Citroen XM Forum

Back in an XM after a 21 yr absence ! Lease Cactus went back, mate sent me an eBay advert, bought it unseen (which I’ve never done…) as wasn’t able to get to it, was (mostly) as described. 2.1 TD VSX auto estate, 113k miles. Bodily very good, only a couple of very small areas of cosmetic rust to be sorted, paint is a bit sun-faded in a couple of places (spent part of its life in Benidorm I believe…), bumper/ side strip bright work polished up nicely. Interior amazingly good and clean. Mechanically very sweet, came with recent new spheres on. Just had a full service done, all fluids, filters, cam belt etc. Now the crap bits: heater fan was knackered, had had some kind of comedy extra knob tacked under the dash to bypass the control panel… just bitten the bullet, got a new motor so had dash taken out, heater matrix etc. flushed out, swapped the duff control panel too (and dash bulbs…). Will get it back next week! Job for the spring: sunroof is knackered & leaky (taped up for now), presume the cables etc are wonky, will have to be brave and drop the headlining etc. and see what’s going on. Haynes manual gives a hilariously gloomy overview of that job… Will drop the motor before that as a start. Looking forward to giving it some TLC, machine polish the paintwork and go over the little things… wondering if anyone has a set of early alloys with the big flat pancake centre caps they would like to sell…? And an OS headlight washer cover…

Gerry TD12 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:15 am

Job for the spring: sunroof is knackered & leaky (taped up for now), presume the cables etc are wonky, will have to be brave and drop the headlining etc. and see what’s going on. Haynes manual gives a hilariously gloomy overview of that job…

That's the rose tinted spectacles version of the job.

Well done on buying an Xm to rock around in, it looks great. If it isn't rusty underneath it will serve you well for years to come, as long as you change the ATF regularly.
Early series 2 seem to be better corrosion protected than later ones.
I imagine you've noticed an Xm estate is somewhat larger internally than a Cactus...

imho, early Itallia wheels don't suit S2 Xm. If the monte-carlo's that you have are running true just keep them, or fit Etoile's, which appear solid enough to suit the estate body.

Estate with Etoile wheels.
https://parkers-images.bauersecure.com/ ... xm_est.jpg

Interestingly, the headlamp washer cover was fitted when the car was advertised.

Looking good - great colour.

The Spanish sun won't have done the clear lacquer any favours (the base colour is probably AOK), but at least rust shouldn't be a problem. Ours has been with us in Spain for 18 years, and is about to return to UK, with us.
Is yours RH or LHD ? - not easy to tell from the door mirror angle in that photo.

The wheels are good ones if running true. You just need to have a tyre fitter with a "centreless" adaptor up your sleeve. Once found, tell them to look after that bit of balancer kit, as it'll be needed again!!

White Exec wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:28 pm

Is yours RH or LHD ? - not easy to tell from the door mirror angle in that photo.

It's a Uk supplied, Rhd.

When I got it it had two left-hand headlight washer covers fitted, I tried to remove one but it broke so I need at least a right-hand one. Rather more pressingly, it’s currently in bits with the dash out at a Citroën specialist, I urgently need to get hold of a good working undamaged heater blower as the one in it has been “got at” and damaged…. I got hold of a new one for a LHD car but apparently the fan cage is the other way round so it would be sucking rather than blowing… not sure if it could be easily rewired to change the polarity and turn the other way, any advice would be appreciated…!!

sfair, it's the impeller blades that also face the wrong way.
Member EathanR (in Telford) is breaking a rhd S2 Estate or two.

Thank you for the tip off,I may message him if I don’t get any joy with the new motor. I just want the fat old bus back…! I got the HiFi upgraded from the old standard Clarion radio cassette, excellent local HiFi place put in a Blaupunkt Stockholm which has DAB, Bluetooth etc., lovely new Xfire speakers all round and a compact Vibe sub in the boot (replacing the NS compartment behind the wheel arch- I’ll make a bespoke surround/fascia for it covered in HiFi fabric).
Hoping to get everything sorted mechanically and cosmetically soon… the Festival of the Unexceptional beckons!

Speaking of faded paint and trim, the bumper/ sidestrip brightwork which was frosted white came back really well after (wet) sanding with 800 grit, then Farecla cutting liquids ( the second being the finishing compound). The paintwork is a mixed bag… 90% of it is fine and will probably respond well to a good claybarring to lift out any pollution, then the aforementioned compounds to correct it and then either a wax or ceramic sealant. The problem areas are one side of the roof cant rail (between main roof panel and door tops) where the sun damage has gone right through the lacquer and base coat, the other is the top of the tailgate, where it is just the lacquer that is affected. The front doors (but not the rears) have some rust bubbling along where the rubber sealing strip sits, as the door cards will have to come off to deal with any corrosion from the inside I will take the opportunity to give the window mechanisms some tlc.
I’m still undecided on what to do on the wheel front. I’m not that keen on the ones that are on it (and the paint is bubbling on them) and, given this is a diesel VSX I think they may have been added later- I was under the impression it would either have had the hubcaps with 5 lozenge shaped slots or the Etoile alloy wheels which I prefer out of the Series 2 options…

All Series 2 bar the Exclusive had the rather plain plastic wheel trims.

Iirc, Etoile wheels were the only alloy wheels fitted to Series 1 estates as supplied and really suit the estate.
They were then fitted to Se trim saloons, but imho, don't suit it as they appear too solid.

Found a pic of my dear old ‘93 Turbo SD, bought in ‘96 just before its first MOT with 80K on the clock (ex-company car), it spent most of its life nr. Paris while I was working at Renault. Finally died in 2000 when the auto box gave out at nearly 200k miles…