Tales from beyond the grave AKA Dan & Emma's Black Xantia, pug 206HDi, Daniel's 206 Verve 1.4i, GTi180 plus XUD9TE 206!!

[ekjdm14]

Well pleased, started her up a couple of times today for a few seconds & she starts readily and sounds strong. It's currently trying to decide between rain sleet and snow though so I don't think it'll be today for a test run, but I'm hoping to find time to sort the wiring out on the Lexia plug so I can crack on with the airbag system so shall look into that shortly.

[ekjdm14]

Lexia 30-16 pin adapter duly ripped apart and free pins rigged up to the terminals shown from Jim's genuine/known working adapter, carefully plugged into White's diag. plug last night & fingers crossed, laptop charged and we'll try and have a look why the airbag light is crying at me. I'll be back shortly, either very happy or very confused, but back nonetheless!

[CitroJim]

Good luck Dan!

[ekjdm14]

Well, partial communications established. still no contact with airbag ECU but I did briefly "speak" to the pre tensioners, but the message I got was confusing... "inactive, please lower hydraulic jack"... I wonder, is this indicative of a fault somewhere or is it really not happy because the front end is still jacked up?

Anyway, can't check just now since the laptop gave up recognising the VCI again (I suspect USB driver issues) so I have to look into that & maybe roll back to an earlier version of diagbox (currently running 7.57) & then we'll try again...

EDIT-: just trawling airbag light issues something has come to light (possibly, and no pun intended!)... More often than not, flashing light has been airbag related and solid light has been pretensioner related... Couple that with the fact that White is on her 3rd different set of seats, and I shall do a little more digging into the connectors under there.

[ekjdm14]

Oh dear me, that eBay Souriau kit wouldn't have been much use with the fault I just experienced, Black started dripping fuel from the back of the engine! Pretty easy diagnosis since I could see the drip from the return line which had split on the inner radius of both bends before it goes through the bulkhead clip. Horrendous bodge of copper tube and incorrect length of hose for now but will have a look see if the hose is available new still (doubt it, this one lasted 23 years/103k and an engine change so they'd not be a big seller).

Failing that, I'll just have to settle for a straight length of hose without the U bend in it.

On White, I may have found the reason for lack of communication with the airbag, the modules plug wasn't fully clipped home & now it is, I have a flashing airbag light.

Will probably look into the clock spring before plugging lexia in again though as I want to look into the radio controls which are also dead so I hold a glimmer of hope that the issue may be there (plus I noticed that Les had a spare clock Spring in the box of spares that came with the car).

Off to wash the smell of diesel out of my skin now... I like it, but The Boss doesn't!

[CitroJim]

I've had that pipe go on a Xantia Dan, it's a horrible job and I feel for you having to do it...

[ekjdm14]

Not all that bad on a 1.9D Jim, though I can imagine it being a royal struggle on a TD. I can *just* about get down the back with the inlet trunking off.

I grabbed a moment just now to have another bash at communicating with the airbag module on White, sadly still no-go but got my fingers and toes crossed that the answer may just lie behind the steering wheel so that's on the menu next time as well as finishing reassembly and cleaning the height corrector. If she passes the MoT then I'll be tempted to get her straight on the road when Black's tax runs out.

[ekjdm14]

Oh by the way Jim, were you able to get a new hose or did you have to use a "universal" straight bit?

[CitroJim]

Oh by the way Jim, were you able to get a new hose or did you have to use a "universal" straight bit?

Just a bit of universal straight pipe Dan... It proved plenty flexible enough as I recall...

I'll never forget what a horrible, stinky job it was though

[ekjdm14]

Ah, there's the difference Jim. I love the smell of diesel fuel Fiddly no doubt, but the odour was nice.

Just this minute come in out of the snow where I was playing with White's airbag system again. Pulled the bag out of the wheel to find it disconnected(!) & the plug tucked in the centre of the wheel. Reconnecting made no difference, still flashing, so off with the wheel and bell out the clockspring assembly which tested bad on one channel (after picking out the shorting tab from the car side of the plug).

Couple of dead tracks on the radio controls too as I expected, so I know I need to source a clockspring. However, being a curious type, I dismantled the assembly & soldered up a test-lead directly between the airbag and car plug that I know tests good, and tried the 'bag in again... Still flashing!

So, I know I need a clockspring BUT I still seem to have another fault that may or may not be the reason for the lack of communication with the SRS module (my leads are good and lexia has come back with a couple of funny messages regarding the pretensioners (communication interrupted/inactive please lower hydraulic jack), so when I get a chance I'm going to see if the S1 estate is still at my favoured yard & pick up the clockspring, airbag unit and the module if it's the same.

Anything I'm missing here? Or is it likely the airbag ECU is dead?

[CitroJim]

Clocksprings - good ones at least - are getting scarce now Dan... And they're hard to fix with any great long-term reliability too...

Check your repairs are still good and then...

Before you write off the ECU firstly disconnect the buttery, leave it disconnected for a while and then reconnect. This was what I had to do with the Ka when I fixed the clockspring to make the airbag light behave..

It could be the airbag itself too... Odd that someone had gone to the trouble of disconnecting it. Someone has clearly been there before...

[ekjdm14]

Yes, someone has been further in than I originally thought... As far as I recall, Les (previous owner) had the airbag light come on & then somebody committed a workaround bodge of unplugging the ECU and bridging 2 wires in the plug that permanently extinguished the light. I wonder if maybe they disconnected the 'bag to avoid any possibility of stray static setting it off with the plug loose?

I will leave the battery off and terminals taped together for the rest of the day though & see what that does, but I do need to get that clockspring from the yard as my "patch" lead only runs from the column plug to the airbag rested on a box in the footwell.

Given the favourable prices at the yard though, I'll probably pick the lot up as spares even if I don't need it all.

Actually, just thinking about it, there is another gas generator in the box of bits that came with the car but it looks like maybe a later one as it has some plugs coming from it as well as the socket in the middle... May just give that a whirl though and see if plugging it in changes anything... What's the worst that could happen, it's only a packet of explosives lol

[ekjdm14]

OK so we're still a "no go", but digging further through the box of bits I have found an early type (steering wheel mounted) airbag controller...

Now I'm thinking, since it all readily fits in the 'wheel with just a small hole needing to be drilled in the radio button face to see the light through (even the clip to retain said LED is still there.) I wonder if I could revert to the earlier type of controller and be done with it... After all, it was deemed good enough for Black 1 year prior to White's build date.

Only thing is, I need to work out the 3 wires that supply said controller. There's a brown/faded orange (pin 1), a blue (pin 2) and a green (pin 3). Anyone know which is which before I start unplugging bits of Black & testing for power?




Oh, and this is something I never would have noticed if it weren't for the problems we're having. The black plug to this early type controller is stamped with the SAAB badge! (oh, and the airbag connector is Electrolux!!!) The unit is still made by Autoliv, who have a factory just round the corner from us strangely, and is stickered up as Xantia from 12/01/95 but strange mix of connectors. Maybe they ran out of PSA stamped connector plugs that day!

[ekjdm14]

My semi-educated guess, in the absence of wiring diagrams covering this system would be the orangey-brown to be IGN+ and the Green to be speed pulse, as per the electronic speedo wiring colours. This'd leave pin 2 (blue) as earth.

I'm tempted to pull black apart to check but as it's our only working car at the moment I think I'd get in trouble so I'll either chance blowing up this unknown quantity airbag controller (not hugely likely) or just get the proper kit from the yard when I can. That's the trouble when one is so close yet so far, impatience!

[CitroJim]

Dan, I may have the wiring of the early airbag. I'l have a look in a bit...