heater blower

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shamus
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heater blower

Post by shamus »

Hi there,found this forum while looking for help on the above subject.
The car in question belongs to a friend,it is an r reg xsara.The fan/blower has died to a nonexistent trickle of air,so much so that the car is unusable in this cold weather.Local garages have told her that the whole dash will have to come out,massive job,hundreds of pounds etc. etc.
I have reluctantly agreed to try and help,reluctantly as I have not owned a citroen in years,my last was a bx.
Having read this forum I ,obviously,am suspecting the ignition link thing as mentioned in numerous threads but would like a little help.
1.Being an r reg,is this a mark 1?
2.She tells me that the heated rear windscreen is working,does this mean that the ignition thing cannot be at fault?
3.Where is the least pain free point to test for the voltage drop?
Thank you in advance for any help/information recived,shaun
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Post by myglaren »

Until someone more knowledgeable on Xaras comes along, I say the garage knows nothing and may be thinking it is the heater matrix.
The blower will be under the dash in the passenger footwell, three screws and a connector and it is out.

There are a few variations on a theme but the usual problem is burned out transistors or resistors.
If you are not happy with a soldering iron then an auto-electrician should be able to repair it (replace resistors/transistors) reasonably cheaply, alternatively you might source a second hand unit from a scrapyard.

New ones are reasonably cheap or quite expensive, dependent upon if it is an air-conditioned/climate controlled model or not.

There are a lot of threads devoted to just this but predominantly on Xantias, although the principle is the same and often the same components.

First off though, can you hear the fan working and is it spinning rapidly? - could be a blocked intake or pollen filter.
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Post by Peter.N. »

I would concur.
citronut
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Post by citronut »

i agree with all above, this is the first thing to try,

here is part No. and trade price from citroen

(1) without air con

Part Number Description Quantity Price excl. VAT Price incl. VAT Total incl. VAT Selection
00006450EL CONTROL RESISTR 12.16 GBP 13.98 GBP 13.98 GBP


(2) with air con

Part Number Description Quantity Price excl. VAT Price incl. VAT Total incl. VAT Selection
0000644178 CONTROL MODULE 96.10 GBP 110.52 GBP 110.52 GBP

if the car dose have air con it is possible to purchase just the transistors from Farnells there part No. 1165917, and are probably the same ones as the XANTIA uses,

if the car is non air con just fit a new resistor pack,
i think you reach up behind the glove box rotate the resistor pack about quarter of a turn, then it will come out of the houseing, pull the plug out then re/fit the new one, probably no more than 15/20 minn's

regards malcolm
shamus
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Post by shamus »

car apparently does have air con which has not worked since she got the car.
If i purchase the transistors as listed from farnells,where do these go,above the footwell?
how do i test for this,forgive my ignorance.
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Clogzz
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Post by Clogzz »

Welcome to our troubles, Shamus. :mrgreen:

If the fan spins at all, it’s not likely to be the transistors at fault.
The pollen filter may be blocked and black.
It lives inside the cover above the passenger’s floor.

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Post by myglaren »

There is a decent thread here that has explanations and photoś that will go a long way towards helping with the problem
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Post by xantiav6 »

If the blower is just turning slowly, regardless of the setting of the controls, I think it might be a problem with the control panel or ECU.

Like most others here, I am not familiar with the Xsara system. If we assume that it is something like the Xantia with aircon, then there should be a wire with a speed signal going from the ECU to the transistor module on the blower. You should see the voltage on this line go up and down as the controls require more or less blow.

If you can find that wire, ans measure the voltage, you should be able to work out if the fault is upstream (control panel or ECU) or downstream (transistor module or blower).

It is possible that a Lexia session may give some useful information (about the state of the control panel and ECU).
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Post by shamus »

Finaly had a look at the car.I don't think the fan is spinning at all but I take it that they will only run with the engine running?
Ipulled the carpet/cover under the glove compartment but was'nt sure what/where stuff was.Is the large plastic thing with wires and a 1/2 inch rubber pipe the fan motor?
The heated rear window is working,is there any degree of working if you know what i mean?
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Post by citronut »

yes the blower fan is the large round'ish unit when you look upwards behind the glove box, and looking at the XSARA components on service citroen, they are /look the same as a XANT, with the resistor pack fitted on the fan inside the fan base/mountting,

the transisters are on the speed resistor board/heat sink, you need to drop the hole fan assebly down, and after un/pluging all the wires/plugs gently prize the motor out of its houseing/plastic base panle,

then conect the two wires back to the motor and touch them across a car battery, but mind the fan impeler dose not hit/touch amything including you fingers,

this will proove the motor works or not which ever the case may be

regards malcolm
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Post by citroenxm »

xantiav6 wrote:If the blower is just turning slowly, regardless of the setting of the controls, I think it might be a problem with the control panel or ECU.
Ive not actually heard of ECU's going AWOL.. Id also would have thought that the Xsara, Like the S2 Xantias, would have the "Relay" mod already installed by citroen, so the ignition switch should NOT burn out like early cars...

Id be going with the Transister board mounted on the blower unit..

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Post by citronut »

the ignition switch only burn's out prematurly, if you switch the ignition on or off whilst any high current drw equipment is still switched on, so you are then drawing all the extra current through the ignition switch contacts whilst making and breaking them,

then the trouble is you cant cleanthe contacts in a XANT ignition switch like you could in the BX, as they actualy make and break straight onto the wire core's them self's,




regards malcolm
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Post by spliffy »

i had this problem a couple of times with my xantia the first time i had to buy a new ignition swich the second time it was the plug that went onto the motor i replaced it with individual spades and re soldered back together
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