Clutch Slip In Auto Gearbox - CITROEN XM Internet Reference

105 Clutch slip in Auto Gearbox

Auto and manual gearboxes
105 Clutch slip in Auto Gearbox
An Auto gearbox in a 2.0 Sei 1990 Model
Interestingly my 2l Sei suffers from the same problem I think.
It exhibits a kind of rev racing - clutch slip - type of thing between 3rd & 4th. Once I'm in 4th everything
is OK however I always now leave it in 3rd for in town work.
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The Automatic gearbox on my 2 litre injection (non-turbo) XM is beginning to play up.
It races/slips when changing from 3rd to 4th. This only happend in normal acceleration. In heavy
acceleration or kickdown the change feels normal.
No other gear changes are affected.
The car has done about 120k miles - how long do these auto boxes last?
"This is about it. Usually after 120K *KILOMETERS* severe problems rise. These problems show on
any kind of XM Auto."
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Yes my XM 16v auto estate has just started doing this but at about 40K miles and 12 months old. It has
been like it for the past 10K miles and doesn't seem to have got worse but I wonder if I am compensating
for it by throtting back unconsciously. My last L reg turbo auto XM went over 100K miles without any
such problems.
I have assumed that the problem is in the engine management system and that we are seeing is the
failure of the engine to throttle back momentarily during the gear change. This is more noticeable on the
3/4 gear change I guess because the torque convertor is not used at high 3rd or 4th gear.
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He did suggest that the problem might be caused by the various clutches sticking through lack of use
and that a lot of Auto box manufacturers recommend that you drive it like a manual occasionally to keep
everything loosened up. This might sound like a load of b****** but it is worth a try.
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Well, I have just returned from seeing the gearbox specialist (sent there by the
Citroen dealer who couldn't fix the problem) and it's bad news. The problem is the car sometimes stays
in neutral for a second or two when going from 3rd to 4th. This exercises the rev counter somewhat.
The fault started at about 40K miles and I have now got to 72K. The verdict is that it has all got to come
apart, engine out etc and we are looking at about 30 hours labour plus parts = approximately ?1500.
The car (XM 2.0 16v estate) is two years old in August.
Ageing
Your comment about automatic boxes lasting 120 KM applies to all such boxes of every model XM? or
only the models prior to 1993?
Yes: As far as I know all boxes untill the new intelligent autoboxappeared last year.
For those of you who have an automatic gearbox I would only advise to change the fluid more often than
the manual says
Citroen XM Internet Reference Version 1.0 157
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