Well Hello

[steve ottley]

Hi to all,

just joined the forum and im hoping for a bit of advice,not got a citroen yet but going to see one tomorrow,its a xsara picasso,1.8 sx 2001 with 84,000 miles.looks in good condition on pics,only asking £495.00 for it.Its had a little swipe on passenger rear door but all in all looks good.One problem it does have ,according to the present owner is the abs light is on,he says that the brakes have been replaced by a non citroen garage and that the abs light just needs resetting by putting it on a diagnostics computer,does this sound correct to you or not,he tells me hes had the abs checked and its working ok,just the lights on.

any advice would be helpfull

Steve

[Johndouglas]

It's a comparatively easy job to replace brake pads and discs and there's no reason at all why the abs light should be on after completing the work. If the light is on there's something wrong. Even if the fault code was erased and the light turned off, the fault would return when the car was driven.   Don't know for sure, but it probabl;y wouldn't pass an MOT with the light on.   I would be asking for the seller to get it right before buying.

[steve ottley]

thanks for the reply john,if its the sensors is it an easy/expensive job to fix

steve

[Johndouglas]

A wheel sensor is around £40 for a new one plus the time for fitting it.

[paul.h]

It may not just be a wheel sensor and then there are 4 so a diagnostic check is needed to decide which, if any, is at fault. It could be a sensor target needs cleaning or replacing and sometimes sensor targets are built in to the wheel bearings so can be expensive. If it is the abs hydraulic unit at fault these can be many £100 to replace and need programming to the car. There is also the abs ecu that could be at fault.

 

Despite what the seller says, whilst the abs light is on the abs part of the brakes will not work so I have no idea how the brakes were tested (one way is to brake hard on snow or ice and the pedal will pulse) and diagnostic equipment that could be used to check the abs system would also turn off the light if the fault was not present. With the abs light on it would fail the MOT (you can check this in the MOT testers handbook which is on-line on a direct.gov site) and probably make the insurance invalid.

 

So, it could be the car is being sold due to the abs light and the expense of fixing it. I would think there are many Picassos  available (including ones that do not have door damage), so if the seller will not fix this one first, I would leave it alone. As it is, with the abs light on it is not up to MOT standard and therefore is illegal to use on the road. I would also think that if the seller does not keep the brakes up to standard, what else may be wrong ?