Citroen XM Forum

Hi folks

We took the white estate on its first long journey (1000 miles+) this week and sampled the delights of the dales and moors of North Yorkshire, and a beautiful place it is. All went well for the first couple of hundred miles but as we left the services the low water light flashed on and off again, I didn't take much notice and a little further down the road it started raining - or so I thought, then the low water light came on permanently with a 'Stop immediatly' from the display (yes that works to, well mostly). As the temperature was normal and the heater still working I didn't consider the matter to urgent but stopped at the next services to investigate.

I opened the bonnet and my heart sank, water all over the top of the ECU box, immediatly I thought 'head gasket' but when I removed the filler cap there was little or no pressure, niether was there any evidence of water in the overflow pipe or on top of the header tank, I topped up the water and proceeded to Scotch corner Travelodge. On arrival I investigated the matter a little further and concluded that the water was actually coming from the join around the middle of the header tank.

I seem to remember a similar post a week or so ago, was it John? Anyway it seems I need a new header tank not hopefully a head gasket. I had to top it up a couple of times on the way home but found that if I drove in a manner that kept the temperature constant the water loss was minimal.

Does anyone happen to have a spare header tank? it looks from a distance the same as the one fitted to the 2.0 litre. The one on the green car unfortunatly suffered severence in the accident.

The really remarkable thing about the trip was the fuel consumption, I filled up on the way home with 862 miles on the clock, the low fuel light was not permantly on so I know that it would have done at least another 100 miles, I've done that with the light on! It took around 75 litres, I make that approximatly 52.179 mpg not a particularly remarkable consumption, I can get more than that going to Scotland, but when you consider the terrain we were covering much of the time, long steep hills including Tan Hill, location of the famous double glazing Inn, I thought it quite incredible.

Anyway, header tank anyone?

Thanks in anticipation.

Peter

Jings Peter,

I crow when I get 41mpg from the 2.1 auto!! I would love to get economy like that, yes, yes, I know I need the manual for that!

John had a problem with a 2.5 expansion bottle split around it's midriff.
I've had one go on my v6 24v s1 so the type that sits over on the offside
wing like yours is susceptible to going.

I'll see if I can find one as I'm sure the one you need is the same as a 2.0i.

Andrew

Hi Peter.

Lovely part of the world and certainly a pretty fair work out for any motor. We were in exactly the same place a month or so ago -- only thing that bugged me was the disc parking carry - on in some of the towns, with no clear notice of where to get them. Certainly wouldn't want to break down on some of those moorland stretches !

Mike.

Hi Robert

That's why I run a manual You need to change up before 2000 rpm to get that sort of fuel consumption - can't do it with an auto.

Andrew

I looked in the BOL and the picture looks the same, squarish tank with a flat top and two small pipes going off toward the engine. I think the 2.5 is round.

Mike

I try and steer clear of towns, we shopped at Tesco, big one at Catterick. We like the wide open spaces. I thought that the area around Tan Hill looks very much like the north of Scotland.

Peter

Should have one of those Peter.. Are they the same as the 2.oi turbo ones??


Paul

Hi Paul

Looks the same from the Haynes pics

Peter

It is indeed a lovely part of the country up there, we did a 'raid tan hill' event with the 2cv club in early january this year, it was fantastic, really bitterly cold though, even the heater in the 6 wheeler van (we dont have a 2cv!) was struggling to keep us warn. Excellent roads and scenery. Were the 3 old Dyanes still parked by the pub?

Did you visit the buttertubs pass Peter? Another fantastic place, i often pop over there on a weekend day for a nice run out and to walk the dogs, great places over that way.

Im impressed with your economy, ill have to see what ours can do! Ive heard these can get over 1000 miles on a full tank? Ive driven 100 miles with the light on in our 2.0 auto, so im sure its no trouble doing that and more at over 50MPG!

An old customer of my dads has a very nice 2000 2.1 auto Xm, he popped round last weekend for some help and his was getting just short of 40MPG on the trip computer. Not sure how much i believe these things as they are rarely right, but that means the manual sees sometimes 10MPG plus over the manual car. Its a lot to do with the earlier gearchanges i bet, but also the slip in the gearbox in 1st and second, i think? That wont help either.

Looking forward to using our 2.1 manual now

Glad your car made the trip ok, even with the water leak, atleast it should be something very simple to fix.

Chris.

Hi Chris

Didn't see any Dyan's, did see the 'snow cat' though and it sounds as though they have a pretty hefty generator running inside that container.

Buttertubbs pass, don't know which way that is, we went south, I think, down the lane nearly opposite the inn, very much like the north of Scotland.

I do like the colour of your new car, its the same as the one my son drives only in very much better condition, I didn't even realise it was metalic paint until I saw the sun shining on it. I think it would take a lot of work to bring it up like yours and the lacquer is peeling in places, but it has done nearly 250k.

I checked the water this morning and it had hardly gone down, then I realised that I had not screwed the cap down properly so no pressure - should have done that in the first place, or not done it.

Peter

Peter,

If andrew doesn't or cant sort you, give me a shout and Ill have a look for you over the weekend...

Paul