xantia changing spheres

pete woods · Post by **pete woods** » 10 Jan 2003, 15:20

Is this a sraight forward job? As I understand it you just lower the suspension unscrew the old ones & screw on the new sphere. andy spares want £20 for a new shere while my local garage wants £18 to re charge the old one so I dont see the point in recharging. I assume that new spheres are pre charged? is this really a simple job? Are any jobs on a citroen simple?

hippy · Post by **hippy** » 10 Jan 2003, 15:45

Had my spheres recharged on the bx, and it worked a treat. It takes around 5mins/sphere..if you replace with new, you can do it yourself but to get them recharged you need special equipment. What happens is the nitorgen in the sphere loses pressure over time/use and the plastic diaphram separating the nitrogen from the lhm expands (due to the lack of nitrogen pressure). If the nitrogen pressure become too low, the diaphram chaffs against the weld line inside. Once perforated, the suspension controlled by that sphere locks up hard as there is virtually no spring/damper effect.
Before having them re-charged (if you go down that route), it is wise to have the exisitng pressures of the spheres checked. If they have fallen below a specific pressure(not sure what that is..sorry) then you may as well buy new as the risk of perforation becomes so high you may as well buy new
Not sure what the A.S. spheres are like tho, would tend to stick to genuine cit parts myself but you might find they are one and the same just a different box!!
goodluck..
FYDAMF

Dave Burns · Post by **Dave Burns** » 11 Jan 2003, 00:03

If you find out what price genuine spheres are you'd want to sell the car<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
The A.S spheres are just fine, we have two cars in the family on them.
Fitting is not difficult though the rears can occasionaly spoil the fun, but if your armed with a good removal tool they don't put up to much of a fight, well mine didn't anyway, and they were the originals, on for five years.
Plenty of info on doing the job on here, if you can't find it shout up when you are going to get stuck in.
Dave

Rich · Post by **Rich** » 11 Jan 2003, 06:38

Hello Dave,
As we are talking spheres, just out of curiosity, how much are spheres from a Citroen dealer? I read somewhere that they are about £70 each. I have just bought an anti-sink sphere for my old man's Xantia, and it was £19.25 from Andyspares, but i was surprised to see it was a genuine one. Oh yes, i bought a sphere removal tool as well, as there are two beasts with green blood here!!<img src=icon_smile_approve.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
Regards, Rich.

MarkS · Post by **MarkS** » 11 Jan 2003, 13:21

Dont forget to release the presure
MarkS

hippy · Post by **hippy** » 11 Jan 2003, 15:18

On this note, does anyone know how many miles you should get out of a set of spheres? Planning on doing mine today and car has done 89K, on themotorway it feels fine but on the small roads, it feels harsh..does anyone think they need doing? I had them done on the BX but it was obvious they needed doing..just wandering wether Xantias are harder than BX and that the spheres are OK..can anyone confirm this? (its hydractive)
On the advice of super guru Dave, I will purchase AS spheres..!
FYDAMF