Suspnsion Won't Raise Or Lower

[charentejohn]

Hope someone can help with this, was in the technical section but better here as it is a general question.

I am in France (handy when buying a Citroen) and looking to buy a Xantia, mainly because I like the shape and concept.

Here the autotrader equivalent is leboncoin.fr where I have found a car with 'frozen' suspension for 1,500 euros (price for a similar one with no faults is 2,700+. You can find it, and others, by searcing for 'Xantia hdi' in the 'Poitou charente area.

So......

 

Any idea what this could be as I have tried garages with the usual 'bring it in and we will take a look' response. Not unreasonable as hard to say over the phone. However it is about 100 miles from me so I need to know if it is worth looking at.

 

I have read other posts and it seems the pump should be ok as brakes etc work. Most likely based on these posts is that something is seized or a sensor has failed / jammed ??

What I need to know is what is the worst case scenario, and the best. This will help me decide whether to buy based on the cost of repairs.

 

I haven't phoned the seller yet (language barrier) but a friend lives nearby and could do a preliminary viewing for me.

Basically I often like to know the answer before asking the question, so it would be helpful to have an idea of what to test / look for when I come to view the car.

 

Basically what would cause the car to lock in, what looks like, the standard ride height and not respond to the height control. Otherwise the car seems a good deal, less than 100K miles and a 110 HDI saloon reg in 1999.

Not quite too good to be true but just worried they have had a quote for repairs and don't want to do them because of cost.

 

Any tests I can do to eliminate possible problems, i.e. sit on the rear bumper and see if it raises ok, I assume that would be a pump ok test ?

 

I can do most work myself so that dosen't worry me, just that it may be really technical and out of my league / price range to fix.

 

Any help appreciated, John

[kfk]

The hydraulic pump on the xantia operates brakes, steering and suspension. late pumps operated the power steering via a separate chamber in the pump, and the suspension and brakes operated from another part of the pump. I tell you this so you understand that just because the power steering may be working it doesnt mean the pump is ok.

 

 

assuming the front end will go up and down acording to the height control position it can probably b assumed that the pump is able to produce sufficient pressure.

With the rear suspension stuck in the down position a couple of things spring to mind as being at fault.

 

1, the plastic link rod has become detached from the rear height corrector and rear antiroll bar

 

2, the adjust ment mechanism for the rear height corrector is unclamped from the rear anti roll bar or has indeed broken

 

3, the rear height corrector is seized

 

4 the suspension goes up and down, but feels solid with no 'spring'....the rear suspension spheres have lost there gas and require servicing/replacement

 

There are other things that can cause it to be firm, but i would say they are the most common.

 

 

I dont have too much idea as to current cost of parts but ebay has these links:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-CITROEN-XANTIA-REAR-HEIGHT-CORRECTOR-453PC0750-/380315910488?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item588c984158

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Citroen-Xantia-Ride-Height-Suspension-Corrector-Clip-/110683514266?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item19c540659a

[charentejohn]

Thanks for the information, very helpful.

I have seen video of the pump itself and it looks to have 6? or so pistons. I assume that these are for different aspects of the hydraulic system, i.e. one for steering, one for brakes etc.

 

In this case the height piston could have a problem, despite others being okay, which would require a new pump.

Not the worst scenario I guess. At least a pump change should solve the problem and mean one less thing to do in future, I am looking for a long term project, something interesting and to keep for many years.

Hence my not having a problem with doing general repairs.

Also as long as the car drives correctly and is safe the fact of not raising or lowering is not critical, somthing I can sort out in time.

 

Hopefully just a linkage problem.

Not knowing the system can I just clarify, if the rear linkage is faulty then would that affect the whole car front and rear ?

I will know by Sunday, hopefully, if the problem id front and rear or just rear. The seller's ad says it won't raise or lower which I assume means both front and rear, or he would have said rear won't raise or similar.

 

The 2nd e-bay link is good and hopefully that is all it is, do you have a link to photos of where this is on the car ? It woild be a sinple thing to check.

The Ad inplies that if one of these (front or rear) is broken then the entire suspension will not raise or lower - true or false assumption ?

 

Again any advice appreciated.

[kfk]

The pump is eiher a 6 piston or 6+2 piston pump.

 

The 6 piston pump uses all pistons to peform all functions.

 

The 6 + 2 pison pump uses the 2 to provide power steering and the other 6 to share all rmaining demands.

 

1 piston does not perform 1 function, but if 1 was to malfunction it would reduce the pumps efficiency in all of those areas.

 

with regard to the rear height corrector........there is also a front one that works independently of the rear

 

Some pictures...... http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=xantia+rear+height+corrector&hl=en&prmd=ivnsfd&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=ArHNTfX1IImxhAfCseX8DA&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CBYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1003&bih=567

[charentejohn]

Thanks for the info.

Sounds like the only way to know is to look at the car to see if any linkages are faulty.

If nothing obvious then basically take it to a Citroen dealer, not ideal as not really possible when looking with a view to buying.

 

Shame there is no list of case and effect with the suspension system. For example, if rear does not raise check x, if car sits on low all the time check y, if it sits high all the time check z. Basically that is what any mechanic would know / do when diagnosing a problem, i.e. frozen suspension but the rear does compensate for load so the problem is most likely to be.............

 

Seems the answer is that if the suspension is stuck in one position then it could be anything really so only diagnosis is by a main dealer.

 

I will give this some thought and may look elsewhere, shame really as I like these cars and hoped to become familiar enough with the suspension to do my own repairs of linkages height etc. Now not so sure.

[kfk]

If the suspension is frozen......allowing for translation i guess it means locked and wont go up or down.....so i suspect rear height corrector requires replacement or linkages.

[charentejohn]

Thanks for that, at least that gives a good starting point in that I can quickly check the rear linkage and if ok then it is probably the height corrector.

I looked up prices here and the corrector is about 600 euros, linkage is 10 euros......

 

Always a risk buying a used car, in that I could buy this one with a known correctable problem, or buy a fault free one which could develop the same problem in a few months. Always a gamble but to some extent best the devil you know.

Reading up on the suspension it seems it is very robust and generally reliable.

 

A list of what various problems mean would be a help to all owners. I am sure someone has the information, or a group could compile such a list. Same as you get with a new machine, if this doesn't work check this etc. This would de-mystify the suspension system a bit.

 

Here in France people do tend to either put cars into a garage for repair or scrap them. Some people repair their own cars so not always the case.

It is possible that the seller considers the car not worth repairing so sells it, as he said, for the attention of a mechanic or diy'er. Ad. is here http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/199379192.htm?ca=20_s

 

As long as the car is drivable in it's present condition (I can fix the problems over time) then seems a good deal. I will try a call to the seller to see what they say.