Citroen XM Forum

Hi All. I just bought a French XM 2.5 td 1995 in really nice condtion but the ac doesnt work and the garage say its not the gas and its a fualt somwhere around the area of teh radiator but couldnt say what. Is there a known common fault with the ac on these cars and maybe I can fix it myself with some bits from a breaker? Bloke in the garage said the garage bill could be more than the value of the car! Otherwise its a nice care though there is a sort of rumgling sound coming from the right side of the engine bay when the ignition is on and engine off...any ideas? thanks alot, Hugh

The rumbling sound is possibly the EGR vacuum pump, which should only be running with the engine on.

The A/c is possibly F4 contacts burned out.

Hi Hugh

The aircon rad is the front one of the three well hidden under the slam panel and right behind the cooling fans.
The only thing I can think of that would be wrong with that was leaking rad or joints.
If that was so I would have expected the garage to be a bit more specific about the fault.
New seals are peanuts, new rads available £70. Just all a PIA to get to and fit.

The compressor for the aircon is bottom front of the engine, passenger side on a LHD 2.5 XM.
If your car is short of gas the pressure switch will stop the electrical supply to the compressor.
The compressor may be defective itself or the compressor clutch failed.
Sickly compressor clutches can be noisy when the engine is running.
The garage should know about the state of the compressor switch if they charged the system with nitrogen to test for leaks.

Be aware also that the belt that runs most of the A/C 2.5's AUX components has a non available idler with a history of short life failure.

If the engine is hot when the ignition is switched off the engine cooling fans may continue to runs for a while.
This may be your continuing noise but I would expect it to be from across the front rather than to one side.
It may be that one of the cooling fans has failed to cause the one side noise.
Cooling fan failure is common on 2.5's (electrical contacts & wiring) but you would see 100 degree plus running temperatures rather than the standard 90.

Just seen Dieselmans post.
EGR pump may well be the noise source.
Will check when it cuts in with ignition turn on.

John

Do you know if the garage left gas in the system, or not? You need to determine whether you are looking for a leak or something else.

How much difference is there between that Ac and the one on a 2.1 TD, If none I do have a complete AC set up still fully charged on a 2.1 TD

change that to no gas left, removing from the meant letting the gas out.

A leak can usually be pinpointed by having fluorescent tracer injected into the system, along with either refrigerant gas or nitrogen tester. All good AC specialists will have this available.

Brilliant, thanks guys. Sounds like I need to do a bit of checking and probably get teh front panel off. I can see 2 screws on the front but nothing on thsides so I suyppose they slide into a slot somehow. Ill let you know how it all goes. Hugh

Hugh,
Nose cone comes off...
- Visible 4 or so bolts across the top edge of the slam panel.
- Remove the two side lights (a leverable release tab behind the light fitting); then remove the bolt behind each.
- Two horizontal screws/fixings recessed at the sides of the front grille opening.
- Nose cone then pulls off, giving extra access/view of the rads and fans.

Open the bonnet, pop the sidelights out and behind them is a 10mm bolt each side, undo the bolts along the top just under the bonnet front lip and then the two screws in the grill and its free, look for oily stains on the condenser especially along its bottom edge and where the support plates are welded on at the outlets.
Bit odd this as they should put some dye in and pressure test the system but maybe they just vacd it straight away, found it wouldn't hold and then stopped.

Good luck
D

Edit, a bit late