Draining coolant on a Xantia with Air Con?

[Rhothgar]

Yesterday, I did a oil and coolant change.

The problem I have is I was expecting to put 11 litres of coolant in so I poured in 5.5 litres of antifreeze followed by about 2 litres of deionised water.

So looking in the Mechanic's Handbook I see 8.5 - 11 litres.

Now! The air con on the HDi is not working and so presumably out of circuit.

Is there a drain for removing the coolant (Not the R34 or whichever it is) but the engine coolant from the pipework?

I've not looked into this yet fully but assume there is a relay which might be sticking or indeed the clutch on the air con compressor is probably knackered.

Anyone got any choice tips on what to check mechanically?

Ideally, I'd like to get the air con working again but NOT contaminate the new fresh coolant with whatever needs draining so I am trying to find a way of taking it out of circuit and then draining, putting it back in circuit and letting the new fresh coolant get contaminated by any remnants of crud not flushed in the flushing process yesterday.

Thanks in advance.

[xantia_v6]

The Aircon system has no direct connection with the cooling system, the heater matrix is the same, regardless, and there is no water valve in the system.
An HDI fitted with the ebauspacher (sp?) Pre heater would take a bit more coolant.

[RichardW]

There's no link between the AC and cooling circuits.

If AC not working first thing is to establish if there is gas in it. If you've got Diagbox you can check if the low pressure cut out has activated. Alternatively find the low side port (on the fat pipe) and press the valve in carefully to see if you get a gas hiss. If no gas then you need to go looking for a leak. If gas then you can check the compressor is getting power and go from there.

[Rhothgar]

The Aircon system has no direct connection with the cooling system, the heater matrix is the same, regardless, and there is no water valve in the system.
An HDI fitted with the ebauspacher (sp?) Pre heater would take a bit more coolant.

Rhetorical question but why does the damned handbook, not the BoL, show 8.5 - 11 litres?

Feel like I’ve got too high a concentration of antifreeze in now and that it is bound to find or create a leak for me to find!!!

Wish I’d have not trusted the data

It’s like the oil dipstick question I had then other week. It calls into question the accuracy of Citroen’s own data.

4.5 litres doesn’t hit the low mark. Is 4.5 litres therefore correct? I expected 4.5 litres to be halfway between min and max on this crappy dipstick I’ve got off Ebay so now need my pants taking down by Citroen themselves to be sure of the correct level…

[Rhothgar]

There's no link between the AC and cooling circuits.

If AC not working first thing is to establish if there is gas in it. If you've got Diagbox you can check if the low pressure cut out has activated. Alternatively find the low side port (on the fat pipe) and press the valve in carefully to see if you get a gas hiss. If no gas then you need to go looking for a leak. If gas then you can check the compressor is getting power and go from there.

Thanks for confirmation. I suppose it should be obvious that the refrigerant is separate. Well certainly the gas.

Can’t understand where the missing litrage is.

Had to drive home with the heater on max last week. That was fun. It was like a blast furnace so there’s no airlock at the matrix.

[CitroJim]

A very high concentration of antifreeze is not good as it reduces the heat capacity of the coolant and thus reduces its efficacy. It should never be above 50%.

I never pour neat antifreeze in, I always dilute it to the correct ratio (usually I go for 33%) before adding it...

[Rhothgar]

A very high concentration of antifreeze is not good as it reduces the heat capacity of the coolant and thus reduces its efficacy. It should never be above 50%.

I never pour neat antifreeze in, I always dilute it to the correct ratio (usually I go for 33%) before adding it...

Looks like I'd better do a complex calculation to work out how much to remove and how much water to add back in...

I love to make my life complex.

I wish I had have pre-mixed it. I usually do - instead relying on the incorrect Citroen data. Bloody waste of concentrated coolant.

There's no clean effective way that I know of on an RHZ engine to drain coolant into a measuring jug. It's just remove the bottom hose and let it flood out all over the precarious placed MOT20 loom or whichever loom it is that sits directly below the radiator!!!

The only thing cheering me up right now is your new profile photo, Jim.

[CitroJim]

There's no clean effective way that I know of on an RHZ engine to drain coolant into a measuring jug. It's just remove the bottom hose and let it flood out all over the precarious placed MOT20 loom or whichever loom it is that sits directly below the radiator!!!

Yep, sadly... I always do it that way and drain it into an enormous cat litter tray... It gets about 95% of it and if you filter the lumps out it you can reuse it.

The only thing cheering me up right now is your new profile photo, Jim.

Result! Delighted it's made you smile Roger

[thorter]

The 11 litres rings a vague bell from when I had a Xantia. I eventually concluded it was nonsense, the coolant volume is 8.5 litres, whether fitted with aircon or not. As the engine installation is the same in either case, the extra 2.5 litres (half a gallon!) would have to be in the heater matrix, clearly most unlikely.

[Rhothgar]

The 11 litres rings a vague bell from when I had a Xantia. I eventually concluded it was nonsense, the coolant volume is 8.5 litres, whether fitted with aircon or not. As the engine installation is the same in either case, the extra 2.5 litres (half a gallon!) would have to be in the heater matrix, clearly most unlikely.

Citroen obviously want to upsell unsuspecting DIY'ers into buying more of their product...