Citroen XM Forum

I did note it is 180 degrees round the pulley, but it's on the inside, so not visible when assembled.

I wondered if the arrow indicated the point the oil pump sprocket should be aligned to, but decided not to as: A; the sprocket abuts a fully circular crank journal and B; the sprocket keyway was originally offset, as I have now set it again.

As the arrow is not pointing inwards, I wonder if it is simply a direction arrow, or even just a makers mark.

I feel like I'm going round in circles here.

I started the engine and let it run for some minutes, including revving and all seemed well, no oil leak, so I loosened the main crank pulley bolt to be able to refit the timing belt cover and oil ran down the face of the block and dripped off.

Removing the timing belt again and further dismantling showed the oil seal to be leaking.
I tried to pry the seal out to no avail, so drilled, screwed in a screw and pulled it out which revealed the tension spring had come off the seal. I don't know if this came off as a result of prying, but suspect it had already come off, causing the Vee lip to have no pressure against the crank journal.

It is possible for the springs to come off when fitting the seal and I should really have packed the spring with grease to reduce the risk of that happening, but the manufacturer states to install the seal dry. I acquired another seal, this time an Elring 107.130, which is for C5, C6, etc and is one piece with no spring. Instead of a double Vee lip and clockwise sipes, it uses a continuous clockwise scroll, to deflect oil back into the engine.

It also comes with a fitting sleeve to ensure it rides onto the journal readily. I should have made one for the first seal, but am sure it went on without issue and don't think the spring came off at that point.
I didn't think the silicone could have contacted the seal, but it was only inside the recess of the pulley. The seal has an external dust seal, so even if it had made contact, it couldn't go past that.
I refitted the timing belt using the jamming it on the fuel pump and rotating the crank backwards half a tooth, method. I only needed the upper engine mount off to refit the upper rear timing cover.
I also fitted a new hydraulic pump belt, which at 1085mm was slightly too tight to be able to work it over the pulley, so I pushed it on until it gripped then manually wound the engine forwards to wind it on.

I intend to splash some fresh paint onto the subframes. I have previously painted them using bitumastic paint, which is OK, but due to being a soft paint has worn off.
Having jacked the car up I removed the front bumper and while having good access, decided to remove the bolts up through the bottom of the radiator support unit. These have been out previously, but probably not for ten years, or more. They do suffer from road splash and can seize in badly. These had indeed seized, but not terribly.
When coming across this and removing the radiator support unit I have previously cut the bolt heads off, removed the support and dealt with the caged nut afterwards, but am not removing the radiator support, so decided to unscrew the bolts.
The problem is that even a small mount of rust in the bolt threads causes the caged nut to spin in it's pressed steel housing, which is fully enclosed inside the composite radiator support unit.

I opted to drill a couple of holes and cut between them to create a slot, then was able to tap in a 17mm spanner to hold the caged nut, while undoing the T35 bolt.
After removal I cleaned the bolt and nut threads, re-installed the nut and reformed the caged nut, sprayed with zinc primer and top-coat, bolted it back together and sealed the slot to stop water ingress, also with anti-seize copper grease on the bolt threads.

While the car has had the front sitting on high axle stands I have noticed a drop of gear oil under the car, which was rather annoying as I have solved all engine/gearbox running oil leaks.

It transpires that due to the car being tilted, the gear oil is migrating up the speedometer drive unit, which is mounted on the rear of the gearbox housing and leaking out of the drive unit to cable joint.

I have fitted two new, 13.6*2.7mm, O rings to see if this effects a fix. Even if the O rings can't contain the oil, it will resolve once the car is back on it's own wheels.

The front subframe and wheel-house areas had a good rotary wire brushing and coating with anti-corrosion primer and two coats of machinery enamel.

All these items have been painted previously, but it was time for a going over and I think this paint will be more durable.

I removed the bumper beam and painted the inside and top edge and also really cleaned out the wheelhouse recesses out-board of the strut towers, as these collect road dirt which causes rot of the inner wing at that point.

