Citroen XM Forum

If fitting the passenger wiper arm to the drivers side effects a fix, it suggests they are reversed.
The drivers side won't normally sweep right from the scuttle to the edge of the windscreen A pillar trim.
Are the drive spigots the correct way round, as the crank on those may be different lengths, to affect the required larger sweep angle for the passenger wiper.

Suspension lamp should be top left of binnacle but won't work with Ecu disconnected, should illuminate when Sport is selected and for 3s at Ign on. Being an Sx model your Xm doesn't have an oil level gauge. The square Lcd in the gauges is the gear selector indicator: check for cracked solder joints.

That was my thought originally but swapping them means that whilst the driver's side sweep is fine, the lowest that the passenger arm can park without the arm striking the scuttle is at about 45 degrees.



And with the arms around the way I currently have them:



The two spindles/spigots are different lengths, so it isn't possible to fit them to the wrong side as one would protrude from the housing too far and the other wouldn't protrude far enough to get the arm on.

It's really got me racking my brain.

I don't recall the suspension light coming on in all the time I've had the car, so it looks like it is binnacle out time to check what the situation is with the bulb.

That's great to know that there is potentially a gear indicator on the dash as well, as one thing I think is really poorly thought out on the car is the gear shifter - I can't see that there is any form of indicator light/needle on the panel by the lever and the gaps between the gear positions are so small that it's hard to tell what gear you've engaged by feel. I've owned dozens of automatics and this is the only one I've noticed this in. All the other cars I've driven that had the gears laid out in a straight line normally had a moving red needle or filter to show what gear you were engaging.

The ABS sensors will be with me next week, so I will probably give the XM a good wash at the weekend and then swap it with the Proton MPi that's sat in the courtyard behind it so that I can strip it down ready to fit the new sensors once they land.

I meant to include this observation in my last post:

Whilst priming the fuel system last night, the weather was calm (unusual where I am during the winter as we are by the sea!) and I noticed a very high pitched, high speed 'bubbling' noise.

I didn't have a listening stick handy but it was most prominent with my ear against the pump. Despite this, I can't see an external leak on the pump.

It does lose prime within a minute or so though, which isn't great. I'll try and get a can of diesel ready tonight so that I can isolate the pump and test it again.

The latest positions for the wipers looks to be about right. The wipers rest just above the windscreen black border.
As you have already seen, the drivers side spindle crank gives about 87 degrees of sweep, the passenger side about 110 degrees.

It's possible the fuel primer diaphragm has a small split, which will allow air in when running, or switched off.
New diaphragms are available.

Time for a long overdue update!

My partner and I have had our second child in February, which is why I went off the radar a bit after Christmas as cars took something of a sideline whilst we found our balance with a new-born and a toddler.

To cut a long story short, the following things have happened since my last post:

• I removed the original fuel pump from the engine, and fitted the spare that I took from my spare engine

• This cured the starting problem, but the new fuel pump would cause the engine to run away and there was zero throttle control

• I filled the pump with ATF and left it to soak in for a week or two, whilst periodically shocking it and manipulating the moving parts

• That achieved nothing, so I took the top off to have a look at what was going on inside

• Taking the top off the original fuel pump on the bench revealed that the governor shaft on the spare was not actuating properly

• Freeing up the weights on the governor and actuating the shaft brought it back to life

• The car now runs, but starts lazily - I'm certain that the adjustment of the pump is slightly of and I'm confident I can cure that with a bit of playing

• I have a seal kit sat by to rebuild the original pump, I just have very limited spare time!

• I then was motivated to replace the offside rear ABS sensor. It wasn't a hard job, just a bit of a tedious one. The new sensor has sorted out the last of my ABS faults and I now have a warning light free dashboard

• Full of confidence, I booked an MOT for this Saturday

Have some pictures to illustrate the work:









































Sadly my celebration has been short lived, it appears that I have disturbed the brake pipe and it has ruptured. It weeps from beside the anti-roll bar.





I believe the part number is 4885C0 for the pipe that I need to replace; of course NLA. It's a 2116mm length of 3.5mm pipe, I have a suitable flaring tool here but I don't have the dies or the pipe at hand. Can anyone recommend a source for the parts? The best I've managed to track down is about £50 for 25ft of the piping locally and £30 for the dies on ebay... I was hoping to have the car done and in for a test on Saturday so it's a bit of a gut punch that I need to cancel that now and spend more money when I thought I was through the worst of it.

Good to see you are getting back onto this.
What sensor did you use on the rear ABS, simply the later Teves one, with blue connector?

Nice trick on the seized diesel pump.

For the pipe either Pleaides at Sawtry will make you one up to length, or try ECAS 2CV, as 2CV use the same citroen flares.
You might be lucky and a member, or Citroen specialist in Sussex can do one for you.

You can make a flare die easily, you just need some steel and a drill.

Links to relevant posts.
viewtopic.php?t=10390

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10390&start=10

Thank you, yes I used the later sensor with the blue connector - once again shaving the tab off the connector with a craft knife meant that it would fit, and the ECU seems happy with it so far. I feel like I fell on my feet by getting a car with the ABS ECU which can read both the higher and lower impedance sensors! The front sensor set me back something like £25 and the rear £45, which is much less than I expected having read some of the problems people have tracking down ABS sensors for these cars.

