Citroen XM Forum

Nice buy by the sound of it, regarding the speedo when my sat nav is showing 69 mph the needle is showing about 74mph so it sound about right, I seem to remember when it is put in sport mode the spring lamp is illuminated and the display shows sports mode if your light doesn't come on it could just be a blown lamp. i'll check it next sunday when i go out in it.

Hi Chris

In considering the accuracy of a speedo reading front tyre wear needs to be included. This reduces the actual speed to shown speed by 2% at full wear.
Always worth checking actual tyre size fitted against specification as mistakes do happen occasionally when new tyres are fitted.
Construction rules allow no over reading but quite substantial under reading.
Example quoted by Citroen is speed travelled 100kph, speedo may display in the range 100kph to 114kph.
On the suspect hard suspension it might be worth checking the electrovalve diodes.

John

Ive just fixed the suspension, now rides really well!
Well ok, i didnt fix anything but i did find a switch!

Its got a switch under the dash, which seems to lock it into sports mode all of the time, S1 like, so thats where the switch had been, in sports mode all of the time. However put it back to normal and switch the sport button to sport and the orange spring light does come on.

Having the non standard switch in the soft mode and it rides very nicely, however it still seems to cut in and out of sports mode as it should, and when in soft and putting it into sports mode with the normal switch the orange light comes on as does the written warning, its then in sports mode as it should be, S2 like just coming in as needed.

Well this is what i have found on a short test route this morning, but im going out now so will have another play around with it later on when i get back.

Andrew, i would think the belt is original, it was on our silver hatch. It actually looked in very good condition the belt on that, but its not to be trusted so im going to hold off using the car much until its looked at.

The tyres are looking old on the back yes, i bet they have probably turned to plastic by now. We put a new set on the silver hatch as it had all of its original tyres, legal but very old looking so were not to be tursted. Its fronts are one newish michelin energy on the NSF and one almost worn out cheapy on the OSF. I hate changing tyres in ones so it might have to get a full set on there. Im surprised to see it still wears 195/65/15 like the 2.0 hatchbacks, i would have thought being an estate it would have the 205s. Probably because its a 2.1.

Had a better look at the paintwork today, its very straight and nice looking, could benefit from a good polish but its pretty god. Just the mentioned bodywork lets it down.

One thing which is really annoying, is the tiny little fan in the interior light, for the auto temperature i asume, buzzes. Not sure what i can do with that, maybe a new one or see if i can stop this one from buzzing. Still a very small problem.

Chris.

Sounds lika good 'un Chris. Good luck with it. Chris.

Hi Chris,switch under dash? What's this? Is this an owner mod? If so it sounds like a bypass to either provide a direct feed to the hydrative valves,not a good idea, or maybe a misguided attemp to fool the ecu,or even simply to turn the light out.You'll need to confirm this as the valves will not take kindly to being supplied with 12Vdc in continued use.
robertm

Sounds like you've got a fantastic buy there, I thought the cambelt is down on service for 72000, i'll have to have a look in my book, fairly certain thats when i had mine changed. I'm also intrigued by this switch you've found as to whether its an owner mod or not, sounds like it is, and why o why would anyone want to lock it into sport mode? Defeats the object of buying a citroen

Well im not entirely sure what the switch is there for, as it seems to serve two purposes!

Now, it is a owner mod, although i dont think it was the last owner as he said its to switch off the interior alarm sensors when leaving pets in the car. Which i thought was odd as there is already a dash button for that isnt there, but i didnt question it.

It has been to a Citroen speciliast for its hydraulic bits, spheres etc, its one which i dont like much as they dont seem to know what they are talking about. However im not sure if this aftermarket switch is anything to do with them, to cover up a suspenion ECU problem. Or if its something to do with the alarm but the person fitting it has maybe taken the live feed from the wrong place. Ive no idea, will need to investigate.