I jacked up the rear end of the car to drop the rear subframe for cleaning up and painting. Again, I had painted this in bitumastic paint some time ago...at least 10 years. A look under the rear floor area showed all to be well.
Before going further remember to depressurise the hydraulics, so you can easily remove the three spheres to improve access. Run the engine, lower the height selector to the bottom setting, open the 12mm bleed bolt on the regulator then switch off the engine.
I had forgotten to do this so had to do it with the exhaust off, which isn't really an issue with a turbo diesel. Petrol engines aren't so forgiving.
One sphere came loose just using my hands, one required a good left hand grip and a tap with a lump hammer, the hydractive one required a good left hand grip and six taps with a lump hammer. The spheres have been on two, or three years...or so.

To lower the subframe disconnect the height selection rod, so undo the small bolt and twist the "flag" off the end of the rod, remove the spare wheel carrier, the exhaust from the centre of the car backwards, then right side fuel tank support strap and replace the bolt back into the tank to support it.
Remove the fuel tank centre support strap and unclip the height selector rod from it, then loosen the front and rear subframe mount bolts.
I had positioned the axle stands under the rear jacking points and the fuel filler pipe was obscuring straight access to the right side front subframe bolt, so I used a crows foot to access that bolt.
Remove the plastic hydraulics pipe cover under the car and unclip the pipes from the centre to the rear of the car floor, just to allow flexibility.

Support the rear subframe on a trolley jack and beam, undo the four mounting bolts and pull the subframe backwards to clear the fuel filler pipe, then lower onto axle stands

I removed the fixings and pulled out the wheel-house liners, removed the rear lights to access the bumper fixings and removed the bumper. One side fixing captive nut broke free of the bumper bracket, so became a bit challenging, but I was able to pull it through the plate to remove the bumper. I'll weld a new nut in to the bumper plate.
I don't recall ever removing the rear bumper supports and note the left one has a small mount of deformation in the ribs where the studs pass thorough
On removal the rear panel showed some rust around the holes and a little damage. I'd need to check, but that damage might be where the exhaust tailpipe exits the bumper: maybe a tailpipe has been forced upward at some stage.

I taped up the rear light apertures to stop water ingress and decided to remove the rear brake back-plates to paint them. I expected the steel bolts into the aluminium suspension arms to be very seized in, but after a spray with WD40 and a bit of working they were out. Only one caused an issue due to the bolt head having rusted down so a 10mm socket no longer gripped...a 3/8" socket worked fine.
I lifted the boot carpet to remove the rear subframe mounts and found the two side liner bolts on the left side to be seized into the captive nuts. I also noted a little surface rust on the left side, so think the rear light seal has been leaking water in.
Under the floor, including the cruciform section where the rear subframe mount bolts onto all appears sound. I rebuilt these sections when acquiring the car in 2011 and rust proofed the box sections.

The subframe was wire wheeled to remove rust and paint, at which point I found one rusty section.

I have cut that out and given all bare areas a good scrub with mild acid to remove residual rust. I particularly wanted to ensure the large tube inside the closed section was in good condition. It is.
I washed down with water which has then caused instant flash rust, which is what is visible in these images and I will need to rub off again.

These subframes tend to rot on the upper section as dirt/mud/salt becomes trapped between the car chassis rail and the top of the subframe. The subframes are only painted in black primer originally and have manufacturing locating holes in the upper sheet of steel, so tend to leak water between parts made of two layers.
The main tube can rot at the ends, due to the trapped dirt. It's unusual for the lower frame to rot, though I have seen one, which was a good indicator to the condition of the car.
I'll complete the upper side of the subframe then refit it to the body before rubbing down and painting the underside.

I cleaned up the flash rust then sprayed the main tube with primer and made a piece and welded it in.
I then cut out a section towards the rear on the right side top. This is another double skinned section which due to having a locating hole in the upper layer only, suffers water intrusion. I had previously repaired the left side some years ago, which is still fine.
Water enters the layers and corrodes the metal inside, causing rust jacking with the upper layer visibly distorted. Cutting off the upper layer revealed a good thickness (about 3mm) of compacted rust, which took a lot of removal and breaking down before the good lower layer was vsible.

3mm of rust is 0.25mm of steel lost, so not really an issue, as it mainly seems to be the upper layer, which I am replacing.

The view after about 4 hours of cutting, wire wheeling, centre punch, Multi-tool and acid treatment.

Cleaned out more inside the double skinned section, primed and welded in a repair patch.
The previously mentioned section had already been welded in.
Other repair welded in.

I'm not going to bother polishing the welds off, as it's on the subframe and I would rather have strength than appearance.