Robert's 2.5

[robert_e_smart]

Morning folks,

Here are some pictures of the Rot that I had to contend with on the 2.5 TD. Apologies for the poor picture quality, but you'll get the idea.
The area photographed is the passengers side sill and floor, the front wing was removed as well.







The image below is a picture of the damage done insde the sill after cutting back rot - the jacking point plate pulled out easily enough as what it was meant to be attached to had long rotted away.



Similar area, this time you can see the foam backing of the carpets!

[xmexclusive]

Hi Robert

Pleased to see you are close to getting the 2.5 on the road.
Not surprised at the rust problems as in my experience all XM shells have similar risk.
Heavy rusting seems to come from the inside of welded seams particularly if they have been distorted.
On some cars there is a general bond failure of the underseal and this sucks in water just like the failed rubber of the strut head tops.
My current limit is more than 5 plates needed in one go then it is scrapped for spares.

John

[robert_e_smart]

Hi John,

I'm getting there. All I need now is working ABS to get it MOTd. The 2 front sensors are working, now to get the rear pair to work.

Thats an interesting criterion on rust repair. I had to weld 3 patches on this car, the other side of the car had similar corossion, but not as bad. I never thought I would have to weld a XM before. I'll see how bad the car is next year. If the welding is nice and easy to do then I'd weld it again. I don't fancy having to do a similar repair to it again. I hate having to form more complex repair panels. I'm much happier welding in nice flatish repair patches.

This car had a lot of the damage you describe to the underseal, with the underseal looking fine on the surface, but with a lot of surface rust below it.

If I can get 2 years driving (40k miles) out of this car it will do well, and take it over the 200k mark, then I'll consider breaking it. Luckily the strut tops on the car look to be in good enough condition, so it all depends on the body and the elctrics holding up, and how rough it looks then as well.

I plan to drive XMs as long as possible. I can't think of a better car to replace them with. So I plan to take my 2.1 TD auto (90k only) off the road for a while, and start driving at it again in earnest when this 2.5 dies. There is easily another 6 years driving in the 2.1 pending the autobox not packing in, so I have my XM bases covered for most of this decade. By then we'll know what C6s are really like, and if they're worth the hassle (I doubt it).