Citroen XM Forum

Have a good look at the rubber from underneath, best assessed with the strut removed, it could be OK for a while or it may not, just be mindfull of it and keep a watchful eye.

D

Ooooo wow.. well spotted... with it that far up on the scuttle lip it be urgent... they most defo should not be that high up. Thats defo I sign of rubber tear... and will meet the bonnet soon. I know this from my old H reg sed blogged on here and when I took it off it was buggered..

What should I be looking for? And where? How easy is it to remove the strut top?

You need to be looking for this in the picture.
Jacking the front of the car with the suspension fully depressurised will show the fault if severe.

D

Changing a strut top takes about 30 mins.

Looking at the top of the strut head for condition tells you very little.
Only the visual position of the top of the strut relative to the top of the chassis rail behind.
This is the feature that Dean has commented on.
The working rubber is inside the strut head base plate.
The thin top layer of rubber over the surface of the base plate is cosmetic.
The working rubber is a ring around the strut.
On XM's the main cause of failure is Axial tearing of the rubber.
This starts on the underside of the rubber and tears as a circular ring about 75 to 80mm in diameter.
This torn ring slowly works its way up through the rubber.
It can only be seen from underneath at this stage.
The central hole in the metal base plate of the strut head is 90mm in diameter.
So as the tear approaches the top of the rubber the strut head has lost most of its strength.
The car chassis drops a little that side and the top of the strut rod pushes up closer to the bonnet.
If it gets really bad you may see indents in the insulation under the bonnet.
At the final stage the rubber tears completely and the bonnet takes the weight of that corner of the car.
The bonnet bends up a bit.

John

Many thanks for all the advice, so jack the car up and lower the suspension? Look under the wheel arch? Is there a "how to" guide for removing the strut?

If I was you I would be checking that the strut top is actually raised.
Photographs can have significant angular distortion.

Give those replying here some much more detailed photos both to the top and the underside.
For the photos of the underside you need to pull down the strut rod gaiter.
If it just falls away from the underside of the strut head that is worth noting.
Axial tearing removes much of the strength from the rubber ring on short tube strut heads that the gaiter locks onto.
Citroen changed to long tube for the final design of strut head.

Examination like this is not easy first time around.
There are photos on here of failed heads but they concentrate on the graphic results under the bonnet.
Not of the examination before the event.
There is very little reference information about what is good and what is bad.
That is mainly because this is an important issue with safety implications.
Whatever information is given the final safety decision is yours alone.

Getting someone local and experienced to look with you could be a way forward.

Try posting lots of detailed photos first though.

John

Thanks John, I'm gonna go up Saturday morning and have a look what's going on, will take lots of photos and I'll see if I can figure out how to remove the strut top. Again, any advice on this is greatly appreciated, and also how to store the pipe work etc when the strut(s) are removed.

The next step will be who to send them to for repair...

Removing a strut top is easy.
Jack the car up so the wheel is hanging, remove the sphere, undo the four nuts securing the metal plate to the inner wing, undo the centre nut, using a hardwood drift, give the top of the ram a sharp clout downwards with a lump hammer, pull the gaiter off and withdraw the strut top from below.

Many Thanks! Dieselman. This then will show me exactly what's going on with the strut top? Am I ok to just leave it off until the next course of action?