My work on the pump probably looks like a bit of a bodge, but knowing I have the original to rebuild properly meant that on the spare that's currently fitted I could be a bit more creative in finding a way to get it up and running in the interim

I'm a bit frustrated with myself for not having bought the dies and line previously, it's always something I've thought prudent to keep on the shelf but I've always put off spending the money. I have the vice mounted tool already for 'normal' brake flares so it's not a huge outlay to get a couple of extra flare dies. I'd love to have the satisfaction of making them myself, and have the tools to do so here, but by the time I've bought a bit of steel to make them from then I may as well have bought the pre-made ones that are about £30.

At any rate, I called Pleiades this morning and they get me sorted with a suitable length of line for £20 plus a bit of postage, which I think is very reasonable!

Would you recommend dropping the rear subframe? Looking at it briefly last night, I thought I may be able to get enough access by lowering the rear section of the exhaust. The real awkward part looks to be the bracket that clamps the line beside the anti-roll bar; undoing that looks like a whole world of misery.

Your pump bodge was good...it worked.

Definitely drop the rear subframe for any rear hydraulics work, it makes it so much easier.
Rear wheels off, spare wheel carrier out, rear and centre exhaust off, remove each fuel tank strap in turn to release the height selector rod, but then support the tank again, disconnect the ABS sensor loom.
After that it's just a case of undo the four bolts holding the subframe on, pull rearward to clear the fuel filler pipe and down it comes. Best to use a trolley jack and support beam.

As you already have the pipe flare jig, just buy a set of Citroen dies.

Did you remember to get some new seals from Pleaides.

iI'm a little overdue an update...

This car has been really trying my patience sadly.

I did get the lines and seals in from Pleaides. I didn't end up dropping the subframe, just the rear silencer and spare wheel carriage.



The exhuast mid section wasn't separating so I worked around it rather than make myself more problems.

I did spend some time laying under the XM wondering if I should be finishing this instead



It was fiddly, but I got the line sorted.







I bled the rear brake and all was good.

The last job was to fit a new tow bar socket bracket.



After that was done I was off for an MOT, here she is en route.



Whilst she was in for a test I got a call to say that the test had been abandoned due to a coolant leak.



That came as something as a surprise, as the temperature was a solid 90 degrees on the 8 or 9 mile drive there.

I topped the coolant off and limped it home.

Once home safely, I found my culprit.





The hose was deformed and was leaking sporadically. I had a spare hose on my spare engine, so I fitted that and all seemed well.

Whilst replacing the coolant hose, I also noticed the intake hose was split.



Once again the spare engine had an intact part to donate, so I was able to fix that easily.



I then took it for an MOT again. I got there first thing, and had no issues with leaks when I left it.



However, once again I got a call. This time it was leaking coolant and oil, and the test was abandoned. So once again I limped the car home.

I initially thought I had a leaking rad based on the cooland drips, but when I pressure tested the coolant system it held decent pressure and didn't leak.



My suspicion moved to the rad fan, and testing the switch revealed that I didn't have a 12v feed to the switch.

Between then and the next available day to work on the car, the key ended up going through the washing machine... I tested it afterwards and it stil worked. However it must have shorted out that night as by the next day it had a flat battery, and with a new battery added it would not unlock the car. To make matters worse, I discovered that all 3 lock barrels on the car are broken. Only one way in then...



This allowed me to unlock the car, turn the ignition on and re-sync the key with a long press of the lock button.

I had spare glass so I went about replacing this and hoovering up all the broken glass from inside the car and the door void.



After I replaced the glass, I discovered the door latch no longer worked, so I had to take this back out and clean all the broken glass out of that.



It took the best part of two days but I was now back to where I was before.

I set my sights back on the rad fan. After a bit of searching I found that cabin fuse 34 was blown. This 30a fuse apparently feeds the rad fan, alarm and hydractive system. I had noticed my alarm and hydractive were AWOL but it didn't click until I checked the fuse that they were all absent together.



I put a replacement fuse in, and it immediately blew out. Definitely a fault to find then.

I'd been in the hydractive ECU prevviously to resolder a broken diode, so this was my first port of call. I cut the diode out...



Then tested plugging the ECU back in...



The fuse stayed intact, and I now had working hydractive, alarm and power to the rad fan switch.

I repackaged the ECU, and I have since got the car up to temp and the rad fan works so that's that sorted hopefully.

The oil leak then:

The oil drips from here, what looks like a dogbone type link to the auto gearbox



It's definitely engine oil, not ATF.

I'm scratching my head over it as it's a long way from the engine. The rocker cover gasket has been suggested and I will be replacing that tomorrow in desperation.

I also found my PCV is very oily, and the hoses that it attaches to were not secured at all and the lower pipe had deformed from where the insert was pushed down. I duly secured all the pipes but I'm not sure the PCV should be that bad.







I also noticed that one of the intercooler hoses was not at all secured.



I sorted that out too.

Sadly I still seem to be dripping oil, which I'm certain will fail the MOT.

I also noticed that there is some LHM weeping out from somewhere. The lines on the chassis rail are wet by the bulkhead, but dry above and behind. I'm a tad worried that my steering rack is leaking, The leak collects here:





I've booked the car in for an MOT Saturday as I just want to get it in regardless and see what else it needs.

I would be really grateful for any suggestions as to the culprits for my oil leak and LHM leak though, it will hopefully help me speed up my troubleshooting.

I desperately want to get this car roadworthy, it's taken up so much of my time and effort at this point and it's now compromising my time with my young family and our plans for the summer sadly.