Gordon McKay

I have a Citroen XM which I have had for 18 months. A couple of weeks ago I went to start the car but the battery was flat. I put it on charge overnight and the next day I went to the local car accessories and they tested the battery and found it to be on the way out. I duly had a new one fitted and everything was fine until yesterday morning when I tried to start the car and the battery was flat. I charged it up again overnight and this morning it is fine. The alternator is OK so the only conclusion I can come to is that something is still "on" all the time and hence draining the battery. I have checked the boot and all the interior lights and they are all off. Has anyone come across this before? Regards Gordon McKay

Hi Tom, I had the same problem when I purchased my XM. The dealer fitted a new speedo head and it was fine until the warranty ran out! My local Citroen dealer in my village fitted a new sender unit on the gearbox but that did not work either. It sometimes works if you give the top of the dashboard a hard bang, which suggests a bad contact behind the panel. As there is a printed circiuit there perhaps there is a dry joint or one of the tracks on the board is broken. My car is going in to the village garage again but I am not too confident. Regards Gordon