Can't Lock/unlock Boot - Hdi Estate

[barcelona]

Looking to buy a Xantia Hdi estate. I've been told the boot lock sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. When it doesn't unlock you have to go in through a side door and stick a screwdriver in the boot and somehow force it open? I've been told the solonoid has been changed and this hasn't done anything. Has anyone heard of this problem before? Any suggestions as to what it could be? Being tight I'm hoping to fix it myself and not take it to citroen. They're knocking £200 off the price because of this problem.

 

My level of competence has stretched to changing the door relay to fix a non-working electric window.

 

Thanks in advance

[Guest Colin Hunter]

Check with your lacal dealers as to the price of a new lock mechanism and if they have any info on this problem. The lock shouldn't be that dear unless it's combined with some other part. You should be able to change it quite easily. You could akways try removing it and cleaning and oiling it first.

 

Cheers. Sorry can't be more help :D

[barcelona]

I've bought the car now...

 

From receipts I can see that a year ago a new locking motor was fitted to the boot/tailgate. Apparently this solved the problem for a little while and then the problem returned. Someone has suggested it could be a wiring problem. Don't know how to go about looking at the wiring. I guess I'll have to take the panel off the boot/tailgate somehow. There are also two pieces of plastic casing/conduit either side of the boot/tailgate where it hinges to the car. I'll try and have a look there too. Unfortunately I haven't got a Haynes manual for this car yet - I should probably wait until I get hold of one.

[Guest Colin Hunter]

Yes. Probably best to wait til you've got one. There is a link somewhere in these forums for downloading it FREE in PDF format. I downloaded it a while ago as my Haynes manual was for the earlier cars than my '98 110 HDi. It turned out to ba a PDF of the later Haynes Manual. If you can be bothered to look through the old postings you'll probably find it. Either that or send a PM to a guy called Dave Walling. I remember him telling someone else about it.

It may well be that the reason for the locking motor failing is that the lock itself has become stiff. It may be an idea to have it out and, if it's sticky, free it up and give it a good oiling.

Cheers.

[barcelona]

Think I found the link - it was http://pdftown.com/Citroen-Xantia-Service-Manual.html

But it doesn't seem to work anymore.

 

You mentioned sending a PM to Dave Walling. Sorry, but what's a PM?

 

Don't think it's too stiff - I can move it fairly easily, but it can do no harm to put some white grease on it. Whenever I use the central locking there's no sign of life if I stick my ear on the boot locking mechanism, which makes me think it's a wiring problem. As previously posted, I'm goona take the trim off and have a good look the wires. And whilst I'm at it, will try and sort out my other problem, which I've got a feeling is not altogether unconnected - a wet boot! I'm probably gonna take off the trim without the manual - how hard can it be? I've read that I'll need a T20 and a T30 Torx star bit.

[Guest Colin Hunter]

PM is a "Personal Message" If you hover your mouse over the name of the person who has written the post you will access a "Drop Down" menu in which you'll find the option the "Send message" to that person. When they reply to the message through the site you will receive an email to your personal email telling you they have replied.

 

The link still works. It doesn't sem to take you straight to the page you need. Click on Citroen on the page you vome to and you'll find it. If you wait for some time between downloadin pt1 and pt2 you won't have to pay.

 

Taking things to bits isn't hard but getting them back together is sometimes a bit more tricky! However, if you have a good look at it you should be able to figure it out. A set of Torx bits with a driver won't cost all that much and you may also get some other bits in the set for good measure.

 

Chers. Happy tinkering! <_<

[barcelona]

Took the trim off. Clearly the guy who fitted the new lock mechanism last year hadn't re-glued the plastic membrane. Hence the wet boot. When I get the lock mechanism sorted I'll glue it down with waterproof silicone.

