I have the same issue as llaw below, or very similar. Its a vtr 1.4 petrol and it was cutting out, solved that :) but now the fault diagnostic light comes on. To stop the car stalling i got the stepometer cleaned. No idea what it is, thats the mechanic said he cleaned and that its common in Xsaras. The fault light tends to come on when alot of the electrics are running and the car is idling low. Any ideas on what causing it? REALLY appreciate some help, I want to sell the car and having warning lights come on tends to put people off :P
I have had my VTS Coupe for 6 months and its so smooth and lots of torque ,I only wish my Lotus Elise had this Motor in it, as its pommy motor is rough and lacks torque , I suppose you cant have everything although nothing handles like a Lotus..
think all you have problems think the flashing lights are a pain i just dont look at them anymore. may xsara is a 1400 petrol forte i have had the engine almost cut out on me so many times ive lost count mostly when i have been in traffic for a while then when you go to pull away it trys to through you through the winds screen as it lurches and then trys to die thus you need to bang your clutch foot to the floor and start reving the engine to get it to tick over again. but even that i have got used to but 2 lots of front discs and a new clutch cable and clutch plate and now the gear box has gone and citroen want £1000+vat for the box and thats without fitting the car will be 4 years old in march and has 76000 miles and a full service history (i wonder i it will burn well).
I have a vtr 1.6 coupe. Misfires, especially on pull away, the blower fan wont go off - please help with this one and i have a squeal when i pull right, apart from that it gets me from a to b and doesnt look bad
Hi, can anyone help. Owned my citroen Xsara 1.8 vtr for nearly a year. The car started stalling anfdthe fuel injection ligh came on. Citroen dealer have had the cra for 2 weeks tracing wiring faults cannat find anything wrong. Car still not running sitting on my drive. Citroen say they can change ECU but will not guarantee it will work. Any ideas citroen want £650 for ecu.
I bought my 1.6 16v in 2001 brand new for £9750. Since then it has had the airbag light problem (fixed), the spurious stop light/overheaing warning (went away on its own), the heater blower stuck on full pelt (fixed), and most annoying of all the mis-firing (not fixed after numerous visits to the dealers). My mis-firing occurs after about 1 minute of driving from cold and usually goes away if I then stop the engine and re-start it. The dealers have replaced the coil and downloaded information but with no success. The are putting another coil in it this week. Not bad for a car with just 48,000 miles on it. I previously had a 1.4 ZX for 4 years and had no problems at all with it.
Hello you poor poor poeple. Further to my further comments re my may 2001 xsara vtr, seat runners do not locate properly resulting in seats rattling, fuel guage now has a mind of its own, exhaust heat shield keeps falling off, drivers door trim (interior) has had clips replaced 15 yes 15!! times by dealer who cant work out that there must be a cause to the problem, drivers side electric window modulator keeps breaking, rear brakes corroded beyond belief and not working despite regular dealer servicing (not anymore), abs light cured with same bodge up job as others have mentioned, a/c gave up, and today my power steering failed!!! AAArrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggg!!!!! Mileage? 100,000? 120,000? no, a mere 42,000 miles i have done in this car. I dont abuse it, it is maintained as scheduled, and i generally look after it. Would i buy another citroen? HA HA HA HA HA HA. NEVER BUY A CITROEN!!!!!! Although i once had a bx 16v which was very very quick and comfortable.
I bought my Xsara 1.8 VTR Furio in 2000 for £8795 brand new. This is the same as the standard VTR except it only has a single CD player, no leather steering wheel and no alloy wheels but at the time was £3000 cheaper than a standard VTR. I put some alloys on my self for £400 and saved my self the best part of £3000. The car has now done 70000 miles and has had zero problems, nothing at all just general servicing which I now do my self and save a packet (brake pads £8, air filter approx £12 from my local motor spares shop). My Xsara has been real value for money and performance must be the best for a 1.8 Petrol at this price.
