Citroen XM 3.0 24V- Can It Be The End Of The Weirdness?! 

Told you so😆😆👍👍(cap and rotor). Great to hear the engine run/sound as it should 👍. When you test drive the XM, on third gear . Rev it to red and shift to fourth gear, then rev to red and put in fifth gear. You will love it😁😁😁. You will have a big grin on you face.

My utmost admiration that you dare to take on an XM, just new enough that it has a million electric bits that can go wrong and just old enough that they are probably mostly unobtainium.

Sweet! That’s why the basic maintenance for older cars always included changing the plugs, cap, contact and even the leads. It does not cost a lot and the effects are very substantial. I don’t remember ever buying an old car and not doing this. It just makes a huge difference for such a small investment.

Distributer cap/rotor problems can masquerade as so many other problems! I had a 2001 Chevrolet Express G20 full-size van. It wasn't a daily driver but was our weekend getaway vehicle. Consequently, it would sometimes sit for weeks at a time. One day I went to start it and the starter struggled, stopped, sped-up and slowed-down. I thought the starter was bad, and since the battery was 4 years old, I replaced them both...absolutely no change except to the amount of money in my wallet. I read on-line that sometimes if there's water in the distributer cap, the coil will fire to the wrong spark plug, and that this was most common on vehicles that were parked outside, and seldomly driven. So, I took off the doghouse (a PITA job) and popped off the distributer cap. Not only was it severely corroded inside, there was water DRIPPING out of the distributor cap. Somehow water was getting into the distributer cap and not evaporating out. I replaced the cap, rotor and wires and made sure the cap was well sealed against the distributor body. Six months later, same problem. Somehow, water or condensate could get into the distributor cap, but couldn't get back out. I replaced cap and rotor again, except this time I drilled a ~4mm hole in the top of the cap to give evaporating water a place to escape. I never had a problem with it for the next 10 years!

really happy you found the problem at last ,everthing is obvious once its solved .

So it was the distributor. Very good fix. Nice work. Makes sense by the synthoms of REV counter going nuts.

happy too see you solved the issue, I know the pain of chasing illusive problem (trying to solve slight surge under slow acceleration on e36 for years without success)

Yes, IAC is same unit on the Saab 900. I’ve cleaned/replaced it on my 900s over the years.

That cap looks just like the one from a PRV V6, and Alfa 164 V6. I had a late Peugeot 505 V6, that the previous owner had for years, and could never get running. Of course I checked the cap-it was rotten.... Not burned, actually dissolved!

This car is now 100% better than it was, well done! I have had a few older cars with similar problems of hairline cracks in the distributer cap. It's surprising just how little the crack can be to cause the spark to take a different route to where it's supposed to go. All it takes is a tiny bit of moisture or carbon dust to cause havoc.

I bought 4 distributor fingers for my '88 VW transporter- only one worked- they looked identical.. absolutely worth just changing it and trying another one without actually knowing what is broken about it

Strip out and clean the throttle body and the IAC valve and it will be purring,well done and good luck.

Well done. Congratulations on your diagnostic skills. You’d make a good detective!

You could have tested the theory with a heat gun (or air dryer): heat just the distributor cap with the cold engine and see if it will start

I'm using babyoil....well of course you are - love it!!

Really love that sound!

The beep beep beep beep of the security code before starting is so classic. I love this car.

I had the same problem with my car, changed out for a new coil unit and works perfectly always now.

A very good idea on the disturbtor cap only showing when hot.

Changing the sparkplug leads made a massive difference for me when I was reviving an old honda.

Thank you, before I started to watch this series I would of easily bought an XM, especially the flagship V6! Great consumer advice. 👍

What i do when searching parts, i take that old part and look for partnumber, search and cross reference it by oem number

Sounds way better. Good job. Just looking under that bonnet makes me panic.

Do a dye penetration on the dizzy cap be interesting to see

I had a very similar issues with a 1979 MGB. I ended up switching the cap, rotor and the ignition coil. Problem seems to have gone away, unfortunately it is cold fall weather here in Atlantic Canada so I can't get out for some good long distance driving to fully confirm. Something for spring 2024

This guys channel is proper interesting, great selection of cars, great method diagnostics, very satisfying repairs. ALWAYS click when a new video pops up.

can't wait for the test drive ,sounds great Seppo

Well done, you have some knowledgeable viewers!

You seem to have a way with these lovely old Citroens . I wish you lived nearby, then I could buy an old Citroen ,confident that I had someone to fix it 😂

good job, well done

Good thing about this XM is the Left hand drive.RHD XM's DO NOT HAVE THE DIRAVI STEERING.

Good work..as always.. have you got an endoscope camera? Have a look inside the front rocker cover via the oil filler and see if it has got the modified engine fitted, or if its on its time bomb original. Its easy to tell, the modified engines have a gold coloured rocker gear set.. original engines are alloy grey. If its modified it will last forever... I shall not say what happens to original engines.. but you may already know..

I think the should attend to the throttle shaft leak even if it doesn't have have a MAF it's still air getting past the throttle blades when it shouldn't

Great success!!

Thanks

Hello, i am very late to this party. I'm a 51 year old Bosch service technician in the US. What injection family is your XM? We never got any Citroens here after the SM. Have worked on a few DSs in the past and a couple SMs. The bad cranking characteristics it exhibited earlier were definitely due to the bad cap. There was spark scatter and therefore erratic timing while cranking. Good find and fix!

I had a similar problem, but in my case the spark got shorted through the rotor to the camshaft.. Starts fine, when approaching operating temperature, engine cuts out.

Well done.

I hope you got it fixed this time👍

My brother and I have a Citroen BX, he also has two Citroen XM, is running and the other is not. And my brother says that the Citroen XM is much more difficult to repair.

Top Tip: If you shut your bonnet while you're waiting for the engine to heat up, it'll save you money and time!

Nice work. I find the odour from baby oil smoke nauseating. Think I’ll try peanut oil. Not sure if that will leave any objectionable residue? Any thoughts?

du er fandeme badasss til både biler og RU-vid!

Because of my curious mind I always try to do/change one thing at a time so I then know 100% what was the actual fault but that is just me. I suppose if you're already elbows deep and have the parts then crack on. Med venlig hilsen from Bulgaria.

That's great

Idle control valve looks extremely similar to 80s bmw as well.

If the tachometer gets its signal directly from the distributor and not the ecu, then sparks going to the wrong places might have made the tach jump around

On my Volvo 240 the rev counter jumps all over the place if it gets too love voltage.

At 9:50 on your video I noticed a spark around your battery terminal that could cause weird behaviour.

Short the positive and negative battery leads together for a couple of minutes. It will discharge the capacitors and clear the modules memory.

both strut mounts are high... be carefull... its gonna break your bonnet.

У тебя скоро стрельнет левая стойка в капот, проверь опору стойки! Сфера уже почти уперлась в бортик.

Nice smoking machine! 😁

That starter motor will not be thanking you...

Det er kompliceret at finde fejlene, det er dig der er dygtig.

Er den så klar til at sende hjem eller er der mere endnu?

It's a standard service item on higher mileage cars, plugs, dizzy cap and rotor are as important as timing belts and oil, of course I'd not think about that being the cause of the hot running issue, but then, 2CVs don't have distributors, they have their own hot running issues with hot coils... :P