Xantia Activa Suspension problems

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Rostami
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Joined: 22 Mar 2005, 11:59
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Xantia Activa Suspension problems

Post by Rostami »

Hi to all,
This is no new topic to Citroen, and also quite common on the overall less understood Activa.
About 6 months ago I bought an Activa. Love at first sight.
But the suspension was playing games. It was hard and from time to time the back falls. STOP light tokk +1 minute to go off, constant ticking, etc. So here goes the full story of interventions, all done by "qualified" independent citro mechanics (under guarantee of the salesman):
1- Replacement of 5 spheres by original ones (2 front, accumulator, sc.car, etc). The ride became softer but the back still continues to fall when turning engine on. Looks like total pressure loss.
2- Replacement of anti-sink valve and anti sink sphere on the rear of the car. Well, the rear continues to fall, but less often.
3- Tired of playing games, I took the car to a close friend of mine, with +20 Years of Citroen mechanics as a professional. He did what is often described here...luibed up all the joints and hight corrector linkages and replaced the broken clips, etc. The car became even sfoter and the stop light is taking less to go off.
But, the rear is still falling. So we decided to continue our investigation. Last weekend I decided to flush the LHM out, and got hunting for Hydraurinçage.
Well...guess what...one official Citroen dealer HAD NEVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING. "Rinsing?!?!?!" the guy says!!! After 50 years of hydarpenumatics and they have never heard of it. Unbelievable.
Well, finally I found the cleaning oil in a smaller city, at a Citroen dealer. It only cost 10 Euro for 5 litres.
Finally I started to get the old LHM out. When I say the filters and the oil I just wanted to cry. You cant imagine the amount of rubbish that came out of the circuit. The LHM was almost black. I took pictures of it all. Purging the brakes was the most amusing. I guess it had never been done before...
And guess what...Rear end has stopped falling.
I just don´t believe how citroen owners and dealers can be so negligent with such a simple issue.
406 V6
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Post by 406 V6 »

Unfortunately, Citroën mechanics out there are just that - mechanics - with no passion or will to understand a basic system, so simple...(ok, the Activa needs some more studying[:P])
As been said before on this forum, no wonder Cits are unreliable. Any given car, if ridden all it's life with the original oil, filters, etc, won't last long.
We all have to stick together for our passion, Citroëns.
Abraço!
Cheers!
Rostami
Posts: 253
Joined: 22 Mar 2005, 11:59
Location: Portugal
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Post by Rostami »

Dear all,
Here is a link to a few pics...just look at all the dirt and the dark colour of the "LHM":
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mrosta ... .dir=/d8bf
JohnT
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Post by JohnT »

Seen your pictures, real yucky! If you have seen my post above about a suspected faulty brake valve I might do a hydroflush, hopefully it will sort the problem (non activa) but similar.
mpr1956
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Post by mpr1956 »

Hi rostami, I'm well impressed you took the trouble to sort your activa properly !! It just goes to show that in almost every case of problems with cars, a lack of (often cheap and simple, as in this case)preventative servicing is the cause.. I've got a problem now ; The more I read about Activa's on this forum, the more I want one ! Where is it going to end I ask myself.. It was chancing upon the BX diy site years ago that lured me away from steel springs in the first place. ps. is your activa a diesel ?
macaroni
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Post by macaroni »

mpr1956 - often a decent Activa on ebay, or maybe try www.activanet.co.uk, some great info and often someone has a car for sale.
I have one, my first Cit after years of Pug ownership, and love it.
Rostami
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Joined: 22 Mar 2005, 11:59
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Post by Rostami »

mpr19656
The activa experience is quite a unique one. The car is complicated, most citroen mechanics don´t really bother to get true insight. Beyond the technical repairs and mechanics and so on, the average person has absolutely no ideia what roll means, and much less what anti-roll or zero-roll is. So all-in-all most people don´t even know that there could exist sucg a car...
I suggest that you get hold of an activa and drive her. You will want nothing else. It´s just some irrational, emotive thing.
My problem is that I never had the money to buy a new activa, so I don´t really know how a brand new activa behaves. I have to trust on my mechanics word, and his sense of "perfection". As you can see from my pictures, the car has been in serious neglect, and other than the suspension, it has a handfull of other problems, but I will keep her :)
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