I bought a VTR Coupe new for the wife 5 years ago(S REG)costing over £15000.
Just done 100,000 miles and 75,000 of them have been with the airbag light on. Had it fixed 3 times but only lasts a month. Replaced explosive thingy bit twice at £70 ago, but I do now think its a loose connection under driver seat.
Both front seat mechanisms dont hold, great fun when slamming anchors on.
All locks have seized because I only used key fob. (my fault)
Lights on dash and indicators work intermittantly.
Wheel balancing is a pain in the Ars* as no one seems to have the chuck to do it.
Engine management light no illuminates at the drop of a hat and engine stalls when idle.
It has been a good car upto 75,000 mile so those of you racking up the mileage beaware.
But their is good news, part exchanged it today for the new Vectra, bad news £15,700 to £2,000 in five years. Sod it, it did the job shame citroen could not sought out the problems on their on their own cars.
Don't let this put you off unless your buying a high mileage xsara. They may be cheap now, but you will pay latter
My brother owns a 2001 xsara 1.4 vtr he's had the same problem with the airbag light which has been sorted, but now after only 20k miles the gearbox has decided to deposite its tranmission fluid all over the road. Has any one else experenced this problem or knows what may have caused it, The garage has told him he may have to have the gearbox replaced and he's not very happy.
Hi, not had too many problems with my 1.4 1997 S-reg Temptation until recently, about 6 months ago I lost the central locking in the boot, and, stupidly, figured it would be quick and easy for the dealer to sort it out at the next service. Any way, 40,000 service comes along, £560 in the end! And that was because we told them where they could put the new boot central locking solenoid that they wanted another £70 for!!!, So I get it home and five minutes later I have found that there is a small plastic clip between the solenoid (which I discover to be working fine) and the locking mechanism. A quick reattachment and thats £70 ive saved myself in a total of about 8 minutes! Now ive just gotta see if I can sort out the Airbag warning light that has been intermittently on since the service!
I thought it was only me that had bought a lemon! Same story airbag light keeps on coming on intermittently. 99 Xsara - only 3 weeks out of the garage and the sensor was faulty according to the car dealer, they replaced it. Light came on again just after the 1 year warranty - cost me 100 quid. Light came on again only 6 months ago and is doing my head in! I went to a mechanic, not dealer garage, couldnt find the fault, polished the fuses not doubt. Went away but is on again today. Aerial started leaking and I was soaked getting to work one morning to work. I fixed the seal myself. Front suspension, brushes whatever had to be replaced after 18 months. Back wheel drum locked and had to have the hub replaced. Faulty connection to the battery caused all lights on dash to light up. Mechanic found problem only after 3 days in garage. Drivers door handle started sticking, resolved myself. Radio and clock lights no longer working, have to guess the radio station at night - makes for some fun when driving at night though. Wheel tracking had to be done. I dealt with a waterford dealer and to say he was rude was an understatement. I asked a panel beater to spray wing mirrors, the color code was not on wheel arch, dealer told me to f%^& off. I complained to Citreon, they forwarded the color code but said nothing else. I am not hard on cars but I think that it is definately a crap purchase. I have considered selling to a circus so the clowns can do their thing pushing it around the ring.
Bought new Berlingo LPG in July 2002. Had repetitive ecu problems all the time I had it (which wasn't long). Had it taken away for rejection in November 2002. After having it for a month Citroen told me it was ready for me to collect in December. Referred it to a solicitor at that point, but am still paying heavily for a vehicle I haven't seen in 6 months. Will never buy another French car. Never had so much trouble with any other vehicle I have owned. Previous 1.9d had no probs whatsoever.
