Citroen XM Forum

Hi All,

Last Thursday I needed to move the XM, she's been off the road since March 2013 and not been started for a couple of months. Her battery has been in the garage since late summer on a CTEK battery charger to try and keep it conditioned. The battery was dropped into place and I gave her just one shot of the glowplugs, that seems a fair test as to whether I rebuilt the engine right, anyhow she fired after just a couple of seconds. Sure she was a bit rough but that went after around 20 seconds, no real smoke out of the exhaust so I just left her to warm up. Once upto temperature I gave her some revs which she responded to with a nice cloud of smoke and that lovely aroma of bio and veg oil. It seems her A/C has kept it's charge because the compressor kicked in with no fuss. However she had an ABS fault, it is a real pain because she uses the Bendix sensors which tend to be expensive when they fail. A left her running for hours with the heater on and keeping an eye on the temperature gauge whilst I painted the front of the house.

On Friday I decided to have a look at the ABS fault thinking that if I can fix it I could MOT her, sell one of the Scenics and put her back on the road. To cut a longish story short the fault seems to have been the rear left ABS sensor connector. So I arranged day insurance cover and booked her in for the MOT. On the way to the MOT station as if by magic the Police appeared, I got all the relevant details and was only delayed for 5 minutes, on reflection the car was probably nearly as old as the Police officer. Well she passed with an advisory for a tiny leak in the exhaust and signs of corrosion on the rear jacking point. On the way home the ABS light came on again! But still a good result for a 21 year old.

Steve.

Cracking result Steve

What made you move from a 2.5 to a 2.1 if you dont mind me asking?

Well there's multiple reasons. Parts are rare and expensive. They are a complete pain to work on. MPG is OK but not great around town and finally I didn't find it to be that powerful. My old C5 or the current Scenic would leave the 2.5 easily. Some people absolutely love them but I'd say try one to be sure you'd like it enough.

A nice result for nearly 10 moths off the road.

2.1s Are the ONES to have! They are GOOD on fuel, a FAR simpler engine, a lighter engine, parts are a bit more common too.. and in manual form DO go well enough!

VERY Good result Steve. What was the Police procedure like? Ive so far not been stopped on the way to MOT station

Thanks all.

Yes I have to agree a 2.1 manual is probably most practical. Now I've spent a year messing around with dCi's I quite fancy trying to fit a 2.0 HDi 110 under the hood. I reckon that with a doner Xantia it should be possible. maybe next year....

Being pulled over was very straight forward. By the time he was at my door I'd got the window down and a writing pad out with all the details on it. I said "hello officer, I'm just on my way to a MOT test station for a pre booked test, I've got all the details here". He said it looked like I was expecting to be stopped and he'd come around to the passenger door to get the details. I put the V5 and the writing pad on the passenger seat for him and he just said the car had flagged up as having no insurance, no MOT and no road tax. I told which garage I was on my way to, what time the MOT was booked for and that I was insured by Aviva on a day policy. He ask for my driving licence but I'd forgot that so he asked for some ID, I said I'd only got my wallet with me so I'd have bank cards but he was after something with my DOB, he asked about where I was born which was in the city we were in. He was using something like a Blackberry to check my details and they must have come up OK because he seemed happy, was friendly and polite and wished me good luck with the MOT and off I went. I guess it took 5 minutes if that, next time I'll take my driving licence with me. I told the tester that I was stopped and he said the officer hadn't called to check up to that point.

Steve.

Hdi to xm.. I have it all here ready.. got the donor xantia a hdi 110 8 v .. and got an xm to receive. The twitch is the gearbox.. but I reckon with a 2.5 manual pedal box for the hydraulic clutch we be flying along. I was still hoping to be first to do it.. but I guess I won't be..

The ABS is failing doing it's self test now so I think I may check out the ABS block connector for signs of dry joints. I've read on a thread somewhere that can be a cause of problems. However it'll have to wait, I've currently got the engine out of the 1.5 Scenic and it's in bits being cleaned up before a rebuild. It needs or is having - new shells, rings, piston combustion chambers polished, clutch inc CSC, turbo rebuild, valves reground and clearences set, EGR bypassed and a paint job. The amount of gunk build up due to EGR has to be seen to be believed, I reckon some of the intake ports right behind the valve head would be blocked once the valve was closed even if the valve head fell off. The rough nature of the port finish only serves to give the gunk something to stick to. Unfortunately I can't polish the head ports as I normally do because the intake plenumb is cast as part of the head. The 1.5 has some strange quirks that I'm not too keen on.

Steve.

I think you could be first, I've got my hands full.

Steve.

Getting the 2.5 pedal box shouldn't be hard if you keep your eye out

Renault dci... Hmmm I've had my fill of them in the family in the last few years so won't buy one again for a while

Egr's are an evil thing and I'm convinced once out of warranty every car should just have it blanked off and cleaned out.
If only it were easier to do on the 2.5

The check the officer did was a Person Name Check(PNC) and was done from a blackberry or possibly an iphone depending on where the fella is on the upgrade list within south yorks service