Buzz like a 50Hz mains hum in my Xantia dashboard

[John Simister]

Hello to all – I've just joined the forum and this is my first post. Last week I bought a late Series 1 Xantia, a 1.8 16v LX in amazingly sound condition with only 56,000 miles. It has air-con which works, lots of history and it drives beautifully. I used to run a 1.9 TD SX as a long-term test car when I worked for the long-defunct Carweek magazine in 1994, and I've always been a fan of the Xantia and its oleopneumatically wonderful ride. So I thought it would be good to have another one while a few are still around, and help to keep the breed alive.

One fault, or maybe just a characteristic, that it has is a buzz or hum behind the dashboard whenever the ignition is on. It's at about the same frequency as a mains hum, coincidentally, and I'm fairly sure it shouldn't be there. I can't hear it in the engine bay, so it's something in the dashboard, possibly a whirring motor of some sort. (Not the blower fan – the sound continues when the fan is off.) Can anyone tell me what it might be? I don't remember Xantias doing this when I drove new ones.

Many thanks

John

[xantia_v6]

It is the little fan in the aircon temperature sensor near the clock. It is a little brushless motor with the fan blade simply spinning on a shaft.

Sometimes a blast with compressed air to blow out the dust will stop them buzzing. Sometimes it is just wear in the plastic bearing that cannot easily be fixed.

The assembly is a little bit tricky to remove, but I would recommend having a spare on hand before attempting removal, just in case.

[white exec]

XM has something similar. A clean out and an optimistic squirt of WD can sort it. Like a lot of other bits on Xan and XM, they don't thrive on non-use!

Welcome to you, John . . . nearly forgot! . . . Good to have you on board.
If this your first green-bloodied Citroen?

[John Simister]

Thanks for replies. I'll try a gentle air blast followed if necessary by a WD40 squirt.

This is the first green-blooded Citroën I've actually owned although I am lucky to have driven and enjoyed nearly every variant, of all ages. Plus an early red-fluid DS. The only other Citroën I've owned was a Visa Super E which, bizzarrely, I won in a competition in 1983.

[John Simister]

Update - today I finally got round to blasting air from a friend's compressor into the little grille, followed by some good squirts of WD40. No more buzz. Fingers crossed that it doesn't return, and thanks again to xantia_V6 and Chris for their diagnosis. Meanwhile my lovely Xantia continues to delight. It's the first Xantia to be insured as a classic with Hagerty, I think, thus ensuring its future status as a must-have collectible. One day.

[white exec]

Good result. If only everything responded so well to a puff and a squirt.
I ran a 1.8i 16v auto (in obligatory wicked red) as a company car for 60k-odd miles, 2001-2003. Comfortable and totally dependable.