Citroen XM Forum

Lots on here about XM headlights, particularly the poor dipped beam. Chrome on the reflectors is very delicate - be careful with this.

Best bulbs (standard H1) seem to be Philips X-treme, or Osram Nightbreaker - both are standard wattage, but high brightness.
Avoid the blue-tinted versions, and go for the pure white, which are best for brilliance.
Many fake/cheap versions on the market, so try a reputable seller (eg Amazon) and check the packaging for genuine holograms etc.

Dieselman wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 16, 2020 6:25 am

I'm surprised you say an Es9j needs soundproofing, they are normally very quiet.
Has the exhaust been changed, if so, deal with that before soundproofing.

That Lhm leak needs investigating. That bolt is pretty simple, a bolt, ball bearing and O ring.

I've never found the need for parking sensors due to the great all round vision in an Xm.

As said, Xm really excel on long journeys.

For the headlamps, you might be surprised how well just stripping, cleaning the bowls and polishing the deflector lens works.

Working backwards:
Yes, I will dismantle and clean, and esp. polish the yellow plastic lenses. The previous owner fitted HID low beams, which he rated the best thing he'd done to the car. They are no doubt better than the original halogen globes, but still not great. The new halogen globes that I just fitted to the high beam lamps are not too bad.

Probably if I drove the Xm more I would be more confident about where the corners are. More importantly, I want my wife to be comfortable taking it out. In general, she doesn't share my enthusiasm for French cars, but really likes the look of the Xm, and recognises that it is practically irreplaceable. Ergo, she is unwilling to drive it, especially into town to go shopping. Rear vision (or parking sensors) might help.

I am planning to pull a complete regulator off a Xantia (was not leaking last time it was used). May need to swap the plastic end caps, and will be very mindful of the thread pitch on the 6.35mm pipe fittings! May just swap over the bolt, washer and steel ball.

Re. the sound - I suppose it depends what your baseline is, but my reference points are a couple of Pugs - a D9 406 (ES9j4S) and a 605 (PRV). Compared to them it is noisy. Yes the exhaust system is part of the problem - previous owner apparently needed a new rear muffler, so the wretched muffler shop talked him into replacing everything from the front muffler back, because they found Xm in their catalog. Only problem was/is, the exhaust system that they fitted was for a PRV - has a pipe split after the front muffler, with a sideways muffler on one pipe, and no muffler on the other (apart from the rear muffler of course). I'd say both the middle and rear mufflers are pretty free flowing - can hear the growl when i put my foot down at any speed. I still don't think that's the whole story - there seems to be significant mechanical noise from the engine bay, so my plan is to add Dynamat under the bonnet (in addition to the standard insulation). If that gives a measurable benefit I'll keep going ...

White Exec wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 16, 2020 9:36 am

Lots on here about XM headlights, particularly the poor dipped beam. Chrome on the reflectors is very delicate - be careful with this.

Best bulbs (standard H1) seem to be Philips X-treme, or Osram Nightbreaker - both are standard wattage, but high brightness.
Avoid the blue-tinted versions, and go for the pure white, which are best for brilliance.
Many fake/cheap versions on the market, so try a reputable seller (eg Amazon) and check the packaging for genuine holograms etc.

Thanks - I've read the thread in the Self Help files (hard to miss, as it's currently top of the list).

I got talked into Repco's house brand (local auto factors) for the High beams - claimed to be 100+, or twice normal light output. Not too bad - better than what I took out.

I appear to have a mismatch between the fuel gauge and trip computer (which both indicated that I should still have enough fuel for 80 km or so), and the fuel pump pick-up. Is this quirky behaviour normal?

I had only travelled 928 km on the tank, but engine was showing signs of fuel starvation (wouldn't idle, hard to start) so I coasted into a petrol station (steering got very heavy, but fortunately brakes still worked) and filled up.

It took 93 litres . Made me wonder if the pump needs calibration, but it was at a busy truck stop, not some little hamlet in the middle of nowhere! If that pump and my fuel gauge are accurate, the tank must actually hold about 100 litres!!!

I was caught out partly because of experience with a Pug 605 - it's tank only holds about 85 litres, but you can run the fuel down until the trip meter stops predicting how far you can still go and just flashes, and then you can still go another 10-20 km without noticing any problem.

Cheers

Alec

On mine when I got it, it would run out of petrol with 80 km showing on the trip computer and the guage needle well above 0. A couple of iterations of bending the float arm got everything reading correctly. Maybe it was a common issue on late petrol cars.

In my experience there can be two issues.
The float arm is deformed when removing the unit from the tank, causing over-reading.
The float wears where it rubs on the base of the tank. I've only seen this on my V6-24, which had the bottom of the tank pressed upwards.

The tank is 80 litres, plus whatever you can squeeze into the filler pipe.
You must have been literally running on fumes.

When your gauge is down to just above where it ran out, pull the sender our and recalibrate the arm.

It took 93 litres

When I took delivery of my current XM (in 2007) the fuel warning light was on and filled the tank at the filling station: 90 litres. My previous XM, 1995 V6/12V, also took more than 80 litres when nearly running empty. I must say I have been suspicious of the metering at filling stations. Paranoid

Thanks guys - am back in Armidale and half way through that tank - will see if I can get the pump/sender out when I have done another 500 km (or should I say 400 km).

Must say I'm disappointed that it doesn't have a 100 litre tank .

Must say I'm disappointed that it doesn't have a 100 litre tank .

You could add an extra tank in the trunk of let's say 40 litres? Not sure if that would be legal though I have seen XM in the Netherlands with 40 litre LPG tanks in addition to the standard petrol tank

DownUnderXM wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 20, 2020 11:09 am

Thanks guys - am back in Armidale and half way through that tank - will see if I can get the pump/sender out when I have done another 500 km (or should I say 400 km).

Must say I'm disappointed that it doesn't have a 100 litre tank .

Filling 100 L must leave a big mark on your wallet... 80 is also a handsome number, for me at least.
Anyway, the crazy lads that run Cannonballs in the US usually have a huge extra fuel tank that takes all the trunk (and even the rear seats) for covering more distance without stopping. Some do a professional job to make all that fuel go to the car fuel system, but others just put a pipe, with a regulable valve in the middle and / or a small pump and then just route that to the normal fuel filler cap of the car. Probably not exactly legal or safe, but if you really really want 100+ litre tank...