Mot Failures On Minor Items, Indicators & washers

[xmexclusive]

Hi All

Just had a failure for front indicators showing part white and for washer jets alignment.

The front indicators obtain their colour from the bulbs and these had to be changed for new as the orange paint was peeling from the bulb surface. Not something I have come across before.

The windscreen washer jets needed cleaning and realigning. It was only while doing this that I realised that holes for the jets are set in miniture balls and you can adjust their aim with a needle after you have used it to clear the jet hole. I also realised that the black plastic trim that sits on the length of the bottom of the windscreen carrying the washer jets is seldom fixed firmly in place and is easily knocked or vibrated altering the jet aim. I stuck some packing under it by each washer jet but will have to look for a more permanent fix for the future.

The final failure item of rear brake pads and disks was just due to me failing to check them after I bought the car.

Regards

XMexc

[noz]

Hi XMexc,

Blimey, how picky can you get? They weren't after the work were they? The indicators and the washers should have been advisory only, not a failure. The brakes - well, fair enough. Presumably they'll want another £45 for a retest? Need to find yourself another garage for your MOT's.

Not sure I follow you on the plastic trim which supports the jets though. On both my XM's the trim is firmly fixed in place and I don't have any issues related to washer alignment. Just lucky I guess.

I always look on the bright side when it comes to the MOT. At least the failure sheet gives you a definitive list of what needs to be done. The scary part is that the MOT stations are all now linked by central computer and to the SPECS cameras. If you get near to your MOT renewal date and take it for a test and it fails. You better get it fixed and retested before the due date otherwise the cameras will catch you using the car on the road even if it only failed because of some paint flaking off your indcator bulb. So this is progress heh?

cheers

noz

[jorgy9]

Yeahhh...progress!

What's the rule with MOTs actually, if u take it there at least 30 days before the expiry of the MOT they will add 13 months on it? I'm seriously thinking of MOTing my XM in August instead of November the 1st, and taking it from there, as the ABS problem (still) cures itself in summer!

The windscreen washers on mine are also stable enough, I experience another problem though: impossible to adjust them (with needle): you adjust one ball, then go for the others, then the setting of the first ball seems to completely change...Perhaps it's too old and balls are not seating firm enough in the plastic moulds so they move just with the water pressure? Also, the spraying pattern doens't seem constant: one day is where u (tried) to point it, next day it sprays at the car behind you, day after at the base of your windscreen...instability of electric supply to the jet pump perhaps?

regards
George

[jorgy9]

....front indicators on mine obtain color from a orange/transparent panel in front of bulb, bulb is transparent, I was fiddling with it the other day. It's a 1994 model.

What about the other funny thing in this compartment, the fog-lamp bulb: has burnt in mine and went to check it and the bulb is not a bulb alone but a bulb soldered with a wire that has a connector at its end, and then connects to the wire that comes from the car, just a few centimeters off the fog lamp??? So, you can't just go and buy a H3 (I think) bulb, but it has to be bought from Citroen!! Or you have to do a soldering job youself!! To replace a burnt bulb!!

George

[xmexclusive]

Hi George

As you sort out each jet the pump pressure gets spread differently between the jets. So you need to do at least a second round of jet adjustments to get them right.
I have found that on secondhand XM's you may well have a load of gunge floating in the washer fluid where some kind soul has used water and washing up liquid. This then keeps blocking/redirecting various of the jets as it finds its way into the thin supply pipes and jet nozzels. There is no real solution other that taking the tanks off and flushing them clean.

Regards

XMexc

[Peter.N.]

Hi George

I have the same problem as XMexc, I have cleaned the jets several times using a strand of wire from wire brush, the only thing thats stiff and thin enough, and then with compressed air. Each time I go to use them again the block either partially or completely, the problem is gunge in the water tank and pipes.

Mine passed the MOT like this! My local chap is very reasonable, he will give it a pre MOT test for which he does not charge, allow me to put any problems right and the do the proper MOT and very often lend me any special tools as well!

Peter.N.

[techmanagain]

What about the other funny thing in this compartment, the fog-lamp bulb: has burnt in mine and went to check it and the bulb is not a bulb alone but a bulb soldered with a wire that has a connector at its end, and then connects to the wire that comes from the car, just a few centimeters off the fog lamp??? So, you can't just go and buy a H3 (I think) bulb, but it has to be bought from Citroen!! Or you have to do a soldering job youself!! To replace a burnt bulb!!

The correct bub is only supplied with the wiring attached, and is available from any motorists shop. so no problem there.

[rowanmoor]

I've come accross the indicator bulb thing before. A few years back (when they first started doing these coloured bulbs for indicators I think - first time I or anyone else there had come across them anyway), my company had a load of company cars that had them. Being a small company, they kept them into their first MOT. Nearly every car had to have all the coloured indicator bulbs replaced on the first MOT, and many had to have some replaced in the next.

I have not had a problem on my XM though, so I presume the paint is a bit better on the replacement bulbs now.

[xmexclusive]

Hi George

There is no extra month on an MOT. It is just that during the last month of the existing MOT you may present the vehicle for retest. If when doing this you present the expiring certificate the tester is allowed to date the new certificate for 12 months from the expiry date. Otherwise you get 12 months from the start of the test day.
There is some sense in moving your MOT to a time of year when the ABS fault does not appear. Even if you loose 6 months of certificate time it will only cost you about £25 unless you were to fail on something else.
Whilst it is a pleasing feeling to find a way to buck the system, it might be better in the long run to clear the ABS fault all together. You really do not want to be driving a car that losses its ABS every time it rains hard.

Regards

XMexc

[xmexclusive]

Hi Noz and All

I now have a little more detail on my minor MOT failure. No Noz I did not get burned for 2 MOT's. It was the Citroen Exclusive 10 spoke Alloy Wheels that caused all my problems as you could see the rear break disc pitting through the spokes. Caused by newish glazed pads not wear. If I had any other Citroen wheels on the car the discs would not have been examinable and he would have put in new bulbs, cleaned the washers and given a certificate there and then.

Regards

XMexc