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Re: The NEW Project: L reg XM 2.1 D Auto FOR MYSELF!!

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 8:28 pm
by russ92xmsed
It might be a case of putting it back together and see. I know that's easy to say, but you never know I suppose.

It isn't any odd earthing is it? Though I expect you have checked all that.

Re: The NEW Project: L reg XM 2.1 D Auto FOR MYSELF!!

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:04 pm
by kingp
TBH i agree that a sunroof is a waste, extra weight for not much benefit! AC has a better weight trade off for me as it dries out the interior as well :)

Fingers crossed it stays fixed and you can slap it all back together :)

Re: The NEW Project: L reg XM 2.1 D Auto FOR MYSELF!!

Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 1:39 pm
by Vince
Paul, any chance that there was some water in the electrics affecting an otherwise working correctly loom set up? Whatever the problem, it wouldn't normally just fix itself after a few weeks unless it was moisture / temperature related (expansion/contraction/evaporation)

Hope it works out for you... ;)

Re: The NEW Project: L reg XM 2.1 D Auto FOR MYSELF!!

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 3:17 pm
by citroenxm
Well Followers, as some may know, I got fed up with an electrical issue after issue on this.

However, a devlopment occured today where I decided Id had a long enough break from the car and this morning had another go at it. Thinking it was the Dash to engine bay harness, I started the car turned the key off and she kept going, so I waggled the harness and moved it about and she stopped. AH bingo. So, ripped - well removed the harnes from the car again, then set about working out how the Auto Box inbitor switch worked.. after a bit of pin to pin and messing around sorted that out and then needed to prepare to wire it in properly to the replacment engine bay harness. The harness is a manual one, so is slightly different of course, but only to the fact that the inhibitor circuit is in it. The next thing I did was needing to trace the starter wire to tap in from the inhibitor relay, and then the REAL CAUSE of the issue reared it head! After moving back a conduit or two I discovered this:
20140110_114758.jpg
20140110_114200.jpg
Yes.. thats the starter solinoid wire, the altinator charge wire and I think oil pressure wire and Stop Solinoid wire. ALL four insulations had rotted and fallen away leaving the wires to all touch them selfs, this alowing 12v back to the stop solinoid there fore alowing the engine to run after the key was off. What happened of course while the engine is running the altinator produced 12v and this fed back to the stop solinoid. Mechanical DERV, needs nothing but 8v or more to open the stop solinoid and allow the engine to run!

So, a bit of insulation taping on all four, a re-conduit and all nicely insulated, this then proved there was NOTHING wrong with the dash to engine bay harness just removed. Grrrrrrr.. Anyway, what it had also done is prompt me to put in the Inhibitor switch circuit properly. Then, before I could put it all back nicely, it started raining. So I had to throw it together to get it working. I then found a spare plug, but had forgot Id but the Base engine dash harness in, so that needs swapping to the old H reg SED harness.

So at last, a few steps forward!!

But thats all for now!! I am feeling up beat and positive again now!

SO, todays lesson? Insulation plastic WILL and DOES rot away inside conduits!

Re: The NEW Project: L reg XM 2.1 D Auto FOR MYSELF!!

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 3:48 pm
by russ92xmsed
Hey, Well done for finding that pesky problem. :P Also slightly concerning the wire insulation can fall apart like that. Anyway, brill news...full steam ahead on re-commissioning then.... :D

Re: The NEW Project: L reg XM 2.1 D Auto FOR MYSELF!!

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 4:11 pm
by Charles M
Oh Great. Citroen sourced their wiring from the same place as Mercedes. :roll:

(For the uninitiated, in the mid-90s the German Green party managed to secure the requirement that increasing percentages of cars be recyclable, so guess which component Mercedes specified as bio-degradable - the engine loom).

Joking apart, that is good news Paul. Given that all three are stripped in the same place is there some heat source or vibration that could cause the wires to rub and degrade there?

Re: The NEW Project: L reg XM 2.1 D Auto FOR MYSELF!!

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 4:59 pm
by jorgy
Jeez, what a find, you must be feeling *so* happy Paul! 2014 started well for you :)

And what a mess! How did that happen??? Is the conduit in 2 pieces? Did they strip the wires down to bare metal?

BTW, the protruding head off the cooling system, is this not the idle controller stat? There should be a wire off it :D

Re: The NEW Project: L reg XM 2.1 D Auto FOR MYSELF!!

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 6:14 pm
by citroenxm
Urrmm.. Charles: Yes vibration. No doubt. The harness was off a J reg car I stripped early last year some might recall..

Jorgy: Conduit NEEDED to be split to two for the Starter Breakout wire from the loom.. Its interesting when you look throught the years how Citroen's harness making (BEAR in mind I working in the Harness industry for 16 years) improoved slowly year by year and harness routeing altered as they went too..

Quality of cable was low on early cars. But no doubt heat did have a factor to it.

Yes Jorgy, that IS the Wax Stat, however, being Bosch she doesnt really need the advance and once a FUEL LEAK is sorted starts perfectly well enough!

Re: The NEW Project: L reg XM 2.1 D Auto FOR MYSELF!!

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 11:03 am
by jorgy
Paul, re. the waxstat, if you see my thread with my starting problems, from the docs supplied by people, it seems this stat controls *idle speed*, not *advance*. For the advance there's another stat, also at the front of the pump, but its lever in further front than the idle lever. Both levers were stuck on mine -the advance one made for not good up-to-temp running. But with the waxstat (idle) lever stuck, according to the doc Norman supplied, we maybe missing the opportunity for these to idle as low as 675rpm when warm, just that! Mine revs all the time around 950-1000, always has. Still have to tackle this lever, but soon will, and find out what's the business there...

Re: The NEW Project: L reg XM 2.1 D Auto FOR MYSELF!!

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 12:16 pm
by White Exec
That insulation degradation really does look like the result of heat. The copper looks oxidised, and the plastic insulation looks deformed - not just "disintegrated". Personally, I've never seen plastic vehicle cable insulation which had done anything other than just hardened a little with age (and that's rare). Where push-on connectors (and relay bases) corrode and overheat, they usually cause similar damage to plastic cable insulation just adjacent to the connector. A few mm further up, the insulation is usually perfect.

PSA's tendency to under-specify cable size doesn't help where starting, lighting, charging, etc. are concerned!