Another Xm In Our Garage

[kiwi]

Greetings from the far side,

As my 2.1td remains in limbo between two mechanics, I have purchased another XM to feed my addiction and save me walking to work. It is a S1 2.0 sei manual with air, leather etc in very good condition, with very good history and a careful previous owner. The colour is Lave Glace ( I think that is the correct term) and the colour looks good. The ride is superb and I now realise that my 2.1td needs some attention to the suspension if I ever get it back in one piece!

I have a couple of queries. Some of the dash bulbs need replacing. How difficult is the mk1 dash to remove and are the heating controls meant to be illuminated? Also, are speedos interchangeable between the V6s and the 2.0s?

Grateful for any help.

Regards,
Kiwi

[Peter.N.]

Hi Kiwi

Sorry to hear that your diesel is off the road - the're the best ones. The dash bulbs are not to much of a problem especially as its a Mk1, a much easier job than on the Mk2! The panel surround is held in by two screws under covers in the sides of the surround, remove the surround, you can then get to the instrument panel. There are four screws holding the panel in, remove these, and disconnect all the plugs. Pull the panel forward and disconnect the speedo cable, then remove the panel. You can now get to and remove most of the bulbs. I think that there about 5 or 6 that actually illuminate the panel, whereas there are probably 20+ all told. Finding the right ones is not to easy, so the best thing to do is take them all out one at a time, and look for discoloured ones, they usually go pretty black. There may be some more under a cover, or that may only be on the Mk2, I dont really remember. The bulbs many be difficult to get out of the holders, if you can find a piece of plastic sleeving the right size, you can slide it onto the bulb to grip it. Yes the heater controls should be illuminated, more bulbs!

Peter.N.

[citroenxm]

Hi kiwi

I would say speedos on 2.0i and V6's MAY not interchange, as a 4 cylinder Rev counter is I think calibarated differently to a 4cylinder rev counter...

As for speedo, if wheels are same size there shouldn't be a problem I guess..

Why do you need to change them?? Curiously..

Regards
citroenxm

[kiwi]

Peter,

Thanks for the info on the bulbs. I'll attack it this weekend. Will that get me access to the heater control bulbs or is that a different procedure?

Citroenxm,

The speedo on the 2.0 is in MPH, and I have a donor V6 with a speedo in KPH. We use KPH here, and while I'm comfortable with either I'm trying to avoid my wife falling victim to one of the nasty speed cameras on our roads. We live in the country on the outskirts of a small city and pass through a number of different speed zones each day. Don't know if I'll bother but if they are swappable it might be worth the effort.

Regards,
Kiwi

[Peter.N.]

Kiwi

The heater control illumination is seperate in the panel. I have done mine but cant rember how I got it apart. If you cant do it, let me know and I ill look it up. Can you get Haynes manuals over there? Although far from perfect they do give you that sort of information.

Peter.N.

[citroenxm]

Kiwi,

Ah I see, I guess the speedo will read, but will completely wrong, as MPH are different to K's

So to be honest, I cannot gaurentee what result you'll get.

Regards
citroenxm

[Loopy]

I recently did the heater panel on my S1; remove the control knobs, they should pull off fairly easily; I got two off without using tools and the third with stubby pliers wrapped in a duster to avoid marking the knob. Also pull off the knob from the slider on the end. I failed to do this and spent a happy ten minutes hunting for it in the rear footwells where it ended up having flown past my left ear like a bullet......

There's screws (Phillips type I think, or possibly Torx ) on the two outboard recesses once the knobs are off (I think) and the bulbs are the tiny capless pushfit ones, there's around six if memory serves correctly.

Once replaced, to quote Mr. Haynes, reassembly is a reversal of the above.

All told it took me about twenty minutes so not the toughest job you will do on your car.

Good Luck with it

Loopy

[kiwi]

Thanks for the advice guys. Sounds too easy to be true for an XM so will start early Saturday morning so that I have the weekend in case it goes pear shaped.

I've had the car for a couple of weeks now and have been driving it daily. Now that I'm getting used to the manual box and engine combo, it is proving quite a nice drive. The sunroof is a bit reluctant and the clock lcd is on vacation but otherwise it all seems pretty good.

Cheers,
Kiwi

[xmexclusive]

Hi Kiwi

If your two speedo faces are the same layout then I think that just the faces can be interchanged easily without any risk to getting the drive ratios/displayed speed wrong. Have some old removed series 1 ones about somewhere so will try to find them and check.

Regards

XMexc

This post has been edited by xmexclusive on December 15, 2006 10:00 am

[kiwi]

Cheers, thanx XMexc

[kiwi]

Hi all,

Have managed to sort the heater panel bulbs without any dramas, but for the life of me I can't get the dash off. I've removed the two screws under the little round covers on the inside edge of the surround in front of the instruments, but it won't move. Am I missing something?

Regards,
Kiwi

[Norman]

Hi,
If its a MK1 easy insert a terminal screwdriver in the gap between the speedo cowl ans the dash and lift up if the speedo has never ben out before it will bee reluctant to move but it will, lift up the front and pull forwards and it will come away.
Regards,
Norman