Ive just had a look in the ECU box and it does have the e-crofting fixing kit installed. I think i remember right that the fixings on the e-crofting kit were changed for some other type of electrical connectors. This one fitted has the later type of connectors, so i wouldnt have thought it would have been fitted that long.

The car was owned by Citroen for what seems to be the first two years of its life, although it covered very very very few miles in that time! It was then bought by a private seller who must have had a very small yearly mileage, they had it until last year when it was traded into a Citroen dealer where its last owner bought it from.

I tried to explain to the seller about the suspension being firm but he didnt seem to understand it as he had spheres fitted so thought all was well. The switch was in the down, or locked into sports, when i collected it, so it seemed very harsh.

So, with the switch in the up position, everything seems to work fine, its in soft most of the time but it does seem to go into sports when it needs to, and the sports mode works fine, with the orange light lighting. So switch up and its like a normal Xm should be, however put the switch down and things go odd.... With the switch in the down position its locked into sports all of the time. The orange light does not light but the little dash warning thing does say sports suspension when i select sports. This is what iver gathered from a short test drive this moring, ive not been out in it again yet.

Now here is the bit i dont understand, with the switch up the alarm works and the indicators flash when locking/unlocking. With the switch in the down position the alarm doesnt work and the indicators dont flash when locking or unlocking by the remote. So it effects the alarm and the suspension

On the plus side ive sorted out the buzzing noise from the little fan in the roof, the thing which i guess tests the cabin air temperature. Just removed it, sprayed it with some electrical cleaner, let it soak in, ran the fan a few times and its now silent. Which is better as that was annoying.

The stiff height level was not down to lack of maintenece but the little plastic slider which surrounds the knob for raising and lowering the car, the slider was not in the channel under the gear gaitor plastic so was very stiff to move. I put the plastic slider back where it should run and it now works as it should.

hobblerian: I think originally it was 72000 miles, although there will have been an age limit also, not sure what that was but im sure its less than 14 years So im not going to use the car much until it has its new cambelt and waterpump, should be next week hopefully, as long as the garage can fit it in.

Ill go take some pictures ...

Chris.

The little bumble bee in the headlining is the cabin temperature sensor and these can get a little noisy and I
understand how it can get irritating just above hour head - I'm glad you fixed if properly unlike my pal that
just cut the wires on his!! I kid you not but he was demented by it and to be fair it was very loud as I heard
it before it was decapitated!!

The e crofting kit is only a short while old as the seller's feedback lists it so the guy you bought the car off
must've felt something wasn't right with it even after new spheres! The other night I missed the negative
feedback for a car this seller had on ebay which may have given alarm - worked out well in this case though
and other feedback is ok!

Andrew

Always better to do things properly! Just been out for a short drive and its definitely cured that.

I noticed the bad feedback about a car, although he seems a nice enough chap. I actually have not noticed the feedback for the e-crofting kit though, thats interesting.

Im not sure if it is cutting to sport mode on its own account, ill have to have a longer drive, instead of town roads and check that out.

I think e-crofting does ECU repairs dont they, that might be the best option, dont fancy leaving this switch in.

Seems a good car though, obviously niggly points but it is 14 years old.

Ive taken some pictures but dont have time to upload them all at the moment, but here are two:





Will post the others when i get in from work.

Chris.

Hi Chris,it does rather look as if this mod has tapped into something it shouldn't.The alarm side is of no real concern,unless it is cross connected to the suspension, but the hydractive, and the fact the diode kit has been installed certainly needs looking at.Probably the simplest way to get some inkling of what is happening - tracing the wiring could be somewhat difficult - is to check the voltage across one of the electrovalves and ensure the are not supplied with current at a voltage greater than the designed 2.7Vdc (0.5Amps holding current) AFTER the initial switching current(3 to 4Amps) at 12Vdc for 0.5 secs.If the voltage reduces then whatever it's doing it will not cause any harm.If you can meaure the current or check the waveform it would be more informative.
robertm