XM sphere types

jorgy9 · Post by **jorgy9** » 01 May 2006, 16:02

Hello all,

as the spheres on my 3000cc '94 XM were getting hard, I proceeded in changing the 3 front ones first, keeping the old rear ones, to start with. I used AMTEX spheres as specified by the GSF shop for my car year, production number etc. The car changed alot and was amazingly comfortable, so I decided to proceed and change the remaining 3 rear spheres and accumulator, again with the types that GSF specifies. I remember I was wondering "but how much better it can get?" The result however is that the car now is worse, it has lost the "wallowy", "floaty" feeling and you can feel every little unevenness on the road, although the car body is controlled much better -before, as spheres were empty, car was moving much more in general-. Now, it feels "nervous" even on a straight line on the motorway, it's not pleasant to drive. If I continue driving it like that, the interior will dissintegrate as it suffers too much from every small-size anomaly on the road.

I can confirm that the soft-hard modes are operating properly. I have a hypothesis that it has been fitted the wrong spheres. GSF lists only one AMTEX sphere "pack" for my model, "from '89 to '98". However, from lists of other manufacturers like ALKO, or from the BuyPartsBy.co.uk shop, I can see that the mix of spheres for my 3.0lt 12v has changed 3 or 4 times from 1989 to 1998. I think that the spheres that GSF stores and sells might be the ones for the post-1994 Mark 2 cars, which also weighted 200 kilos more than an Hydractive 2 "Mark 1" car (up to June 1994), hence those spheres give a too-hard feeling in my car.

What do you think about that? You don't need to know what's the specs of spheres that GSF sells. Just the fact that they specify the same sphere for all V6s from 1989 to 1998, can't be right, can it???

Many thanks
George

PS: I also just found this topic from the GSF forum from a guy who has exactly the same experience as me -even the rear ehgiht corrector!- (URL is http://www.gsfcarparts.com/forum/topic. ... IC_ID=2159) :

" Greetings fellow Citroen enthusiasts. Last week I changed all 7 spheres on my 1990 XM for new Amtex units, yet I saw little difference with the ride. The old ones, which were original Citroen units, were not completely flat, so it was not that bad to begin with, but still it now feels just like a normal car. I can rarely feel the car floating as it should, 95% of the time it's just not as soft as an XM should be. Plus I renewed the LHM and cleaned the filter as well, so it should be as good as new. Apart from that, I can feel, see and hear the rear height corrector working overtime, even when the car is moving, often making small corrections to the height at the back, which wasn't happening in the past. Could it be that??? I know the car is not stuck in Sport Mode as I did the trick with the radio on Long Wave 189, and it only switches when necessary.

Any help would be very appreciated... Many thanks in advance! "
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XM 3.0 12V '94 ORGA 6339

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 01 May 2006, 16:16

Hi again George

The Al-ko sphere range is found here : http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=18915

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 01 May 2006, 18:20

Wouldn't be the first time the guys at GSF have supplied incorrect parts - that's on top of the fact that the local guys to me used to sell VW aircooled stuff so naturally I don't expect them to know anything about spheres!!

I needed a specific side lower wishbone bush for a Xantia last week and their computer listing specifically relates to the two sides and they have unique part numbers. Their nearside front definitely WAS the offside one - I know as the part had R moulded onto it!!

Apart from the obvious temptation to put the 3 old spheres back on at the rear the car, it does sound like there's LESS 'give' in the car now NOT more - the car if it was over damped would wallow and not feel as controlled - you describe the car as being harsh & jiggly which sounds like there's less movement.

IT SOUNDS OBVIOUS BUT HELPS THE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION - do all the corner spheres actually work 100% - a new part can fail the first time it's used in anger...

There's no doubt in my mind that I can leave this subjuct in the capable hydraulics hands of Simon for later...

What I do know about the Xm hydractive Xm system is that it can be ruined by meddling with so called comfort spheres where the corners are changed to more wallowy ones ON TOP of the central spheres; which is out ot sync with the whole idea that Citroen employs with the sport relying purely on the corners to give it the superior handling abilities...

Andrew

Post by **Peter.N.** » 01 May 2006, 18:35

Are you sure you have the correct spheres in the right places. The centre sphere is responsible for the soft ride as it has virtually no damping effect, it is similar to an accumulator sphere. If you have an outer one in the centre and vice versa you will get an awful ride as the 'soft' mode wont operate and you will have a permanent soft ride on one side. If the spheres are in the correct positions, I would suggest that the centre one is either faulty or of the wrong type.