Citroen XM Forum

Dean wrote:.......bit late now but to remove the glass from the sunroof is 6 screws and 5 minutes work, there is no need to take the whole thing out or were you Investigating? Good job anyway, I take it your still enjoying the xm experience.

D

I had to remove the headliner anyway, so stupidly thought it might be just as easy to replace the whole assembly. The benefit with pulling the assembly out is that I could grease all of the cables and clean some of the gunk out. Not what we planned, but should hopefully have long-term benefits.

Quick query. The 'new' sunroof seal also has a gap where the two ends don't quite join up in the middle. Do I need to try and seal this gap to avoid future trouble?

Fit the new seal to provide not a gap, but 3 or 4mm of overlap/interference. Then superglue the ends together, in compression.
If you need to provide any after-fitting additional sealing between the seal and the glass (gaps between them), use black polyurethane adhesive. (Clean gap with alcohol first.)

I used 'new' to indicate it was new to the car. It's the original seal for that glass. I'll go for a bit of black sealant to fill the gap.

More miles in the XM.
Sunday morning, Bideford, Devon.


Back in Wales later that day.


Car behaved pretty well. I collected it straight from a garage where it had received a new timing belt, then put the hammer down and drove to Devon on the Friday. Alas, it did try overheating after a horrific jam on the M5 - it took half an hour to travel one mile. I had to resort to the heater on full blast as the needle crept up to the mark above 90 - it's my understanding that the fans should kick in at 90. Am I right? I have had the usual relay issues, so perhaps the problem is there again. No bother at all on the way home.

And today, it rained and not one drop ended up inside the car. Success! A more thorough test is forecast tomorrow it seems. I do need to readjust the assembly I think, as the glass is a little reluctant to drop down properly from the raised position. Slide back slightly then back to closed and it closes fine. Glad I haven't put the headlining back in yet, though I did miss the sunvisors at the weekend...

Sunroof saga continues. It isn't dropping down very well from tilt, and needs to slide back then forward again to close. As the glass hadn't been fitted to a car for many years, I'm wondering if a gentle tap with a soft hammer around the seal might help. It seems to be catching on the sides. Could do with getting it sorted this week, because it has been gloriously sunny and I still have the headlining out (am making a second attempt to reglue the cloth. One small section hadn't adhered).

This car will shortly become my only roadworthy Citroen, so I also plan to get the spheres changed to improve the ride. I still need to give the poor thing a service too. Has been about 15 months since the last one, though only about 4000 miles.

I had exactly the same problem with our sunroof last year when fitting a new seal. It went on properly, and centred properly, but was extremely tight in the roof aperture, to the point where the motor just wouldn't close it at all in a downward direction, and struggled to do it upward. Needed a helping hand.

I put this down to the new seal simply being new, chubby and not "bedded in". Have used a bit of WD40 on the pile, which does allow it to close. Time will compress it. It normally stays shut, anyway. (Would like to magic it away, TBH.)

Makes you wonder how new XMs coped with their new seals . . . until you remember that most of the cars sat around for months (or years) after manufacture and before sale. For some products, this is known as "being left out to season".

Like a fine cheese....left to mature. They are after all the correct shape!

There we are then. How French! I also urgently need some metal clips for the top half of the driver's door trim. They all seem to have fractured, and the rattle from the trim hitting the trim around the door is slowly sending me insane. In fact, it makes the suspension seem worse than it is, because it makes such a horrible noise over imperfections, right down your earhole.

Clips might still be available - check on service.citroen

Will do. At some point. I have however got the headlining and trim back in, which is a vast improvement.

I also decided to investigate the cooling fan issue, after they failed to kick in last month. Is there a fan on the radiator somewhere or are 'decisions' based on the sensor on the thermostat housing? I couldn't see a switch when I looked. My plan was to bridge the contacts and see what, if anything, happened. I'm still missing the fan speed relay, but all others are in place.