Citroen XM Forum

The car has had a fairly quiet time lately, just doing a shopping run about once a week or so.

I fitted another outside temperature sensor, and this one reads correctly. The %&$* who sold me the faulty one wont give a refund because he claims I ordered the wrong part, even though he advertised it with the correct part number for the XM, and the peculiarities of the Ebay/Paypal relationship mean that I can't file a dispute with Ebay or Paypal because I bought it on ebay.fr using a UK Ebay account (beware).

I am currently trying to negotiate the purchase of an ES9 V6 parts car, but the owner may have changed his mind about selling it, as he has stopped responding to emails and texts. The car, which I have not seen yet, apparently has some minor damage to the bodywork but is mechanically good. Very frustrating, as there are some other parts (e.g. a centre exhaust section) available elsewhere which I would otherwise buy.

Well... First there was this: Then suddenly.... there was this: But before anyone gets upset, it is not the same car, it is another one have bought as a parts car and got home today.

It is a late 1999 V6 ES9 automatic, the the usual French market exclusive spec, leather and cruise, but no seat heaters, headlight washers, deadlocks, alarm, locking wheel bolts sunroof or CD changer.

It has done 186,000 km, including my 300 km home today. It is surprising how many Gendarmes you see on the road, when you would rather avoid them....

The owner had been told just before the accident that it needs a new catalytic convertor (but I am a bit dubious about the diagnosis).

The frontal damage is mostly what you can see, the A/C stopped working after the accident, but it looks to me as if it still has gas in it. It drives nicely, it is a bit of a luxury not having to change gears, but I had forgotten how slushy the 4HP20 feels until you get used to it.

It will probably sit in my garage as-is until next year, when I will make time to strip it of as many useful bit as possible, particularly ES9-specific parts.

It's a good idea to have a parts car, it does make life a lot easier all round.
Nice to have a mobile one you can drive around too.
Apart from the odd sweaty palm moment as you passed the local Gendarmes I take it the drive back was a good one?.

D

That's a great acquisition, Mike. Good that she was still drivable!

Yes it is lucky that it was still drivable, and more or less legal (but it could still have been a long discussion with a gendarme). It managed 8.2 litres pre 100km on the trip (avoiding autoroutes) thats 34.5 MPG in old money.

Other than the A/C and front lights, everything seems to work (ok the cruise control switch needs jiggling to find a clean portion of the contacts), and it does move when you put your foot down.

It has always been dealer serviced, but is starting to look a bit scruffy (paintwork and upholstery). It would be a great restoration project if they were worth any money.

My main aim is to have spares for all the hydraulic hoses, cooling system hoses and exhaust system, as these are unobtainable now for ES9 cars. I would also like to take the steering rack and front struts, but that will be more difficult (my garage is not very wide). I will also keep most of the other hydraulic and electrical components that I don't already have spares for.

Fortunately I have a bit of storage loft space above the garage.

Okay, that got me! I thought a disaster had occurred.

Brilliant buy and another vote here for the benefit of a parts car.

Well yesterday, I drove it 300km home, then in the evening, ran the engine for about 20 minutes while performing various lexia diagnostics (to find any potentially fautly parts before dismantling), and the engine sounded fine.

This morning I started the engine to check something, and was greeted with a cacophony:

Here is a .m4a shound file: link (I don't think i can directly embed the file in the forum, so you may need to download it and open it in an audio player).

I am pretty sure that the catalytic converter has internally disintegrated, but it is a bit of a coincidence, and would be very annoying if I intended to fix the car.

The sound file does not show up. And BTW, Mike, is the autobox original or has it been rebuilt? Just curious.

Jan-hendrik wrote:The sound file does not show up. And BTW, Mike, is the autobox original or has it been rebuilt? Just curious.

I will find another way of linking the sound file.
The transmission is original, and the fluid was changed for the previous owner.

Don't throw those headlamps away, I could probably use those reflectors.