Xantia central locking oddity

Gingerposer · Post by **Gingerposer** » 04 Jun 2011, 11:00

I have been having a wee problem since yesterday. Might possibly be
related to the unusually hot weather we have had over the last two days.
When I use the remote to lock the car, it unlocks immediately and beeps. I notice that the button in the drivers' door doesn't go down when using the remote. When I use the key, it locks fine and the button goes down.
If I lock with they key and unlock with the remote, the button stays down.
Suggestions?

Cheers,

Ainslie

spider · Post by **spider** » 04 Jun 2011, 13:03

I wonder if this is the same as early 306's (and some late 405's) where if the button is not free to move properly the locking can bounce, more likely with remote locking as with the key you are physically turning a slightly different part.

Remove the lock button from the drivers door if possible then see if it actually works with the remote properly.

Gingerposer · Post by **Gingerposer** » 04 Jun 2011, 18:09

Chers, will give that a shot. Can the button and slot be lubricated, if it's just the button sticking? What if it is part of the mechanism below which is sticking?

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 04 Jun 2011, 18:24

There's probably a burr or something making it stick, so pinch your missus' nailfile and wear it smooth, or a bit of silicon spray on the lower part of the button.

Be careful pushing the tiny rectangular tab in when removing the button.
When re-fitting it lock the doors, slip the button on, hold it in place and then unlock the car.

If it turns out not to be the button jamming, then it's time to carefully remove the door card and have a look at the mechanism.

DickieG · Post by **DickieG** » 05 Jun 2011, 08:37

If the above tip doesn't sort it check the electric block connector where it attaches to the lock as that can cause similar issues.

Gingerposer · Post by **Gingerposer** » 05 Jun 2011, 10:38

Thanks chaps, I'll have a gander at it after taking my eldest and her pals to the cinema (three 12 year old girls, it's going to be noisy!)

Ainslie

Gingerposer · Post by **Gingerposer** » 10 Jul 2011, 16:27

Well, due to weather and pressure of work then being in sunny Devon all of this week (which was nice), I have still not had a chance to get to the bottom of this problem.
Also, when we returned from Devon yesterday I unlocked the car (with the key) and it's dead as a dodo. Devoid of spark. Totally utterly unelectric. No problem I though, stick it on the Optimate overnight, should sort it out. Alas, tis still Dodo-esque. 0.74v at the battery terminals, no lights on the charger other than the power light.
Odd. Borrowed a set of jump leads from her Dad, connected her car to mine (engine off on hers, just to boost a bit of life back) for five minutes. Tried to start, not enough juice to do more than make it cough. 12.something v at the terminals now. After a bit of thought I left the multimeter connected as I first disconnected and tidied up the jump leads (voltage gradually drops to about 7v) then reconnected the charger - at which point the multimeter jumps back to about 12v and the charge light on it comes on.
Could the battery have initially been so low as to fool the charger into thinking it wasn't connected to anything?

I see I really need to get the central locking problem sorted out (earlier posts in this thread) as I believe this is what is discharging the battery - not enough to kill it if used daily but 8 days absence did the job quite effectively.

Am I going to have to replace the battery after this abuse? - I have no idea how old it is, there are no stickers or anything on it to indicate age, and i have had the car almost 2 years.

Regards,

Ainslie

Gingerposer · Post by **Gingerposer** » 11 Jul 2011, 11:50

Still not starting after an overnight charge, even with booster leads connected to the battery in the wife's car.
I am going to leave it on charge and try again later today/tomorrow morning (still on hols with no need for car thankfully).

Can anyone suggest what I could be checking for with my trusty multimeter, to determine
1) what is draining the battery
2) is the battery now dead

and finally, any recommendations for a supplier of replacement battery?

Cheers
Ainslie

Gingerposer · Post by **Gingerposer** » 12 Jul 2011, 11:46

Well, got the car running this morning. Started quite readily and settled down to a nice steady idle after a few seconds holding the throttle slightly open to avoid stalling.
Have ordered a new battery and hopefully the weather will stay dry so I can have a look inside the door card to see what's causing the central locking problem.

Ainslie

wotwot · Post by **wotwot** » 12 Jul 2011, 19:34

Any car parts shop should have a tester to check your battery condition and alternator charge rate, and is normally FREE.

