suspension woes

juppy · Post by **juppy** » 29 Sep 2007, 18:14

I have recently bought a T reg Xantia 1.9 TD with 60K miles on the clock full service history etc. As this is the first Citroen with self leveling suspension I have owend I am lerning about it as time goes on. However I am not sure if I have a problem with it. Sometimes after I switch of and get out of the car it groans a bit and sinks a little. Also I tried sitting in the boot after the engine had been turned off to see if it rose again to take acount of me sitting in the boot but it did not. Does this mean I need new accumilator spheres or is it something else?

Cheers,

Garth

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 29 Sep 2007, 18:55

The car probably rises when you get out and then settles back to its original height after 20 or 30 seconds - this is normal and correct.

A sound accumulator is vital to the safe functioning of the brakes as its the reserve supply and is required for the ABS operation as well. It also forms a damper for the pump output - which otherwise pulses, reaching very high peak pressures - which can cause leaks etc.

You can probably hear the system clicking rapidly. This is not correct and the interval will lengthen with a sound sphere. The minimum cycling time should be more than 30 seconds. You will probably get an arm full of LHM when you remove the accumulator sphere as with no gas in it it can't expel LHM when the system is de-pressurised.

Post by **CitroJim** » 29 Sep 2007, 22:02

Hi Juppy and welcome to the forum

The groans are often caused by the front strut rams needing a bit of lubrication. These are the only parts of the whole hydraulic system that are not lubricated by the (intentional) slight leakage of LHM from the system.

They're easy to do, set the suspension on high, pull down the front strut gaiters and smear a light coating of grease on them, Castrol LM is fine.

The gaiters can be a bit tricky to get down as they're hard'ish plastic pulled over smooth rings on the strut-top. Ensure the gaiters are always free to fully rotate otherwise they'll twist up and break through steering movements.

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 30 Sep 2007, 20:17

A groan from the front after getting out of the car is often coming from the front anti-sink valve rather than the struts - especially a prolonged groan where you can't see the height changing much or at all.

It's caused by low/marginal pressure from the main pressure regulator after the engine is turned off, causing the anti-sink valve to chatter open and closed, vibrating the hydraulic pipes in the vicinity - so anything that causes the system pressure to drop quickly after the engine is turned off can cause this.

This includes a flat accumulator sphere, and/or any leakage in the system that causes a rapid loss of pressure after the engine is switched off. Find and fix that, and the groan will go away...

Based on your other symptoms my first port of call would be to replace the accumulator sphere.

Regards,
Simon

deian · Post by **deian** » 30 Sep 2007, 20:34

I didn't know that Simon, my old V6 had that too, didn't notice it to go away after a new acc sphere, but as you said, it was probably the anit-sink valve. I assumed it was the suspension dropping down slowly, as well as dry ram struts. you learn something new everyday. Oh well, I won't have that problem anymore.

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 01 Oct 2007, 03:52

deian wrote:I didn't know that Simon, my old V6 had that too, didn't notice it to go away after a new acc sphere, but as you said, it was probably the anit-sink valve. I assumed it was the suspension dropping down slowly, as well as dry ram struts. you learn something new everyday. Oh well, I won't have that problem anymore.

Mine used to do it frequently when I had a front electrovalve with high internal leakage - a long groan that sometimes lasted several seconds a few seconds after getting out of the car...it stopped doing it after I fixed the electrovalve.

Regards,
Simon