after reading all the reports on missfiring, i have the answer!!!! i own a saxo vts it has the same engine as the xsara 16v....any way i was driving and everything was fine, i pulled up at a roundabout and went to pull away and that was it, missfiring and only running on 2 cylinders and majour loss of power.... thinking it was the spark plugs breaking down, i went and got some new ones... same problem backfiring and running lumpy and would not rev-up, so i left it for the evening and thought about it for a while... as im a mechanic!! going though what it could be was not too difficult.. so i went though all what it could be and what it could not be!! and made the decision it was the coils!!! it was.... they cost £220, so i fitted them, and would you belive it the car ran as if it were brand new....my advice is fit this part your self you will save at least another £100 and plus citroen mechanics only seem to be interested in selling you a software download for the ECU "this does not work" and then they tell you they are not quite sure of the problem and charge you more money!!! the job is as simple as this ......open bonnet, unscrew the 8 T30 bolts that hold the plastic cover down to the top of the engine "this is the one with the citroen bagde on it", you will now see the coils, unplug it "it is to the right hand end, press the metal loop in and pull plug off", there are 7 T20 bolts undo these and the coils come off with the tubes that sit on the plugs, pull off the 4 rubber tubes making sure the springs stay in the tubes, press these on to your new coils and re-fit the coils ,plug and cover.....job done, this took me all of 10 minutes and saved me money....YOU CAN DO THE SAME don`t let ripoff citroen take your money....i hope this post helps!!!!!!!
My 98/99 xsara 16i SX is probably the best car ive had for what it cost me (£3k), and ive had 6 different cars in the last 5 years from a Ford escort (cr*p) to a Vauxhall astra (also cr*p). shame that its looks abit 'plain Jane' though!
Petrol engine overheating and or misfiring? Check the MAP sensor. (£45 in Italy £60 in Germany £90 in England). Citroen deny it's a design fault but it's not what the man I spoke to said. i had a ZX nd a friend had the same problem with the Xsara.
Has anyone found the definative answer to the misfiring problem. I have a citroen saxo VTR and have no end of problems, bushes replaced, discs replaced and now constant misfiring at tick over with the engine management light on. I'm trying to get rid of it now but need to get rid of this misfiring fault
X-2000 41,000mls Silver Last of the line MK1 2.0i 16V VTS Coupe with A/C & Sun roof for £5500? It don't get much better than that! As for all the reliability problems! What problems? Im on my 3rd Xsara (a Mauritus Blue 1.8i 16V VTR & a WHITE 2.0i 16V VTS (Please forgive me for white!)and I can honestly say I have had no major problems. This is my first Xsara with multiplex wiring, and as I work in a Saab dealer, we have a similar system and is not hard to understand. Its really simple! It may not be the best built or in some people's eyes good looking but on a BHP to Pound ratio taking into account age, spec & handling it cannot be beaten. Give it a chance, it's the ultimate Q-Car! Oh drop it on a set of 17's then the looks department is sorted too!!!!!!!! Or pay £2000 more and get an older 306 GTi-6 that everyones got............That says it all really
I've had a 2000W plate Xsara VTS 2.0 for 12 months and its been a fantastic bargain. Sharp handling, 167bhp on tap, it shames Golf GTI's and other much overpriced hot hatches. I had a Calibra before this and this car has been more reliable, is faster and has better steering. Only gripe is its noisey at illegal motorway speeds. Cracking motor and an absolute bargain second hand..
i bought a xsara sx brand new last february 2002. it has had the handbrake rebuilt, the rear seatbelts rebuilt and kast week i broke down. i was driving along and the power just cut out and everything died. the engine kept running but nothing responded. The engine diagnostic light came on. the dealer i got the car from told me today that because i let the fuel run below a quarter of a tank i did damage to the engine management computer. According to him you should never run the fuel below a quarter tank. It doesn't say this in the manual and they dont tell you this when you buy the car. What is the point of the fuel light coming on when there is less than a quarter of fuel left. If you cant run below a quarter surely the light should appear at a quarter tank? Has anyone else had this problem or know if the dealer is talking rubbish?
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