xantia elecrical problem

cowmechanic · Unread post by **cowmechanic** » 06 Jan 2008, 21:08

Hello there,came across this website last wk and decided to join as i am a bit of a citroen freak.I,ve had two xantias and have just bought a c5. My last xantia was driving well but had got alittle rough around the edges. The final straw came when the rev conter, speedo,temp gauge,fuel gauge,and reversing lights stopped working and its not the fuse.To tell you the truth i,m considering putting her back on the road as the c5 is fairly thirsty. The xantia always managed at least 45 no matter how hard i drove and the c5 can only manage about 37 driving gently. Is the dash quitting a common problem in xantias .Any advice would be appreciated

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 06 Jan 2008, 21:13

Hi and a big welcome to the FCF

No, the whole dash quitting is not a common problem.

That's quite a swathe of stuff to suddenly stop working but I'll wager it has a simple enough and common cause.

Give us some details of the Xantia (year, engine etc) and we can then pore over the wiring diagrams and come up with some thoughts

cowmechanic · Unread post by **cowmechanic** » 06 Jan 2008, 21:28

Cheers i,m new to this caper so bare with me . I have a 98 xantia 1.9 td showing 180k,the car is quite damp inside owing to my job,the windsceen has a couple of bad cracks at the junction with the dashwhich might have let water into that area. On the day when the dash quit the dials on the gauges at one stage jumped up and down in sychony with the door open keys still in ignition alarm .I hope this is useful

Clogzz · Unread post by **Clogzz** » 07 Jan 2008, 13:08

Hi, and welcome aboard !

This fault could be rusting earth terminals under the battery, or rotting wires in the loom along the bottom of the radiator ... story here:

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=16816

cowmechanic · Unread post by **cowmechanic** » 09 Jan 2008, 19:47

Cheers Clogzz. Opened up wireing loom under radiator ,full of water and muck,dried the whole area out ,instument cluster has started working again,couldn,t find any damaged wires but didn,t look very hard. I had to change the fuse . It definitely was not blown before. I will probably take another look at the wires in daylight.Many thanks

Clogzz · Unread post by **Clogzz** » 12 Jan 2008, 14:14

Hi cowmechanic,

Nice to see a problem sorted.
My 1995 Xantia has the openings of the pieces of shroud at the bottom, so that if water gets in, it can drain out.

It’s also possible that this problem only affects right-hand-drive cars, as left-hand-drives have most wires on the battery and fuse box side.

French Car Forum

xantia elecrical problem

xantia elecrical problem

wires under radiator xantia