Xantia Hdi Heater/Ventilation blower

[Burly Chassis]

Hello all... feel strangely neutered whilst forum has been off-line. Thought to myself, now wouldn't it be typical if something goes wrong and the world's most helpful forum is still down. And lo, my heater/ventilation blower has stopped working...

Was working perfectly day before yesterday. Today.. not a peep, not the slightest whirr or gentle waft from the vents. As I move the slider, in fact all the sliders, left and right, still nothing. When you move the auto/off/manual slider you do hear a faint click under the fascia on the passenger side. Checked on our other xantia, with working blower, and I can just hear the same click when I move the slider in the same way. All fuses fine. Everything else working.

Any ideas.. thanks in advance!

[CitroXim]

That'll be, if it is a MK1, the ignition switch throwing in the towel. A sure diagnosis is if your heated rear window has stopped working as well.

It happens because the ignition switch contacts are carrying more current than they can comfortably handle. In the Mk2 Xantia a relay was fitted to overcome this issue.

A relay can be fitted to a MK1 quite simply but alas, all the detail is on the FCF

Hopefully Clogzz or Mandrake will pop up soon and put you right on how to wire in the relay.

[CitroXim]

Burly,

Sorry, I'm talking a load of old spheres It's an HDi so it's a MK2.

Righto, get the panel off under the glovebox and check the thick red and black wires that go into the blower motor and check the connections. these are flimsy and often get loose through heating and either disconnect themselves or burn up and go high-resistance. See if you have volts on these wires. Check all the other connections as well on the blower motor, especially the thin single wires. If you have not got the felt panel in place, it is easy for stray feet, especially those of the offspring in my experience, to dislodge these

The motor speed control module within the motor assembly is unlikely to be duff as it usually causes the motor to spin uncontrollably at maximum speed (hurricane mode) when it fails. It is not inconceivable though that it has failed or that the blower motor itself has failed.

Again, sorry for feeding you duff information in my first post

[Burly Chassis]

You're a star, thanks a lot Jim, relieved to not hear the words "it's a full fascia removal nightmare". I'll try tomorrow, but will have two year old mini-me in tow, so probably won't be able to post back till the w/e. Unless the young 'un turns out to be a mechanical Mozart.. you never know.

Thanks again!

[RichardW]

Funnily enough, I've just had this exactly with my Mk2 HDi....!!! Went out last Saturday and after a while noticed nadda from the fan. HRW still working fine. Whipped out the fan, looked and smelt OK. Checked on power supply lead - no volts . Eventually tracked down the relay in the drivers foot well and found only had 3V on the switching side. Checked the brown connector from the ign switch and had 12V here. No idea where the lost volts went to, but I just piggy backed a new wire from the switched side of the brown connector to the relay switch and hey presto fan back on

The relay is behind the carpet above the throttle pedal - there are a few relays there, but the blower one is the only 35A one. I ended up taking out the fascia panel over the fuse board and the steering column shrouds to get access to the wire to tap into. You can just remove the shrounds on a MK11 withouth removing the steering wheel, but I had to bend the bottom support to get them back on. The relay socket can be slipped out of its mount so that you can access the wires in the back to piggy back the new supply. If you do do this mod, then you really need to put a fuse in the new wire as the supply to the ign switch is unfused - I forgot this, so still have to do it.....

Edit: Don't forget when testing that the fan will only run when the engine is started!

[Burly Chassis]

Good news... though 2 year old mini-me turned out to be less Mozart, more Pete Docherty (mechanically speaking I mean) seems to be a dodgy connection, no more.

Did as you said Jim, and a bit of fiddling with wires kicked the blower back into life. Put the felt cover back on.. tested it later.. not working again. So repeated as before, and back working again. Think I need some of that electrical contact spray I've heard mentioned on FCF before. Is it easy to get hold of.. Halfords maybe?

Ta for reminder about engine being on Richard, wasted a bit of time before I remembered.

[CitroXim]

Think I need some of that electrical contact spray

Spray may not do a lot of good on those. The problem is, they get hot and loose their temper and then make poor contact. The poor contact increases their resistance so they heat even more, resistance increases, ever decreasing circle, until the blower stops.

The best method is to gently dismantle them and squeeze them up with a small pair of needle-nose pliers so the female part of the connector grips much better. Clean them up with some mild abrasive like very fine emery paper or a fibreglass pencil. Depending on how far they've gone, replacement may be the only answer.

The good thing is the blower is easy to get out. Take off the pollen filert access panel, three screws out and it is sitting in your hand. If only the heater matrix was so easy