Citroën XM

This service manual is created and maintained by XM users to document service procedures for the Citroёn XM.

Nearly everything is within the reach of a well-equipped home mechanic, and basic maintenance (oil change, ignition, etc.) will give no surprises to anyone who has serviced a car before.

Typical Problems
Most of these can be avoided with regular and timely maintenance.


 * Failure of the ZF automatic gearbox if oil changes are neglected,
 * Electrical problems with the heater, ABS (automatic braking system), fuel injection and Hydractive suspension caused by poor connections around the battery fusebox in the engine compartment and multipoint earthing blocks (S1 cars, best replaced with a bolted through earth)
 * Overheating leading to head gasket failure in diesel models. The main cause of gasket failure is not replacing the coolant anti freeze 5 yearly - dilute with distilled water.
 * Failure of the dot matrix warning panel on Series 2 cars. Note that the display is backlit and failure of the bulbs means that the display is blank. Replace the bulbs along with the speedo unit bulbs.
 * Rear swinging arm bearing failure is rare unless towing or driving on rough surfaces.
 * Front droplinks tend to wear in the lower joint at 50,000 miles or so.
 * Overheating caused by rusted fan relays behind headlights
 * Loss of dipped beam caused by rusted relays behind headlights
 * Bad starting of 2.1 diesels due to air being drawn into the fuel lines through the fuel heater unit which is fixed to the left end of the cylinder head. The fuel filter unit will collect air over a period - being worse in cold weather.
 * The electric sunroof mechanism seizes but can be lubricated with the sunroof open by unscrewing the plastic cover over the drive cable.
 * Suspension ride becoming firm over time. This can be avoided by regassing all 8 spheres every 3 years. To keep the anti-lean feature for cornering, and the correct softness of ride, the suspension and centre spheres ought to be regassed as a set. Changing the LHM every 3 years will also improve the ride.
 * Braking becoming firmer. This is overcome by bleeding the brakes and ABS cell every 3 years.