Question

Please advise how to access the fuel tank sending unit on a 1956 Citroën Traction 11BL. Either I have lost the electrical connection or the ground, or maybe the float has sunk to the bottom of the tank. I have toyed with the assumption that since I have filled the tank with gasoline, the meter which is calibrated in liters of essence does not recognize the liquid which now fills the tank and therefore the gauge reads empty. Any and all advice sincerely appreciated.

Citroën Tech Tip

Thanks for your note. On a 6 volt system you always want to look for the ground to be the usual problem when something electrical does not work.

The sending unit operates by resistance in a coil of wire that the connection in the tank slides up and down on. When the tank is low with fuel, the connection is at the bottom of the coil with many windings. The higher the float goes in the tank, the fewer windings on the coil and thus the less resistance electrically. This makes your gauge on your dash head toward full. It starts off at about 1.5 volts and raises to the full 6 volts when the float is to the top and the tank is full.

If you have an electrical tester you want to gain access to the connections to the sending unit. This will be on the floor of your trunk under the floor mat. There should be a little trap door to gain access to the unit on the trunk floor.You will need a volt meter

of some kind, and a jumper wire preferably with an alligator clip on each end.

Disconnect the coil wire on the car, so that no damage happens to the ignition points, and then flip on the ignition key. Find the wire that is feeding power to your sender by touching the negative on the tester to a good grounding surface of bare metal in the trunk area. Then hook the positive end of the tester to one of the electrical wire ends leading to the sender. Once you find the positive connection you now know that you are at least getting current back to the sending unit.

Now make sure the connections are clean on the sender unit, and hook the jumper wire I mentioned that you needed to the other tab or screw connection on the sending unit. Clip the other end of the jumper wire to a good ground and then go see if your fuel gauge is working.

This is what I have found, over the years, to be the most common cause with Citroen Tractions and early Citroen D Series cars with 6 volt systems… A bad ground.

If that does not solve your problem, what I have found in rare cases is the cork fuel sender float in the tank has become water logged (or in this case fuel logged). Sometimes the new reformulated fuel can cause this to happen.

If that is the case you will need to remove the sending unit from the tank, and either replace it or find some type of coating to apply to the float that will stand up to fuel and seal the float.

Oh yes, and the next time you want to run your car, don’t forget to re-connect the coil wire.

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Question

How do I remove the exterior rear door handle on a 1972 Citroën D-Series?

Citroen Tech Tip

Got this question in recently and thought we would answer it here on Citroen Tech Tips since it is not the first time the question has come to our attention.

I am at a loss as to how to access the outside rear door lift handle assembly for removal. While attempting to press out a small dent surrounding the outside door lift- handle using a lever through the window glass slot I dislodged one of the “bobby pin” shaped flat springs from the backside of the handle. So I not only need to replace that, I also still need to remove the handle to finish the dent removal. Any information will be sincerely appreciated.

To take a 1972 or later Citroën D-series door handle off you will need a combination 8mm wrench, a small punch, a door panel remover, or putty knife, a flashlight and a mirror.

We have included some pages from the parts book to more easily describe things. Have the window in the full up position for this procedure.

8-983/7 shows the Citroën door panel that you need to remove, but first you want to look at plate:#7-961/1. This shows the window crank #5 that needs to be removed first. What you will want to do is push in on the door panel around the window crank to compress the spring #13 around it’s base. When you compress the spring this will expose the shank of the window crank.You may have to turn the crank slightly to see the cross drilled hole in the
crank that has a pin in it. Here you may get lucky and have the pin drop out when you compress the handle, but if not you will need to use the small punch or even a finishing nail to push it through.

Once the crank is removed you can then look at plate #8-983/7 to see how the #8 clips are arranged that need to be carefully popped out with the panel remover or putty knife placed under the panel and carefully pry. Be careful not to tear the Masonite panel that the clips are mounted in.

Carefully work your way around the edge of the panel and remove it.Under the panel you will see what we
Ike to call: “windows” that are through the back side of the door. These are closed off by pieces of plastic, unless someone else has been in there before you and failed to put them back. Here you will want to remove several of these plastic closing pieces close to the back end of the door where the exterior door handle is located.

Now, looking into the door with the window rolled up, you should be able to see the door latching and lock mechanism. You may have to use a flashlight and even a mirror of some kind to see the back side of where the exterior door handle is mounted.

Referring to plate #7-861 you should see a backing plate #12. This plate has two 5mm bolts with 8mm heads that hold it to the back side of the exterior door handle. You will also see in plate #7-861, a pinch bolt #13
that holds linkage #11 in place. Be sure to get a marking pen or some type of marking device to mark the location of this linkage where it goes into the latch mechanism so that when you slide it back into the latch mechanism it is in the same position as when it was removed. If this is not done the adjustment of the door to open from the inside and lock will not be correct.

Once you have marked the linkage position loosen up the 8mm headed pinch bolt so the linkage is loose.

Now move to the two 8mm headed bolts that hold the backing plate #12 to the back side of the external door handle. Remove these bolts and the door handle should be able to be removed from the outside of the door.

Putting it back in should be the reverse. Make sure to check the latching and locking of the door before you close things up. Another thing to remember is to reinstall the plastic on those door “windows” we described before. Here an all purpose contact cement can be used. These pieces of plastic are vital to sealing the door off from water getting to and warping the Masonite door panel backing.

As far as the “Bobby Pin” clip that you spoke of, we are not exactly certain what you were referring to. With the backside of the door opened, if it fell down into the bottom of the door you should be able to find it and figure out where it went in the mechanism.

Something we forgot to mention is… you might want to keep a few bandages around for those cuts you’ll be getting from some of the sharp edges inside the door. They are treacherous.

Good luck with removing your Citroën-D series exterior door handle. We hope this Citroen Tech Tip has helped. Please leave a comment below if you have any suggestions.

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