Citroen XM Forum

done over 4,000 miles now since i got her back on the road

i love this car so very much!

so the other day i decided i'd well

give it a good thrashing to clear her throat after a lot of town driving

all was fine

until yesterday, seems i've finished what's left of the pump seals off!¬

still waiting for the ones i ordered to arrive, no luck so i've ordered some more

decided not to drive the car until i can replace the seals, that's leaking a bit too much for me to be comfortable driving!

Do you have a picture, or accurate description, of where it's leaking from?
You might be able to perform either a temporary, or permanent, repair without the new seal kit.

All seals should be available from a local seals stockist. Most are just O rings, the nose seal is a standard V seal, ones for pivot bolts are crush washers, so a smear of sealant would probably fix any leak there.
If it's the high pressure delivery valves that are leaking, taking apart, cleaning and refitting with a smear of non-setting sealant on the threads will fix that.

it's leaking all around the pump, seemingly from where both parts of the pump join together.....the lid

the rest of it looks fine, not drawing in air and runs pretty well really

which is why i reckon an in situ replacement of the main seal should sort it out

I suspect the O ring has split: should be a relativaly easy fix.

where is said o ring located?

it's a large O ring situated between the upper and lower halves.
Access to the rear upper cover screws is likely to be a challenge with the pump still mounted.

ahhh yes, i know the one you mean

yes i can see it being a challenge, but i'm really rather reluctant to take a working pump off the car

If it needs removal, either remove the complete aluminium mounting from the engine block, or scribe a line between the pump and aluminium mounting as a reference to set the timing exactly as it is now.

And remove the pump leaving the timing at tdc and bolt the pully so it stays in place and doesn't disturb the belt.