Dodger

Hi Guys, I forgot to come back with the final episode of this tale of woe. I bit the bullet and booked my car into the main dealer for them to connect it up to their Lexia and tell the ECU that the suspension was fine. The first appointment they could give me was a week away so i used the car as little as possible for a week with the back end almost touching the road then took it to the dealer a week later. When i parked up and got out of the car in the dealers car park I heard the LDS pump cut in for a couple of seconds, something that it hadn't been doing sine the 'lock out' occurred. I looked at the rear wheel arch and it was at the correct height rather than right down covering half the wheel. I checked again and sure enough the rear suspension was no longer right down, it was where it should be. With extreme trepidation i got back in the car, re-started it, pressed the height control button and hey presto, it worked. The pump cut in and lifted the car, no big cross appeared on the digital display and no SERIOUS SUSPENSION FAULT message came up either. I then pressed the down button and the car returned to normal ride height, I was amazed and not a little delighted as you can imagine. So for reasons best known to itself, after weeks of defying all attempts to rectify it, as I bounced into the dealer's car park the system suddenly decided to correct itself, half an hour before it was due to be fixed by the main dealer. I'm not sure what the moral to this story is, maybe 'All good things come to those who wait' would be appropriate or 'Citroens move in mysterious ways their wonders to perform', either way I was a happy bunny and my C5's suspension has been fine ever since. Happy Days!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Everyone, Just a bit of extra info re the above. Normally the electric hydraulic pump cuts in to level the car up when I unlock the doors with the remote key fob but this has stopped happening since this problem arose. I also thought I'd disconnect the battery overnight to see if draining the electrics completely would reset the ECU or BCM or whatever has locked me out andsolve the problem but it didn't. I've spoken to Pleiades again and they are of the opinion that the car's electronic systems need to be told that everything is ok so they can unlock the suspension system control systems, but I would need to take it to someone with Lexia diagnostic software, or something similar that 'talks' to Citroen electronics. My Citroen local main dealer says they can do it in about 5 minutes, but it will cost me 60 quid. I'd rather buy a diagnostic piece of kit and do it myself so I've got the equipment to deal with any future problems if I could find one that will definitely talk to my C5 and fix the problem! Any suggestions for a cheaper or easier alternative would be much appreciated. Many thanks,

I took my C5 for a puncture repair today and forgot to raise the suspension before the fitter jacked it up. A short while after driving off I noticed that the back end was solid and bouncing about. Got out and checked and found the rear suspension was right up, so I tried to adjust it using the height adjustment buttons inside the car without success. The front went up and down but the rear stayed right up. Drove home with care and phoned Pleiades for advice. They suggested that the height corrector link rod had probably come off at one end when the car was jacked up by the tyre fitter, which it had. Placed axle stands under the body so the car didn't drop on top of me and reconnected the link rod. Started the engine, nothing happened. Disconnected link rod again, sprayed switch liberally with WD40 and moved switch back and forth a few times, which was very easy to do, no resistance to movement at all. Reconnected link rod and started the engine again, nothing happened, rear suspension still sky high. Tried disconnecting the battery for 5 minutes but it made no difference. Now when I try to use the height adjustment buttons inside the car a big cross appears on the display screen and neither the front suspension (which is at the correct height) nor the rear suspension move. It feels like I've been locked out because I've tried to adjust the height too many times. Also, when I turn on the ignition the display screen says SERIOUS SUSPENSION FAULT. Any suggestions and advice would be much appreciated.

I'm just happy to help :-)

I'll actually be donating this Xantia to an animal charity (www.glendrickroost.org.uk) which is run by someone who's been a family friend for 30 years. Over the last 10 or 15 years I've donated four or five Xantia Estates and a couple of C5 Estates. They're great for towing their livestock trailer, hay trailer and event caravan, and the self levelling suspension keeps the car level whether they're towing something or have the boot full of dogs and/or equipment or they're towing and have the boot full as well which is normally what happens! Some of the cars last longer than others and they get pretty filthy inside because they're always full of dogs, but they don't cost me much and when they're past they're sell by date I scrap them and the difference between what I paid for them and what I get for them as scrap is my donation. I've actually got a C5 Estate for them as well which I bought last week on ebay but have still to pick up. That's an 04 plate 2.0 HDI 110bhp with quite a few miles on it, but it's got complete service history and had a new alternator, fuel pump, fuel tank support, brake calipers discs & pads, rear spheres, 5 good tyres on alloys and an MOT til January, so it should be good for a while!

