Xantia engine wont start - bad electric contact when cold - Solved

[Jaya123]

Hi Sohan and Admin,
I have a similar issue with immobilizer not working specially on rainy days and the yellow color key indicator do not show in the dash board lights. Can you please share the wiring diagrams ?
About the fuse 9 you talked about earlier in the fuse box under steering wheel, is a 5 A fuse in my car. How ever temperatures here in Sri Lanka don't go below 20 C. I think the issue is in CPH after checking this tread but have no idea how to diagnose in. Any help mostly welcome.

[lancia58]

Hi

It may be that some rain penetrates the car and drips on the CPH. The wiring diagram won't help. The CPH is located behind the glove box. You should detach the glove box, and see if the CPH gets wet. To detach the glove box open the lid and remove all screws. One screw is covered with that black cloth that is adhered to the glove box. Pull it and it will come out than remove the screw. The CPH is a black box on the left side. Two connectors are hooked onto it, unplug the connectors and detach the CPH and check if it comes wet.

Hope that helps
Zohar

[rodbonello]

Hi everyone, I had a similar problem as described above on an xsara 1999 1.4i. The car was having issues with intermittent flickering interior light and key buzzer, intermittwent operation of central locking and inability to start. This was happenning more on cold days. I've put the cph module in the freezer for 5mins and all of interior lighting and central lock including starting the engine did not work thereafter until I heated the main controller of the cph module by a hair dryer. I decided to retouch all the solder of this controller just to rule out any dry joints issue but thereafter the cph module was completely not functional. It seems that the extra heat of the soldering had driven the main controller to a complete failure.

I was relucntant to buy a new cph module and have it programmed by a lexia as it was going to cost me quite a few so , thanks to your thread above , I had bought a used cph from ebay and swapped the small 8pin eeprom chip near the controller with the one on the faulty cph that has the code corresponding to my keys and it worked!

Thanks a lot for your help and for writing what you found here

[xantiamanolis]

hello my friends from Greece, 3 months ago I had a problem with starting my xantia 2 1800 16v mod 2000 car, the starter was turning but the engine wouldn't start, I had no indication on the dial of a problem immo also when I unlocked the doors the interior light came on and it turned off immediately whereas normally it should stay on for about 30 seconds also when I opened the doors I had the interior lighting flashing and you could hear the relay from the texton cabin brain all these symptoms with outside temperatures below 7 degrees, the same symptoms also happened to a xantia 2 activa of my friend. started, the temperature inside the vehicle had to reach about 20 degrees
this is the problem, gentlemen, its solution
there are 2 smd type electrolytic capacitors on the board with characteristics 100uf 50v and 100uf 16v
change them at someone who has an electronic workshop and the car will never have a problem again

[CitroJim]

Thanks! Very useful to know Electrolytics do cause lots of problems in all sorts of electronic equipment, not just car ECUs...

[lancia58]

this is the problem, gentlemen, its solution
there are 2 smd type electrolytic capacitors on the board with characteristics 100uf 50v and 100uf 16v
change them at someone who has an electronic workshop and the car will never have a problem again

Can you please add a photo showing these capacitors ?

Thanks
Zohar

[xantiamanolis]

look the slim black line

[lancia58]

Hi,

Can you please mark the capacitors on the photo

Thanks
Zohar

[xantiamanolis]

lancia58 hallo look please the previous foto zoom this foto and look the slim black line

[lancia58]

Thanks

[ozrkr]

look the slim black line

Hi xantiamanolis,
The photo is very helpful - fantastic in fact! Many thanks!!
Can you advise - or point me to instructions - as to how to remove the Central Protection Unit/Body Computer from the car, please? Do I need to remove the passenger side airbag? My car is Right Hand Drive, so the Body Computer is on the passenger's side.
I would appreciate any help you can give me here!
Cheers,
Kim

[ozrkr]

Hi

It may be that some rain penetrates the car and drips on the CPH. The wiring diagram won't help. The CPH is located behind the glove box. You should detach the glove box, and see if the CPH gets wet. To detach the glove box open the lid and remove all screws. One screw is covered with that black cloth that is adhered to the glove box. Pull it and it will come out than remove the screw. The CPH is a black box on the left side. Two connectors are hooked onto it, unplug the connectors and detach the CPH and check if it comes wet.

Hope that helps
Zohar

Hi lancia58,
Would you have a pic showing the CPH, preferably on a RHS car? I have successfully removed the glovebox but I don't see how to remove the CPH. In fact I'm not really sure that I know which bit of black plastic is the CPH! Any advice gratefully received!

[lancia58]

Hi OZRKR

I guess for RHD car you have to remove the instrument cluster , bur better ask one who has RHD car. For LHD car the CPH is visible quite easy after removing the glove box

[CitroJim]

Hi OZRKR

I guess for RHD car you have to remove the instrument cluster , bur better ask one who has RHD car. For LHD car the CPH is visible quite easy after removing the glove box

Same with an RHD car

[ozrkr]

Hi OZRKR

I guess for RHD car you have to remove the instrument cluster , bur better ask one who has RHD car. For LHD car the CPH is visible quite easy after removing the glove box

Same with an RHD car

Many thanks, Jim! I appreciate all the input!
Do you mean that the CPH is on the left hand side of the car - behind the glovebox - on a Right Hand Drive car? That is what I have been assuming all this time - I just wanted to confirm with you. Would you have:
- a pic showing the CPH installed, and
- any sort of instruction as to how to remove the CPH
I think I know which of the black plastic boxes (tightly packed behind the dash) is the CPH but I would like to make sure ... I cannot see any way of removing the CPH. I can't even get access to the wiring plugs.
Any assistance is most appreciated!
Cheers,
Kim