Gingerposer · Post by **Gingerposer** » 13 Jul 2011, 15:31

Today I have managed to get the door trim off, peeled back the foam liner, and don't see anything obvious which would cause the central locking to not work properly.
Is it reasonable to assume that if the lock on the driver's side doesn't lock with the remote, and the system will unlock itself and bleep when I try with the remote, that it is something amiss with the driver's side which is causing the problem? The mechanism seems to move freely enough, I have sprayed some wd40 on it anyway to lubricate it. EDIT: I did notice that while the mechanism turns when the key is turned in the lock, or the button pushed up and down, it doesn't move when the remote is triggered.
I can't see any obvious problems with the wiring plug going into the lock - should this be easy to remove? Cos I have looked at it and can't see how to get the plug off.
I'm at a bit of a loss now cos I don't want to try to remove the lock mechanism in case I can't refit it (need the car for a trip tomorrow) and my diagnostic skills are now exhausted.
I am going to put it all back together now and see what sage advice I get from you chaps. (at least I now know I can get the door trim off easily enough by myself

)

Any tips on how to proceed?

Ainslie

Old-Guy · Post by **Old-Guy** » 22 Jul 2011, 17:34

I think the door lock problem and the dead battery are unrelated. It sounds as though the old battery was on its death-bed and simply kept alive by daily use - given a good charge every day, it could hold enough juice to start the car (once!). Unused for 8 days, the alarm sensors simply drained what little it had and/or it had an internal partial short.

BTW voltages of a '12V' battery lead/acid battery is a complicated subject. The voltage of a 'rested' battery (i.e. hasn't been charged/discharged for a number of hours), in theory is in direct proportional to the state of charge: 11.8V = flat (0%) and 12.8V = fully charged (100%). In reality, this is only true between about 12V (20%) and 12.7V (90%). While the voltage of a battery in good condition recovers quite quickly (10s of minutes) after a lot of power is drawn, but takes a long time after serious charging (10s of hours). Immediately after (some) charging, a battery that wasn't really flat will typically show 13.5 - 13.8 volts. This 'excess' voltage will sink ever more slowly to the 'rested' voltage. Taking some power (headlights on for a half-a-minute) will 'burn-off' most the excess voltage to show a more accurate state of charge. If a battery is constantly charged at more than 14.4V, it will 'gas' and get very hot ('boil') because 14.4V is the voltage above which the charging current simply electrolyses the water into an explosive mix of hydrogen and oxygen. Voltage Regulators usually cut out around 14.2V. For this and other reasons, the regulator in an an automotive alternator won't achieve much better than a 90% charge regardless of the length of charging.

Gingerposer · Post by **Gingerposer** » 06 Aug 2011, 14:56

Update: With the assistance of a friend, the central locking problem has now been further investigated.
Managed to disconnect the electrical connector (after a while we realised the catch is at the top of the connector and simply pulls up to release it) and check for voltage. Four pins on the connector show permanent voltage (three at approx 10v, one at approx 5v. The remaining pins showed zero at rest, and a range of smaller voltages when the locking was activated with the key. Voltages varied from under 1v to 10v on these pins.

We did finally manage to extricate the lock from the door, all of the visible moving parts move freely enough, so it would appear that there is an electrical fault of some kind inside the unit. Don't see any point in trying to open it up, think I will now source a replacement.

Question: Will the lock from an S1 xantia fit an S2?

Cheers again for all the replies sp far, it's been very helpful.

Gingerposer · Post by **Gingerposer** » 13 Aug 2011, 14:02

At last - with the aid of a good friend and a replacement lock bought from ebay, got it fixed in ten minutes flat!

Many thanks for the encouraging and informative replies received, it's been very helpful.

Anyone wanting tips for similar issues feel free to ask! (feel I now have some expertise on removing door cards and locks

ACTIVE8 · Post by **ACTIVE8** » 13 Aug 2011, 17:17

Note with a flat battery on an Xantia this problem can arise.

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=26644

Although as you didn't mention it, I assume you didn't have it happen, so you were probably lucky.

French Car Forum

Xantia central locking oddity

Xantia central locking oddity

Update - no progress

More updates, progress, not succcess

Finally: Sorted!