Jonathan's SED auto

[jonathan_dyane]

Pleased to report that I am now the proud owner of an XM, having bought Mouseflakes SED.

Delighted with the car, and had a splendid drive from Bristol to Durham, travelling at high speed in great comfort. I'd never driven an XM before taking the plunge, and am pleased to report that the car seems to be everything I wished. Now I've had the fun of driving it, I'm at the point where I've started doing a few jobs on it, so as to prepare it for everyday use.

Item one on the agenda had been the gearbox, given that the end of the dipstick was missing, and the ATF had not been changed for some time. Peering into the dipstick tube a piece of metal was visible, which I believe is the edge of the tube into which the dipstick pushes, which is misaligned with the hole in the top cover. I have today dropped the ATF and pulled the gearbox filter, (ATF dirty brown in colour) and found no evidence of chewed up dipstick, so my next mission is to remove the battery tray and pull the top cover from the box, so as to see if I can retrieve the remnants from the tube. Darkness stopped play before I got the battery tray entirely removed, am I right in assuming that the battery tray has some securing bolts accessable after removing the N/S wheel and wheelarch liner?

The other issue that I have is that the climate control system has gone a bit haywire. When I set off, it seemed to be working beautifully with effective air-con, however as I neared my destination and tried to turn the heater on when it became cold, the heater refused to operate, and now the system seems to blow tepid air regardless of the figure selected in the display. Am I right to assume a problem with the temperature sensor, and if so does it live up by the interior mirror?

Nice to finally be in an XM

[Dean]

exellent news
Im not sure on the other problems so i wont comment but the missing dipstick end is very common, access from the top is almost nill so i wouldnt worry about getting the battery tray out too much, if the plastic insert is not in the filter then the only other suggestion is to take the side cover off from within the N/s wheelarch and see if its floating about in there, its a slim chance but its also the only other place you can access.

D

[Dean]

Here is the view with the top cover, dipstick guide and valve block removed, there is no way of getting into the bottom of the box from there. I would give it an oil change then wait a few miles and change the fluid again, check the filter and if it hasnt appeared you must assume it has been fished out in a previous oil change by a previous owner

D

[jonathan_dyane]

Thanks Dean, I'll try and get a photograph tomorrow, but my other motivation for taking the top cover off was that the dipstick guide tube *seems* misaligned with the top cover. I first thought this was part of the broken off dipstick, however it does not match the handle in terms of shape, and I don't see how it could have been just suspended there. I might be able to bend it back with a tool, of somekind, but was really wanting to do this with the cover off so as not to chance wrecking anything. Perhaps I should see whether the new dipstick fits straight in before I go too mad...

How is the dipstick constructed, and how long is it (haven't got a new one yet)? All I have left is the handle then nothing, and I worry that perhaps more of mine has disappeared than is usual!

[Dean]

Ah, what colour is your handle? if its orange then the dipstick will have a flexi coiled wire body with a short black plastic insert in the end (which drops out) with the level markings moulded on it.
If the handle is yellow then it is constructed the same as a normal engine oil dipstick and dont usualy cause any trouble (fingers crossed). Its the earlier orange type i was refering to in previous posts by the way and they are both about 12" long, if yours is missing everthing then you may have to try and find it from the top with a magnet, its an easy job to get the valve block out and i have plenty of photo's if you need a refernce.
The guide tube is fixed to the valve block via a small bracket with a 10mm bolt and is totaly seperate from the short neck in the top cover so this is very easy to adjust by just removing the cover although it depends how much coolant and boost piping you have to remove to get that far i suppose.

D

[jonathan_dyane]

Ah balls, I do have the yellow handle but nothing else, so it would seem the rest is stuck internally, perhaps dislodged due to the guide tube having been misaligned during a previous repair. Never mind, the top will come off tomorrow, and hopefully something magnetic will give me a result without too much dismantling...

Cheers,

[mouseflakes]

Hi Jonathan,

I'm sorry to hear you suffered a bit of climate change on the way home. Glad to hear the car ran well otherwise. It was good to meet you - and top marks for getting stuck in there so soon and giving the car some love.

Here's some photos I've pinched from Lez's thread (where he performs that great save on his autobox). I think it shows the guide tube that Dean is describing and that both you and I think might have been 'crushed' when the top cover was replaced previously. It looks likely that is what we could see (somewhat squashed) when the 'stub' of the dipstick is removed doesn't it?

Second image shows the tube - directly beneath where the dipstick was in the fist image.

[citroenxm]

Johnathan, FIRSTLY: WELCOME to XM motoring, Im sure you'll enjoy it! Im actually missing it at the moment!

Also, I see shes a Series 1 and a half!.. you should then NOT suffer any suspension problems, either! I havent with any of my S1.5's Ive had, thats 4 of them....

Just a tip, also, an ATF change on these box's is simple too!!

Under the box, you'll see a circular plate with 3 10mm bolts. Remove the 3 bolts, THEN GET A CONTAINER! Washing up bowl size, lever the plate away and the fluid will POUR out!! Watch the temperture!!!

Then with pliers, and carefully, twist and pull down on the filter thats just behind there.. Watch for the magnet that sits on the circular plate!!

Clean the filter, push it back in untill you feel a SMALL click, put the circular plate back, and 3 screws, and fill ATF with about 3 litres NO MORE.... Start the car, away you go..

Just done one last weekend! Felt great after too!!

VERY Nice model! And from Tim, should be a good car too!!

Regards
Paul

[jonathan_dyane]

Hurrah! I've had a terribly sucessful day. I bit the bullet and stripped out the battery tray, and removed the lid from the gearbox. Lid removed, it was obvious what had happened

The dipstick had been entered at an excessive angle, which had allowed the stick to pass between the gearbox lid and the top of the dipstick tube. This served to bend and distort the dipstick tube, and ultimately as it was forced home, caused the blade of the dipstick to snap off. Luckily I found it still standing up next to the dipstick tube, and it was easily lifted out.

With Citroen unable to state when a dipstick may arrive, and my local auto gearbox specialist being an unhelpful bastard, I went on a tour of the local scrapyards, and was able to find the lump out of a 406 or 605 lying on the deck, and purchased it's dipstick for the princely sum of £3. Alas, it is the dreaded orange-handled type, it's tip does seem firmly attached at present, however I am currently using it only to check the level, and running with the bung from the old dipstick in case it drops off leaving me back at square one...

Anyway, I filled up with new ATF, and a test run was most encouraging, with the box operating noticably smoother than before. As the ATF has not been changed for some time, I shall change it again after 2000 miles, then at every oil change (6000 miles). One characteristic the gearbox has, is that on minimal throttle, once the box changes upto 3rd it will stay there only briefly before moving up to 4th. Am I right in thinking that this is a usual characteristic? It certainly does not seem an issue, and when driving with more throttle does hold 3rd normally before changing into top at what seems a sensible point.

The other good news is that (for now) the climate change issue has been resolved without any intervention short of the battery being disconnected overnight. Not sure how long it will last though...

One thing I intend to do is to disconnect the idiotic EGR, and also to turn up the boost slightly; the performance is currently very sedate and the boost gauge never passes the halfway point on the gauge so me thinks it's time to skin the rest of my knuckles. Oh, and of course I managed to slightly overfill the gearbox too, so looks like I'll be having to let some ATF back out again

[citroenmad]

I think the normal point for it to select 4th gear is around 42MPH, 3rd is usually at 30MPH.

Gearboxes are the talk of the week here arnt they

Chris.