Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

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Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by ashy90 »

Bought a Xantia 2.0 HDI with a dodgy fuel gauge.

When I first got in it, the needle was right at the bottom with the light on, after driving for 10 minutes it went up to half way. I put just under £20 of diesel in anyway, which moved the needle a bit above half (below 3/4).
It took its time over the miles barely moving from just above half to just below half. However it then on the motorway suddenly started to drop to around 1/4, and then carried on right to the botyom. So from just under half to nothing in about 15 minutes or so. I put £20 of diesel in and it still remains reading nothing.

Can anyone help/advise as it definitely needs sorting
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by GiveMeABreak »

You'll need to pop your VIN up here so we can see what exactly you have. I suspect the sender unit has got stuck or the contact wire has come away giving intermediate readings...
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by ashy90 »

Edited;

VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]
Last edited by ashy90 on 03 Jul 2019, 18:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by myglaren »

Your VIN will be in a cutout on the lower nearside of the windscreen, probably stamped into the offside channel at the top of the wing when the bonnet is opened and on your V5.
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by ashy90 »

VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by Huskyxantia »

Had a car years ago same issue mine was bad contacts as well as a hole in the float.

Hope it gets sorted.
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Ok, so sorry for the delay - BT have cut the fibre links in the village - so been offline for a day or so... :roll:

So to confirm you have an in tank pump and gauge unit.
Xantia Gauge and pump.PNG
Here's a close up - made by Bosch. About £100 new from the link below Part number: 1607401780. Citroen charge £388 inc. VAT for this part.
Bosch pump.PNG
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fuel-Pump-In ... 2414308036
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by admiral51 »

I had to get a new pump/sender for my Xantia a few months back, got it from Here
Think i paid £60 for it delivered
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by Chris570 »

Just as another thought here,

My Activa did the same and it was the dash pod.

Remember that the signal is electrically "softened" (for want of a better term). So if the sender goes from giving a full reading to nothing it will take the needle a long time to register that change. I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of finding exactly where the fault in the dash pod was on mine but I suspect a dry joint
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by harryp »

Certainly pays to shop around... now £50... I see
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by ashy90 »

GiveMeABreak wrote: 04 Jul 2019, 13:55 Ok, so sorry for the delay - BT have cut the fibre links in the village - so been offline for a day or so... :roll:

So to confirm you have an in tank pump and gauge unit.

Xantia Gauge and pump.PNG

Here's a close up - made by Bosch. About £100 new from the link below Part number: 1607401780. Citroen charge £388 inc. VAT for this part.

Bosch pump.PNG

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fuel-Pump-In ... 2414308036

Image
Image


Thanks for the information, very helpful. I'll check the part number to cpnform.

Do you think the cheaper fuel pumps will be ok? I know Bosch are probably the best, but I want to avoid spending £100 on the pump alone as the car needs a few other things doing
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by GiveMeABreak »

At the end of the day you get what you pay for - the Bosch one is a lot cheaper than the Citroen one and is of course Bosch quality. I wouldn't fit cheap parts on my car as a rule as it'a a false economy, but that;s a decision for you and available budget.

Have a look here - this is for a sender only unit (without pump), but it will give you an idea of what I'm talking about - where it can get stuck if the metal contact wire has come away or broken. It may be worth a look at yours to see if you can see if there's a similar fault before buying a new one:

viewtopic.php?f=53&t=62630&hilit=sender#p609032
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by ashy90 »

Chris570 wrote: 08 Jul 2019, 11:15 Just as another thought here,

My Activa did the same and it was the dash pod.

Remember that the signal is electrically "softened" (for want of a better term). So if the sender goes from giving a full reading to nothing it will take the needle a long time to register that change. I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of finding exactly where the fault in the dash pod was on mine but I suspect a dry joint

Is your activa a S1 model Chris?

I believe the S1 has a separate circuit board on the back of the instrument cluster which can cause issues with the gauge, where as the S2 doesn't?
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by Chris570 »

Mine is an s1 yeah. Didn't know it had a different board but my point is dont just look at one end of the circuit 😀
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Re: Fuel gauge dies/drops to nothing Xantia hdi

Post by ashy90 »

So with the help of a friendly garage I work next to and have got to know, we diagnosed the fault as the sender unit. This was fairly simple and conclusive with the help of a multi meter. When the fault was occurring (the gauge reading nothing) we checked the resistance at the sender unit. It was stuck at a figure (350 I believe, which is high?) and wouldn't change at all when the car was rocked (it should as the fuel moves about). The next day the gauge was working, so we re-checked the resistance of the sender and it was a totally different figure (160ish I think) and changed as we rocked the car.

So I fitted a new fuel pump ~ PWM branded one. This fixed the problem, sort of. The gauge started working, and remained working 100% of the time. With the old pump the gauge would die and read nothing on a daily basis and it would be working one minute and not the next. The new pump solved this issue.
HOWEVER, it wasn't quite right. While the gauge did drop slowly over time, it seemed to be over reading/reading high. The gauge showed about 1/3 full after driving over 500 miles. I filled up and it took 57.5 litres to fill up (65 litre tank) so it had only had approx 7.5 litres of fuel in the tank when it was showing 1/3 full.

Today I have removed the new PWM pump (temporarily fitted the original) and I have exchanged it and paid the extra for a new Bosch pump ~yet to be fitted.

One thing I have noticed is that the float on both the new pumps points the other way to the original in the car. Is this ok?

The part number (I think...theres two numbers on it) on the new Bosch pump I have is; 0580303025
is this right do you think? Euro car parts have two listed for both PWM and Bosch.
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