Xantia Mystery

[mikep]

Some of you may remember me saying back in early September that I was driving my 96 Xantia to southern Spain and was concerned about my squealing brakes due to hot weather etc. Well the only time I had this problem was on the spiral roads in Mijas. But I did experience another more serious problem. For about 6 months now my fuel gauge lights up when falling below 3/4 full mark, meaning I have to keep topping up or keep an eye on the mileage. I could live with that but not when my fan began to stop and start, I took it to a Citroen garage in Torremolinos and left it with them for a few hours. When I collected he said there was nothing wrong with it.
I have now discovered that when the fuel starts getting low the fan does not work. If I fill up it comes back on ! I assume this is an electrical problem, has anyone any ideas ? short of replacing my petrol tank. << Mike P

[Rostami]

Hi,

Which fans do yoy refer to? The engine cooling fans?

This type of problems almost always point to dodgy ground connections...

[dnsey]

I'd get this looked at quickly!
It's possible that the fans are somehow being earthed via the fuel guage wiring rather than the correct route. If so, the current would be sufficient to cause arcing in and around the sender, which you definitely don't want

[mikep]

Hi, Sorry,I should have made it clearer, it is the air conditioning andthe fan that is affected and more recently, the rear heater button is intermittently not working . I suspect it to be an electrical fault but its just a guess.<<MikeP

[Clogzz]

it is the air conditioning and the fan that is affected and more recently, the rear heater button is intermittently not working

The interior fan and rear window demister not working is caused by an intermittent contact in the ignition switch.
A relay has to be installed to bypass the ignition switch.
There's a thread going just now about that:

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=16738