 

Think I'm getting warm with the boot locking mechanism. Some of the lock mechanism wires wend their way into the car from the boot via some rubber conduit stuff about 4 inches long. You can see the rubber conduit when you open the boot. There's one tube on the right and one of the left. The one on the right (driver side) carries the lock mechanism wires. A lot of these wires have been chaffed/chewed a lot. Probably because the original tape that was protecting all of the wires seems to have worked itself off after years of use. Two sets of wires have completely come apart. I figure all I need to now do is re-attach these 2 wires. It's gonna be a litle bit tricky cos there's not much slack on the wires cos they're obviously all bound together just out of reach. Any suggestions as to how one might re-connect these two sets of wires?

[Guest Colin Hunter]

Funny you should have found that. It was what I was going to tell you to look at next! The same thing happened on the lads ZX but that was the supply wire for the heated rear window. Try to see where the wires go in either direction. On the ZX they came up from the boot under the edge of the rubber seal trim. It may be easier to join in a new piece farther down the line and run it in in one length than try to join it where it's already broken. That's never very successful.

 

You can buy joints now with which you strip and tin (With solder) the wire ends and then, with then joint in place you apply heat. It joins the wire ends securely with solder and you then slide down a piece of heat shrink sleeving (Which you put on one of the wires before making the joint) and with a bit of heat from a hot air gun or similar the sleeving will tighten around the joint and make a much neater job than trying to use insulating tape.

 

You could always ask someone at the dealers where the loom runs up to the tailgate gaiters to save a bit of searching.

 

Cheers Hope this helps. <_<

[barcelona]

I don't have access to a heat source/hot air gun.

 

I had a little root around the internet and came up with these.

 

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Module...O&U=strat15

 

They're called snap-lock automative cable connectors. I've got no idea how big they are but at £2 for ten I think they're worth a try. It's important they're not too big cos there's not much room to play with and have to fit in the rubber conduit stuff whilst constantly being pulled at when the tailgate is opened and closed. At a push I could always follow the wire back to its ulimate connecting point in the tailgate but that seems a bit fiddly. Definitely prefer the idea of these snap-lock things at the moment. As long as I can get the thing working I can always re-do it if it packs up 6 months down the line...

[barcelona]

Wahey fixed it. The snap lock connector things were a bit big so I used some splice type things. Basically joining the wires together through a metal connector which you then tighten with a pair of pliars. The whole thing has a small plastic casing. Boot works a treat now.

 

Have also glued the plastic membrane down. I probably shouldn't have, but I used "no nails" cos that's all I had to hand. I'm gonna put some silicone round it for good measure this afternoon.

 

Thanks for the advice Colin.

[Guest Colin Hunter]

Nae bother! Glad you've got it sorted!

 

Happy Motoring! <_<

[pragmatix]

Wahey fixed it. The snap lock connector things were a bit big so I used some splice type things. Basically joining the wires together through a metal connector which you then tighten with a pair of pliars. The whole thing has a small plastic casing. Boot works a treat now.

 

Have also glued the plastic membrane down. I probably shouldn't have, but I used "no nails" cos that's all I had to hand. I'm gonna put some silicone round it for good measure this afternoon.

 

Thanks for the advice Colin.

Just a note No More Nails is water based and as such is not good to use in areas of moisture it will fail

[barcelona]

On that note, I've just waterproof siliconed the whole thing. Ain't nothing getting through it now.

 

Cheers.

[barcelona]

As an addendum to the above the lights in the boot area that are supposed to come on when you open the boot weren't working a few day ago. As it's a new car to me I was going to change the bulbs in the first instance to see if that was the problem. Actually I would have checked there was power getting to them first with a meter reader. It occurred to me that when I was fixing the boot locking problem that there were one or two wires that were also a bit chewed up and exposed. I went back and taped them all up and hey presto, the boot lights started working whenever I opened the boot. Excellent!

 

Only three small electrical problems to go now:

1 Driver side rear door can't be operated by central locking

2 Driver side internal light doesn't work (could be bulb?)

3 The backlight for the time/temperature display takes about half an hour to work.

[barcelona]

Oh dear, the waterproof silicone didn't work!!!

 

What should I use to get the job done properly? As my old man is always fond of saying, "If a job's worth doing....."