Xm problems - again :)

[xm-2.5td]

I tried to get an answer on this before but no luck. Maybe this time someone has some solution
1) In the morning, when I start it…works fine for a while. It’s really nice and soft…magical carpet ride…but after while, during driving, it gets significantly harder.
I know that during fast driving computer is switching between normal and sport mode, but I’m talking here about urban driving, in-town.
Speed limit is 60km/h so I’m driving around 80, not to mention rush hour.
So, anybody has any explanation why my car goes into “hard” mode all of the sudden?
2) Recently I have changed drop links (I guess that's name for it he he he) on my car because of knocking sound coming from front. In my local garage they found they need to be changed.
Day after, knocking sound started again. Went to another garage and they’ve said - drop links?????
They took them off, check them and when they tried to screw them back in place, screw on one of them broke??????? A minute before I was driving down highway 190km/h.
Now they’ve said they’ll change it for the new one, since I do have warranty on it, but…to be honest, I don’t feel comfortable driving whit those drop links.
Can anyone tell who is producing original parts since I have my doubts regarding this one.
Thanks in advance.
I.H.
P.S.
I managed to solve problem with speed. Remember I could not go over 150km/h on highway? Well, in case somebody has a same problem, the guilty one was a – speed sensor (at least they’ve told me it’s called that way).
It’s right under the bonnet and it was broken and disconnected from the pipe getting the pressure from turbo for measuring. Now car goes over 200 km/h with no problem

[noz]

IH
From your description the sensor is called the MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) sensor. It measures the pressure of air entering the inlet manifold (after the turbo and intercooler) and the using that information the ECU decides on how much fuel to inject.
There are a few people talking about their hydractive suspension going into hard mode after driving for a while in several of the forums and in the Citroenian magazine (monthly publication of the Citroen Car Club UK). It would seem to stem from particular connections being subjected to heat, particularly from the engine bay, and failing. The default mode for the suspension is hard mode ie with the centre hydractive spheres switched off. I too have this problem and I'm about to embark on a fault finding mission with the oscilloscope. I'll let you know how I get on.
Sorry, can't help with the droplinks - never had any trouble with mine. However, if it was me, I wouldn't be too worried about the quality of the parts because the drop-links don't do a lot of physical work hence their slender dimensions.
Cheers
noz

[ItDontGo]

If you're talking about the roll bar links then you will be OK if they snap - even if they snap on a corner.

[xm-2.5td]

Thanks Noz...I would really appreciate to let me know what happened.
By the way, you didn't told me did you managed to solve your "speed" problem?
ItDontGo - do you possibly know who is producing originals? Except Sasic

[noz]

Hi IH,
Yes, I did find out why I'd lost the sparkle that the 2.5TD usually has. I was travelling up the A9 last week when I tried to overtake a couple of times. I lightly pressed on the throttle as usual without changing down a gear (a very nice feature of torque availability), pulled out into the oncoming lane and failed to accelerate. This was very disconcerting. I pulled into the next lay-by and popped the bonnet. After a bit of fishing around with the engine running I could feel a jet of air coming out of the rubber hose connecting the intercooler to the intake manifold. I took it off to reveal a split in the hose at the back out of sight.
I temporarily bound the hose with duck tape. It will probably remain the solution until I can pluck up the courage to ask for a price from my local Citroen dealer. It's unlikely to be manufactured by anyone other than Citroen although I'm all ears if someone knows differently.
cheers
noz

[Paulxmski]

Hi,
As a tip self amalgamating rubber tape is very good for emergencies. This is sold as Holts emergency water pipe repair tape together with another tape which is remarkably like what we used to call passe partout. I have found the rubber tape is excellent for binding lots of things and because it stretches and joins together when it's bound it forms an almost permanent seal. Because it's rubber it also works really well on electrical wiring and for shielding components. I have used it on the plastic bits of the air intake and some of the corrigated rubber pipes that were showing signs of cracking. I have also used it on the cold water inlet pipe of my w/c ha ha! I don't think it will work so well with HLM tubes unless they are completely dry before application because it will lose its grip. Where pressure was involved I found using both tapes alternately eventually sealed the tube.

[NiSk]

Hi,
It's normally called RTV tape (Room Temperature Vulcanizing) and has lots of other uses as well (you can make your own O-rings with it in an emergency).
//NiSk

[Mosser]

If the split is on a straight section of the hose, you could try to find a bit of plastic or metal pipe of the same internal diameter and cut the split out and join it together again with jubilee clips on the new bit of pipe, i have done this succesfully on my BX many years ago as a temporary fix and kept forgetting to mention it at service time and ended up doing over 50k with my bodge repair !!

[jeremy]

You could try a specialist rubber goods supplier (probably listed in yellow pages) and see if they sell hoze of the right diameter. I would have thought most reinforced rubber hoze would be suitable as the maximum pressure is only in the region of 15 psi.
jeremy

[noz]

The trouble is chaps that the hose is shaped into a 3-dimensional 'S' and therefore a non-genuine hose is unlikely to fit.
Having said that, my Duck Tape is still holding strong. I'll pluck up the courage to ask our local Citroen franchise for a price as soon as I can find someone to wheel me in on a wheelchair. I'd hate to faint and fall & bang my head.
Cheers
noz[8D]
ps there's been lots more talk recently on XM-L about the failure of the FET's (Field Effect Transistors)which control the power going to the electovalves. Seemingly a couple of members have replaced the offending components in their ecu's and had mixed results. One solved his problem the other didn't. Apparently the FET's don't have heatsinks and therefore overheat. They have a self protecting mechanism which cuts them off when overheated and hence no output to the electrovalves = hard mode. My electronics is only at a basic level so whilst I'd be able to unsolder the old components and resolder the the new ones, I don't have the knowledge to test whether I've been successful or not.