Non-starting Xm And Now Immobiliser Trouble

[xmexclusive]

Hi Garmer

The immobiliser fault code is BOTH Red and Green lights light up. It also would be worth double checking the fuel cut off switch under the bonnet. Steel City mentioned this early in the posting. It is meant to open from the impact in an accident but they do occasionally drop out from quite small bumps. They are usually drivers side of the engine bay just in front of the suspension sphere. It has a round rubber top (usually black but red on the last few XM produced) about 40mm in diameter which you press in to reset.

Regards

XMexc

[colinxm]

The fuel pump relay is to be found in the black, plastic box of tricks on the LH side of the engine bay that houses the various ecu's.

Good luck, Colin.P

[xmowner]

If its the same a 2.0 petrol (non turbo) then the relay is one of the two inside the front section of the plastic case where the ecu's are fitted, left side as you look into the engine bay, clip off the front part of the casing inside you should find 2 relays fuel pump relay is the black one, the brown one is main engine relay, when you switch on the ignition both these should pull in the main relay feeds the power to the fuel relay, the fuel pump should pressurise the fuel system even with the engine not running just with ignition lights on on the dash.
Fuel pumps do give problems I have probably replaced 2 or 3 over the years, if you can't find a good XM one then look for a scrap peugeot 604 the pump is the same as the XM.

[dean]

Xmowner is correct the fuel pump relay is in front of the ecu box, i must of been thinking about something else

[Garmar]

My latest is that the car was able to spark itself up yesterday evening with nothing more then its keypad entry and a turn of the ignition (after almost two weeks of nothing). A spin around the neighbourhood was happily uneventful - though I parked up certain that that couldn't be the end of it.

This morning, it's a non-starter again. That must rule a few things in and a few things out.

I pressed the fuel cut off switch as suggested by Steve and XMexc - no change. I've checked the fuel lift pump beneath the rear seat squab - with the key in the ignition, Mike said I should hear it run. A faint whirring could be heard - is that what I was listening out for? And, therefore, is this item in the clear?

Any nearer, anyone. The fuel pump relay?

Thanks for all the great advice so far,

Gary

[demag]

Gary,

Just as a bit of a side. Was there any history with this car?

When it didn't start again this morning did you check for a spark? That would have proved the ignition one way or the other.

Do you know if the fuel filter has been changed? I'm just thinking if it's really gunged it would be trying to start with little or no fuel. Sounds like the pump might be working if you heard it. You could always take a pipe off and see if it squirts into a bottle. I assume that's safe to do, the petrol heads will know.

Did it try and fire or did it just turn over and not try?

When it turns over does it spin freely or does it struggle?

There's a few for you to be going on with!

[onthecut]

Hi Garmar.

As we're all saying, you really do need to try and narrow it down to electrics or fuel. I'd be tempted to buy the cheapest timing light I could find and put it in circuit, so you have immediate visual confirmation of spark -- or not. The petrol XM I had that gave me grief with the fuel pump had a random fault that I never got to the bottom of ---- in the end I gave up and ran a separate ignition switched feed to the pump, and that solved it. Clearly there was a duff connection somewhere, but I never found it.

Mike.

[aengus-xmv6]

try checking the supply of volts at the pump and identify which wire is which (one 12v+ one earth, other 2 gauge).

Then jumper 12v onto the pump via a portable battery pack (use an in-line fuse) and see if it then fires up. If this works, check the line between the pump and the connectors under the LHM tank in the engine bay - probably the connector under the LHM tank, or if unlucky, the wiring from the pump that runs over the top of the tank.

Dave

[xmowner]

If you disconnect the fuel line at the at the injector rail, the fuel should be under pressure, turn on the ignition (just for a second) and if the pump is working you WILL know as petrol will flow, a word of warning! make sure the engine is cold and there are no sources of ignition otherwise you won't have to worry about getting it running again.
If you think the relay is faulty just unplug it put 12V across it it and you will hear it pull in if it's working.
(BTW check the contacts are clean both on the relay and the connector block)

One other thing which could be related - this weekend my own car (2.0 petrol) started misfiring really badly, luckily I was only a few hundred yards from home, initially I thought it was a fuel problem as I seemed to be getting a good strong spark on all cylinders, symptoms were somewhat similar in that after leaving it for an hour or 2 I tried restarting it and it ran ok for 5 minutes or so then started misfiring again I eventually traced it by swopping out parts to a faulty ignition amplifier, everything working fine now!

Should'nt have said that! its a citroen!

[DerekW]

XMowner beat me to it. The ignition amplifier module seems to be a weak link which can be very difficult to diagnose. I've had it go on three cars now (two XMs and a Pug 309) and the symptoms can be anything from lack of power - and that's very funny when you're towing a caravan - to a dead cut and refusal to start. Yet an hour later the thing may start and run perfectly.

Don't know where it is on your engine but they are easy to change (two small bolts) and relatively cheap.

Derek

[Garmar]

Hello everyone,

Planning to lift the bonnet again this weekend. I checked for sparks by lifting one of the plugs - definately there.

With the fuel lift pump seemingly working I sought out the fuel pump relay.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10842750@N05/2092001416/

The link hopefully shows what I was looking at - is this the right place? If so, I detected nothing here when the ignition was turned.

Does that suggest the fuel pump relay could be my problem?

Thanks for taking me this far, folks. The only thing I knew of big Citroens was that to my eyes they are beautiful and that I long felt the need to own one. The challenges of ownership (as with any 13 year old car) are now apparent, but I'm enjoying the learning curve. Thanks for all the advice.

Gary

[xmowner]

Looks to me that you have the later motronic 3.2 ignition system which combined the main relay and the fuel pump relay into one block which is the large brown coloured block shown to the left of the small purple relay in your picture, I have 2 xm's one is built in 1992 but registered in January 1993 and has Motronic 3.1 with two seperate relays for main and pump, the other was built in early 1993 and registered also in 1993 and has Motronic 3.2 with a single large combined brown coloured relay like that shown in your picture, both of them are series 1.5.

If you don't want to take off the fuel pipe as I suggested then lift the back seat and remove the black cover and listen when you or ideally someone else switches on the ignition you should hear the pump. If its working and even if you do have a spark it's still possible for the ignition amplified to be faulty and causing the problem.