Reconditioned strut mounts for the XM and other questions

[Hobartiani]

I am still considering the purchase of a well used 1992 2L turbo charged XM.

After searching this site I understand front strut mounts can be reconditioned by elastomer.eu. Have any members installed these reconditioned strut mounts and if so were they satisfactory?

I have also been trying to find out more about the 2 L motor fitted in the series 1 cars. Is it as wet sleeve motor? Does it have a single camshaft or double overhead? Are the cams turned by a belt or a chain?

The wiring loom. I am aware that series 2 cars had the whole electrical system redesigned because of ongoing problems with the electrical system in the early cars. Were these problems overcome by 1992?

Your answers will be appreciated. Thanks

[casalingua]

This is fascinating. Absent Citroen (and other makers) supporting their old products, people are stepping in to do the job. I´d be really interested to hear more about this sort of thing. It does give hope that, apart from the cost, there seems to no principle reason why broken bits can´t be replaced.

[casalingua]

I notice at the elastomer.eu site that the replacement XM strut mounts have a two year warranty. Surely a longer warranty is necessary for peace of mind. It´s the dread of wondering when your strut mounts will fail that makes it such an annoying matter.

[xmexclusive]

Hi

I am more than satisfied with the elastomer strut heads and will be ordering another batch soon.
If you buy Citroen original strut heads (while they remain available) you will pay at least 5 times the price and get a 1 year warranty.
I estimate average strut head life of about 15 years so any short warranty is of very limited value to us.
Elastomer.eu have a history of making refurbished car components that give significantly longer service lives than the original component.
For the strut heads they are not moving outside their previous expertise and material types.
So I hope to get a service life of 20 plus years from the refurbished heads.

In my opinion the XM wiring saga is a bit of a motoring jounalists hype.
The loom changes were simply replacing spade terminals on earth wires with ring terminals plus two extra earth wires (rear wing lights).
Took Citroen quite a while to realise that it was the spade terminals giving poor earthing that was upsetting the electronics.
As well as modifying the looms for new production they also ran a retrofit programme at customer request for the earlier cars.
So most XM's are now modified.
The few that are not are easily sorted but most likely have reasonable earthing despite the spades to have now run for so long.

John

[citroenxm]

Factory Loom mods were introduced when the car turned to the S1.5 models. These indicated by Twin spoke steering wheels...Useually in the 1992 model year sometime. Earths are all bolted then, and the suspension had good mods that useually seem the systems the MOST reliable of them all..

The TCT Turbo engine is a BELT brive, Single Cam 8 valve DRY LINER block engine.. and apart from being a rather thirsty unit for a 4 pot, are rather strong units and good for milage IF serviced correctly

Ive a pair of the refurb'd tops on my early 2.1 SED XM, which I hope to get on the road this year.. So far they look rather good, and also have a Modification that prevents strut and top passing each other in the event of failed rubber in say 20 years time...

[Vince]

John if you get some refurbed ones in, give me a shout...might take some from you....Mine are fine, b ut as time goes by these are going to get harder to get hold of im sure.

[citroenxm]

That car Vince had recent New ones, by recent, certainly on its second set. I dont think you will be needing any for a good few more years to come yet!!!

[xmexclusive]

Hi Vince

My next batch that I send for refurbishment will all be 2.5 ones so that I have a stock of spares for my cars.
Those will make up the largest parcel that I think I can send securely and economically.
Sorry but I do not expect there will be space for others in the parcel.
Sending a number of loose strut heads that distance needs a very secure parcel.
Last time I sent 7 and used a cut down 25ltr plastic drum.
Hope to get 10 in this time.

John

[mds141]

What postage method have people used to ship to Lithuania? Parcelforce quoted £52 for a tracked package. I'm hoping there is a cheaper carrier!

[CitroJim]

I need to really get mine done...

How do we go about getting hold of the man in Lithuania to get things organised and so on?