Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

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glegge
Can find the S1 radio
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Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Post by glegge » Sun Apr 22, 2012 10:52 pm

I have been lurking, with the odd post now and then for some time since having an XM, and thought it time to introduce myself.
I trained as a software engineer, but also worked as a mechanic. handy skills for any car these days.

the XM purchased is a 1996 model (MK2 of course). 2litre petrol 16valve. Leather, electric seats, sunroof, extra glass over the boot, rear window shade, ABS, red with poor condition paint.

After reading around, downloading documents and getting familiar with the car, I've managed to get things back to good again with a few systems.

1) sun roof would not open, but would only pop up at the rear. this turned out to be the relay pack (the MK2 has only one) tucked in the head lining to the right of the motor. open the pack and found dry joints, the roof now opens, closes and pop's up.

2) RH rear window winder wire snapped, so i replaced this with new cable inner from my local motorcycle shop, flaring and soldering the ends onto brass nipples.

3) Suspension. after many false starts, i have got the suspension working great now. when you turn the car on, the suspension lamp on the dash board turns on, then off as it should to indicate the system is working fine.
Previously this lamp would only come on if you put the car in sport mode(which made no difference, as I'm sure you all know that if the lamp does not light for 3 seconds or so, when you turn the car on, the system is broken and stuck in firm mode.

Thanks to the wealth of knowledge, i quickly located the problem, the driver 'IC's' inside the suspension computer. i replaced them (very cheep sourcing them from RS-components in NZ), and also replaced the front hydroelectric valve as it was faulty.
I also put a diodes across the second hand frond hydroelectric valve as tests indicated it was not working.

Ever since doing this, the suspension is working great, with a large difference easily noticed between 'normal' and 'sport' settings now.

4) Power Steering.
the steering on this car has been heavy since I've had it. this weekend i finally got around to changing the LHM. reading about the pump and PS systems, i see there is a large volume high pressure circuit for the PS, and a lower volume high pressure circuit for the rest of the cars systems.
Reading this i had a hunch that perhaps the fluid was old or the filters clogged and not allowing the pump to supply the volume required to operate the PS with sufficient force.
As it turns out, the intake and exhaust LHM filters in the LHM tank where clogged and filthy. removing the tank allowed me to clean it with petrol, as well and clean the filters and 'hose body' which fits inside the tank.

refitting and adding new LHM left the power steering feeling stronger and lighter now, so that's another easy fix on these wonderful cars.
The steering still 'groans' a little when turning left, but i suspect the hydraulic ram seals may be dry, i'm hoping some lubrication will stop this noise.

5) a knock knock knock in the RH front, going by what i read, indicates a faulty ARB link, so i purchased one of these and fitted it, but the knock is still there (well i had to have at least one fail).. so i'm still looking for the reason for this knock in the rh front suspension. its quiet on smooth roads, but knocks on rough surfaces.

6) got the steering wheel radio controls working with a pionear head unit. the previous owner had a go at this, so i had a resistor network to work with already, so i just re-jigged it for the new head unit, cleaned the switch contacts (it seems they get dirty and this is a resistor network so any bad contacting switches will cause the wrong function) and now it works great guns. i also wired the lights to a 12v supply so the steering wheel radio controls also light up at night.

things to do
respray - the paint is sad, and this car would be great with a new paint job.

service engine/gear box (cam belt, fluids)

gear box has a slight wine noise in 1st, I'm not sure what that is yet.

get the lamps in the window winder switches working in the doors.

fix a leak from the roof. it makes the sunroof controls damp as well as wetting the head lining in front of where the lamps/sunroof switches mount. i have put the hose on it, and looked up under the head lining and seen the seal is wet where the sunroof assembly mounts to the steel roof of the car. I'm not sure if it's just overflowing and the seal is poor, or not draining fast enough.

leak in the boot, ever elusive... :(

fix all the door locks, they just spin. i've downloaded the doc for servicing them, i must get around to doing it.

