Citroen XM Forum

Good work, next your suspension fix. Nice car too!

Looking super smart now, one thing to consider is the Lambda sensor, glycol can poison them I believe.

D

Clever suspension tank fix. I like the idea of clear tubing for the pump pipe. I'm into clear pipes now.. Quite interesting seeing the fuel flow on mine. But with the LHM, easy to check the colour it.

Looking very smart that engine.

Hi Dean, I hope not - it's a recently - fitted genuine Bosch lamda sensor! wasn't cheap! I still have the original sensor but i think it's as old as the car. The head gasket going was not severe before the work so hopefully that wouldn't have been too damaging to the Lamda sensor?

Cheers Russ, I can't take credit for the mod to the LHM tank as it was covered some time ago on the FCF forum (including a VERY lengthy debate on the phenomenon of air bubbles in the tank) But it is still working. All you need is a pipe that extends vertically down from the return pipe inlet to a few mm from the bottom - basically as long as it's well below the LHM surface. I don't know why LHM has this tendency to bubble when it has fluid added to it as working hydraulic fluids tend to have anti-foaming agent in them to prevent this. I know from my Mountain biking that the suspension fork oil (same stuff as in motorbikes) has anti foaming agent in it so that the churning of the damper leg doesn't cause cavitation but on this the only air interplay is at the tank itself.

Anyway, car drove well today - still weak when cold and there's a definite lag to the throttle response - cleaning the throttle body hasn't improved it- but again I noticed that when it's idling a bit 'up 'n down' that a prod to the plug connector at the throttle position sensor can either restore smoothness or immediately cause it to falter and die and afterwards show up fault code 21- throttle position sensor... I think it might be time to splice in the replacement connector Dean sent me because I've cleaned the contacts many times now and it seems to be that when it's disturbed (such as lately carrying out the 'head work) that it runs a bit rubbish afterwards.

The idle control stepper motor is brand new Bosch (another shiny bit that's made no difference!) so I can at least try fixing the connection.

New problem! driver side headlight went out again but this time it's not coming back on! I -think- the two green relays above the driver side light are the relays for the dipped beam(?) certainly if I prod and wiggle the one towards the left side it makes the nearside light flicker and occasionally dim. Having one light in that meteor, sorry! snow shower earlier wasn't great.. Not got my wiring diagrams to hand so can't check the relays' uses.

Positive note: the front suspension harshness has gone and it's back to the way it was i.e not bad at all. There was a bit of pull to the right as well that has gone so I think the driver side caliper was sticking. I think the front brakes are due an overhaul to be honest.

Hi G,
Dip-beam is via a single relay, IIRC in front of the ECU box.
There is a separate fuse for each of the four headlight bulbs, engine bay fusebox.
Check also connectors to the bulbs themselves, the multiway to the headlight unit, and the earth returns.
Main beam is via fuses, but there is no relay: straight off the dip-switch (crazy!).
C.

Right o Chris, wonder what the relay next to it is for ( it's the same green type)

Lights as well, well mine are, i had dicky contacts in them both which gave me winking headlamps on full beam and other interesting issues, both of those relays supply the main lighting harnes which earths on the o/s wing with a plug to the o/s lamp unit, the harness then dives down to feed the o/s horn and indicator before running under the radiator to the n/s horn, indicator and headlamp unit. the dim dip relay is the furthest to the n/s on the n/s

D

All this work done and you are still trying to sell her?!

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C578846" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good luck, she will be a great car for the next owner! I would have been interested myself apart from the slight issue of too many pedals and about 550 miles!!!!!

Rob

That's true Rob but one car has to go and the work done was essential.. the 'head gasket was going! Anyway there's a chance I'll still have it in a year and for the mean time, it's my daily so it has to be reliable (enough..haha) but it's for sale 'long term' due to lack of interest. It'll be on the road at least till the end of April when the CX comes back out to play.

This evening I have been playing with LEDs again!

After the success of the LEDs in the seat switches and the doors I wanted a better sped of light behind the switch for the doors as it wasn't illuminating both arrows equally. I wanted to try making a double LED switch. So here is the first prototype


And lit up

it's pretty bright! and these are the standard 3mm white LEDs - not even the mega bright ones John sent me


And with the switch rocker back in place - it's lighting up both arrows now


I'll probably change the passenger door switch to a doubler as well and then the rear doors and then I'll be satisfied... see when you start something...

The LED craziness continues! There's a new LED here



It's a tell tale LED that lights with the Hydractive electro-valve so you can watch the switching and when it decides to switch to stiff mode.

It's quite interesting to watch and no need to tune the radio to LW. I can confirm the body movement sensor is working now after I had wondered how well it was working.

I also fitted the spare HP pump from a BX 16 to the car. It's structurally the same at the XM pump but has a smaller pulley so should spin faster at idle. I was hoping the PAS might be improved at low parking speeds as it's quite heavy on this car. I already changed the FDV to the Xantia one that has a larger center hole in the metering disk in the first valve that should let more LHM to the pinion valve but it wasn't a great difference.


The PAS is much lighter with this pump but it makes a racket when it's off load. The original XM pump is also noisy off load but this is worse. At least it doesn't seem to be drawing in air via the bearing shaft like the original pump seems to.


Still running well and coolant level stabilised so that's a relief!

I also had to clean the spark plugs as they were all glazed and I was getting an occasional misfire that I think is fixed now.

Good show - still cant get the trip computer to work with the hydractive ECU - it's either one works or the other... fault still seems to be in the speed interface unit or RH display unit.

Ah, I also fitted the new connector plug Dean sent me for the throttle position sensor - it is im near new looking condition unlike the grubby original. Unfortunately it hasn't changed the idle/ throttle control problem. Still no fault codes in the ECU.

I am now having a suspicion about the fuel pressure - I am wondering if it might be slightly low(??) I'll have to take it to a place to get that checked though.

Fixed the headlight problem too: oddly, the one light that had gone out was simply the bulb but it coincided with the relay for the lights giving problems, the relay makes the lights go off it it's prodded - there's a lot of corrosion on the terminals so I simply fitted a new relay from halfords and cleaned up the plug. The lights are working well now!!