Xantia Cutting Out While Driving???

This is the Forum for all your Citroen Technical Questions, Problems or Advice.

Moderator: RichardW

Post Reply
greggpask
Posts: 18
Joined: 05 Oct 2003, 17:17
Location:
My Cars:

Xantia Cutting Out While Driving???

Post by greggpask »

Has anyone had the experience of a xant cutting out unexpectedly while driving? The wife was out last night and said the car just cut out and died. At first blamed the wifes driving as it has never happened to me, but just in case does anyone have an idea what could have caused this to happen?
Xantia 1.9TDSX 103,000
citronut
Posts: 10937
Joined: 29 Apr 2005, 00:46
Location: United Kingdom east sussex
My Cars:
x 92

Post by citronut »

could be fuel shut off solanoid starting to die
User avatar
fastandfurryous
Posts: 1388
Joined: 07 Jul 2004, 17:57
Location: On the road, travelling at high speed. Meep Meep.
My Cars:
x 4

Post by fastandfurryous »

Im assuming that it restarted though? If so, the stop solenoid is indeed suspect, but check also for air in the fuel. Usually this just causes rough running, but in extreme cases, can stop the engine.
Didn't just stall it did she? [:D]
Peter.N.
Moderating Team
Posts: 11563
Joined: 02 Apr 2005, 16:11
Location: Charmouth,Dorset
My Cars: Currently:

C5 X7 VTR + Satnav Hdi estate Silver
C5 X7 VTR + Hdi Estate 2008 Red

In the past: 3, CX td Safaris and about 7, XM td estates. Lovely cars.
x 1199

Post by Peter.N. »

Check the fuel filter, if it hasn't been changed for sometime it could give those symptoms
citronut
Posts: 10937
Joined: 29 Apr 2005, 00:46
Location: United Kingdom east sussex
My Cars:
x 92

Post by citronut »

i would think this will act as running out of fuel dose
User avatar
Panjandrum
Posts: 197
Joined: 08 Jun 2004, 18:46
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by Panjandrum »

Does the cut-out last for long? There is almost certainly no connection but way back there was an ECU freak that caused occasional very short-term but very scary engine cutouts. Yellow ECU light on for a fraction; revs dropping to zero on the rev counter for the same fraction; total power loss; back to normal in a second or so.
Mine went away after a service years ago. My colleague's was still around when she gave up and sold hers.
Question - were there any warning lights on?
User avatar
AndersDK
Posts: 6060
Joined: 21 Feb 2003, 04:56
Location: Denmark
My Cars:
x 1

Post by AndersDK »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Panjandrum</i>

Does the cut-out last for long? There is almost certainly no connection but way back there was an ECU freak that caused occasional very short-term but very scary engine cutouts. Yellow ECU light on for a fraction; revs dropping to zero on the rev counter for the same fraction; total power loss; back to normal in a second or so.
Mine went away after a service years ago. My colleague's was still around when she gave up and sold hers.
Question - were there any warning lights on?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">That's the known behaviour of a C5 [8D]
MW
Posts: 159
Joined: 01 Jul 2002, 19:16
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by MW »

Usual dumb question. It wasn't a blocked airhole in the filler cap, was it? A surprisingly elusive problem, since it often goes away as soon as you stop the car for a couple of minutes.
greggpask
Posts: 18
Joined: 05 Oct 2003, 17:17
Location:
My Cars:

Post by greggpask »

Thankyou for all your responses, has not happened since last cut out, although i am getting the oil warning light flashing quite a lot,since i serviced it last week. New oil filter and Millers XFD fully synthetic used. flashing only happens on start up though.
Cheers.
oilyspanner
Posts: 1246
Joined: 26 Oct 2003, 16:08
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by oilyspanner »

I routinely add a heavy earth cable between the engine and the body, you may be surprised at what electrical gremlins disappear! and it only takes ten minutes too.
Stewat
ripsaw82
Posts: 46
Joined: 02 Jul 2004, 03:18
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by ripsaw82 »

I had exact same problem in my 2.0i petrol Xantia. Driving along, come to a point where needed to dip clutch, and bang revs would his 0 and it would stall. Not done it since i changed the fuel filter.
pete_wood_uk
Posts: 180
Joined: 22 Apr 2004, 13:08
Location: Cambs, United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by pete_wood_uk »

My 97 TD started cutting out a couple of years ago. First the odd glitch, then quickly to the point of undriveability. It went in and out of the local main dealer (who were actually fairly competent, though I don't use them any more) several times and I ended up with stroppy letters from the AA threatening not to rescue me any more. Eventually tracked down, if that's the right word, to the electronic immobiliser gubbins under the tamper-proof cover on the pump. Replaced at vast expense (did the cam belt and the rest at the same time...). Fine ever since, though I've now left the immobiliser keypad disconnected just to remove one layer of complexity.
Cheers
Pete
j_roc
Posts: 230
Joined: 01 May 2005, 01:04
Location:
My Cars:

Post by j_roc »

You may have a airlock in the tank. Use to happen on my old Sierra turbo-diesel, all I did was drill a small hole (a very small one) in the filler cap and the problem stopped (I think that the tank vent pipe was blocked) because of me drilling the hole it allowed air in to compensate the fuel being used. Hope this helps.
jeremy
Posts: 3959
Joined: 20 Oct 2002, 16:00
Location: Hampshire, UK
My Cars:
x 2

Post by jeremy »

If you have an airlock in the tank then you will notice a suck in of air as the fuel cap is removed after the car has been driven for a while. the tank will probably deform a bit as well.
Jeremy
martyhopkirk

Post by martyhopkirk »

Its been mentioned - Air in the fuel system.
My NA 1.9D had the same problems - after standing when hot for 10 mins would often refuse to start without repriming the diesel circuit, and after a longish motorway run would cut out when you slowed down. Nessesitated the wearing of brown pants to avoid people staring too much.
I cured mine by:
Renewing the rubber pipework in the fuel circuit under the bonet (£20)
Renewing the fuel filter
Lobing a huge amount of silicone on a little connector under the fuel pump which had gone brittle with age.
Its normal for fuel tanks to suck a little, if your getting deformity or if its sucking in aur a lot try running with one of those tempory caps for a while and see if it improves - though they will fail an MOT test.
Post Reply