I've done a silly......CITROEN XM

[Missy Charm]

5 hours ago, wesacosa said:

that one came up for sale recently, its in. bit of a state now

The car got into a state because Dusty wasn't able to buy any spares for it.  She tried, but was terrible at describing what she required; a Citroën parts man in North London is still looking for a something  'like circle in a circle, or a wheel within a wheel'.  

[RoverFolkUs]

4 hours ago, maxxo said:

If its say £300 to get it through then they can just do it

But yes its worth it I reckon 

 

That would be quite a result if that's all it takes!

[FakeConcern]

I made a cassette of this to play in my XM...

 

 

[richardmorris]

15 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

I made a cassette of this to play in my XM...

 

 

I think Citroens in the 1980s and 90s came with a cassette to play. But whether this was music or info I do not know,

[Datsuncog]

4 hours ago, Missy Charm said:

a Citroën parts man in North London is still looking for a something  'like circle in a circle, or a wheel within a wheel'

@wesacosa- confusion no more!

(Pretty decent music/shite joke, IMHO)

[maxxo]

so i've started doing some light tinkering after work today

look at it! doesn't it look fantastic!

so, had a look underneath, it's 99% fine surprisingly, however there is some rot towards the rear, not bad not brilliant either

MOT fail level, i don't know but it's not horrific and certainly repairable

sills are quite solid, some surface corrosion but i feel some good old kurust stuff on it and it'll be fine, perhaps some underseal too

bodywork wise, this is the worst

i think i may have caught that just in time you know, the metal is still solid, jacking points still straight thankfully

so, i've spent some time trying to remove some of the awful tape residue from the dash

managed to get it looking like this, which i don't think is too bad for a first attempt with many random cleaning products

as it turns out, it has a dealer fitted alarm and immobiliser, now i'm 99% sure that's the problem

so, i've been reading the book pack and i've worked out how you can override it......very simple too, really poor security but oh well

so that's my next thing to try, of course, after sorting the supply to the solenoid as it was modified to be able to get it running

also going to order a glow plug relay tomorrow and see if that helps anything, surely worth replacing anyway

gave the interior a good clean, found most the missing parts lying around too and honestly it's not in bad condition at all really

it's deposited most of it's LHM onto the garage floor from a suspected failed return line, i presume whilst it's sinking it's pissing it out everywhere

but yes, it's a bit better than i expected

in about 2-3 weeks i'll take it for an MOT, like i said £50 for a list of stuff to do isn't bad

you never know, it may just need a bit of welding a few other little things and then it's roadworthy

 

now, headlights, it has aftermarket HID lamps fitted, i am very tempted to remove them and fit original units in it's place, as it will likely look better and removed a lot of the aftermarket wiring crap

oh and replace all of the LED bulbs with proper incandescent ones that will likely work

i'm going to pop to halfords on monday, buy bulbs, another set of stands so i can have 4 wheels off the ground and few other little pieces and see where i end up

 

i must admit, i'm feeling quite confident

 

i suspect it could do with a timing belt, i don't want to do that myself as access looks awful so i'll likely grabd a quote from my usual garage for it, after i've done a couple of miles in it to make sure all is well

 

sorry for not a huge update, been at work all day so didn't have much time to do stuff tonight

 

[maxxo]

now, anyone got any reccomendations for some good persuasion fluid?

got a siezed height control lever, i'm fairly certain i know where it is but i need it un siezed

[Fumbler]

1 minute ago, maxxo said:

you never know, it may just need a bit of welding a few other little things and then it's roadworthy

Oh boy. I hope so.

[maxxo]

5 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

Oh boy. I hope so.

i hope so too!

[wesacosa]

4 minutes ago, maxxo said:

now, anyone got any reccomendations for some good persuasion fluid?

got a siezed height control lever, i'm fairly certain i know where it is but i need it un siezed

Plusgas

[maxxo]

6 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

Plusgas

shall grabd some on monday

[wesacosa]

8 minutes ago, maxxo said:

so i've started doing some light tinkering after work today

look at it! doesn't it look fantastic!

so, had a look underneath, it's 99% fine surprisingly, however there is some rot towards the rear, not bad not brilliant either

MOT fail level, i don't know but it's not horrific and certainly repairable

sills are quite solid, some surface corrosion but i feel some good old kurust stuff on it and it'll be fine, perhaps some underseal too

bodywork wise, this is the worst

i think i may have caught that just in time you know, the metal is still solid, jacking points still straight thankfully

so, i've spent some time trying to remove some of the awful tape residue from the dash

managed to get it looking like this, which i don't think is too bad for a first attempt with many random cleaning products

as it turns out, it has a dealer fitted alarm and immobiliser, now i'm 99% sure that's the problem

so, i've been reading the book pack and i've worked out how you can override it......very simple too, really poor security but oh well

so that's my next thing to try, of course, after sorting the supply to the solenoid as it was modified to be able to get it running

also going to order a glow plug relay tomorrow and see if that helps anything, surely worth replacing anyway

gave the interior a good clean, found most the missing parts lying around too and honestly it's not in bad condition at all really

it's deposited most of it's LHM onto the garage floor from a suspected failed return line, i presume whilst it's sinking it's pissing it out everywhere

but yes, it's a bit better than i expected

in about 2-3 weeks i'll take it for an MOT, like i said £50 for a list of stuff to do isn't bad

you never know, it may just need a bit of welding a few other little things and then it's roadworthy

