Hi from Hannover Germany XM enthusiast

[PietSchwarz]

Hello everyone, I m Piet from Hannover Germany. My Citroëns are 2CV orga 4690, XM 2,0 Orga 5135 (only for spare parts!) and XM V6 Orga 4608, 1989. I would love to get to know about more freaking details of the cars electronic. Best greetings Piet

[Dieselman]

2cv don't have a lot of electronics.

At Rp 4608 (21 june 1989), yours is a very early series production (not pre-production) Xm: Hydractive v1 Ecu, with green and white connectors.
Does your car illuminate the Hydractive lamp for 3s at door open? It should as these Ecu have only one power feed, so are fully energised at door open, rather than only at Ign on: h2 onwards Ecu had two power feeds (Batt+ and Ign) and the 30s timer was integral, as opposed to being external in yours.

Can you confirm your car doesn't have the 10 minute timer for the interior lights/hydractive switch off at door left open/interior lights left on?
I intend to create a work around for this, as it creates a constant 4a draw that could lead to a flat battery given a door open/light left on situation.
The 10 minute timer was introduced at Rp 4860.

We have all the information for these Xm, what do you want to know. This is mainly in the Self Help files section, but we can point you in the right direction when you let us know what you want and what help you need.

We don't get to see many very early Xm on here as Rhd wasn't launched until November 1989, so not produced before approx Rp 4710.

[PietSchwarz]

Hi Dieselman,
I have a lot of problems with hydractive because I don't know much about it. I checked some issues but I didn't finish that, yet.
The lamp doesn't show up at all I any situation. I checked the lamp itself if it's broken, but it's not. I installed a H2 from 1990 today an it seems to work a little better. No light is showing up anyway.
Where is the timer located? In the blue Relais under the glove compartment (?)? I installed the blue one from my 5135 XM, because I like the fade away of the interior lights. I didn't count if shuts off the lights but will check that.

I want to know if there are leaks inside the hydraulic system and how soft the Hydractive should be.

I will show more of that early XM if anyone is interested.

Please let me know where to find the self help section. Thanks!

[Dieselman]

I have a lot of problems with hydractive because I don't know much about it.

You will

Self help files is one of the sub forums, accessible from the Board Index page. viewforum.php?f=13

You can't fit an "h2" Ecu to an "h" system, they are very different. Don't swap any parts over, the wiring looms and Ecu are not directly compatible.
See electrical thread for Series 1 (Y3) Xm. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=10268

The hydractive lamp not coming on at Ign on (and Door open on "h" Ecu system), indicates the Ecu has a stored code. See thread and attachments viewtopic.php?t=7368
The lamp should always illuminate when the Sport switch is set.

The 10 minute timer is a separate oblong one mounted under the glovebox, not in the main electricals area. You will need the relay, socket and wiring, then cut the existing loom, add a new power feed and wire it all in.
For now, concentrate on making the Hydractive system function as it should, before making any changes.

The simple way to test the Hydractive system is to perform a bounce test. Run the engine and bounce the front and rear of the car vigorously, which should be soft.
Switch off the engine and close the doors, wait 30s, until you hear a clunk from under the car, at the bulkhead. Bounce the car again and it should feel very firm.
If the centre spheres are flat, the car will be firm in both modes, because the Hydractive system can't switch in additional gas volume.

Bounce tests, after 25 year layup, before refilling the spheres.





Would we like to hear more about your car...Err, what do you think. Feel free to create new thread in the Members Cars section and add the details to the members register, if you want.

[PietSchwarz]

Today I cleaned the hight level correctors. That was a heavy task for me because I have no elevator available. I really like the results! It works perfectly.
The electric valve is working but the gas pedal sensor is VERY sensitive. I m happy that the hydractive seems to start working but the lamp is still off and I can't access the hydractive ECU. My LED tool doesn't work as with the engine ECU. Is ther any chance to finde the error?
Should I clean the electric valve?

[Dieselman]

Why clean the electrovalve if it is working?
You say the accelerator pedal is very sensitive. By this do you mean when you press the pedal the Hydractive switches into firm mode, if so, that is correct, but how are you monitoring it?
If you setup a monitoring LED/lamp, you can test each of the sensors simply by driving the car. Chose different parameters: sudden steering, accelerator press, hard braking, driving below/above 30kmh, driving in a straight line but over a sudden undulation.

I have known a steering angle sensor cause system to lock into hard mode immediately after starting the engine. It's an optical sensor and was dusty...after 30+ years.

The Blink Code Reader should work with the Hydractive Ecu. From memory, you need the doors closed and Ign on for it to function on a "h" Ecu.

A battery disconnect theoretically should reset any error codes, but may not.

[PietSchwarz]

Now I'm really happy with the hydractive because I found the error. There is a relais for timing in H1. It is called 960. There were some broken connections inside that relais. I soldered all connections again, they weren't done ever since 1989!
Hydractive is working properly, I love that!
I cleaned the steering sensor, it was really dirty.
I couldn't access the hydractive ecu with the blinking code but it's working anyway, so I don't try anymore.
Thanks Dieselman for your excellent support!

[Dieselman]

Well done, glad you've found the issue, your Hydractive wasn't switching on so was stuck in hard mode.
To all: For "h" Ecu, there is only a single power supply: all the power control is performed externally via relays and diodes, whereas for "h2" onwards it is then built into the Ecu, which has two power inputs as a result.
Relay 960 is the 30s timer, which unless energised the Ecu has no power. After the Ign is switched off and all doors closed, this relay provides +12v for a further 30s.