A sensor or somthing else?

Stekelly · Unread post by **Stekelly** » 21 Jun 2011, 15:31

As usual with the way these things go, I have my NCT (MOT equivelant) tomorrow evening and the ABS light (car with skids behind it) is coming on.

When I first got the car in 2008 I notice that when I hit 100mph (very rarely

) the light came on, and was gone when the car was next started, It was low on the list at the time so I didnt think too much about it. The car is back on the road about 5 weeks now and at the weekend he light started comeing on more now. Last night i was thinking and it seemed to come on when it was raining (we've had a few bad days over here) but today it came on when I was just finishing one of those long left hand loop motorway on ramps. It's dry out today.

It's too late now to get any part and fit it before the test tomorrow so I'm hoping if I take it handy on the way to it, I might get by.

I was thinking a wheel sensor or somesuch? any ideas?

This is on the 1.8 SX btw.

brmartyn · Unread post by **brmartyn** » 21 Jun 2011, 17:16

If I'm correct Ste I believe it is the ABS light that you are having a problem with.

How warn are the brakes on your car? I remember when I had my Xantia that the light seem to come on more often the closer to the time I got the brake pads replaced.

Stekelly · Unread post by **Stekelly** » 21 Jun 2011, 17:27

brmartyn wrote:
How warn are the brakes on your car? I remember when I had my Xantia that the light seem to come on more often the closer to the time I got the brake pads replaced.

I've planned to take off the wheels and have a look at the pads but just cant get the time. I'm getting a small bit of squeeking sometimes. The fronts should be fine though. The car was off the road for 2 years but shortly before I stopped using it I put new discs and pads on the front so unless they fell to bits when I put the car back on the road they should be fine, theres around 1k miles on them at most. I'm lookign through a room full of stuff to find my service histry folder, I know i put it under something bur I dont think I did the rear pads at the time. Might be worth lookign in to.

Stekelly · Unread post by **Stekelly** » 23 Jun 2011, 01:07

Ok, an update.

The car failed on a few things. Couple of stupid errors on my part. I took the battery clamp off a while back to sand it and paint cos it was rusted. I forgot to put it back on. The other was a blown indicator bulb I never checked.

The 2 more serious issue though need sorting. The first I'm assumeing is related to my ABS light issue. I have a fairly big brake imbalance on the front, the near side is 40% down on the off side. The tester reckoned something to do with the caliper (test centres here are indepentdant and purely test centres, not garages, so no value to them in inventing faults during tests

) but didnt get specific. I had noticed that I'm getting a bit of a stutter and a slight grinding noise when about to stop under heavy breaking.

The other is a wishbone bush on the offside. Are these DIYable or do they need to be pressed? I assume it's this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CITROEN-XANTIA-FR ... 3352a70129

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 23 Jun 2011, 18:27

Stekelly wrote: The other is a wishbone bush on the offside. Are these DIYable or do they need to be pressed?

Yes, the link shows a 'P' bush.

Yes, they are DIY-able but you need a big cold chisel and a big hammer plus a bit of care.

Remove the wishbone complete. Make a very careful note of the alignment of the old 'P' bush - this is critical.

Then, using the cold chisel and hammer, drive the old bush off the wishbone taking care not to injure the machined bush spigot.

Using a socket as a mandrel, drive on the new 'P' bush making sure it's in exactly the same alignment as the old one.

If you cannot tell the correct alignment fro the old bush, fit the new bush so that it is under no tension or stress in the normal ride height position.

If the bush is so fitted that it is under any appreciable tension at normal ride height it'll have a short life.

The wishbone and genuine bushes have alignment marks to help reassembly but pattern bushes don't and by now the ravages of time will have obliterated the mark on the wishbone.

If all else fails, the other side is a mirror image.

Stekelly · Unread post by **Stekelly** » 30 Jun 2011, 21:54

Cheers Jim. I've ordered the bushes so hopefully that change goes smoothly

Just on my brake issue.As in my other thread, I bled the brakes the other day.

Now I forgot one thing. The handbrake is also showing a 40% imbalance. Would that not rule out an air in the brake line fault? Seeign as the imbalance is there with the handbrake (cable) and while applyign the brakes with the peddle? Leavign a sticking caliper or somethign else as the problem? Or am I wide of the mark?

These are the test readigns I have from the sheet

Brake test

Front axle N/S 2.060kN O/S 3.470kN
Rear axle N/S 1.020kN O/S1.160kN

Imbalance
Front 41%
Rear 12%

ovality
Front axle N/S 21% O/S 19%
Rear Axle N/S 14% O/S 13%

Parkign Brake N/S 1.460kN O/S 2.420kN
Imbalance 40%
Parkign Brake Effort 30%