Citroen XM Forum

Are you sure it's going stiff when the little light is on? when the light is on it means the electro valve is energised and that means the center spheres are switched into circuit = soft mode.

It should be lit most of the time - if you're driving along and give the steering wheel a 'wiggle' you'd see it go out and then light again as it switches to hard then back. Fast cornering, big dip in the road, heavy braking, throttle movements all will cause it to switch. The electro valve itself is located about where your feet are but underneath and you can hear it click outside.

It should click on when you open the door (seperate from engine on). If you park up and stop it remains on for 20 seconds after ignition off and also 20 seconds after closing the doors (this is most likely time to hear it click as you're walking away)

If the light is out it means it's in stiff mode. The light is simply connected to the output connector of the suspension ECU that goes to the electro valve +ve. The LED and its resistor are earthed via the switch next to the LED. The wire used to connect from the ECU is a single blue wire I added to replace the faulty connection from the speedometer interface but I decided to utilise it for the LED instead after the speedo interface and/ or the trip computer were faulty. Anyway the hydractive was all working flawlessly since about December when I rewired the connector from the speed sensor to the ECU - I ruled out any problems with the throttle position sensor so I'd reconnect that as I think the ECU faults out if that is disconnected as it does a self check on start up that faults out if one sensor is out of circuit. You'd know if the ECU went to fault mode because the LED won't light at all and the suspension will be hard all the time.

Hello.
Your XM looks great, though the Elite is a cracker! One of my favourite cars as a child, helped by having a JPS Matchbox version.

Aerodynamica wrote:Are you sure it's going stiff when the little light is on? when the light is on it means the electro valve is energised and that means the center spheres are switched into circuit = soft mode.
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Ah, cheers Graeme, i picked you up wrong about the light then, i thought it was stiff when lit, may be just imagining it's riding softer with the throttle sensor disconnected, will hook it up again tomorrow.

VCat wrote:Hello.
Your XM looks great, though the Elite is a cracker! One of my favourite cars as a child, helped by having a JPS Matchbox version.

Cheers man, i had one as a kid too

Here's some more pics of it (hope the mods dont mind me spamming the thread with pics of a scabby old Lotus )





Engine is a 2.0 16V slant 4 twin cam with twin 45 Dellorto DHLA's, puts out around 150bhp, not that quick by modern standards but sounds great.



Front seats were terrible when i got the car, fitted these MK1 MX5 leather seats, lucky find in a scrappy for £70, would have cost way more than that to get the originals rebuilt, removed what was left of the rotten original carpets so floors are bare fibreglass just now.

Mmmm.
Seats are similar to the Porsche 928.

I've always assumed a V8 gives a great sound until I drove a friend's very fruity MG Midget 1500 with stainless steel twin pipes and learned 4 cylinders sound great too!
Except for the 2014 Mercedes C200 hire car I have at the moment. Petrol, but grumbles like an unhappy diesel. How is it so bad for a 5000 mile hire car?

Be wary with a Lotus of that era. I now of two Esprit that made pretty decent bombfires.

That Elite is awesome - why have I never seen this on the road!! There was a yellow one going around Glasgow last summer driven by a young chap.

I also had a corgi elite as a kid - can't recall the scale but it was the larger of the two sizes they made. Mine was yellow though not JPS. The Elite is similar to the XM in the sense that it is the wedge-shaped and imposing.

I have a box of XM parts for you including a spare throttle sensor so I can bring it this weekend.

Aerodynamica wrote: I have a box of XM parts for you including a spare throttle sensor so I can bring it this weekend.

Cool Graeme, fire me a TXT when you want to pop over

Dieselman wrote:Be wary with a Lotus of that era. I now of two Esprit that made pretty decent bombfires.

A lot of old sportscars and supercars are known for bursting into flames though, Jensen Interceptors for example, also remember the yellow Lamborghini Miura SV that tragically burned to the ground in central London a while ago.

Thing about the Lotus 907 engine though is the Distributor is right under the carbs , so if it has leaking carbs and points sparking away , i've converted mine to electronic so no points, run my hand under the carbs regular to check for leaks, even then the carbs can spit back especially when cold.

Believe it or not the standard airbox is fibreglass, so a nice flamable lump of plastic bolted to the end of the carbs, why i replaced mine with K&N's.

I replaced all the dodgy fuel line in my car, also all hose clips, carbs have been rebuilt, checked and tidied a lot of messy wiring, i have a decent size fire extinguisher infront of the driver seat, disconnect the battery when parked, last resort i always drive with decent trainers on in case i need to do a runner

First car that sprang to my mind on mention of classic sports/supercars and fire was the SM one sold not long ago on ebay near us for 2k, wings back it looked immaculate outside, front end was well toasted though and the interior was pretty wrecked too. nice bit of design sticking a dizzy under the carbs on the Lotus though wow! Actually the BL A-series (and a lot of non xflow motors to be fair) are about as bad, carb overflow drips straight onto the exhaust manifold... Nearly lost an Allegro to that particular design "feature" a few years back (some might say I nearly gained some exercise walking home, but it was a fun car to drive despite being brown and beige lol)

Lost a 1970 Mini 1000, when a steel 5L can of petrol in the boot - strapped into a corner - broke free, moved across the boot, knocked the cover off the battery, and landed on the battery terminals.

Whoooomph! - a write-off.

Fortunately, all this happened right outside the Hurstpierpoint fire station, which I lived next to at the time.