Got It - XM S2 - Now What?

[xantia_v6]

The 2 cars pictured there with white seats and grey dashboard are XM Multimedias, of which only 50 were built (all LHD). I suspect that the gear handle was plastic painted brown. Note that you can't take a LHD gear handle and turn it around to fit a RHD car, as they are asymmetrical.

XM 1.PNG

XM 4.PNG

[citroenxm]

Steering wheel defo mk.2 xantia. Only model to get these 8 button controls on the wheel. As comms units came after all buttons were removed for phase 2 xsara and phase 1 xsara had mk 1 xantia type steering wheel buttons..

[GiveMeABreak]

They are similar but not the same according to parts:

Xantia S2 Steering Wheel	XM S2 Steering Wheel

[citroenxm]

And if you fit a mk. 1 xantia radio into a mk. 2 car the mk. 2 wheel controls won't work the radio so the logic between them and radios are different too. The Xm mk. 2 is meant to have xantia mk 1 type steering wheels with air bag... And the horn on the end of the stalk.

[furriegurrie]

Edit: what I typed was already said, but my screen hadn't refreshed

[van ordinaire]

My Xantia has a wooden gear knob (as I discovered when I cleaned it) but thought nothing of it, as it has bits of "wood" trim - & no one commented on it at the time, so only now do realise it must be an aftermarket one.

Higher spec Xantias and XMs with manual transmission had wooden gear knobs from the factory. The car we are talking about here is an automatic which always had plastic handles on the gear lever, but they regularly break and new replacements are no longer available, so it is likely that the wooden item has been custom-made to replace a broken original.

I don't think the steering wheel pictured above is actually from a S2 Xantia, as the airbag and radio switches look wrong, and is it an oval wheel, or just the photo distortion.

It never occurred to me that wooden knobs were transmission, rather than trim level, specific.

EIGHT steering wheel controls! Really? Oh, well - that's twice as many as I thought I had, not that I've any idea what they're for - as they all have the same, unidentifiable symbol.

[white exec]

Eight here... (S2 '96 XM)
Vol+, Vol-, Mode, Mute, Next, Previous, Memo, Scan

[citroenxm]

Ah eight functions but 4 double acting buttons.. The S2 xantia ones seem to be an individual button for each control. They were enlarged and moved more to the edge of the wheel

[van ordinaire]

Eight here... (S2 '96 XM)
Vol+, Vol-, Mode, Mute, Next, Previous, Memo, Scan

Don't doubt that - but I'm really none the wiser, not that I'm bothered.

[van ordinaire]

Ah eight functions but 4 double acting buttons.. The S2 xantia ones seem to be an individual button for each control. They were enlarged and moved more to the edge of the wheel

Oh purrleeze!

This does illustrate the strange workings of car designers' minds: if the stereo is at eye-level and can virtually be operated without taking a hand off the wheel, it needs some sort of remote control, whereas, if it's buried deep down in the console, so can barely see the controls & have to, at very least,lean forward to use them - it doesn't!

[Saraphee]

My new project was delivered to my buddy’s workshop Thursday afternoon and I got an hour yesterday morning to look at it as the car went straight off for inspection to the Land Transport Office so that it could be registered to me and all the documents changed, a necessary process here when a car moves from one province to another. They will be back on Tuesday.
I took advantage to give the car a quick run, please bear in mind that I have only sat in one once, back in 1992 I think it was, and have probably not even seen one in the flesh for 20 years, other than a quick glimpse of one turning off the Super Highway here 4 or 5 years ago. I was impressed by the comfort levels and found it an easy vehicle to enter/exit, it was responded well and had a better acceleration than I was expecting, although I am used to the 2.0i engine.
Looking around I discovered that the extra knob on the central switch panel is the A/C control. It is not unusual for locals to find the factory fitted A/C inadequate and to fit an uprated unit, bypassing the factory controls. We will attempt to marry the two systems and use the fascia controls in the future.
Good News
The bodywork, paint and interior are fine (with a couple of exceptions, details to follow) the Sunroof works and does not leak. Aftermarket unit fitted locally by people who know what Monsoon weather can be like. I quite like the ‘Mix n Match’ bits so will leave them, with the exception of the door cards, which offend my sense of symmetry I am already looking for ‘garnitures de porte’ on eBay France! Auto to Sport works well and most equipment and switches are operating. Even the carpets are clean.
Bad, or Sad, News (see photos)
Glove Box – Strut missing, already bought one being posted today

