Citroen XM Forum

Don't think so Mark, it was in P and wouldn't start, which is where it should be. I did move the selector through the gears, and tried P again. Nothing. But some digging around, I think I might do some relay swapping as my first investigation.
Ran out of energy this afternoon to try anything. Try tomorrow.

It did that to me on, I think, two occasions and self cured. I thought it may have been me not having the gear shift securely in park, but once it worked there didn't seem to be any way to diagnose a problem. The two occasions were a long time (almost a year) in between.

I think Mark /\ /\ might have meant "D" not "P".

I did mean D. Senior moment. Again.

don't worry Mark, happens to me all the time.... Like me leaving the handbrake on, twice in fact ....quite recently. Not for long, but I never forget.


That's interesting Rob, thanks for letting me know about the curious fault. I will go try it again later today.... You never know!
Did it always happen, if you can remember, when it was hot and all warmed up, or was it from cold?

Mine does that occasionally, but it's down to either the ignition switch or the wiring I think - there's been a wire fitted to the solenoid that you touch to the battery terminal when it refuses to turn, and that usually does the trick unless the battery is flat.

Ahhhh, interesting, thanks my Mike. I might just replace the ignition switch my other ignition switch and then have my old key back.

Haven't tried it yet, been out all morning.

Well I tried it after lunch and it fired into life first try. So now it's trying to illiminate this little issue. I read in the self help there is a fix for 2.1 auto starting. So might have to investigate this further. In the meantime, I think it might be wise to try my other ignition barrel.

Seems a night to think about it's actions has worked wonders!

mds141 wrote:You haven't left it in P have you? I did that once.

Surely it should start in P.

I meant D.

Well it seems dead ignition is catching amongst Citroens. The C5 played up yesterday. It did exactly the same thing as the XM. Driven it out to some friends near Ledbury last night, parked on the drive and switched engine off. Went to restart all electrics worked and guess what...dead engine. could hear clicks but no turn over of the engine.
Anyway, bump started it okay and drove to Eastnor Castle for some Firework displays. I dashed off to get a blanket out the boot halfway through the evening and tried to start the engine and it started first time. Has ever since. Really strange.
Thats both with maybe the same fault at the same time.