Windscreens

[colin]

Its time for an MOT and my windscreen has a few too many chips to pass. I know where there is MK1 at the scrappies with a good windscreen, would this fit my MK2?

Also the tester said that the back end was going up and down for no apparrent reason during the MOT, something he didnt feel was right. I thought this was normal and added to the 'magic carpet' feel.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Colin

[xmexclusive]

Hi Colin

I think they are the same and your Mk1 one will fit. Once I found the right tools and wire cutting out a windscreen was not as difficult as I expected.

Regards

XMexc

[DerekW]

Hi Colin,

A series 1 windscreen will fit a Series 2, but aren't they bonded in place?

Does your car have antisink? If it does, does the rear end drop quite quickly when the car is parked? If it doesn't (drop quickly) then what follows doesn't apply.

Your rear end rising and falling is almost certainly caused by an internal leak, possibly (probably) past the ram in one of your rear suspension units. You can imagine what's happening; the fluid that supports the rear of the car leaks slowly back to the hydraulic tank, rear end drops slowly as its supporting fluid disappears, height corrector reacts and opens the suspension line to system pressure, rear end rises, when the correct height is reached the height corrector isolates the suspension units, fluid leaks slowly out, rear end drops ..........

Fairly easy to check, you can go under the bonnet with the engine running and pull the return lines to the fluid reservoir. You may well find an occasional drop of fluid from all the return pipes as this is a design feature to provide lubrication to the various valves in the system, but what you are looking for is more than a few drops a minute.

Alternatively, you can pull the return lines directly from each suspension unit. I don't know how experienced you are on the XM (if you're intending to change a windscreen yourself I guess you must know your way around) but the usual caveat applies. You'll need to have the car standing on its wheels with the engine running, so only go under your car when it's on ramps and with sufficient room for you when it's on its lowest setting.

Derek

[colin]

Derek and XMexlclusive
Thanks for the advice. I was going to get the windscreen man (who is a good friend) to remove and fit the new windscreen, so hopefully he should be able to do it.
As to the suspension, I have solved the main problem for the MOT of a complete lack of damping and excessive travel by removing my aftermarket box fitted to the suspension ECU. All I've gotta do now is get the emissions level down so I think its time to look at the waste mechanism.
Cheers
Colin

[bigjohnh]

Hi Colin,

I have the same windscreen prob, a lot of chips, but I am reluctant to change the screen for fear of damage to the rest of the car. Mine is not yet illegal as it passed the MOT but Auto windscreens would condemn it triggering a change via the insurance. My insurance covers the screen with a £60 excess with no loss of NCD so cost isn't a prob.

Please let me know how you get on and any probs you encounter.

John

[xmexclusive]

Hi Bigjohnh

The biggest problem with replacement windscreens is actually the edging trim. This is only available from Citroen and when they did my estate on the insurance a little while ago the new trim cost more than the replacement glass. Trim is different depending on car or estate. It seems very difficult to recover the trim for reuse.
The dash needs protecting from the cutting wire but an experienced windscreen fitter will use a protective thin metal plate. The glue used is the same as used for original fit at factory and structural strength of the car should not be a problem. In fact the Nylander system for strut head repair uses windscreen glue.

Regards

XMexc

This post has been edited by xmexclusive on August 18, 2007 12:10 am

[techmanagain]

the Nylander system for strut head repair uses windscreen glue<<<<<<<<<<?????

Tell us more about this please. It's the first I have heard of it.

[demag]

I thought it was now possible to have resin windscreen repairs?

[techmanagain]

Certainly it is possible to have stone chips repaired but quality of result is apparently somehat dependant on the operator. Have one done in a less-important location before committing yourself to more than aone.
If you have Fully Comp. insurance, they will probably foot the bill. Check First with 'repairer' to see if they are on his list.

[bigjohnh]

The repairers have rules governing what they can and can't repair. The size of the damage is critical together with the position, I don't think they are allowed to fix a chip in the middle of the drivers side, I recall seeing a diagram on the wall of the depot showing the different zones of the screen. Chip repair is free if your insurer covers it, a new screen generally attracts an excess of about £60 with no effect on no claims discount. BUT they can damage the outside trim and the dash and you may end up with a wobbly bead of sealant at the bottom of the screen as I did on my Renault last year.

John

[Ciaran]

I had my S1 windscreen replaced on the insurance about 6 weeks ago.
I had a smallish chip on the upper right, about 6" from the passenger side A pillar. I took it down to get repaired and they outright refused to touch it because they felt it was too close to the side of the screen, and might split if they injected resin into it. The guy advised me to just get my moneys worth out of it until it finally cracked, and the previous owner told me it had passed the last vehicle test with the chip present, as it was nowhere near the driver's field of view.

I was happy enough with that, and planned to eventually replace it one day. Then a few weeks later one very sunny sunday morning I came out of the house and the car looked grand. 30 mins later Leanne came in and said "S*** theres a huge crack across your windscreen!". Sure enough, the heat had caused it to crack from the passenger side to the centre of the screen. The next morning when I left for work it had reached 3/4 of the way across, and by the end of work that night its journey from one side of the screen to the other was 100% complete!

I got it replaced on the insurance, with what translates to roughly £60 excess. I was at work when the guy called out to the house, and I was wary of them doing a bad job because I'd seen someone who had aftermarket trim fitted (Lez I think), and it didn't look too good. I'd heard the stories about it.
The windscreen guy had been on the phone to his depot and they said they had one XM trim left in stock. He went to get it only to discover that it had been warped out of shape and was unusable. Unsure of what to do, Leanne rang me and I reluctantly said that he could fit the aftermarket trim if nothing else was available. Fortunately though, the guy reckoned he could rescue the original trim and reuse it.

Sure enough, he spent about two hours extra painstakingly extracting the trim and it went back on with the new screen, a perfect fit. I made sure to bung him 50 quid for his own pocket for all the trouble he went to.
He told me that only a few people in his company had done XMs and the trims were notoriously hard to get, so really he'd done me a real favour. I just hope I get him if I ever need to use them again.

So seemingly the trim can be rescued if your patient. I wish I'd been present to wittness what he did so I could offer a bit more advice on it

Ciarán

[Little&Large]

Hi Ciaran
Its great when you get someone decent like that.I had a door window shatter for no apparent reason 8 hours before a foreign trip with the car packed to the gunnels.They came out and fitted a clear plastic glass so I could get away.On my return I took it into the depot to have the glass fitted and the fitter said that the aftermarket glass they had had made was not correct.Apparently there is a hole in the glass that a plastic gromet fits into to raise and lower it.The hole is too small and what some fitters do is reduce the diameter of the gromet to make it fit,this then weakens it and eventually snaps.I took this up with the manager who denied there was a problem with it....but then ordered me a genuine Citroen Glass!
Regards Rob

[Peter.N.]

A crack has appeared in windscreen of my sons XM, although I suspect it was there when we bought it. It just scraped through the MOT but I have now bought one of these DIY windscreen repair kits........I will let you know how it goes!

Peter.N.

[colin]

Just an update,

I decided that since I have fully comp insurance I would have the windscreen replaced. All done and a lovely clear screen has now been fitted for the cost of a £60 excess.

Now to other issues.

Colin