Citroen XM Forum

Hello to you all.
I'm a guy from Denmark, and through the years i've owned and driven all kinds of cars; American, British, German, French, Japanese... though, never a "big Citroën"...until recently.
I became the owner of this beauty: 1993 Citroën XM 2.0i (Monopoint). Standing out in the bland crowd of tired Hyundais, Opels, Suzukis on a dealer's lot of trade-in cars, "she" got my attention. Man, an XM is HUGE.
So, i drove a test ride, found that the front wheel bearings are shot, the right front strut mount is soon to be replaced (as in SOON), and some other small defects. Told the dealer about the defects, and offered him a fraction of the price he wanted. He accepted without hesitation... looks like i helped him out! Price was a steal, thanks to the mostly mythical beliefs people has about these cars and their hydraulic systems. Well, not me. I find it exciting. Well, here's some technical info:

It's an "Affaire" model, which, as i understand it, means "bare-boned fleet model", compared to the other XM-models avaliable at the time.
Still, it offers power windows up front, adjustable steering column, and a digital clock, central locking system and outdoor thermometer (last three functions doesn't work...yet).
Cloth cabin, 1-spoke steering wheel, no ABS, no Hydractive, 1 (one!) dull cabin light (to create that intime atmosphere) - just plain-Jane excellence.
It's been well maintained, only 180000 km on the odo, and runs well, although it has some quirks when cold / warming up:
Under acceleration, and in particular, when i'm shifting up in gears, the engine lamp (yellow symbol) lit up, and there's no speeder response, until it goes to idle. When in idle, the engine lamp turns off, and it can accelerate normally.
This occurs several times, until it's been driven for approx. 30 minutes.
When the fault is there, there's no juddering or "coughing", the engine just "dies" until the RPM reaches idle speed (approx. 8-900 RPM).
I believe, that it's some kind of "limp mode" function - engine temperature is normal, there's no smoke, no excessive fuel consumption or the like.
Maybe someone in here can cast a light on, what "Mon Bleu Affaire" tries to tell me?

Well, i look forward to many an hour on this forum - and hope to be able to help others, as my knowledge will increase when owning and maintaining my first hydraulic Citroën.

Here she is: (hubcaps not original)

Hi and welcome.

I can't see the image, but your car does indeed sound like a basic no hydractive model. There is nothing wrong with that and the hydraulics will be very reliable with a bit of initial care and attention.

As far as the engine running and codes issue, build yourself a cheap blink code reader to access the fault codes. I wonder if the crank sensor is playing up, possibly just a bad connection, hence the engine loses power when the rev-counter stops displaying the engine revs. The ECU then has to see idle restored to reset.

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Main issue the strut top may be quite hard to find as most were hydractive with large 17mm union nuts to the strut top not 8mm..

citroenxm wrote:Main issue the strut top may be quite hard to find as most were hydractive with large 17mm union nuts to the strut top not 8mm..

In the UK. Most cars were non hydractive in mainland europe and those strut tops seem to be more readilly available.

Welcome along! Your car sounds very special, I'd love to see some pictures

Hi and welcome to the forum, the engine management light coming on with the symptoms you described I had on my first petrol car my technician replaced the lambda sensor in the exhaust and all was good again.

Regards,
Norman

Thanks for your replies so far.
The fault may have been located, when i unplugged the Hall sensor, one of the pins were verdigrised, so it got some contact cleaner and WD-40, tomorrow it'll show if that was the culprit.
Might be, since the fault goes away when the engine is thoroughly warm.

I have corrected the picture in my first post, since it couldn't be seen. Here's some more:

Interior (pic taken prior to buying the car, i would never let it get this dirty).
The cloth upholstery has some threads gone missing on the driver's seat.


Another one, taken prior to buying. Testing the suspension.


Instrument panel. A bit shaky, sorry.


Was out and about on a saturday night. I really like the design, especially the rear end. The moon shines on the hatch...

That is a low spec car, one we never had in the UK, but it looks to be in decent condition and should serve you well.