Xantia Rev Counter Sticking On

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ACTIVE8
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Xantia Rev Counter Sticking On

Post by ACTIVE8 »

If you have had your Xantia not start due to a flat battery, but it has just enough to crank a little bit, and therefore the problem where the rev counter swings around, and then stays stuck around on the dial, and now won't return from that position, then take a look through this post for an answer to the problem.

This can be frustrating, and I had it happen to me.

I did post about it previously, and information on that can be foundhere.

In the end I found a different way around it, so I thought I would share it with you, and it was while having to wait in the car for a family member somewhere for a while, I had the time to put it into action.

If you take a wire tie the type with a tiny thin wire within a piece of plastic, and strip off the plastic so you are left with a tiny wire.

I found these come on products when you buy them, and you have to remove them from around the product to get it off the cardboard packing it is secured to.

So if you take the tiny wire, and place a small bend on the end, and now poke it around the trip meter reset button, and over to the right towards the stuck rev counter needle.

The trip meter reset button will need holding to one side, to provide enough space to get in the hole, and around the button.

Also the wire will need be long enough to get across to the needle, and so it wont drop into the cluster, so please estimate carefully how long it needs to be.

Take care to be careful because you do not want to mark the instrument panel face, and or the instrument panel plastic cover.

Gently touching the rev counter needle you can encourage to move away from the area where they tend to jam, which is where the back face of the instrument cluster, and clear cover meet the rev counter needle actually gets jammed in there.

Thanks Citroen if that had a stop on it, like the point where it rests when the engine is switched off, then this problem would not exist.

The trick with doing this is to persist at it, and be careful, and patient.

It will save you having to remove the instrument cluster, stripping it, or drilling the cover etc.

So it saves time, and money which is a good thing.

I found I managed to move it back enough to get it to return a small amount, and at that point it should have returned with the engine now running.

Although it still did not want to return, which seemed strange as it was now free from the jamming point, where it had previously been stuck.

I tried turning the engine on, off and then revving it several times, but still it did not return.

So, at this point I received the phone call from the family member, and went from the parking spot to the area where they were waiting, and now it returned back to normal when the car started moving.

It went back just after moving off from stationary which was a result!
8)

I managed to use that waiting time to my advantage, and fix something that needed attention, so I was pleased to get it done.

So I hope this information can be of use, and help to others. 8)
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Post by MikeT »

I had that problem when I first bought the car. I knew the battery was very low but didn't realise it would cause that problem so tried to start it anyway.

I then remembered someone mentioning the wire-through-the-reset-hole trick and tried it but gave up when I nicked and marked the face/dial :oops: so I then left it alone.

Once started, on the 130-mile trip home (and not too long into the journey) I found it had resolved itself so it could be they are self-righting given enough time? It would explain why there's a stop on the wrong side.
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Post by ACTIVE8 »

The thing is I was left with thinking I would have to utilize one of the methods in the answers to the original post, but I found also that it initially went back after a certain period of time.

Subsequently it happened again, and I had been putting off replacing the battery as I had been too busy, and managed to keep the battery going as it needed a small charge, level correction etc, and I could keep it lasting.

This other time it happened I found it wouldn't go back, which obviously was frustrating, so I decided to use a careful tap on the dash in the right place, and this managed to sort it out after a few more careful taps.

Anyway it happened again so this time I changed the battery, and now the car was so much better, and was reliable even if left for a while!

I managed to use the thin wire trick by being very patient, and careful as while waiting I had a lot of time available, and no distractions I.E I was not at home, but I was aware that parked at the side of the road, I had to ensure it did not look that I was doing something strange, so I kept taking a relaxing few moments rest when a car came driving by.

Being persistent I managed to deal with it, and without marking it, but also without removing the cluster, which could have looked like something else (clocking it :wink:) to a passer by, and would have taken so much longer.

(Edit............... I was not at home, had a little one in the car, and had taken another family member to a hospital appointment, and was not going to pay the stitch up charges :evil: of a hospital car park. So I parked in a local road in the shade, and had time on my hands, I had finished reading the paper, and was bored, thus I ended up carrying out some impromtu car maintenance.

