Xantia STOP light

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panksr
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Joined: 28 Mar 2004, 00:23
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Xantia STOP light

Post by panksr »

My daughter has a 1.9D Xantia that has one annoying fault and i hope that someone out their in cyberspace can help.
The car takes a long time for the stop light on the dash to go out but once out generally stays out until she fills the car up with friends. With a full car the stop light keeps coming on, there are no leaks and the fluid level is spot on. Ride height is ok but i have noticed that the car sinks overnight even though it is supposed to have a valve that stops this.
Where should i start looking????
Robin
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Post by Robin »

Hi, can you tell us the year, mileage and particular model please. Also do you know if any of the spheres have been changed recently?
Cheers, Robin
panksr
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Post by panksr »

Yeah sorry about missing that out. It's an 'R' Reg, facelift model 1998. I know that she has had it for nearly three years and no spheres have ever been changed in that time but i don't know its previous history. She got it with around 85k on it and its now got 108K. If it is the spheres should i change all of them and do they come pre-charged?
Many thanks
jeremy
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Post by jeremy »

Firstly the stop light should never come on while the car is being driven and if it does then the car must be stopped and the problem rectified.
Your car has the split pump, with the majority of the pump feeding the power steering and the balance for the brakes and suspension. The pressure in the system is controlled by the pressure regulator which makes the characteristic ticking noise as it goes about its business (should be greater than 30 secs).
There are a number of possible causes (fewer than on older cars as your car doesn't have the dreaded flow divider) but what makes me curious is that the light comes on when the car is loaded. The effect of loading is to open the height correctors and pump some more LHM in to get the correct ride height and this leads me to wonder if you have checked the LHM level with the car on max height with the engine running?
the next thing I'd check is the accumulator sphere - a failed accumulator sphere is a frequent cause of rapid ticking and also causes the stop light to go out very rapidly on start. On my BX estate I can sit in the back with the engine turned off immediately before and the car will sink and rise again after 20 secs or so on the accumulator. I think you can do this with the xantia but you will have to turn the ignition on to prevent the anti-sink operating.
Jeremy
panksr
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Post by panksr »

Have definately checked LHM level with car running and on level ground and with the height lever in the MAX position. What i cant understand is why it doesn't happen all the time. Its like an intermittent fault but is not connected to road conditions or temp. Ive tried the bounce test and all seems fine, maybe a bit hard but its so diificult to tell if its normal or not. Sitting in the boot and then jumping out gets all the right results as well. As for ticking between 30 - 60 secs i cant say i can hear it at all!!
Appreciate your help in trying to resolve problem.
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

The ticking from the pressure regulator (PR) should indeed be possible to hear - even considered the "sound scheme" of the diesel noise.
It should be a distinct interval ticking, with some 30seconds up to 1-2 minutes between tickings emitted.
The PR is the base unit on engine block - on which the main system accumulator sphere is fitted.
The PR has a pressure releif valve - a 12mm head bolt - which releases the system pressure for service issues.
The bolt is the ONLY 12mm head bolt found here - and is protruding the PR unit - as if it was not fully winded in, and clearly seems to not retain anything.
This bolt should exactly be nipped up with slight tension by a ring spanner - never torqued.
Check if this bolt is left loose, causing system pressure problems.
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