V6 Xantia......... the beginning of another adventure

[Citroening]

(Yep can get the 138BHP 2.0 HDi which I bet do go well indeed).

Indeed sorry about that Steve...

[Trainman]

Paul, it's the way of the blog, they always go off at a tangent....

[Trainman]

Just been and ordered the matrix £77.00 plus VAT, I priced the switches for the drivers seat, two 'contact switches' which can be bought separate, which surprised me. Great I thought, nice and easy, lovely....... The price £151.00

[KP]

Blooming heck can you not get used ones for that much or even a whole new interior?!?

Creepers that's shockingly pricey!

[citroenxm]

Cruise control work Steve???

[Trainman]

Cruise control work Steve???

Nope



Still, it would have been nice to getting working but there again you did only have a quick look. There's always next time.

[KP]

Did you get home ok Steve as I had to drop off for fuel and then caught up but lost you again

I can't thank you enough for taking me over today, it was greatly appreciated

[Trainman]

Did you get home ok Steve as I had to drop off for fuel and then caught up but lost you again

I can't thank you enough for taking me over today, it was greatly appreciated

I did Will, I had to stop at three places before I got LPG and then had to pull over to top up the LHM otherwise a good run, going over to my dad's later to "borrow" his ramps to try and sort the leak once and for all.

[Trainman]

Well, the Xantia decided to throw me another curve ball this morning started her up and set off to work, got just round the corner and the water temperature light and STOP light came on, I pulled over and checked the water it was full. strange ....... anyway decided that the best thing to do was head home and leave it until tomorrow.

so where do i start

[citroenxm]

Cooling Fans Steve?

It can flash up when the cooling fans dont work, which are controlled by three relays, that sit between the fans in a little triangular box, behind the grill...

What useually happens is one or two of the connections to the relays corrode.. this then stops speed control or any feed to the fans. The Bitron control box senses this and throws the light on and STOP light.

[Trainman]

Hmm, fans were working..... even after I stopped the car, it's almost like it was over heating, BUT I could undo the radiator cap....

[Trainman]

Right..... I took the Xantia for a run round the block, to try and find out what the problem was with the water light and STOP light coming on.

The round of he block is about a mile, now in that mile the water temp rose from zero to half of the normal running temp, when I got back home the cooling fans were running, I'm now wondering if it could be a faulty sensor or thermostat sticking I can't see any loose or broken wires

Is there anything else I should be looking at

[KP]

A sticky thermostat isn't good news
When it's stone cold start it up and see if the rad slowly warms up or gets hot very quick once the temp needle starts moving.

If it warms up slowly the stat is likely stuck open. If it warms up quickly when it is nearly at running temp the batty is opening and letting the water thru as it should.

Beyond that I don't know much about the v6 cooling systems I'm afraid

[Chris570]

something to bear in mind is that the coolant probe is in the bottom hose and is pretty pants. I forget, do you have a Lexia? you can check the ECU coolant temp probe to see if it is giving similar readings....

[CitroJim]

As Chris says, the gauge sender effectively reads the bottom hose temperature due to its location so about half of what might seem normal is right. They should under-read under normal running.

The thermostat in a V6 is normally reliable as it's not a conventional one. Good job as they're absolute sods to replace.

Good point Chris to use a Lexia to check the coolant temperature on the engine ECU. This sensor is in the normal place so reads top hose temperature.

The fault is likely to be electrical rather than an engine cooling problem and my first suspect would be the Bitron sensor. It's quite hard to get to and right under all the V6 cooling plumber's nightmare. The connector can get coolant dripping onto it which can cause a poor connection..