It proved to be a good use of the extra time, as the hospital appointments were running late, and I managed to sort out the rev counter problem. I was called to collect the family member when they rung my mobile, and having collected them from the drop off, and collection zone. It meant that I had sorted an issue that had been bothering me, the little one had got some sleep, and the other half was happy too, with the out come of the hospital visit.

So we all had a nice day!! :wink:

P.S. Hospital car park cost very high, too many people driving around to find a space, then blowing their horn to get your attention if you happen to be in your car.....thus waking your little one, not enough child spaces, and the other spaces too tight to get your door open to get to your child, it's no wonder I went to a peaceful side street!

edit ends.......... )

So as I mentioned I had tried other methods before resorting to this trip meter/keyhole surgery. :wink:
Last edited by ACTIVE8 on 02 Sep 2010, 14:40, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by citroenxm »

ONLY ON S2 CARS! :wink:


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Post by ACTIVE8 »

Don't S1 cars get the same problem, or is the access hole too small, or in the wrong place?
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Post by MikeT »

citroenxm wrote:ONLY ON S2 CARS! :wink: l
Do you mean the fault occuring or the fault self-righting or the manual fix?
Last edited by MikeT on 23 Apr 2010, 21:45, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by DickieG »

ACTIVE8 wrote:Don't S1 cars get the same problem, or is the access hole too small, or in the wrong place?
This fault only occurs on S2 cars.
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Post by addo »

I finally released mine the other day. The trip meter button pulls off its shaft, leaving far better access. I then wrapped a straightened paperclip with masking tape to one tip to reduce its scratching.

Once freed from its initial binding, it took a couple of starts/stops to revert back to the intended restive possy.
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Post by citroenxm »

MikeT wrote:
citroenxm wrote:ONLY ON S2 CARS! :wink: l
Do you mean the fault occuring or the fault self-righting or the manual fix?
I think, I cant remember now, that I meant the Rev counter going right round, as they are more "Electronically controlled" were as S1 rev counters are more Electro mechanically working...

Or, I meant this problem with the rev counter just doesn't happen on S1 cars...

:?


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Post by ACTIVE8 »

DickieG wrote:
ACTIVE8 wrote:Don't S1 cars get the same problem, or is the access hole too small, or in the wrong place?
This fault only occurs on S2 cars.
So the original was OK, then they design a fault into the S2 cars.
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Post by ACTIVE8 »

addo wrote:I finally released mine the other day. The trip meter button pulls off its shaft, leaving far better access. I then wrapped a straightened paperclip with masking tape to one tip to reduce its scratching.

Once freed from its initial binding, it took a couple of starts/stops to revert back to the intended restive possy.
AH that's good news.

I wish I had tried this out on a car in a scrap yard, to find that out about the removable button, thanks for the info. :wink:
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Post by XantiaDaveEire »

This has happened to me twice now :cry: and i dread having to fix it everytime but like you said after a good long drive today it fixed itself and returned to the correct position,both times it has fixed itself :)

Maybe its another one of Citroens quirks and that after a certain time it just resets itself :lol:
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Post by landcrab »

Mine went wrong in February 2009 and did'nt get fixed until today,using Addo's method with a biggish paper clip.Took about 20 minutes fiddling to get the angle right but I then found that if I pushed the hub round instead of the actual needle I could get it to move further,then started the engine and it went back to normal.

So after 18 months I thought it would have shook it back to normal but it did'nt,so they don't all self fix. And the area I live in has humps in the road every three yards so I have done plenty of bouncing.

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Post by DHallworth »

I was going to have a go at this last night but the only piece of wire I could find to push it wouldn't squeeze past the knob to reset the mileage clock and when I pulled at it the knob wouldn't come off.

Addo, how does it come off? I tried turning it but didn't want to pull to hard in case I broke it!

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Re: Xantia Rev Counter Sticking On

Post by Sam KS »

ACTIVE8 wrote:If you have had your Xantia not start due to a flat battery......
=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

Thanks, it worked a treat. i used some house hold fuse wire and about 1-2 min fiddling and i had both the Tacho and Speedo all sorted on my S1 Xantia. so tar, the virtual drinks are on me :beer:
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