 

 

i suspect it could do with a timing belt, i don't want to do that myself as access looks awful so i'll likely grabd a quote from my usual garage for it, after i've done a couple of miles in it to make sure all is well

 

Cambelt itself isn't too bad actually, its if you need to change the tensioner its a crappy job. OEM tensioner is pretty good quality and doesn't need doing every belt change but if you have an aftermarket replacement it might be wise to do it   Be warned though, if you have a garage do it I suspect they might end up going over the quote if they have to do the tensioner as its really bloody awkward

[maxxo]

22 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

Cambelt itself isn't too bad actually, its if you need to change the tensioner its a crappy job. OEM tensioner is pretty good quality and doesn't need doing every belt change but if you have an aftermarket replacement it might be wise to do it   Be warned though, if you have a garage do it I suspect they might end up going over the quote if they have to do the tensioner as its really bloody awkward

me and my garage have an agreement, if it's going to be up to 150 over it's fine, i've told them i understand stuff goes wrong

plus they're the only place round here that know citroens, and do what they say they will and are actually honest

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

@wesacosa- confusion no more!

(Pretty decent music/shite joke, IMHO)

Indeed, but I prefer the Elaine Paige version. Great song though

[Crackers]

It just looks great. Best of luck with getting it back on the road, sounds like you've got it planned out! 

[myglaren]

10 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Indeed, but I prefer the Elaine Paige version. Great song though

Has to be Noel Harrison!

[jonathan_dyane]

I'm rather envious, that looks great

You can fit a heater fan out of a 406 which you're more likely to find in a scrapyard although from memory there was two different heater set ups in the 406 and only one is compatible

[riek]

For the tape residue, get some Zep sticky stuff remover. Screwfix have it and it's magic.

[grogee]

12 hours ago, maxxo said:

 

sills are quite solid, some surface corrosion but i feel some good old kurust stuff on it and it'll be fine, perhaps some underseal too

bodywork wise, this is the worst

i think i may have caught that just in time you know, the metal is still solid, jacking points still straight thankfully

 

[grogee]

As for the sticky residue - I successfully got some grot off recently with paraffin, give it a go

[maxxo]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

 

Perfect description of the car!

[maxxo]

Some more tinkering today

No voltage on pin 1 of the plug relay, 12v on pin 3.....

Also seems cruise is mostly installed, got the cruise ecu and the vacuum pump runs when the ignition is on

 

[maxxo]

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

This is gonna be great fun

 

[RoverFolkUs]

Maybe try WD-40 on the sticky stuff, although I'd be cautious and start with an inconspicuous area first.

Also a vote from me to return the lights all to factory and remove any aftermarket LEDs/HIDs

[RoverFolkUs]

Just now, maxxo said:

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

This is gonna be great fun

 

'kinell that's light work compared to some newer cars! I wish they were all as "simple" as that. Still, have fun with it!

[maxxo]

Hmmmm there's this black box

Somewhere I'd not expect to see a black box of tricks

I wonder.....could that be the immobiliser and alarm?

[maxxo]

Putting it back together now, going to check some connectors under the LHM tank

[DVee8]

@maxxo, you need to have a North East AS meet, at your garage. So we can all look at this fine machine. 

[jamescarruthers]

On pretty much any car except the XM I would say ditch the HIDs but the XM has average-at-best headlights due to a few bits of wonderful design that didn’t quite work out in reality as the were at the cutting edge of modern lights as we know them.  There will be some lenses (maybe missing from yours now) and they will be yellowed with age. Plus the self levelling suspension is meant for such things.
 

I do agree that the colour of yours is pretty awful. Can you change the bulbs? I have yellow HIDs in the C6 and they look ace, would look even better in your XM IMHO.

There was  a huge topic about retrofitting HIDs to the XM years ago on Club XM and someone put a real good amount of work in to it. There can’t be many people who have bothered so maybe it’s your car?!  However, I’m not sure of the legality of a conversion nowadays but you could always leave “as is” unless you fail— I think it is a failure but if a good installation you may get away with it  

Good luck with it all and hope you can get it going soon  

 

 

 

 

 

[jamescarruthers]

Here’s Ray’s post and I think it is your car, if it used to be L592 EVN

http://www.club-xm.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=7873