Newbie With Suspension Issues

[jamied]

Ive just got a xantia 2.0 tdi w reg (2000) and while other wise mostly clean the suspension isnt right. When I put it up (i had to change a tire) it wont go down at the front and it stays hard unless I fiddle with the up down setting (full down usually does it eventually). after that it seems to be ok although the front looks high and the back low. When I bought it it had had 4 new spheres but the two underneath seem much older. Any ideas? Will it be costly?

 

Cheers

 

Jamie

[Guest Colin Hunter]

It would seem that your suspension needs a dose of "Citrobics". Basically, if the height control remains unused for some time it will all stiffen up and not work as it should. The front and rear heights are controlled by "Height correctors" which are connected to the front and rear anti roll bars by a small plastic link. As the car is loaded/unloaded the suspension will settle or rise and operate the corrector to allow fluid in/out of the system until the car is at the correct height. The manual height control is also connected into the system via rods and links which will be visible under the car. Get the car over a pit (Preferably) or up on ramps (Much care is needed here as the car can drop and crush the person underneath if there is not enough clearance) and, with the engine running, get an assistant to operate the height control and liberally spray the moving parts with wd40 or similar until it is all working freely. Grease up everything you have freed off, again liberally to keep out water/crap and operate every week or so to keep it all free. It is possible that the small plastic link I spoke of earlier has become displaced, in which case a replacement from citroen is pennies. Basically, free everything up, replace the link if necessary and it should be OK.

 

If the ride quality is good then the corner spheres will be OK, don't worry that the rear ones look a bit suspect. They are in a very harsh environment and get rusty quite quickly, especially if they are aftermarket ones which won't have as good a coating as genuine Citroen parts. They are not expensive to replace, have a look at this thread for details

http://www.citroen-owners-club.co.uk/citro...?showtopic=4507

 

 

Cheers. Hope this helps.