The brakes 98 Brakes not working
146 Citroen XM Internet Reference Version 1.0
3/3/99
98 Brakes not working
Brakes not working - maybe its your spheres!
The car, being a turbo diesel estate of 1992 vintage will vary in some respects from the earlier and petrol
and saloon models.
I cannot speak too highly of the assistance given by other XM owners when I was temporarily
flummoxed. They will know who they are.
The first job was to find out why the foot brake suddenly developed a time-lag when the pedal was
pressed. (Most upsetting for my passenger and me when I seemed to be making no effort to slow down,
followed by a sudden deceleration). Air in the system was diagnosed and the brakes were bled, both
front and back, resulting in the expulsion of a lot of air mixed with a black sediment in the drain container
which seemed to point to no previous brake bleeding and/ or no fluid change in earlier life. For perhaps
50 miles the brake was OK, then the symptom returned.
Another thorough bleeding session gave a good brake at last. But, where had the air come from in this
sealed hydraulic system? It was, of course, in the system already; compressed gas in the accumulator
sphere! The diaphragm had split or punctured and released its contents into the fluid. Even though the
sphere was dated August 1995 and it was only June 1996(whentheproblem came to light) the
non-genuine sphere had failed. I wish I knew who fitted it in the first place a chisel had even been used
to tighten it! With a proper chain wrench (and what an awful job compared with a CX) it was replaced
with a service exchange unit from Pleiades, sadly not on a service exchange price basis.
As the front calliper brake nipples have a very restricted access, a thin-walled pipe is called for, so the
fuel filler air bleed tube was borrowed and proved ideal. The LHM was replaced at the same time and its
filters were petrol-washed a job that is always worthwhile.'
XMinations comments: I am convinced from both experience and other owners' experiences, that poor
quality replacements, especially for the main accumulator, is not good practice. There is little doubt that
having only one sphere to cope with brakes, steering and suspension, it has to be good. My personal
view is expect to change them every two years. There is little doubt, again from accumulated (get it)
experience, that many company-owned cars may have a full service record, but tend to get only the bits
that break put right with scant attention paid to things like changing the life-blood of the car (LHM, of
course). Well thanks, Brian. Next time, we will look at brake disc changing.
(Thanks to Brian Primrner and David Evans of the Citroen Car Club)
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