I'm sure that's what my last Xantia did. It's the same as when you're changing a wheel, put the suspension to high and crack the wheel bolts, put an axle stand under the jacking point, move the suspension to low and the body settles onto the axle stand and the wheel lifts off the ground, remove the wheel, fit the spare, put the suspension back to high, tighten the wheel bolts and remove the axle stand.

I'm not planning to replace anti-sink sphere, but I've done rear spheres before on another car and this was the routine I followed: Raise suspension to highest setting and reverse car onto ramps. Place axle stands under jacking points. Crawl under car and slacken spheres 1/8 turn to crack joints while weight of the car is still on rear wheels. Lower suspension to the lowest setting. Car will settle onto axle stands and rear wheels will rise. De-pressurise hydraulic system by opening screw on front accumulator sphere one full turn. Unscrew old spheres and fit new spheres hand tight, replacing O rings at the same time. Close screw on front accumulator sphere and start engine. Move suspension from low to high a few times expel air from the system.

Yes I'll keep working it. I think the problem stems from lack of use over a number of years which has caused the valve to get stuck in one position. It might free off if I keep at it, and there is a video on YouTube of how to strip one down although it looks a bit messy, so if it doesn't free off I think I'll try a secondhand one from a breakers. Thanks for your advice and assistance. New rear spheres getting fitted tomorrow providing I can get the old ones off. :-)

Ok this is me reporting back. I sprayed the whole height corrector mechanism with Plus Gas two or three times a day over a two or three day period but it made no difference. No matter how long I left the car ticking over the rear suspension stayed exactly where it was despite the front suspension going up and down like a yo-yo. Eventually I decided to try revving the engine so I wedged the accelerator so the engine was revving at 3000rpm and eventually after about 5 minutes the rear suspension started to move. It slowly made it all the way up to full height so I moved the height control lever to low and after a few minutes it slowly crept down. I carried on moving the suspension from high to low and it appeared to be getting quicker but not by much if at all. The video you attached shows the height corrector hydraulic valve push-rod moving 4 or 5mm when the setting is changed from high to low or vice versa. The height corrector valve push-rod on my Xantia only moves 1 or 2mm despite the fact that the lever operating it and the lever that the long steel actuating rod attaches to are both totally free, so I think I've got a sticky height corrector valve, but at least I'm getting movement albeit slow so thanks for your help and advice.

Ok thanks for that info. I'll get some Plus-Gas and give it a try. At the moment the hydraulic cylinder with the rubber end covers does not appear want to move even though the lever it's attached to are free to move, but I'll try what you've suggested and report back.

Thanks for your quick response. I'm guessing the previous owner who owned the car for 8 years didn't exercise the suspension on a regular basis, if at all, which is probably why the height corrector valve has seized up. Would you recommend that I ease off the rubber covers on either side of the valve and spray plus gas directly inside onto the rubber diaphragm and metal disc that's behind them? Also I'm still not sure how much fore and aft movement the valve should have when working properly. Thanks for the warning about ensure the body is supported on stands. I had a trolley jack and an axle stand on both sides under the sills before I ventured under it today!

Hi Guys, I've not been on here for a while but I've got a problem with a 1997 Xantia I've recently acquired. My problem is that the rear suspension won't raise or lower when I adjust the height lever inside the car. The front goes up and down no problem, but the rear just stays put. I've been underneath (with axles stands in place) and the little while plastic 'dog bone' is in place and secure. The small lever attached to the long rod running from the front was seized solid so I detached the rod from it and got it moving again, but although that now moves when I move the height adjuster inside the car, the height corrector valve doesn't budge. My understanding is that when you move the height lever inside the car, the long metal rod should move the little lever I've just freed off which in turn should pull or push the flat height corrector valve push-rod and cause the suspension to raise or lower. I'm not sure how much movement the height corrector valve push-rod should have, but mine doesn't seem to have any! Now to be honest I'm not too fussed about the height adjustment system not working because I rarely if ever use it, other than to exercise the system every week or two, and the car is sitting at the right height. My concern is that the rear suspension is very hard so I'm planning to change the spheres and after changing spheres I normally raise and lower the suspension a few times to get everything working correctly, and this is something I obviously can't do! Can someone please advise me: (a) How much should the height corrector valve push-rod be able to move? (b) If the height corrector valve is seized how do I go about freeing it off? © If I replace the rear spheres but am unable to raise and lower the rear of the car a few times will they still work? Any advice would gratefully received.

The wipers on my R reg Mark II Xantia won't stop in the correct place, parallel to the bottom edge of the windscreen when they are on intermittent wipe or when I switch them off. They always start to make the next up stroke and stop after they've travelled about 3 inches. Does anyone know if there's a way to adjust the wiper motor to stop this happening?