Auto-adaptive Gearbox

Hi Quentin

Given that there aren't more than a couple of dozen late 24v's in the UK, then given the number of us that have had a problem indicates, no one should expect long life in gearboxes from these cars. Having said that maybe that's more to Citroen's expected service intervals rather than anything else. I still love driving mine though!

Cheers

Tony

As many as a couple of dozen, eh? Do you know where they all are?

Without wishing to sound like a complete know-nothing, is the RP number to be found anywhere other than the front door shut? There's no number there on mine, and I'd like to know it.

Sorry, that's nothing to do with gearboxes, but I'm bored with them now!

Quentin

Hi Quentin

In recent times Citroen have stopped painting data such as RPN and instead incorporated the information into the little plastic tyre pressure sticker. This goes on the drivers door pillar on UK cars. I did not think they had made this change by the last of the XM's but perhaps the owner of a very late V6 will confirm the type and position of marking to his(her) car.

Regards

XMexc

AFAIK all XMs had the ORGA or RP number on the A post on the driver's side. Painted in yellow paint or on the latest models printed on a sticker. If there's nothing there on your car this could indicate body repair or the sticker just fell off?

My XM has ORGA 8569CJ printed on this said plastic sticker which also indicates recommended tyre inflation. The car was produced 2000/04/25 at Rennes la Janais.

This post has been edited by Jan-hendrik on April 04, 2007 02:25 pm

I have been led to believe that early XM auto boxes failed at relatively low mileages because of insufficient cooling.
It also seems that the early demise of the boxes in later series can often be attributed to the use of incorrect fluids, like refilling/topping up with Dexron III instead of II.
The information I have gleaned so far from internet forums on problems with the late V6 24V auto boxes has been very limited. Some people have mentioned a replacement or a rebuild of them, but hardly any more details, e.g. on how these boxes had been maintained. This is probably because very few are first owners of these cars or have a clear history of the car.
Of course, on the forums, we hear a lot more about all the problems people are having with their cars, than all the fun they are having. When all is going well, we don't make it public, do we?
Some of you (Quentin?) may be bored with the automatic transmission issue, but I would be curious to know what trouble free mileages people have recorded with these transmissions.
Let me be the first. 37700 kms (23563 mi)
This is the mileage not for just the AT, but the car!

Hi Jan-Hendrik

Yes my RP number is in the same place as yours - 8603CJ. I have had two previous XMs with the painted number and I have been looking recently as to where the number is. Problem solved.

My gearbox went at 81K miles. Mark (on here too) went at around 70Kmiles, Quentin 77K miles. A small sample.

To be honest there are so few XM 24v's in the UK it's hard to get an accurate picture of gearbox life (according to the defunct XM centre website there are about 20-22). The nearest car to compare is the Xantia V6. They have exactly the same gearbox (C5's have a different box) and I've seen plenty go up for sale with over 100K miles. Currently there are 4 on www.autotrader.co.uk with two at ~100Kmiles. Including one for £350! It's probably a good job for my marriage that this one is at the other end of the UK.

Cheers

Tony

Excellent! Found the RP number (8604) on the driver's side sticker - thanks all.

To explain, when I said "bored", perhaps I really meant " hoping not to have to worry about again"!

Jan-hendrik - 37,000 kms in nearly 7 years! Your Xm must be really beautiful! Mine has a harder life than that (my average annual mileage over the past few years has been 18,000 miles / 29,000 kms and the XM will have to cope!)

Quentin

Yours and mine the together on the production line 8603 and 8604. I guess that they made rhd 24v in (small) batches. What colour is yours?

Yep I would happy to be bored for another 80K miles with my XM!

Cheers

Tony

Hi Jan-hendrik,

It's miles, and from quentin's post I can expect another 8.000 miles before failure?

It would be very interesting and useful if our fellow Club XM members who have had their gearboxes rebuilt could let us know which bits actually failed, was it the lock up clutch? the brake bands? ...?

I, for one, would like to know if there is a common failure mode, a particular weakness that could be identified.

Derek

This post has been edited by DerekW on April 05, 2007 06:06 pm

She's had one careful lady owner - honest
There was only one thing I was not happy about. The dot matrix was dying, but yesterday I fixed that!
Here are some photos (you should be able to see 9)
http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/b/2031058206140471988

My 24V has RP 8358. The gearbox seems to change from 2nd to 3rd at the wrong point as you can feel the engine stutter slightly and regularly changes down into 1st just as I accelerate causing a nasty jerk. I was thinking that this must be electrical as it is supposed to know what the engine is doing. I am also thinking about adding an additive that's supposed to help clean the insides of the box but you need to empty it like the Americans do with a recirculation pump on the oil cooler connections. Thing is I haven't found any garage with the equipment and haven't found any info on how to do it yourself.

Hi Assich

My reconditioned box does this a little, the old box did it and talking to C5 owners, their boxes do it too. I shouldn't worry about the occasional clunks, it seems to be the nature of this box.

Cheers

Tony

XM-V6 sadist - mine's silver. A few scratches around the door handles (my Activa and its predecessor Xantia from the 1990s had quite soft paint, I remember) and the "silver" trim strips on the rubbing strips have predictably deteriorated, but hey! It gleams in the sunshine after a good wash, which is more than I do nowadays. Nice to know it has a twin. I wonder what RP number the last RHD XM imported had? Any ideas, anyone?

DerekW - good point. It was the oil pump that did it for my 'box, although I don't understand the mechanism enough to know why that should be. The chap at Automatic Technical Services seemed to think that this was a common pointof failure on these boxes - but whether it's secondary to some other wear-&-tear or to deterioration of the oil / gumming up of the filters etc. I dunno.

quentin

Since we have a few people on here who know about these boxes, can anyone tell me what the ecu looking box with large electrical connector on it that sits right infront of the box is for. I thought the ecu for the gearbox was attached to the front of the main ecu box.

Assich,
It's the ABS hydraulic unit.