Sphere life expectancy

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 02 Mar 2005, 17:47

The ride on my Xantia isn't as good as it should be at the moment.
I've done the push tests, and replaced the rear spheres but still the ride isn't what it should be, the ride is firm and occasionally seems to be bouncy as if riding on bump stops even though the ride height seems fine. There is all the body roll there that should be, which there wouldn't be if I was on bump stops, and no corner of the car feels hard. The front right feels slightly firmer than the front left.
The front spheres were new Alko ones 18 months (20k miles or more) ago and I suspect that its time to replace them (or one of them at least but I shall replace them as a pair). Is 18 months a reasonable life for spheres? If its not spheres and the ride height is fine, what else can cause the ride to become firm?

Post by **Thunderbird** » 02 Mar 2005, 20:08

According to your description I would check first the front spheres.
I believe that if driving in bad roads 20Kmiles is enough to make the spheres lose enough gas to affect the ride.
On my Xantia, driving in so so roads, the spheres needed replacement after 35Kmiles.
Now, there is a significant difference between a flat sphere and a sphere needing replacement or refill.
99% of Citroen drivers push the spheres beyond what they should. Some think the loss in comfort is not so important; others don't notice it; others want to save money, etc.
Take lhm for instance. It should replaced every two years, and even Citroen says 5 years is enough (for marketing purposes of course).
Running a HP Citroen in good shape is much more expensive than Citroen or most mates in this forum want us to believe.

Post by **Jon** » 02 Mar 2005, 22:20

18 months does not sound very reasonable at all! GSF offer a 2 year warranty on new spheres, take them back to where you purchased them!

np · Post by np » 02 Mar 2005, 22:26

I`m still on the same spheres that were on the car 3 yrs,3 mths ago,40k miles.Apart from the accumulator.Still rides nice & smooth.Lots of different roads & lots of towing as well.
I did find though that a change of LHM & filters made a big difference to the ride.A lot smoother.Was the LHM done at the same time?

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 02 Mar 2005, 22:30

If GSF had a branch that was local to me (Newcastle) I'd have got the spheres there, but since they don't and I needed them quickly I had to get them elsewhere.
Front spheres don't seem to last as long as rears, in my experience fronts have rather short and pathetic lives where as the rear ones last pretty much forever. My '95 Xantia has had one rear sphere replaced in the time I've had it (since the summer of 2000) but has had 4 new front spheres and an accumulator.

NiSk · Post by **NiSk** » 02 Mar 2005, 22:41

We've been through all this before - there must be loads of threads concerning the longlivity of spheres. As I said on the last thread, my '93 XM TD12 is still using its original spheres, admittedly regased a number of times - but check them every other year and get them regassed in time, the original spheres will last the life of the car.
If you do a high milage, like I do, then running a Citroën (XM) is no dearer than any other car - on the iron sprung chariots I've had, the shocks need replacing a 30,000 Km and the springs at 80 000 Km, if not when they invariably break. The XM is still on its original front and rear struts, spheres as mentioned, clutch (at 530,000 Km!) rear wheel bearing, Trailing arm bearings etc, etc.
So don't go saying Cits are expensive to run!
//NiSk

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 02 Mar 2005, 22:49

Citroens are only expensive to run if you ignore little faults an let them develop into big faults which are expensive to put right. A stitch in time....
They're also expensive if you get somebody who doesn't do citroens working on them or somebody who likes to charge exorberant labour rates. Personally, I've very had little go wrong with mine that was costly, the worst was a clutch. £100 and a weekend got that sorted. Tt would have been the same on almost any other car.
I'm not looking forwards to the day when my car has many complicated electronic bits that I don't understand. The fact that you can't depressurise a C5 with a spanner is what I'm most fearful of...

ScottFromNZ · Post by **ScottFromNZ** » 03 Mar 2005, 00:05

My BX had new spheres all round 18 months and only 8500 miles ago. Already I suspect the front ones are not quite as good as they were a few miles ago. Still pushes up and down O.K. but ride not quite as well damped especially at low speed (less than 40 mph). I am going to fit valves to them so that they can be recharged with Nitrogen (a common practice here in NZ).
I wonder if spheres have a shelf life. The new ones I put on may have been sitting around at the Citroen parts wharehouse for months or a year for all I know. Not sure if they have a date stamp?

rg · Post by rg » 03 Mar 2005, 02:31

Kind of off topic, but the North East seems a bit of an omission on the GSF store development map.
rg

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 03 Mar 2005, 15:11

I've had Al-Ko spheres on the front of my BX for 3 1/2 years now and they seem ok. When my rear spheres went (BX Estate) it was difficult to tell that there was much wrong as it wasn't really uncomfortable. Clues were hitting a pothole badly with a rear wheel when I was suspiucious of them, and obviously puncturing the diaphragm, and the lack of compresibility.
While the ride height may seem fine I'd have a look at the corrector linkage and in particular make sure that the linkage at the corrector is ok. Certainly my BX TD is very sensitive.
Alternatives are sticky front struts. BX ones creak and groan but Xantia ones are better made! What mileage have yours done?
jeremy

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 03 Mar 2005, 15:46

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by rg

Kind of off topic, but the North East seems a bit of an omission on the GSF store development map.
rg
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Lets start a petition to get a GSF branch in the North East.
We do have quite a selection of car parts suppliers up here, (Andrew Page, Brown Brothers, ........................ and Partco amongst others) but they're either more expensive than GSF or don't have the Citroen bits "thats a dealer only part mate".

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 04 Mar 2005, 14:37

OK, here's an update.
I've changed the spheres and the ride is a lot better, although its still not as good as the '95 Xantia (it never has been, alloy wheels seem to make the difference). There will probably still be some residual air in the system, so I'll have to give it some more Citrobatics.
18 months and 25k miles is not a long life for spheres.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » 04 Mar 2005, 14:58

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by ScottFromNZ

I wonder if spheres have a shelf life. The new ones I put on may have been sitting around at the Citroen parts wharehouse for months or a year for all I know. Not sure if they have a date stamp?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
How right you are! They do have a shelf life, and they start to loose gas from day one. And yes, they do have a date stamp on them - at least, GSF ones do.

NiSk · Post by **NiSk** » 04 Mar 2005, 15:32

So do Citroën originals (have a date stamp).
//NiSk

ScottFromNZ · Post by **ScottFromNZ** » 09 Mar 2005, 08:55

I checked the dates on my front spheres. They were replaced in September 2003 by previous owner. The date on them is 2-258. So they were already nearly a year old when fitted! My Citroen mechanic agrees that they have lost some pressure so I am getting him to fit recharging valves to them ($45) and regas them to the correct pressure ($18). New spheres are $150 each over here so common practice is to recharge them before they lose all their pressure. The rear spheres and accumulator spheres are all dated late 2002 also but seem to have held their pressure a bit better than the front suspension ones.