Citroen XM Forum

The XM is firmer than Citroens before and has damping at half the frequency to stop any undulating. I suspect some of the spheres are not fully charges.
Were the centre spheres definitely changed as they are what gives the supple soft mode ride.

The rear lights warning will be the connections tot eh rear clusters. Part them, bend the contacts to be a bit tighter, spray some oil or switch cleaner onto the contacts then reconnect a few times.

If you can't live with the flaws, bring it over here and I'll give you what you paid for it!!

I just realised which car we are talking about here. I was pretty close to thinking about buying that one, it's a cracker of an XM.

It was a nice one. Bargain!!!

Thanks for the thumbs up! No, I won't be selling it in a hurry as I'm really happy with it and enjoying XM-ing thus far!

I don't know if the central spheres were changed, the four corners certainly were as the car failed its MOT in 2009 for lack of suspension movement. Then again the failure happened at a Citroen dealer, so I'd be surprised if they restricted their replacements to just the corner spheres. When I get it up on a ramp I'll be able to look at their condition and judge if they are roughly the same age. Whether they did or did not change the centre spheres, are they likely to have lost any pressure over 3 years of doing very few miles? I'm tempted to upgrade to comfort spheres in time, to rekindle the Cx magic ride. When all's said and done, this XM still feels very comfortable and plush compared to modern cars and the key reason for me buying the XM was its chassis comfort.

A quick test of the centre spheres is to run the engine and bounce test the car then engage sport mode and repeat.

When I bought my car it had been given 12Mths mot at a Citroen dealer where the Guy selling it worked.

It had leaking FDV, Leaking diesel pump and all three spheres on the rear were ruptured. It rode like a slammed Corsa...

Very good to hear the car has gone to an enthusiast and hope to meet you both at a future CCC event! With regards, Matthew T.

Lucikly when I bought the car it only had 3 days ticket left to run, and the salesman was desperate to sell it before it ran out, so I knew I wasn't buying a car with a 'friendly' MOT. I presume he didn't want to risk MOTing and finding that it fails on something as he was selling it on behalf of the widow of the previous owner and there wasn't much if any money in it for him. I took advantage of the Citroen 4+ fixed price servicing and repairs deal, that offered an MOT for only £40 with a service, and needless to say the car passed first time with only a couple of tyres on the advisory.

To test the central spheres, what could I detect if I bounce the car with the Sport mode engaged and disengaged? I can feel on the road that Sport feels much firmer than Auto and significantly improves the handling. I'd be surprised if a Citroen dealer didn't take the opportunity to replace the central spheres when they did the four corners! Now that I've been driving around in it a bit more I'm being perhaps unfair in giving the impression that it's bouncy, it's more that it's just lacking the waft of older Citroens. Some of you may drive the car and say that it's the best riding XM you've ever been in. 3 of the tyres are also old and hard, which won't do the ride any favours. Its long periods of standing still are unlikely to have done the hydraulic system any favours so with new tyres and plenty of use I have faith that it'll get better as all the mechanical components and height correctors get some exercise.

Very pleased to see this car turned out to be the bargin it looked in the advert.
Also that it has gone to a good home.
Best of luck with it Stefan, enjoy your XM experience.

John