, Mike beat me to it!!!



there is no adjusting screw.

[Northern_Mike]

EDIT: Ahh, Mike beat me to it!!!

At last!

[CitroJim]

EDIT: Ahh, Mike beat me to it!!!

At last!

[jgra1]

sometime the suddenly bite a bit harder...

could this also be the front accumulator sphere being a bit flat.. ?
I am sure one of my xants had very grabby brakes, especially when starting out in the morning..

[CitroJim]

could this also be the front accumulator sphere being a bit flat.. ?

Very good point John A flat accumulator will certainly cause 'pulsy' brakes which will grab a bit...

Also, it's always a good idea to give them a good bleed if there's any kind of problem like this too but only after checking the accumulator.

Check it by listening to the pressure regulator tick interval; it should be well in excess of 30s with the engine idling and at normal height...

Another test is to switch off and then sit in the tailgate to make the rear sink. There should be enough stored pressure in the accumulator for at least one height correction back to normal height; it'll take about 20s to do this. If the accumulator is really good it'll do it twice.

[petrolhead63]

Thanks very much people, it is always great to join a firum with true enthusiast expertise. As said, I am not so clued up on these Citroens so again many thanks indeed

I will look into the indicator stalk, it does sound bizaarly like the flasher relay but I suppose an arcing switch could cause the relay to tick.

The brakes need playing with i think, I drove his series 1 many times and they were "right"

It is a 2.0litre auto by the way, only 49K on it and been sat a few damp months, things got better on the 70 miles home today generally but the indicator tick tick noise got worse and the brakes did not settle down.

Lack of use certainly could have added.

Another little issue....the rev counter needle has spun right off the scale and wedged under the black plastic! possibly due to a flat battery causing all the dials to flick. Its been flat.........radio code is needed etc.

[CitroJim]

Another little issue....the rev counter needle has spun right off the scale and wedged under the black plastic! possibly due to a flat battery causing all the dials to flick. Its been flat.........radio code is needed etc.

That's the cause; low battery...

There's a number of threads on here on how to reset it - there are a number of methods and sometimes just flicking on the ignition can do it. Usually though you need to get some fine instrument on the needle just to give it a little flick and back she goes!

If al else fails, pop the instrument cluster out and tip it upside-down. That'll do it...

If you have no record of the radio code then there's a member on here called The Birdman who can supply it for you... He'll give you all the codes including the confidential code required to program keys...

[petrolhead63]

thanks again, I'm getting to like this site more and more already

I will have a play with Dads car sometime before too long. but need to prepare and sell his 39K 52 plated C5 first really, along with my own C5 hdi estate.