Xantia Blower - FINALLY FIXED!!!

Unread post by **DHallworth** » 18 Apr 2010, 23:03

This car continues to confuse me....

I tried the motor again last night.... As i've not touched anything I didn't think I'd see a difference.... I did though.

With the control wire unplugged the fan comes on at full speed, with the control wire plugged in it doesn't come on at all.

I noticed the other day when I took it for a run after it's sat in the shed for 3 weeks that whilst wriggling the fusebox in and out I seem to have disturbed the bloody heated rear screen too

Update:

Just been to put the car back in the shed and noticed the following:

With the fan plugged in and the control wire plugged in nothing happens, if i roll the ignition switch forward enough to make the relays click I can feel a click in the fan housing. With the control wire plugged in I just get the click. With the control wire unplugged the fan comes on at full speed.

If the ignition switch wasn't functioning properly then this could also account for the rear heated screen not working I guess.

David.

Clogzz · Unread post by **Clogzz** » 19 Apr 2010, 13:15

The control wire operates backwards, so for high speed, it’s got low voltage.
12 Volts on the control wire switches the motor off.

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=25122

The switch does look dodgy; it should make proper contact in the click position.

Unread post by **DHallworth** » 24 May 2010, 15:58

Well I am completely confused by this now!

I took the engine management and the suspension ECU out the other day as I was opening the suspension one to check the diodes.

Put them back in, connected them all up, listened for the electrovalves etc....

Started the car with the door open, then after a second I heard the blower burst into life for the first time in months.

In disbelief I started changing the temperatue, speed, etc and it worked flawlessly. Rear heated screen still doesn't work though.

I wonder if the 28 degree weather has caused something to move as I don't think disturbing either of the ECU's would cause this.

Just need to see if it keeps working now I guess.

David.

Clogzz · Unread post by **Clogzz** » 24 May 2010, 16:15

The sun is heating the steering shrouds, and it must be hot where the ignition switch lives.
Not hot enough for the rear screen demister yet.

Unread post by **DHallworth** » 24 May 2010, 16:29

Clogzz wrote:The sun is heating the steering shrouds, and it must be hot where the ignition switch lives.
Not hot enough for the rear screen demister yet.

I did wonder about that, another switch to try on the car should be here today or tomorrow anyway.

Thanks again.

David.

Unread post by **DHallworth** » 07 Jun 2010, 20:57

Oh FFS!

£140 on an ignition switch and it's not made a blind bit of difference.

After that blisteringly hot day we had and it started working I'd of put money on it being the steering switch as it had the black shroud round it channeling the heat onto the switch. I thought something had expanded in the switch.

The only thing left that it can be is the panel.

All the wiring tests fine for resistance and continuity, it's had a new motor, new ignition switch, new relay, the only thing left is the panel.

God I hate this thing.

David.

leithant · Unread post by **leithant** » 08 Jun 2010, 02:15

LOL - blisteringly hot in Glasgow!

Unread post by **DHallworth** » 08 Jun 2010, 08:03

It was about 31 degrees the day it starting working which for Glasgow is blisteringly hot!

David.

Clogzz · Unread post by **Clogzz** » 08 Jun 2010, 14:16

What a bummer !

All that money to finish up with a wrong key.

Fan slider fault idea here:
http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=23767

Unread post by **DHallworth** » 26 Jun 2010, 00:23

Well i tried another fan slider today and it's still not working.

I've checked all of the wiring and that has tested ok.

I've tried another motor.
I've tried another ignition switch.
I've tried another air con ecu.
and today I've just tried another control panel.

There's still nothing coming out of the heater when the wiring is plugged in. As soon as I unplug that single control wire going into the motor it comes on at full speed.

I'm getting seriously tempted to get rid of this thing now, it's driving me nuts.

David.

Clogzz · Unread post by **Clogzz** » 26 Jun 2010, 15:52

Aren’t there inversed wires on the plug ?
Was the replacement slider panel still in a car, or on the wrecker’s shelf ?
The shelf ones keep returning to the shelf.

This topic explains the control panel voltages:
http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=25122

Unread post by **DHallworth** » 26 Jun 2010, 16:41

citroenxm from FCF here sent me a panel that he took from a car he was breaking.

I've checked the wiring with a megger tester to try and find any high resistance breaks but there's no resistance on any of the wiring.

I've checked on the pinky control wire and on the orange wire as per the diagrams. On the pinky wire there's very little voltage (can't remember exactly) and on the orange wire on the 4 pin plug there was a constant 7.7 volts no matter where the slider was on the scale.

I'm just soooo confused as to why it worked that day we had high temperatures and the car didn't move all day.

After the full day in the sun it was working fine, the slider was working perfectly.

Then as soon as the temperatures went back to normal the thing stopped working!

David.

Clogzz · Unread post by **Clogzz** » 27 Jun 2010, 11:52

It may be that a wire is expanding in the heat and making contact on hot days.
Maybe try tracing the thin wires back to the control panel, and pull each wire in turn at the crimp terminals.
If the pull is spongy, the wire is boken.
The thick wires may also have dodgy crimps, but that usually shows as blackening or shrivelled insulation.

Unread post by **DHallworth** » 07 Jul 2010, 23:14

Well, we sat down last night and went over this again. Just looking at the wiring diagrams for a couple of hours.

So to conclude:

It's had:

Replacement Motor - £10
Replacement ECU - £10
Replacement Panel - Kindly donated
Replacement Ignition Switch - £125

The dim light on the A/C switch that everyone thought was neither here nor there turned out to be the cause of the problems.

There was a high resistance break between fuse 21 and the air conditioning switch.

We found it tonight as when the air con switch was on the fan wouldn't even come on. I scotch locked a wire directly from the brown cable coming out of the fusebox and put it on the back of the switch and everything burst into life working just as it should.

The wire on the back of the fuse box is brown and the one on the air conditioning switch is pink so there is obviously a join in there somewhere. Does anyone know where this join is as I'll bet that's where the problem is.

Finally, does anyone have a wiring diagram for the rear heated screen as I seem to have done something to upset that whilst messing around behind the fuse box.

Thanks again for all your input guys.

David.

Unread post by **Peter.N.** » 07 Jul 2010, 23:44

Well done David. I had a similar fault with my ABS - took me a week to find it.

Peter