My Citroen XM 3.0 PR-Vestige

[Dean]

Oh the shame, FAIL

The lower balljoint has a split in the dust cover and someone forgot to plug the reversing lights back in, will have to get a new cover from the bay and turn it round quick.

D

[Eddie nuff]

Hang on;

The lower balljoint has a split in the dust cover and someone forgot to plug the reversing lights back in

and he failed it!

Jesus wept Dean, I'd be looking for a new tester.

[Dean]

They plugged the lights back in for me but since 2012 anything so much as a pin hole in a boot of any kind is a fail. Actually rather annoyed with myself as in the back of my mind i remeber doing it while seperating the joint (its a pinch about biro tip size) and didnt get round to replacing it. Im anoyed as its the cars first ever fail, and as for not checking all the lights were working........such shame.

Just spent £15 on 20 assorted balljoint covers, hopefully be here for the weekend so i will pop all the joints and fit new covers to both lower and outer track rod joints as they track rod ones are a bit perished.

Just annoyed with myself after all the other work ive done.

D

[Eddie nuff]

. . . but since 2012 anything so much as a pin hole in a boot of any kind is a fail.

Seriously?! Didn't know nowt about that.

[Dean]

Although, to me, surely such a small hole could vanish with a bit of silicone on a finger and an advisory note.

D

[russ92xmsed]

Darn. Bad luck Dean. That is very strict about the ball joint cover.

[ekjdm14]

Although, to me, surely such a small hole could vanish with a bit of silicone on a finger and an advisory note.

D

While I understand this recent MoT stipulation can be frustrating, it's probably not as frustrating (and dangerous) as having a lower swivel or track rod end pop out of joint at any speed. It's shocking how quick a joint can deteriorate once some salty crap gets in with the grease, the N/S lower swivel on our ZX went from zero play but with a perished boot in early December, to a rattly and close to popping-out mess of rust and grinding paste 2100 miles later in February so I can well understand the reasoning behind a damaged boot being a fail, having seen how quick a ball joint can go downhill once the weather gets in

All the same sorry it wasn't a pass, and at least it didn't fail as spectacularly as ours has done every year for the last 5 or so (Some of the fail slips run to two pages!). Fingers crossed it'll be a different story next time it's put in for the ticket.

[Dean]

Well, it gets better, left work and picked littlun up, 2 minutes up the road, "daddy?, I don't like your new car! It make me feeling bluuuuuaaaaaaa" yep puked all over the place, so after 2 minutes of her doing the stand of shame in a lay by just outside Newport while i scoop sick up with my hands and doing the best cleaning I can with my T shirt to be able to continue our journey home we set off againand im thinking things like god that's a good smell, and anyone who is removing the sunroof in their XM is a jeffing idiot because nothing airs a car like all the windows open with the sunroof.

Then the abs light comes on and goes off, did I see that or was it the sun? No it was the abs as it came on and went off seemingly randomly. Not a problem, I have spare sensors, I have spare everything in fact and a Lexis, no more resistance probing for me, just plug in confirm with live data and fix, simple right? The hell it is.

First the soapy water and vaxing and picking up carrot from under the seat and in the door pockets when she hasnt eaten carrot for days, and the smell of warm soapy carrot sick and vax fluid............anyway, Lexia struts its stuff and I swear I've not seen that many codes anywhere ever, every wheel sensor had speed issues, open circuit, ECU speed reference, safety relay, ECU supply, wheel pulse solenoids all open circuit, short circuit and synchronisation faults all at once, I kid you not there were pages of the bloody things,23 in fact, none of which were present before the ECU blinked its light for a fraction of a second every now and again on the way home, wiped em off and went to have a brandy, its been one of them days.

Tomorrow me and the kayak are going out for the evening, for a long relaxing time.

D

[cxprestigeauto]

Dean, I feel for you.

The frustration of something not working as it should, especially after you have put in so much effort.

As to the small child. All been there. Usually the one throwing up in the car is my wife!

Rob

[russ92xmsed]

Oh no!

Putting my Mystic Meg hat on here.... I see a future of rubber carpet mats, rug over the back seat, a bucket and plenty of wet wipes and a roll of black bin liners in the boot at all times!

A tip... Try putting a container of baking soda in the car. It's meant to absorb nasty smells. But maybe not in full view. Can look like special substances!