Citroen XM Forum

Spotted yesterday on the M6 near Stoke in the direction of Manchester. We were almost home in Alsager.

That was me after a quick trip to France and attending Simply French day at Beaulieu. Around 1000 miles in 5 days

Is this the first long journey you have done in this car and how have you found the comfort of your "new" Xm?

No, I did one almost as long up to Aberdeenshire just about 10 days before, including 360 miles non-stop back to Manchester. Looks as though my 6000 mile restricted mileage policy isn’t going to be enough…. The XM is supremely comfortable and has performed impeccably apart from sometimes needing multiple turns of the key before the starter motor comes to life. Caused a bit of anxiety getting on and off the ferry on the French trip!

Comfort...now you know why we like our Xm's so much, they literally hoover 100's of miles of tarmac under the bonnet without you noticing at all. It's good to hear you are keeping the wheels turning.

For the starter issue, as your car is an auto it has a Start inhibit relay mounted behind the left headlamp (outer-most one iirc). I suspect the relay, or more likely the socket contacts are a bit dodgy.
Pulling the relay out, cleaning and greasing the contacts will probably fix the issue, if not next stop would be the gearbox selector switch, mounted on the top of the gearbox.
All the starter solenoid current passes through the ignition switch, so if the issue persists after the relay and gear selector have been proven working, the Ign switch is very likely to be the culprit.
If the starter motor turns only slowly, it could be that it requires stripping and cleaning to ensure good continuity, especially the Gnd passing through the body..

See Gabor's circuit diagrams if you need to look further. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=7592&start=110#p124757

Thanks for the advice re the starter. The unit itself has been changed twice recently so I’ll try the relay next and take it from there

A final item to check would be the battery clamps, especially the Gnd one, as it suffers more due to battery disconnection.

For emergency use only, make a fly-lead with a loop on one end that can hook over the starter solenoid trigger contact, then touch the other end to Batt +ve.
Ensure the gearbox is in Park, as this will activate irrespective of the safety inhibitor.

Would you be able to identify which of these is the starter inhibitor relay - is it the smaller outer one in the row of 4? There’s also the green relay that looks as if it should be bolted on somewhere but isn’t!
And if someone could point me towards a suitable replacement it would be much appreciated. My auto-electrician can’t get here for another week or two and the starter motor operation is becoming more erratic

The start inhibit relay should be the most left one in the row of four. The one you have indicated.

The free-floating green relay is the ABS relay. From memory it should be fitted to the front of the battery box, but it's probably not particularly important.