Advice on Lexia purchase (nothing to do with from where!)

[Rhothgar]

Hi all,

Been considering purchasing a Lexia for forever and a day.

Can anyone tell me what information it gives over and above any other diagnostic equipment?

I know that sounds like a stupid question so I will explain.

I have recently had a P1519 error code (Coolant temp sensor) from my Snap-On diagnostic. My mate's AutoLogic (which was around £3k) didn't even have Xantia on it so we used another car with the RHZ engine in it. That told use that it was oil temp sensor that was faulty. He did explain that a code can be particular to a car i.e. P1519 on one car may be coolant temp, on another it may be oil temp so each code although fairly generic can be slightly different for different cars.

I came on the forum and asked the question. Paul kindly stated that it was Coolant temp sensor so I bought one and checked resistance of new and resistance of old and it was the same. So, to my mind, it cannot be the sensor.

I uncovered the relays and found that I had swapped one out sometime ago. I am not sure if this is when the problem with the light coming on on the dash started to be honest. When I actuated the high speed fan, I pulled the bottom relay forward which is the slow and high speed series relay and the fan stopped. This suggests faulty wiring.

I switched that relay with one of the others and the intermittent fault appears to have stopped but the light remains on! There is corrosion to pin 1 of the block connector on the bottom (series) relay. My friend suggest switch cleaner which I have not tried yet.

So back to the Lexia question, just how much information will a Lexia 3 give and can it 'graph' sensors to check if the sensor is acting normally. I have not looked through all the workshop manuals I have so I do not know if it gives a graph of the resistance curve of the coolant sensor. Just looking through the wiring diagrams gave me a serious headache.

Any advice would be appreciated as I am paused to buy a Lexia if it is going to give more fuller information and solve this issue.

One final thing though. Despite the airbag light currently being on and there being an intermittent fault with the ABS at low speeds and the temp gauge issue, there were NO codes when I plugged the snap-on and autologic in to read them.

[RichardW]

Night and day really... Whilst a generic scanner will give you a fault (if there is one recorded), Lexia will give the you fault, a full(er) description, and may well record a bunch of other information at the same time as the fault ocurred which may help to pin it down. You will also be able to monitor variables (eg coolant temperature) in real time, so this can help with whether the sensor is working or not. Plus, you will have access to other functions that are Lexia only, such as key coding, and for later cars repair options, such as DPF additive re-fill, handbrake service mode, to name but 2.

[Rhothgar]

Thanks RichardW.

DPF Additive Refill. I haven't delved into S2 Xantias much at all but would the S2 (Model Year 2000) have a DPF? If so, I assume it only needs cleaning or servicing if the exhaust gas readings are excessive?

[Hell Razor5543]

I don't believe any Xantia has a DPF.

[masterofinsanity]

Just bought myself a lexia to hopefully cure my C8 problems and cant believe how much info you can get from them and tests you can do, best thing ever! has given me a lot more confidence working with the car although i'm totally new to Lexias but on a slow learning curve!

[Mandrake]

The more expensive after market scanners like Snap On aren't just generic OBD-II scanners, they do have OEM modes for most manufacturers, (using optional compatibility modules) however Citroen's aren't well represented on most of the after market scanner tools, possibly because a lot of these tools are US centric and Citroen's haven't been sold in the US since the 1970's!

A Citroen as old as a Xantia can't be read properly by any after market tools (and not at all by a Generic OBD-II scanner) but even the later Citroen's (approx 2004 onwards) that can be read by an after market tool or Generic OBD-II scanner will only provide limited information - basic fault code reading, basic engine data like fuel trim, emissions faults and so on and not a lot else.

Remember Generic OBD-II mode was mandated and created in the first place solely as a means to read emissions related data and faults from cars, and that it does well - everything else is hit or miss depending on the manufacturer, and there are a lot of manufacturer specific extensions that mean nothing to a scan tool that doesn't understand those extensions.

Anything like ECU firmware updating, ECU configuration (enabling/disabling optional features like cruise control, ESP/ABS) key/fob/alarm programming, radio coding, gearbox programming, (auto-adaptive reset, oil wear counter reset) Hydractive 3 configuration/testing and so on can only be done with a Lexia.

Think of it this way - for £80-£120 you get a clone of the exact same tool and software that the Citroen dealers themselves use which can do EVERYTHING a dealer can, (well, except firmware updates on some very new models) compared to paying thousands for a generic tool that will work with a lot of other brands of car but provide very limited access to basic troubleshooting on later Citroen's and no access at all to earlier Citroen's like Xantia's.

So for a Xantia in particular, a Lexia is the only tool worth considering.

[Rhothgar]

Looks like a car upgrade would be better!

Thanks Mandrake for your detailed reply. It has not given me any confidence though that I can get this silly light to go off on the dash if it cannot diagnose wiring issues.

Was watching a video on Ebay earlier on EasyDiagnostics £110 listing which he states (perhaps wrongly) that it is recommended by the forum. I know a lot of people prefer to buy from him but that doesn't necessarily warranty a recommendation.

His video showed a Peugeot where wiring faults could be diagnosed. I know this has a corroded spade terminal but short of buying a part loom from Citroen, what else can I do?

[sparksie]

What else can you do?
I'd have thought a new spade and a really good quality crimping tool to fit it would be significantly cheaper than a loom section from Citroen!
And you can put the pliers back in the box and put it on eBay, once you've fixed your own problem, leaving you out a quid or so for the whole job.
I can never understand why people go all wobbly over duff cable terminations.
Just change it already... If you can swap a fuse, you'll be able to master a decent crimper.
Don't bother with the cheap, nasty ones, though. Even pro's get it wrong with those sometimes!

[Rhothgar]

I've got a decent crimper but I cannot seen to get the spade out of the block connector and don't want to risk totally messing it up.

My real concern is not wanting to mess with something that isn't the true cause. My mate said spray it with switch cleaner but I cannot see that removing oxidation that well!

[sparksie]

Well, it's actually pretty good at that, but it won't restore the tension in the connector.
Usually a loose connection is the start. The spade then gets hot, causing faster oxidation, further exacerbating the problem eventually leading to either a total breakdown of the connection, or a meltdown of the plastic block.
Spades are almost always held in place by a small tag that acts like a ratchet pawl. This can generally be bent out of the way with a seal pick, or jewellers screwdriver, or perhaps a darning needle, allowing them to be withdrawn.
However, not all are like this, so some closer inspection may be required to figure out this particular version.
On my Xantia there are several different styles of connector, but all of the ones I've looked at so far have been conventional in their construction. I dismantled a few of them while fitting towbar electrics and assembled them with new connectors with no difficulty.
Good luck