Citroen XM Forum

as of right now, it doesn't matter so much

hopped in the car this morning, immediately noticed the battery light was missing upon turning on the ignition

being an XM i ignored it, thought nothing of it

i set off all was fine so i thought

i then noticed the battery light glowing dimly, wipers were slow and headlights dim

decided then to abort the journey and take the C5, quickly checked and yep it wasn't charging

wiring looks fine, earths look horrible but they're clean and connected fine

alternator looks a bit tatty, so i'm going to start there by replacing that and see what happens

Lack of sufficeint output is usually the regulator/brush pack, which should be a lot cheaper than a complete alternator.

i've been offered a replacement alternator free of charge, so i'll just fit that

strange how the battery light isn't illuminating with the ignition.....wiring looks okay, will have another check though

F.O.C. sounds pretty cheap...

The alternator field windings are excited by the power through the charge light, so if either there is no Ign feed to it, or the bulb has blown, the alternator won't work.
The regulator shunts the +12v to Gnd when not operating, hence the charge lamp is lit until the alternator is charging.

Check there is +12v on the small alternator connector, using a test lamp, before going further.

tried it last night, all seemed fine and it also seemed to charge! great i thought so took it for a drive

just when i was a few miles away, battery light popped on

charged the battery up this morning, so it comes on with ignition now but doesn't charge at all

also there's a horrible noise coming from the alternator too, sounds like a bearing failing, so i'd say replacement is in order

you can change an XM alternator without removing the hydrualic pump on a 2.1

oil filter needs to be removed but it's only a slight c***t of a job

belts are all wrong as it had a xantia alternator on it

Is it now working, or do you need to change the belt to the correct one?

What is the difference between a 2.1 Xm belt and a 2.1 Xantia belt?

I’m awaiting the belt to be ready for collection tomorrow but I see no reason why it shouldn’t work

The seemingly xantia belt is slightly too long to fit the XM alternator on it now, it does spin but it’s flooppy and slips

right got it sorted today

new belt fitted, charging at 14.5v dipping down to 14 with everything on which is good

pump won't seem to attach to the bracket correctly so the top bolt is as tight as it will go and i can't move it, belt for the hydrualic pump is slightly looser than i'd like but it was fine on my 40 mile journey to charge the battery today

otherwise all seems well

Take another look at the pump fixings, as a single point of fixing will lead to problems in time.