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My rear washer hasn't worked for a while, and now the weather's a bit dirtier I'm missing it. The local garage reckon the headlining has to be moved to get at the pipe, I can hear the pump working but nothing happens. Three other Xantia owners I know of have the same problem, does anyone know of an easy fix, or where the blockage is most likely to be found?
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They are probably right about the headlining, but where is the problem? Are there any water stains or drips to indicate a leak in the plumbing. Blockage is most likely to be either the nozzle or something sucked into the pump. Unfortunately the reservoir and pumps are in the offside wing (at least in my 00 estate they are) so their accessibility is your second problem.
Try running the pump and seeing if drips appear anywhere (eg round the area of the reservoir) and cleaning the nozzle with a fine needle.
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Is your Xantia one where the washer pipe comes out of the wiper spindle and is attached to the wiper arm? If so then I found that the blockage was in the spindle and I cleared it with a piece of fine wire - a pipe cleaner (as in tobacco pipe) is effective too. On my BX which has a jet at the top of the tailgate I detached the pipe, attached my footpump with the airbed adaptor nozzle (ie. small pointy thing) attached and blew gently down the pipe - it cleared it well. If you need to drop the headlining to get at the pipe,(as on later Xantias) first remove the rubber seal around the rear hatch and you should be able to get at the tube. If not carefully take off the C-pillar plastic covers which unclip by moving towards front of car - lift very carefully with a flat blade screwdriver first. Roof lining should then drop down sufficiently to get your arm in.
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Thanks for the responses, yes, my washer comes out of the centre of the wiper arm. I noticed the outlet was made of what looks like mild steel. I'll try pushing something through it, if I remember rightly my front wiper did this on the BX, but I'd have expected the garage to have done this. What I was wondering was whether the Xantia has a kink in the pipe that collects debris, on the hatchback.
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The XM has the same problem (surprise surprise!!)
I cleared mine with some telephone cable core. It's 0.5 mm, made of copper, hence less likely to damage anything than a needle.
HTH
rg
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I had problems with my Xantia washers - front and back!
The front ones were usually due to the pump getting gunged up. The SAME pump does front and back of the car (hatchback anyway - not sure about Estate) and it's a pig to get at unless you've got a ramp.
There's also a non-return valve as I remember up behind the front OS wheel arch liner (plastic) There might be a blockage there too. More fun removing liner!
The back, however, is indeed likely to be a blockage in the spindle - it's a tiny hole and needs very fine wire and lots of patience! You can confirm this is the problem first by disconnecting the pipe inside the tailgate and temporarily directing it to a bucket or suchlike. If it works fine then the spindle is definitely blocked. Take care taking off the rear
wiper - it's easily broken if you force any of the plastic clips.
Don't think you'll need to be thinking about headlining though.
Good luck!
Graeme
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Here's another suggestion. Buy a C5 as I did.
IT HASN'T GOT A BACK WIPER.... AAARGH!
Come back, Xantia, all is forgiven!
Graeme
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Some european ones do have a wiper.
If you are ever watching an old video of Corrie or whatever and see the screech round corners C5 advert, you may notice that the car in the ad has a rear wiper. Lucky guy.
People in the C5-L Yahoo group have suggested that Rain-X works well on the C5's rear screen.
What is the C5 like in the rain on the motorway? Does spray hit the rear window? My Saxo did and needed wiping quite often, but didn't have intermittent rear wipe. The Picasso has intermittent, and catches spray, my Xsara has intermittent but does not catch spray on the rear when moving faster than a crawl.
Ben
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I've put Rain-Ex on my one, but either I haven't put on enough or it's not working terribly well. Having said that, I haven't really found it a desperate problem (yet!)
Yes - I've seen some of the continental ones with rear wipers - wonder how long it will take Citroen to come round to the idea?
They do tend to be slow learners..... 9 years ago my new Xantia was recalled to have the handbrake lever replaced because people weren't pulling them on hard enough (they took a few teeth off the ratchet.)
6 months ago my new C5 was recalled to have the handbrake lever replaced .....blah blah blah......teeth off ratchet...
Ho hum!
Graeme
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FWIW Citroen XM with "panorama of glass" windows (13-odd pieces incl. non-opening quarterlights, supposed to be revolutionary)are so arranged that the water from the wipers runs over the quarterlight area and obscures the door mirror.
Maybe Citroen have shares in the manufacturers of Rainex/Clearex (as well as hose manufacturers...)
rg
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