Citroen XM Forum

Can anyone help with this?
Need a set of the three S2 interior grab handles, rear ones complete with lights.
Colour not critical.

I did PM Eathan, but I think his 2.5 is likely now cleared.

Have located a rear pair on eBay, from a 605 in Belarus.

They are destined for the BX, which has some pretty uninspiring cabin lighting.
The disused IR PLIP overhead housing will now get one of these, to look after up front...
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An intersesting mod. It's true that the interior lighting had defintely moved on from the early '80's to the '90's.

How's the BX going, is it in regular use?

All going really well, after a lot of importation faff.
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Finally on regular Spanish plates... .
And have now moved on to some interior tidying up - some done, some nearly there...
. - new Sony radio/cd, speakers/tweeters, and a remote control
- variable delays for FF and RR wipers
- manual control for the twin cooling fans
- still looking for an OE (GTi) coolant temp gauge for the instrument panel (hen's teeth)
- interior lighting improvement
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Am trying to keep appearance as OE as possible, with additions as subtle as practicable.
A few pretty-much invisible mods: relays for dip and main beams, another for the starter solenoid, the obligatory Nightbreakers. Am intending to incorporate DRLs into the lower portion of the clear front indicator lights.
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The car is now used every couple of days, and turning out to be hugely enjoyable to drive. New Michelin Energy Savers all round (the spare was a 1992 Michelin!), which I've found to mop up rubbly bumps much better at 1.8bar rather than the listed 2.1. Car running on Hydraurincage, and the open road ride is just superb, having lost all its creaks. Spheres (corners are correct genuine Citroen, and came with the car) all now Valprexed and re-gassed. Acc sphere was pooped, so replaced with a Xantia centre HA one I had on the shelf.

Was originally concerned at the engine seeming to be down on power, but I think it was just a case of lack of use, and something cheap and nasty in the way of fuel. After a tank of decent Repsol, and a 1:200 dose of dieselclean, the power has steadily picked up, and continues to do so. One long 700m uphill climb - a motorway access ramp - was initially quite embarrassing, but the car now whizzes up it, and without smoke. Not the warp speed of the XM, but still respectable.

No long journeys possible at the moment, of course, although it did do the 115km round trip to Malaga for the importation vehicle test (passed with flying colours, and an improbable smoke test figure of 0.7m-1).

On an open motorway, the gearing shows: 120km/h (75mph) clocks 3250rpm - about 1000rpm more than the 2.5 - so you do know that there's a busy engine there. Which is where the XM scores hands down.

So, huge fun; all we have to do now is move the RAV4 on. There was never a love affair with it.

A nice quote from somewhere recently:
"You know you've got a car you really like, if, when you park it, you turn round to give it a second look..."

That looks to be coming on nicely, you have performed some worthwhile mods, well.
The interior looks modern due to the sculptured, soft feel, dash and the styled door-cards.

The performance increase will be due to the regular use and requirement for full power on occasion.
Due to being compression engines, diesel engines need to generate full compression to fully ignite the fuel mixture in time.
Your full power requirement will be raising cylinder pressures and temperature, thus forcing the piston rings out of the ring lands harder, so cleaning any glaze off the cylinder wall and seating the rings to make a better seal, maximising compression.
I can't see any commercial diesel having a lower calorific value, so fuel brand won't make any difference on that front, but both the fuel and injector cleaner could well be cleaning the injectors making for better fuel atomisation and mixing, so less smoke and more power.
Xud engines have always been good on the smoke and refinement front.

Personally, I wouldn't run the tyre pressures below the stated figure, they will wear on the shoulders and could overheat.

The car looks really sharp in that colour and with the sills now painted, however, I would look for some replacement rear lights to finish it and the valve covers, if possible.
The angular shape has aged well.

Thanks, Will.
Agree about the lowering of tyre pressures, something which I would normally be reluctant to do.
Did a good bit of local driving at the listed 2.1bar, and the ride was just annoyingly knobbly, which wouldn't be expected on the pliant Michelins. Tried 2.0 and then 1.9, and things began to improve, so now on 1.8, which has made a significant difference. The visible appearance of the tyres remains the same - no visible flattening or side-wall bulge - but, yes, it is a classic recipe for increased shoulder wear. For any long journey, or carrying weight/rear passengers, would up the pressure to recommended. It is, after all, esssentially a lightweight car.

Sills haven't been touched (yet), and neither have I got round to cavity-waxing it all. It has been underside-waxed previously, so no rust.
Good few of the 14mm, 35mm and the RH under-wing oval grommet (same one and similar position to XM) have gone crumbly, or are missing, and have just laid in some new replacements. Waxing can wait until the weather improves - gales and cold at the moment.

Did see some remanufactured tyre-valve covers advertised, but stupidly expensive. They appear to be simply flat sheet items, so I could make some, but not sure how long they'd remain in place for! A certain amount of convenience in not having them!

Yes, the rear light clusters are not right for the year, although the completely clear reverse sections do throw some useful light backwards - nothing that couldn't be sorted by the "100w" warm white LEDs now in the XM. (On our previous Delage Red BX, I switched it to late-type smoky rear clusters - and a matt-black rear-plate panel in between - but like a good few owners swapped the brake and rear-fog wiring over, which seemed to look so much better, and produce decently large and visible rear-fogs.)

A coolant temp gauge (OE for GTi/16v) remains high on the wish list. There are other options, but I'd like to keep the instrument panel original-looking.

Air con system still happen to work on the bx?

EThan is, still stripping the 2.5td and still has the car. He has been removing the clutch pedal and hydraulic line for an aussie memeber..

Hi Paul,

Have already spoken with Eathan. No-go on the interior lights (cabin all loaded up) - but some on the way via Ebay and Belarus - but I am hopefully acquiring Eathan's Mixo horns for the BX. It has one lonely one, which could do with some assistance.

The AC on the BX is all there, and electrically working, but obviously contains very little (R12) gas. Am intending to convert to R134a, when weather improves.

That shouldn't need. Much for conversion seals dryer and compressor I believe..?

I converted my. First Xm V6 (K120yog) from r12 to 134a. It was compressor pipe work and drier. The evaporator in the car was left alone.. Apparently the same.

That's my understanding - seals on compressor, seals on evaporator, new drier and seals, appropriate oil.
BX-Club site has a pretty full guide.