Returning from holiday with the caravan on Saturday, we just got the whole kit and caboodle loaded and ready for the road. I stopped at reception to pay our dues at the campsite and got out the car to the familiar sound of hissing LHM. A quick inspection confirmed it to be a pipe somewhere near the rear suspension crossbar on the nearsidewhere I've repaired two pipes before.

I immediately knew the score and prepared the rest of the family for a ride home with the nice man from the RAC. I didn't have as much trouble as I'd thought since the tow truck had a very good tipping bed and extending ramps. I drove it on to the truck without the use of the winch (the RAC man had been warned against using the tow hooks at the front because they rip easily according to his boss).

The most annoying thing about it was it took me about two hours once I got home to replace the pipe and the car was back good as new again. As usual it was one of the steel pipes which Citroen fit as standard. I replaced it with a Cupro-Nickel pipe so I won't have a problem with that one again. As with my previous CX's Ive slowly but surely replaced old steel pipes with new cupro-nickel ones. However, an XM has significantly more plumbing than a humble CX so the task is much bigger.

There's a bunch of pipes routed over the nearside (RHD cars) of the rear crossmember tube. They seem prone to rusting more than usual. Presumably that area must stay damp longer than any other part of the car because it doesn't get dried out by the wind.

If anyone in Central Scotland or within posting distance wants a pipe made up, I'll happily do it for the cost of the parts and the postage. The parts prices can be obtained from the Pleiedes website since that's where I buy the tubes and ends.

Their website is found here: Pleiades

Cheers

noz

Scotland you say.
My indy has a theory about these rusty pipes (which was the cause of the leaks on mine). As you go up north they use more and more salt on the roads in the winter.
The bundle of pipes you describe are up protected from copious amounts of clean rainwater and spray so the salt water sits up there merrily eating away the pipes.

Im down in Suffolk and the only rusty XMs hes ever seen are ones that come from up north. Mine seems especially bad, came from a yorkshire doctor.

As mine has a lot of rust on the spare tyre cradle and tow bar he thinks that maybe it was used to launch boats down a slipway and kept having its arse end dipped in the sea. Apparently 2.5td Estates had a bit of a following with boat lovers.


Still it adds to the fun of ownership

Mark

Mark,

Can't fault your logic but to prove it you'd need the salt consumption figures for all the regional councils in the country.

The evidence is however theree for all to see. TH epipe was about 400mm long and there was about 50m in the middle which had rusted through. The rest of the pipe was fine.

Certainly, the lack of air movement or rain in this location makes it an ideal breeding ground for the old tin worm.

If there's one consilation to be drawn from all of this it's that, given time, I'll have replaced all the pipes with cupronickel in about 10 years !!

Cheers

noz

Snap! (or should I say "burst") :-(

I've had just the same problem twice this year, and have taken photos to show the work.

Annoyingly enough, the last burst was under a plastic clip, with the pipe being perfectly fine on either side.

What was the age and mileage, Norrie? Mine was at circa 113K

r

Hi All

Road salt corrosion is a nation wide problem. The rebuilding work on the M5 at Gravelly Hill is just one location where it is destroying reinforced concrete bridges. It is so great a problem that they are starting to use non-corrosive materials at greater expense. Salt may have been put down for longer periods as you go north but it needs to be combined with rainfall to present a problem. I suspect that cars from the north west are the worst affected.
But my experience of cars from down south is that the underside back end of all XM's suffer from corrosion problems. Took some photos of the last one I cut up.

Regards

XMexc

I know I'm asking for trouble saying this, but in 10 years + of XM ownership I have never had a pipe fail due to rust, I have on CXs and BXs but never on an XM, and I've done some miles!

Peter.N.

Ditto my spare cover!

Also the 2.5 heat shield adjacent to it. Does anyone have a spare one?

I suspect that the corrosion is down to the air (and gunge) flow peculiar to the 2.5 - other, more exposed, pipes look fine. It appears that there is a "trap" at that nearside rear upper point.

r