My 1995 XM 2.0CT Exclusive Manual

[Citroenesque]

Some shots taken this morning. Now the work I needed to do has been done I have been out enjoying it.

[davetherave]

Looking good!

[jorgy]

Very nice XM, but your home is even nicer !
cheers
George

[minijet]

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Very nice Phil.

I bet you're pleased with it

Looks like there's a bit of room on your drive for a few more now you've been bitten by the XM bug

Paul

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[robert_e_smart]

Looks very smart Phil.

[Citroenesque]

Thanks. Not my house, I'm sorry to say! It's Hylands House Chelmsford, Essex (site of the 'V' Festival).

As for the car, there are a few bits to attend to: New tyres all round (the current ones although nearly new are Chinese ditchfinder-type West Lakes), repair to the Alcantara on the driver's seat, loosen up the sunroof (it only likes to tilt at the moment) and find an OE CD autochanger for it. Aircon works but is a bit feeble, so I'll be getting that regassed and serviced. It might need new front discs and pads within the year. The headlight a rear washers don't do much either, so first call is fuses and connections. I think the electric pumps are the same as other Citroens, and I have a couple of old BX ones somewhere. Anyway it'll all get done in time.

Lastly I need to replace the silly 'blue' sidelight bulbs with conventional ones (55w I think?). Trouble was although I could easily get the o/s sidelight to come out, access to the n/s one is very tricky. Maybe when it's warmer (and when plastic as well as skin is more flexible) I'll have another go.

But all in all money well spent so far. I hope.

[jonathan_dyane]

Smart car.

On tyres, can I put in a vote for Vredestein Sportrac 3's, I have a pair on, and am very impressed.

With regard to the sidelamps, I think you will find 5w is the normal size, if they were 55w they'd probably be brighter than the shit headlamps

[jorgy]

Yes, sidelight bulbs are 5w5. I recenlty put a multi-LED from ebay there -was, like, 20 leds- and they are excellent, I totally recommend them, they are perhaps brighter than a classic 5w5! Had played with various other "5w5" LED bulbs (4 leds or so) but they were all inferior to a classic 5w5.

The washer pumps are sold on ebay, and at Harlford's also.

cheers
G
ps. shame it's not ur place, was ready to propose an XMers gathering!!

[Citroenesque]

Yes a slip of the keystroke - I didn't mean 55! I'm intrigued by multi-LED... I'll look into it.

As for the venue, it would make a nice place to assemble some cars. There are facilities, a secondhand book shop, a gift shop and a nice cafe in the stable block too. And there're gardens to walk around. An overall nice place.

I'd like to meet up with other XMers from the region.

[Citroenesque]

Did the spheres today - well Dennis at Citroen Softride did, with me 'helping out'...

The two front corners were down to 25 and 28 bar respectively - they're now back up to 55. Replaced the centre sphere with the correct one (apart from being a 400 cc one it was fubared). Needed a new accumulator sphere, which was flat as a witch's do-dah. The rears were down similarly to the front so all the rears - not including the impossible-to-reach anti-sink one are up to pressure. We finished of with a liberal application of Dennis's concoction of oils underneath, which should hold corrosion at bay (on the front subframe, in particular) for another year.

And I have to report the ride has improved a great deal. I still have the diode fix kit box to fit, but I'll wait a couple of weeks so I can tell if it makes a difference or not when I do it...

Since getting it, my XM has had new cam belt and aux belt, two quick-succession oil changes with Total 1 and nice shiny Purflux filter, a new air filter and it now has Total BV in the gearbox. It's had four new 205 wide Michelin Energy-savers all round and new high intensity bulbs which in all honesty have made the lights tolerably better (I think I'm lucky that the plastic lens aren't too yellowed). I put new sidelight bulbs in for good measure (I didn't realise how weak the old ones were) and wiper blades and stuff. As well as a jolly good clean and polish, that's about it. A CD auto changer to fit too (if I can source the cable), but I don't think I'm going to bother replacing the left-hand computer/display with the new one I have: after all it's only a few lines short. Oh and I got the sunroof all loosened up and working OK. But then got the air conditioning regassed so might not need to use it lol: a check confirmed it was all ship-shape but was about 50% down on gas; now it works fine.

Problems: Well I still haven't dared try the headlamp washers out since they 'stayed on' last time. But at least I know what fuse to pull! Still no wiser as to the location of the relay, but I guess it's under the steering column. The clutch pedal squeaks despite my best efforts to lube it. I think it's off with the lower steering column shroud and 'get stuck in' with the grease et al (and search for any mystery relays!). Gearchange massively improved with the oil change. The fuel economy is improving as I get more gentle with the car, but still only expect 34-35 on a run. I can live with that.

I am off on a trip to Carcassonne, SW France in the XM at the end of the month. 2,000 miles I reckon in nine days holidaying. Just to be extra sure I will take AA cover out - including the optional £500 parts and labour cover (less than £14 a day all in - seems fair enough).

I'll take some pics of it's first major excursion with me.