Unexpectedly miserably Failed MOT

[Degens]

Unexpectedly, my series 1 XM failed the MOT miserably, after spending already £3850 (including all spheres replaced!) on it.

I hope people can help with parts, particularly drive shafts and strut pins, and a catalysor (I think that is the thing, to improve the emissions; 2 years ago it had a completely new exhaust...). Savoy Garage is doing it all for me, and he was also disappointed to see it fail so miserably after putting so much work in it. I hope people can help.

Attached I have pictures of the MOT report of yesterday (L912 BLJ if you want a clearer view on the DVLA website), the emission report (but the MOT report says it also) and some pictures Malcolm took to show the driveshaft problem.

This year has, XM wise, been a rather sad year for me with loosing my blue XM that I had for 10 years and had just passed the MOT with only some advisories that I were all sorted before the crash ;-(. Now the series 1 is in a poor state (and so is my mood....). I am so ignorant when it comes to mechanics and rely on others, but alas, that is life, and one thing is I still have an XM Estate, and have driven XM since 2003 (so more than 20 years already!), with only 3 months a Daewoo Matiz that I as soon as possible exchanged for an XM... so much better . My hope is my white series 1 XM will really return, and you can see from an earlier message yesterday I was full of confidence it would return on the road very soon, and break the 15% annual attrition on taxed XMs!

Thanks all for reading!

[Dieselman]

I'm surprised Savoy put the car through an MOT test with the strut tops in that condition.
The major failure items appear to be both strut tops and the right sill needs some welding, along with a new catalytic converter.

Supply of strut tops discussed in the linked to thread. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10870&hilit=strut+tops#p129920

Supply from Q&K classics and Elastomer appear to have varied reviews, CX Du Nord are more costly, but service is good.

[Degens]

Thanks Dieselman. I will send that to Savoy. He was aware of the struttops but hoped that was all. I hope he will be able to get it going again!

[Citjon]

At least there wasn't too much welding Hans, and those mechanical parts are readily available. Have you sold the front struts / tops from the blue car? Would it be viable to swap the complete assemblies over?

It's also probably worth getting the underside cleaned up and some decent rustproofing applied once the MOT is sorted.

[Dieselman]

At least there wasn't too much welding Hans, and those mechanical parts are readily available. Have you sold the front struts / tops from the blue car? Would it be viable to swap the complete assemblies over?

It's also probably worth getting the underside cleaned up and some decent rustproofing applied once the MOT is sorted.

Good thinking there Jon, that thought had just occurred to me also, after remembering Hans has a scrap car.

The strut tops may be the same, if both cars have 23mm struts, but if not just swap the struts and strut tops if the Turbo has 25mm struts. The different size strut doesn't affect performance as the pistons are the same size in all Xm struts, you just need matched strut and top.
Citroen introduced 25mm struts when the Xm became heavier, starting with 2.5Td then across the rest of the range barring 2.0i.

No need to remove the strut top from the strut, just release the pressure, unscrew the pipe banjo bolt, remove the sphere, unbolt the strut and top complete.
To depressurise the suspension start the engine, set to low position, undo the pressure regulator 12mm bleed bolt 1 turn max, switch off engine.

The car will be immobile once the strut tops are off, so ensure it is in it's final position and up on blocks.


Why not swap the Cat over as well, if the pipe is different just cut it out and weld it into the old exhaust. The Turbo Cat is probably larger, which is beneficial.

[Degens]

Thanks for these suggestions. That is a thought we are considering indeed. I will see how to do this in practical terms. One problem is that many parts have already been taken off, including the dashboard and turbo, so starting is not anymore an option. Perhaps coming Saturday when some people come along for parts, can help.
We also discussed with Savoy to get the car to him on a trailer, take off the parts and then scrap it. We already replaced the frontwheels with an old wheel so the new tire can (were only 2 weeks on it when the blue one crashed) be put on the white one.

[Dieselman]

Hopefully a lot more to be stripped off it before it goes for scrap.

[DownUnderXM]

In post #1 you show 2 photos labelled "Driveshaft". These are in fact front suspension struts, with the first one showing a very obviously failed strut top - to the point that I am surprised that your bonnet is intact!!!