Xantia rear light problem

[spluppit]

Hi everyone,

I'm having the all to common Citroen electrical problems( nothing new there)

The car is a xantia HDI diesel estate. I'm having a bit of of a mare with the lights contained within the rear hatch which includes a tail. fog, reverse lamps. As you look at the car from behind the right hand unit is working fine( at the moment) but the left hand one which is linked from the right is giving no end of intermittent problems, mainly with tail lamp, but then i test it again then nothing works on the left hand unit. The tail lamp refuses to work at all and the others seem to be intermittent on the left hand unit.

I have checked connections, continuity of all said wiring powers going in etc etc etc. I have changed the indicator stalk thinking that was initially the problem as they are known to be weak. The only conclusion i can now come up with is is a bad earth. At the moment my main question is, can someone tell me where the earth is located for these two door units? I can at least check it to the chassis and see is that is causing this odd problem of one unit working and the other either not working. I don't really want to be ripping all the panels off the car and still not find the earth.


Any other more detailed info please ask what you need answered and i will give more details.


Kind regards and many thanks in advance.


Scott

[Xantidote]

Hi Scott,

Welcome to the Forum. Sorry no-one's yet replied to your post - probably something to do with it being Easter, and we're all involved with family. Either that or too much

Yours being an estate, I can't help you from my own Xantia knowledge, my car being a hatch. However, to investigate possible earth fault being the problem, why not just take a length of wire and stick it under any screw fixed into the bodyshell, and make a temporary connection to somewhere on the offending lamp unit. I'd sort the earth first, as maybe you have another issue as well?

Be aware that a suspect point for any goings-on with rear lights, experienced by a number of Xantia owners, is where the wiring passes through a concertina sleeve from the bodyshell into the tailgate. Because the length of the wiring harness is a touch on short side at this point, some of the wires fracture over a period of time. This can lead to a permanent fault, a frustrating intermitent fault, or a short. Hope this helps.