Xantia S2 recirculate control (and faulty clock)

[VertVega]

Bulb type is R509TMBK Dashboard Bulbs 12V 1.2W (Black)

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/R509TM ... Black.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/R509TMBK-Dashbo ... B001W15II0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mandrake]

Bulb type is R509TMBK Dashboard Bulbs 12V 1.2W (Black)

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/R509TM ... Black.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/R509TMBK-Dashbo ... B001W15II0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's brilliant. Do you remember how many bulbs there are in the climate control panel ? I may as well replace all of them if I go to the trouble of removing the panel...

[Chris570]

2

[VertVega]

As Chris570 has already told, there are 2 bulbs but you can buy more for spares since the same bulbs are also behind the instrument panel and clock.

Base color is usually black but it can also be beige color as seen in pic below.
The bulbs are twist lock type.

[Mandrake]

Thanks guys, I'll let you know how I get on

Not sure when I'll get time to look at it, but given that being able to control the recirculate flap would provide faster warmup and demist on winter mornings I may do it fairly soon.

[Mandrake]

Before I tackle this, can anyone give any hints on removing the bracket that holds the radio etc ? This is the kind of radio/bracket I have:


It's quite different to the radio mount on my old Xantia that had a swinging front flap and obvious screws.

Is it screws ? Or plastic clips somewhere ? I don't want to break any clips if I can avoid it...

[Hell Razor5543]

It is screws and clips. Remove the ash tray, and you should see a couple of Torx screws holding it in place. Remove these, and (with luck) that surround should now be able to pivot up and come away (IIRC it latches at the top). It is possible that you might need to remove the whole ash tray assemble first, as it might be used to hold the surround in place.

[addo]

As James posted (he's too quick by half): With the ashtray assembly out, there will be two T20 screws at the base of the trim - I know above the climate sliders there are two integral clips, probably another three at the top above the radio.

[Mandrake]

Thanks guys.

Getting it apart turned out to be easier than I thought. The cable was well and truly kinked:



I was quite shocked at how small and thin these cables are - they aren't nearly as big as the photos lead you to believe.

A bit of straightening with some pliers and flipping it over 180 degrees and I ended up with this:



I added some silicon grease to the centre wire for good measure which has made it slide noticeably more freely, so fingers crossed it will keep working. With the way I have the wire tweaked it seems to stay nice and straight when it pushes.

I did some testing with the fan on full speed while I still had it apart to see the strain on the cable - and to be honest I couldn't notice any difference between fan off and fan full speed in either how hard the knob was to slide or how much the cable "bowed". (Almost no bowing with or without fan)

Maybe my fan isn't as powerful as it should be, but at least on my car sliding it while the fan is on full speed doesn't seem to be a risk factor.

What does seem to be a risk factor though is moving it from fresh to recirculate in a quick abrupt movement as if you were switching a switch - that does tend to bow the cable a bit so I think a combination of a cable slightly stiff with age and an abrupt movement is what kinks them.

So a little bit of grease on the wire and remembering to slide it smoothly and carefully rather than flick it over quickly and I think it will be fine. I don't have any bulbs yet but now I know what to do its a 10 minute job to fit them.

Buoyed by my success I was feeling a bit brave and decided that since I had a lot of the fascia off I would try to get the clock out to see if I could fix its ailments as well. Its two problems are that (a) it randomly resets itself as often as once or twice a day and (b) sometimes the display fades mostly or completely out...

Getting the clock out turned out to be a bit of a challenge not having done so before - I had the entire brown strip removed as well as the upper and lower steering shroud to free the brown strip but I got there in the end. I stripped the clock down and couldn't really see any cracked/dry joints but I soldered the likely ones anyway.

The row of contacts that go to the display looked a bit dirty so I cleaned those up - they could have been responsible for the display fading out however I didn't find anything to explain the clock resetting itself. I put it back together, cleaned the plug and socket for the clock when refitting it and so far its working fine, but it will take a few days before I know if its fixed or not.

While I had the clock out I tested the fan for the temperature sensor and to my satisfaction its clean, quiet and spinning properly.

So all in all a successful afternoon of tinkering.

[Hell Razor5543]

Well done Simon, job well done, and niggles (hopefully) sorted.

[VertVega]

Good job Now it's time for a virtual pint

[Bannedbiker]

I had the same problem with a kinked wire on my S2 Xantia.
I also found the problem was the cable had dried out and that's why it kinked.
I ran some sewing machine oil (thinest oil I had to hand) down the cable and that did the trick.

[Mandrake]

Good idea on the sewing machine oil. I don't have any but fortunately my cable didn't seem stiff, after fixing the kink it seemed to be fine. I added the grease more as a bit of extra insurance.

[Xantidote]

Good idea on the sewing machine oil.

Not sure if my sewing machine oil has run out, but I would otherwise use 3-in-1 - not sure if it's any thicker than the sewing machine oil

[Mandrake]

Well, one out of two isn't bad I suppose

The recirculate flap is working nicely and slides smoothly back and forth but the clock - which ran perfectly all through the night - reset itself to 24 hour mode all zeros about a minute after starting the engine.

So I'm still not sure if its the clock or whether there is a momentary loss of power to it due to a wiring problem. It seems to reset more often when the engine is running than when the car is parked.

The thing is, the clock worked perfectly for the first 6 months I had the car so whatever the problem is has happened during my ownership...