Citroen XM Forum

Good news Vince. Hope you can make it to the X Rally.

Work's work Vince. Don't kick a gift horse in the mouth.

Absolutely not....Im very appreciative.

Well, everything is ticking along nicely....Ive been told that i can stay as long as i want at my current job and permanently if i want, so thats a great weight off my mind and allows me to go to any interviews (next one on the 9th March) without any desperation...i can take things or leave them....such a refreshing place to be and stark comparison to where i have been since before christmas

The xm is performing well as usual....its only a short trip up the motorway where im working and not much traffic so just a cruise there and back each day. As such, this week ive done a full weeks commute on £20, which is just where i need fuel expenditure to be

I noticed the other day that the front end was a bit lazy getting up in comparison to the back...a good bout of citaerobics has cured it though and its back to normal again.

Ive also noticed a coolant weep from below the level sensor in the expansion tank....quick removal and inspection uncovered that the seal is missing ! That will be the problem then I dont know how thats happened...i guess when it was in getting the pump done everything was removed including the expansion bottle so its been lost at some point and not noticed. I'm sure ive got some O rings somewhere so i'll reseal it and that will stop the weep no doubt.

Other than that not much has happened....Im half way through repairing a small scab i had in the cill...just surface rust as the cills were repaired and are super solid, just aesthetic really...but ive cleaned the area up only to then find the paint i had has gone off and i cant afford any new paint until i get paid so it just looks a mess until then

At least its getting there and rust free so it will get done.

Well its Jack's birthday party today so i washed the xm up yesterday only to have it dirtied up again last night going to bolton to pick up something Linda won on ebay Dont know why i bother

I want to get it washed and hand waxed, but the weather is still sufficiently bad that it cant seem to stay dry long enough....

Finally, on the Pallas front, i had to scrap my old website (have i mentioned this already)? If not then...i had to scrap it as my payment protection insurance firm found it and asked me to provide a full explanation as to how this doesnt warrant a second income and therefore potential benefit fraud!!! I explained that if it was providing an income i wouldnt be at my wits end as to how im going to feed my family in the coming weeks and got so angry that in haste i just deleted it to underline my point to them. I regret it now though as ive lost almost all of my images and a bunch of hard work that took me ages to do...

Oh well...Ive created a new page at https://pallasar.wordpress.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which is a slightly different web address, but i have'nt gotten round to updating anything on it yet...but ill get round to it soon enough as i have an x5 i need to get done in the coming weeks....

Happy motoring folks...

Glad to see everyone had a great time at the x rally....To be honest I wish I'd have gone instead of fixing up the MR2 I did. Sure it was work and I got paid, but looking at the pictures of the x rally I really would have preferred being down there I'm going to try to make it to the northern rally on the Sunday this month...Linda is working on the Saturday, but I'm going to try my hardest to make it up for it

On the xm front, I've put some good time in now that the weather has been fine. I gave it a good wash yesterday as it hadn't been washed in 2 weeks which is unheard of for me Its because the MR2 has been on the drive in various states of work, and my hose doesn't stretch off the drive. It looks so much better now and I swear it drove better once it had been cleaned It must have been sulking before...I checked all the fluids and miraculously found my coolant temp switch seal in my toolbox...which has been AWOL for a few weeks so I removed the makeshift elastic band one I made and hey presto, no more dribbles.

Today I took the nosecone off and repaired it where i cracked it sometime ago. Its going to need some more resin in a day or so once its fully cured, but for now its back in one piece, so whilst it was off I Kurusted the bumper support bars again and cleaned and greased the bolts before refitting. They had got a bit rusty so need a touch up soon also to get them back to being silver.

I really really need to get my windows sorted out....I have an earth issue which means I only have one working rear window on the passenger side. I have a rear drivers side regulator but dont know how to fit it so I havent ever done it I have a friend close by who is going to re wire the front windows for me. From speaking to Paul Ive cleaned up the round door multiplug and Ive fitted replacement switches, but it worked for a day then nothing again, so definately an earth issue. The passenger side one needs a new regulator so Im thinking pick one up and get them both fitted at the same time with a trip to Paris Autos....unless they arent that hard to do

Other fantastic news is my sunroof has stopped leaking at last When I got the car off Paul it didnt leak for ages... then I disturbed it and its leaked ever since. Ive tried so many times to resettle it to no avail, but it must have finally resettled itself as its bone dry again now in the rain and I washed it yesterday including the sunroof of course and it remains dry = result To be honest it was never that bad..just a few drips if it was raining heavily, so I've just lived with it, but dry is better isn't it.

Money in the bank is still a challenge somewhat, but Ive been lucky getting Pallas work recently and I got a payrise on friday and a tax code change which should really help us get back on track. Work is secure though now so bring on rejoining life and society again

Off to Speke hall tomorrow for a day out.....weather is meant to be nice

I'm glad life seems to be smoothing out for you Vince, is the XM safe now then or are you still on the look out for something newer or another toy?

D

Dean wrote:I'm glad life seems to be smoothing out for you Vince, is the XM safe now then or are you still on the look out for something newer or another toy?

D

Its safe for now Dean yes I doubt it will be going anywhere before August / September time at the earliest....probably longer. I cant afford to take on a new older car project yet, and newer cars are so unreliable and expensive to fix that they scare the life out of me. I just don't have the income to run a modern car with their high running costs if something goes wrong, and the xm has had a bucket load spent on it to get it right.

The xm looks cool, is reliable, cheap to run, cheap to insure and old Citroens still are a huge passion of mine. There is nothing like them, and you don't see many round here so it will be staying for some time yet

before August...Vince that would be way too soon reading your post unless you win the lottery. Hang on to it because you, will regret getting rid of it. I cannot think of a cheaper car to drive myself at the moment by the way. And I drive a hell of a lot more than 20 pounds a week.. Anyways good to see all is good now!

captainhaddock wrote:before August...Vince that would be way too soon

It wont be before August and likely longer than that. I understand the you'll miss it if you sold it, and the prices will likely keep rising. The only way I wouldn't miss it is if I'd fallen out of love with it....which I haven't

The likely shape of years to come for me is, like many people, to have a more modern car as a daily driver, or Linda be driving and have her own car which we can use as a family car, and me own a classic car...just for me. Thinking about it, if I had the money, it would likely be a Citroen GS, or a Dyane. There is something about those models that just ticks a box for me

But as I've said, and I don't want to keep discussing this, I've no plans to sell it anytime soon. I just want to enjoy owning and driving it this year, getting to some shows and posting up more on here now that life has started to get back to normal again

Apologies...its been a little while again

Took the day off today to spend some time with the kids and play with the xm a bit....

Given it a good wash and the interior a brush out. Going to give all the interior plastics a good dressing and also try to remove a stain off the back seat which looks like rust, but its no doubt something like food that Jack has been eating that has been mashed into the seat...

Im looking forward to making the northern rally but Im racking up the miles at the moment travelling to Nottingham and back to see my brother who was involved in a major road traffic accident last week and has been in a coma ever since He is making steady progress, but I'm back down tomorrow for a couple of days visiting before coming back up again. Next weekend, the weekend of the rally Linda is working on the saturday so I wont be going down anyway as I havent enough time left, but depending on his condition I am still planning on making it to the rally

I could do with a couple of bits for mine as Im keeping it for now so I need to fix some little things. Ill post up in the for sale/wanted section though

Safe driving folks