Rear Parcel Shelf – Some clown has cut out holes for extra speakers, my upholstery guy will repair and recover

No spare wheel – an LPG donut fills the space! What to do

Audio – present receiver is not connected to Steering Wheel controls, will be replaced with a Bluetooth unit and connected through. We have an excellent accessories store who will also fit Dashcams, drls, and upgrade the lights

Front Bumper – damaged and bits missing, fibreglass repairs are an easy fix here, but finding the missing ‘covers?’ and working out how they should be fitted will be fun.

Dashboard – I call it dashboard but it’s really the faceplate and visor that are cracked, broken and brittle. I can get them repaired and even coated with a wood effect to make them look good, indeed I’m thinking of putting the wood effect on all the covers and surrounds in the centre console, however I’d prefer to replace them.

LED panels - An equally tricky issue as the left side is missing pixels, the right seems to be just bright light and the centre unit with all the illuminated icons has only a few symbols showing at start up. I don’t know how to grapple with this, are replacements available?

A few pics to illustrate the downside, expect to see an appeal on the 'For Sale or Wanted' pages soon

[xantia_v6]

It looks quite good considering the local conditions and availability of spares and expertise.

I quite like the ‘Mix n Match’ bits so will leave them, with the exception of the door cards, which offend my sense of symmetry I am already looking for ‘garnitures de porte’ on eBay France!

If you can't find what you want, I have a set of door cards (currently with doors attached) from a 1999 Exclusive which I may be willing to part with. They are located in France but I won't be there for a couple of months.

LED panels - An equally tricky issue as the left side is missing pixels, the right seems to be just bright light and the centre unit with all the illuminated icons has only a few symbols showing at start up. I don’t know how to grapple with this, are replacements available?

The LH dot-matrix display fails on every S2 XM but is fairly easy to repair using an after-market zebra-strip to reconnect the matrix. See https://www.ebay.fr/itm/KIT-NAPPES-POUR ... rk:10:pf:0

The RH display is usually reliable, I think that they may not display much until the clock has been set. Sometimes the LCD itself bleeds, and there is no alternative but to find a used replacement. There are 4 versions, with and without trip computer, if yours has a trip computer, there will be a button on the end of the wiper stalk, the trip computer has different hardware versions for miles-per-gallon and litres-per-100km and a rare early version with miles and degrees Fahrenheit.

[Saraphee]

Thanks for this, I'm certainly interested in door cards and time is not of the essence - I'll PM you.
I just bought the LH display strip - thanks for the lead. I believe the RH one is also dead as it has a series of zeros brightly lit with a background glow of jumbled letters - perhaps there's a zebra strip for this side - I'm off to eBay again.
There's a horn button on the indicator stalk and what I have presumed to be a washer button on the other side. I haven't used it as it hasn't rained here for 4 months, except for one tropical storm in December!

[white exec]

Rex,

If RH display is showing either all symbols or just three dashes (not sure about three zeros) - switch on IGN, and set the clock (use a cocktail stick or something small in the two holes to the right of the display); display should then operate.

Trip computer readings displayed from the small button on the end of the wiper stalk, if equipped. Button only presses by a small amount. Press repeatedly to scroll through. There will be no mpg etc readings until the car has travelled a short distance. Battery disconnection will always require the clock to be reset.

A/C - check that the radiator fans come on at slow speed as soon as the AC is switched on.

[Saraphee]

Thx Chris
I'll check out the display v clock Monday morning. No button on stalk. A/c is working well and correctly - I just want my chap to abandon the after market switch and route it through the dash controls.
This is high power gear here, the factory's idea of what constitutes a hot weather unit falls woefully short of reality. Many Thais just blank off the factory gear and install third party, built for Thai conditions, gear and then just stick a switch somewhere easy. Tuned refinements in temperature setting are largely not needed.
When I leave for golf at 5.30 am I don't need it, even if I just play 9 holes and set off back home for breakfast at 7.45 -I do need it! A/Cs are in use 24/365 in this part of the world