Fix the matrix display, it has lines down it.

fix passenger front door lock - it does not lock or unlock electrically with the rest of the system.

very slight radiator leak from where the top hose mounts to the radiator. it seems the plastic has a very slight crack and drips very slightly directly onto the abs computer (causing it to fault now and then). i cleaned up the computer pins and have made a plastic diverter to keep the drip from the computer. the drip is so slight, the water level does not change over many thousands of k's so far.

fix rattle which seems to come from down by the height control lever. since this is mechanical i wonder if a coin has fallen down next to it, when you go around a right hand corner with the engine loaded, it rattles loud. or it could be an insulator has worn out around the height control rods perhaps and it's rattling on its guides or mount.

but all in all, i love this car. its an amazing experience to own.
the engine, while not a race car, goes very very well for its size and age. I'm very impressed, when it kicks down it really goes. it cruises at speed effortlessly and once up to speed accelerates very easily. It also returns great gas figures. covering just over 850km's on a tank of gas. boot full of diving gear, on tour around the country.

its a pleasure to travel in. quiet, comfortable, and when you get to some twisty roads, sport mode works a treat.

so yeah, that's me really!
thanks for all of the articles help.

cheers
Gavin

robert_e_smart
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Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Post by robert_e_smart » Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:41 am

Excellent Gavin,

Welcome to the forum. Don't be shy and post some pics of your car.
1990 XM 2.1 Turbo SD
2008 Volvo V70 D5 SE Lux Automatic
2009 Volvo XC90 D5 SE Automatic

Dieselman
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Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Post by Dieselman » Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:24 pm

Your car sounds like a good car and in safe hands.
I suspect the anti-roll bar bushes for the clunking.
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Jan-hendrik
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Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Post by Jan-hendrik » Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:23 am

Welcome, Gavin!
Looks like you got yourself a great car. But with still a couple of things to sort out. Which makes it all more fun, of course. If you had nothing to do you'd get bored :lol:
I suspect the anti-roll bar bushes for the clunking.
Which bushes are those? I suppose the same I asked about recently?
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3527

I ordered the bushes through Citroen and they've just arrived. Will have them replaced shortly as I have that annoying knock-knock, which has been getting worse,too.
2000 XM 3.0 V6 24v Exclusive Auto Vert Vega - 86k km LHD RP8569

glegge
Can find the S1 radio
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:28 am

Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Post by glegge » Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:19 am

Just for an update, and i know this is probably the wrong place to put it, but the knocking is caused by the front right lower wish bone inner bushes. they are being replaced :)
i could see the play in the bushes so they where well worn.

many thanks
Gavin

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Jan-hendrik
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Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Post by Jan-hendrik » Thu Jul 19, 2012 4:56 am

Hi Gavin,

How exactly were you able 'to see the play''?
Are you replacing only the bushes on the right side?
2000 XM 3.0 V6 24v Exclusive Auto Vert Vega - 86k km LHD RP8569

trampsterdave
Can find the S1 radio
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Orga / RP numbers: RP6107
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Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Post by trampsterdave » Sat Apr 28, 2018 11:17 pm

Hi Gavin
as a 'new' xm owner in Dunedin-Curious to know where other xms reside in Aoteoroa
Cheers, Dave

xantia_v6
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Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Post by xantia_v6 » Sun Apr 29, 2018 5:51 am

I spend half of each year in Christchurch, but my XM lives in France. I have only seen 1 XM in Christchurch, a Mauritius Blue S2 with a 2.0 engine, I think it was a Japanese import.
1999 XM Exclusive V6 24V ES9 Manual (LHD) 105,000 km
1997 Xantia Exclusive V6 (RHD) 45,000 miles

renault760
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Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Post by renault760 » Sun Apr 29, 2018 10:25 am

Hi Gavin, another NZer! It doesn't sound like the car holds any fears for you. Do you drive on the left out there? What's the "old car scene" like? Enjoy the car!

LG.

renault760
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Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Post by renault760 » Sun Apr 29, 2018 10:29 am

xantia_v6 wrote:I spend half of each year in Christchurch, but my XM lives in France. I have only seen 1 XM in Christchurch, a Mauritius Blue S2 with a 2.0 engine, I think it was a Japanese import.
If you spend half of your life in France, where you have an XM, and half in NZ, (turning green with envy,) what, may I ask, is your excuse for NOT having an XM in NZ as well? Seems a bit of a poor show to me!!

LG.

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