Xantia 1.9 diesel auto

dkitchin · Unread post by **dkitchin** » 21 Jul 2003, 23:06

My father-in-law runs a '99 Citroen Xantia 1.9 diesel automatic with about 35K on the clock and regular service history. It is used for a mixture of short and long runs and towing. A fault recently developed while he was on holiday in France while towing a small caravan in severe wet weather. The car became very sluggish to set off in first or reverse. When towing he could hardly get it going at all. Up hills solo; the same. At some point in the story the gearbox went into "fault" mode where the gear indicator lights flash, but that particular symptom has gone away.
I drove the car recently, having checked that the box wasn't in "snow" mode, the car was very sluggish setting off in first or reverse. Flooring the throttle didn't seem to make any difference to engine speed unless it was in neutral when the engine revved freely. Once it got moving and changed into second gear, it seemed completely normal. Acceleration was, in fact, better in second than first. It was similar setting off in "sport" mode, but it hung onto the gears longer as I would expect. It was just the same when I selected gears individually using the button for first and the gear shift.
The car has visited a French Citroen dealer who pronounced it OK and correctly filled with fluid. It has also visited the Citroen dealer in Huddersfield who suggested to f-i-l that he take it to the local auto gearbox specialist if he wasn't prepared to stump up the cash for a new gearbox. He wasn't, so he had the mystifying experience of said specialist telling him there was nothing wrong. This on a car that, until it reaches 10 mph or so could be blown into the weeds by an athletic snail.
Any ideas anyone[?]

wheeler · Unread post by **wheeler** » 22 Jul 2003, 01:24

has the condition of the oil been checked ? ie is it dis-coloured or does it have a 'burnt' smell ? if so it means its knackered inside.

reffro · Unread post by **reffro** » 22 Jul 2003, 14:10

Your situation sounds exactly like the same fault my companies old pool car had. The car was 2.0i 16v with the same four speed box. It would also intermittantly go into a fault mode, when both the lights near the gearbox position indicator would flash, one of those being the snow function light. The car would then hardly pull away, and wouldn't use all the gears on the move, and refusing to kick down. Even changing to gear selector to lower gears wouldn't change its mind. It became very dangerous moving across junctions as it would just crawl for the first few yards. I do know the car was near the end of its career with my company and was ditched without me finding out what the fault eventually was, but it was taken to the Dealers who gave a similar reaponse to your father's dealer.
The fact it has happened to you also, suggests a common fault that someone out there should be able to diagnose. Unfortunately I can't do this, but keep trying, someone will know.

Unread post by **Jon** » 22 Jul 2003, 21:06

Is this the 4 speed AL4 auto box?
This is the one also fitted to the C5 HDi and I've heard that it is recommended these vehicles er NOT used for towing as it causes gearbox problems, a friend has one with a dealer fit towbar, and he was told that an additional oil cooler may be required. He only tows a small trailer so its OK.
Sounds to me like the 'box has got too hot due to towing, changing the oil may help but I'm not convinced.
If you're lucky the box may be stuck in "limp home" mode, the only way to check this would be for a Cit dealer with Proxia diagnostics to check it as far as I know.
This box is fitted with s small oil cooler (227546)in the Xantia however.

dkitchin · Unread post by **dkitchin** » 31 Jul 2003, 16:17

Thanks for your help, all.
F-i-l has handed it over to these guys
http://www.autogearbox.co.uk for them to fix.

RichardH · Unread post by **RichardH** » 09 Aug 2003, 15:38

Hi, did your father in law get the autobox problem fixed?
Richard

Homer · Unread post by **Homer** » 11 Aug 2003, 18:52

A bit late in the day but....
These models don't have traction control do they? (I know none of the manual models do but I think I have seen it mentioned somewhere) It sounds exactly like a problem my brother had on his Vectra[:I] automatic. It turned out to be a fault with the traction control.