Anthracite XM 2.0 SEi Turbo Manual

[Aerodynamica]

Not much choice - had to fix it. Still good and love the hydractive. It does hit the front bump stops on occasions and the front ride height may be a little low overall. I have figures somewhere for the height setting so will check it out in due course. Feel like it's been that way since the anti roll bar links were changed.

[Aerodynamica]

Tinkering today - I have been inspired by Russ and his great ideas for LED lights in the switches so I set about fitting some of them to the door switch and seat switches that had blown bulbs.

I had a pack of 50 super bright white LEDs from an ebay supplier who promised he'd chuck in 10 resisters if I asked but he never did send them! So I had three resisters I procured from work to experiment with.

First up I removed the blown bulb then fitted the LED with the negative pin attached to the former contact peg of the blown bulb, the resistor fitted to the positive peg (peg either side of the green diffuser that carries the bulb) then router the resister to meet the other pin (+ve) of the LED. Solder together. I found you have to ensure everything is very close to the sides or it interferes with the switch.



Quick pre fit test

You have to get the orientation of the LED inside the green diffuser right as the LED has a direction. A quick PM or two to Russ highlighted this and on the one in the photo I got it a bit wrong.

I also managed to blow a few LEDs as the pins of the LED were too close to the positive feed inside the switch that it shorts out. Took a bit of time to realise that's what happened. I installed the forst one to the passenger door and found that it didn't cast much light through the switch so I had made a doubled LED one with two LEDs in the diffuser both pointing upwards but this was the other one that blew so I only put one in each of the other two I made.

Once all three were tested I set about insulating them from the positive feed of the switch by filling each with clear resin and adding a little square of aluminium tape underneath to reflect the light up a bit more. With the aid of a heater the resin set solid in an hour and a half


So I now have a well-lit pair of driver seat switches and a semi- lit passenger door switch (I'll be redoing this one). For a first attempt it's working ok. think the other 7 I need to do will be a bit modified again with 2 LEDs in each.

After all that I forgot to snap a picture of the switches lit up with LEDs argh, I'll take a snap of it tomorrow.

I reconnected the speedometer interface block too. It's the troublesome thing that was the main cause of the hydractive not working. I've been running with it bypassed for a couple of months now (speed sensor connected directly to the Hydractive ECU a la XM without trip computer) and it has been working perfectly. I had some further investigations to do regarding whether pin one or two of the speed sensor connector was connected to pin 7 or 8 of the speedo interface thing as I'd wondered if I'd swapped them by accident in the initial rewiring but a buzz-out confirmed they were right(pin 1 to pin 7 and pin 2 to pin 8).

Reconnected to the interface, disconnected the direct links at the ECU and reconnected the single link to pin 13 black of the ECU to see how it worked. Odd result. Hydractive worked ok and didn't stick in hard mode after the first mile (as originally) but it was acting like it was in constant soft mode with only the accelerator causing the suspension to switch. Sport mode was just soft mode too. The trip computer appeared to be working showing 98 miles left but mpg was still 99.9 and the average speed was 1mph at 50. Resetting it on the move saw it behave for a while but then after 5 minutes on the M-way it went to hard suspension and stayed that way. The average speed showing was less than 20 mph (doing about 65) so a reset of the trip computer again saw the average speed reset and then slowly change and increase from 1-2 mph up through 15 to 20 whereupon the suspension suddenly went back to soft/auto mode again.

Resetting the trip computer caused the speed info to the suspension ECU to read above 20mph and reestablish soft mode. Strange but it seems that the speedo interface and / or the trip computer together are still causing wonky speed info to the hydractive ecu.

So at lunch tomorrow I'm just going to swap the plugs over again and reconnect the speed sensor directly to the ECU again just to have the hydractive functional.

The one remaining problem with this car is still the speed interface/ trip computer.... At least i've now confirmed without doubt that it is reconnecting these that causes the hydractive to fault out.

Still more to do!!

[xmexclusive]

Hi Graeme

I can send you some smaller white LED's (5mm square x 2mm thick).
If you want to try them PM me your address.
They come complete with attached 1/8 watt resistor for 12 volts and a contact wire.
They are also more powerful than your current LED's.
They are from some dash LED's I ordered but the metal ears are just a fraction too long to fit the XM pcb holes.

John

[Aerodynamica]

Hi John that sounds interesting - I'll fit a few more of my stash though as I have a lot of them to use! I'm thinking of fitting a tell tale LED for the hydractive solenoid too - just for fun but not sure where to site it yet. I might find a good use for your LEDs in the driver side 'one touch' switch though. I'll PM my details.

What I really need is a 2.0 TCT ECU to try and another 9-pin electronic box for the trip computer/speedo interface.

[Aerodynamica]

Argh head gasket is going!

[White Exec]

Symptoms?

[Dean]

If you have mayo thats just the weather, if its using cooland then its the head gasket but this could well be the root of your running problems also.

D

[russ92xmsed]

Oh nooooo.

[Dean]

Of course mayo and coolant loss could well be the cold weather and short trips combined with a harmless coolant leak.

D

[Aerodynamica]

Bit of a misfire at idle - checked sparks and got all 4. Then the dashboard lights up with coolant low-stop immediately so I let it cool for a bit and check the coolant- yep it's pretty low so top it up restart and it runs but with the misfire. Stop check coolant again and this time with the cap off start up again and sure as you like it's bubbling away like a cauldron. Rev it a bit and it bubbles a lot.... Topped it up and left it to cool down- went for dinner- returned and the coolant level has dropped quitea bit. No puddles underneath at all. Where could the coolant be going? Remove each spark plug in turn and inspect each and peer in to each cylinder and ask seem dry until I get to number 1 and the plug is all damp with what smells like coolant and there's sign of moisture inside the cylinder so all pointing towards gasket dying...