Any electrical gurus on here?

[Prilliant03]

I'll admit right away that I know a little less than nothing about vehicle electrics.

Anyhoo, the Xantia seems to have a small parasitic drain somewhere. It's not enough to flatten the battery overnight. Symptoms are that the little alarm LED in the drivers door and the window switch illumination is always on, even with the ignition off and the car locked. The electric windows also now work with no key in the ignition. Around the same time I also lost my RHS stereo speakers. Not sure if these problems are linked.

Any suggestions as to where I should start looking? My instinct says to start pulling fuses and see which one kills the live circuits, then trace the wiring on thet circuit to find the fault, but surely that's a bit too simple.

[RichardW]

I'd have a look for broken wires in the tube going into the driver's door first....

[citroenxm]

Yup, Id second that.. Its hugely likely after a lot of door opening and closing the wires between the car and door break up, and its likely to be picking a live from else where....

Unfortunally on the xantia the harness is hard wired from the car right through to the door, so removing a door involves removing the door card and unplugging the harness from the various items and pulling it through..

Try pulling the wiring gromet back either way and check for broken wires.. But its highly likely indeed.

The annoying thing is though, where the wires have broken you cannot simply solder them back together, as they have weathered and deteriated solder does NOT stick to the wires.. The easyest way is to remove the door and re solder/join them further down by fitting new wires...

[Chris570]

Yup, Id second that.. Its hugely likely after a lot of door opening and closing the wires between the car and door break up, and its likely to be picking a live from else where....

Unfortunally on the Xantia the harness is hard wired from the car right through to the door, so removing a door involves removing the door card and unplugging the harness from the various items and pulling it through..

Try pulling the wiring gromet back either way and check for broken wires.. But its highly likely indeed.

The annoying thing is though, where the wires have broken you cannot simply solder them back together, as they have weathered and deteriated solder does NOT stick to the wires.. The easyest way is to remove the door and re solder/join them further down by fitting new wires...

What he said but as a side just check the fuses are all in there correct homes and not bridging the constant live and switched (as in fuse 1 can be placed so that the radio stays on all the time) i'm not sure if its possible with others i've not looked but it maybe worth a check

[CitroJim]

Yup, Id second that.. Its hugely likely after a lot of door opening and closing the wires between the car and door break up, and its likely to be picking a live from else where....

Unfortunally on the Xantia the harness is hard wired from the car right through to the door, so removing a door involves removing the door card and unplugging the harness from the various items and pulling it through..

Try pulling the wiring gromet back either way and check for broken wires.. But its highly likely indeed.

The annoying thing is though, where the wires have broken you cannot simply solder them back together, as they have weathered and deteriated solder does NOT stick to the wires.. The easyest way is to remove the door and re solder/join them further down by fitting new wires...

What he said but as a side just check the fuses are all in there correct homes and not bridging the constant live and switched (as in fuse 1 can be placed so that the radio stays on all the time) i'm not sure if its possible with others i've not looked but it maybe worth a check

Chris is speaking of the shunt 'fuse' marked SH and being grey in colour. It should straddle the F8 and F23 positions in the cabin fusebox. There should be no fuse in the F8 or F23 positions.