Front spheres changed now no suspension or brakes

keljon · Post by **keljon** » 14 May 2005, 21:07

I have changed the front spheres for mot and now i have no suspension or brakes. There is no ticking noise coming from the engine bay and the height adjuster does nothing. I have filled the LHM reservoir right upto the filler and the stop light on the dash is on. Suspension was working fine prior to this but failed MOT due to hard ride on front end. Help!

nick · Post by **nick** » 14 May 2005, 21:11

Have you remembered to tighten the bleed screw up?

keljon · Post by **keljon** » 14 May 2005, 21:23

ok, i undid the 12mm nut facing forward on the accumulator a few turns but no hiss of pressure being released. I then removed the lh sphere and replaced then the rh sphere and replaced. I did lose a bit of fluid but i didn't think it was that much. Started the car and no suspension movement, i was concerned that maybe i had lost too much fluid so i went and bought some more (another 1l) and topped the reservoir right up (2l added in total)
I probably have too much fluid in there now but i have to replace both front brake pipes as well so will use some bleeding the brake lines

adamskibx · Post by **adamskibx** » 14 May 2005, 21:23

You might have to prime the pump if the pipe to it from the reservoir has got air in-to do that disconect it from the tank and manually fill it with fresh LHM, then let the car run in normal height for 5 mins.

FrenchLeave · Post by **FrenchLeave** » 14 May 2005, 22:30

It seems to me that Nick was on the right track, you problem stems from the pressure release screw on the pressure regulator. I think that you unscrewed the bolt too far and have probably lost the ball.

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 15 May 2005, 00:34

I'd agree with adamskibx that the pump may just need priming. Sometimes you can get the pump to prime just by slackening the bleed screw and running the engine, other times you do actually need to pour LHM down the intake pipe. The BOL explains how to prime the pump.

keljon · Post by **keljon** » 15 May 2005, 00:54

sorted, after a quick search of the area i found the missing ball bearing, thanks for all your input. Another problem i now have is that after following the procedure to bleed the air from the suspension the rear suspension has become stuck in the lower position.

406 V6 · Post by **406 V6** » 15 May 2005, 01:15

Check for the missing plastic link from the ARb to the height corrector

nick · Post by **nick** » 15 May 2005, 01:24

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by 406 V6</i>

Check for the missing plastic link from the ARb to the height corrector
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Or it could be that the rear height corrector is just sticking slightly and needs some lubrication. Both mine and a '95 TD that my dad used to own went through occasional phases of the rear refusing to come up (usually after the suspension had been left in the low position for a while) though the plastic link didn't actually come off.

keljon · Post by **keljon** » 15 May 2005, 05:21

Yes i removed the bleed screw completely as i was expecting to hear a release of pressure, when i didn't i undid the bleed screw to check i actually had the bleed screw. I checked around where i was working on the car and found the ball bearing so i am sure if the spring had jumped out i would have found it as well.
The rear did come up a couple of times but then during citaerobics it stayed down and wouldn't come back up.
The suspension seemed ok before i did the spheres but the car has been standing for a while and i didn't try adjusting the ride height via the lever.