Suspension - Every Tiny Bump Produces A Thump

[spitfire9]

Xantia 96 estate. The suspension height changes correctly according to the setting given but the car is undriveable - it feels like the suspension does not give at all. When driving at 10mph - 15 mph on a smooth road every tiny bump is felt. When the car is parked on standard ride setting, I can hardly get the corners to move when pushing down on them.

 

Any ideas, please? Could it be the regulator sphere?

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Randombloke]

Sounds like the spheres are sh*gged.

 

Put the suspension down to the lowest setting, take them off and either replace them or get them recharged. An indy Citroen place should be able to test them for you.

 

If they really are sh*gged then they can't be recharged and will have to be replaced.

 

Do you mean regulator or accumulator sphere? IF that's tired then the pump tends to have to work more often.

[Mons]

Xantia 96 estate. The suspension height changes correctly according to the setting given but the car is undriveable - it feels like the suspension does not give at all. When driving at 10mph - 15 mph on a smooth road every tiny bump is felt. When the car is parked on standard ride setting, I can hardly get the corners to move when pushing down on them.

 

Any ideas, please? Could it be the regulator sphere?

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Hi seen your post, this seem like a fault which happened with me 2 years ago, there is a u-shaped connecting rod which is connected to to the ride height corrector clamp. This rod or pin is about 6mm dia and connected to an actuator one for front and one for rear, the pin sheared i was able to weld pin and still running for me. thought i'd share this so you could check befor removin spheres, hope you get it sorted, good luck.

[spitfire9]

Mons and Randombloke, thanks for your advice. I'm afraid I ordered new spheres which turned out to be incorrect so I ran out of time to fix it before I had to go away for several months and had to take my old AX. Bit of a squeeze compared with a Xantia estate.

 

Time to have another go at fixing it now that I'm back.

[spitfire9]

Hi again. On checking the corners of the car by pushing down and releasing,

 

- rear rises above correct level and descends to correct level (correct damping, I guess)

 

- front is easier to push down but on release rocks 5+ times before settling. Same lack of damping both sides.

 

I think this lack of front damping appeared suddenly after the car had not been used for some time. What puzzles me (not being familiar with the Citroen suspension system) is it seems unlikely to me that both front spheres would fail at exactly the same time to cause the same lack of damping on both sides of the car - if it is the front suspension spheres causing the problem.

 

I have gone through the height settings several times without problems. The reservoir has the right fluid level when checked on high setting. I have measured the vertical distance between the top of the tyre and wheel arch (on normal road use height setting) and estimate the distances to be about 1cm at the rear and 4cm at the front.

 

Do the symptoms point to a specific component problem to anyone? At the moment I intend replacing the left and right front spheres to see if that fixes the problem.

 

Thanks for any response.

[spitfire9]

Thanks again Mons and Randombloke

 

Got a sphere release tool off the net (left my oil filter removal chain wrench in Portugal by mistake), changed the front spheres and the lack of damping problem at the front disappeared.

 

If there's anyone in my area, Woking, Surrey who needs to get hold of a sphere release tool in a hurry, you're welcome to borrow it. I would just ask for a deposit to ensure you bring it back!

[bordercollie]

Just the usual words of caution-

 

Make sure you use axle stands when you replace/remove the rear spheres, as the vehicle can drop suddenly down once the sphere pressure is released.

 

2 people crushed in Scotland alone, (that I know of) since 2010, that didn't take this precaution!! :(