Xantia Mk II ticking accumulator

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hirsty
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Xantia Mk II ticking accumulator

Post by hirsty »

When I arrived home last night it was very quiet and I heard ticking from the suspension. Every 20 seconds I got 8 clicks. I have changed all the spheres recently and done a full LHM change this week. The level in the LHM tank isn't dropping therefore I assume that I have a leaky valve somewhere. I have noticed that even on short stops, the back pumps back up when restarting. Any suggestions on where to start looking ?

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Post by TBONE »

still air in the system mine was like that and it took a while to get it out I put the suspension all the way up then down and bled it quite a few times now its great :)
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Post by CitroJim »

As TBONE says, a really good bout of Citarobics should be the first thing to do but that is a seriously high level of regulator ticks with new spheres.

You need to consider the possibility of an internal leak somewhere. This is indicated by the rear sinking and going back up on a start.

The favourite items for causing internal leaks are the brake dosuer valve and, in your case, the hydractive electrovalves.

In my experience, a hydractive car should hold pressure well after switchoff. Up to a a hour of standing, the STOP light should go off practically instantaneously. This can be the first check, see how quickly the STOP light extinguishes after a warm start. If it takes a long time to go off after a relatively short stop, you may have an internal leak.

Next, with the car running and on normal height, pull the leakage return from the brake dosuer off the LHM reservoir, direct it into a jamjar and see how much LHM flows. It should not be a lot. If it is copious, suspect the valve. The dosuer leakage return pipe is easy to identify as it runs across the bulkhead from the reservoir to the valve and is usually a pipe all on it's own.

You can do the same with the hydractive electrovalves but access is not quite so easy. Try pulling the fuse to the hydractive ECU to force the suspension into hard mode and see if the tick interval gets longer.

Finally, don't believe, on face value, that all the new spheres are good. One or more could well be flat, even though they are brand new.

If all of this does not resolve, you will have to check for excessive leakage in the rear suspension cylinders and height correctors. We'll revisit that area if necessary.
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hirsty
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Post by hirsty »

Jim said Finally, don't believe, on face value, that all the new spheres are good. One or more could well be flat, even though they are brand new.

How do I know if they are faulty ?

Just to clarify things, I get 8-10 ticks together, then after 20 seconds this repeats.
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Post by DickieG »

hirsty wrote:Jim said Finally, don't believe, on face value, that all the new spheres are good. One or more could well be flat, even though they are brand new.

How do I know if they are faulty ?

Just to clarify things, I get 8-10 ticks together, then after 20 seconds this repeats.
The only way to properly test them is with a sphere pressure tester, without one sphere's become "Black magic" :lol:

When you say "The back pumps up when restarting" By how much? After how long? Does the rear sink all the way down overnight?

From your initial description my finger is pointing towards a leaky rear Hydractive valve.
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hirsty
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Post by hirsty »

The back doesn't go right down overnight, but even after leaving the car for an hour, I can still see the back coming up. Is this normal ?
Would a suspension ECU diagnostics pinpoint the fault ?
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Post by DickieG »

hirsty wrote:The back doesn't go right down overnight, but even after leaving the car for an hour, I can still see the back coming up. Is this normal ?
Would a suspension ECU diagnostics pinpoint the fault ?
Its quite normal for the car to rise at both or either end, of course by how much is the big question?

Diagnosing the ECU won't make any difference to the clicking of the accumulator as by the sound of it its a hydraulic rather than electrical problem, having said that it won't do any harm to get it diagnosed.
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Post by deian »

when you lowered the car to change the sphere, did you open the bleed valve to release the pressure, did you then close it before repressurising?

and did you do citroebeotics (with the bleed valveclosed ) on first start up after the sphere job?

like dickieg says, ecu won't store such a fault,

when you do citrobeotics next time, and it sinks down, wait open the lhm resevoir, and watch the fluid come back up, wait until any bubbles or froth settle down before raising it again, remember, it will take a few minutes for the fluid to come back completely to the lhm reservoir, not seconds. when the car is lowered and the lhm is ALL in and the froth/bubbles have gone, release any pressure with the bleed nipple, then retighten (not too tight, as it is a brass ball inside), then try to raise, then lowere again, do it this a few times, but only release the pressure through the valve the first time.

that worked well for me and any "air" problems i had.

and as jim says, not all "new" sphere are good, i ordered what i thought was a new acc sphere, when i picked it up, took it home, got it out of the box, it was painted, i put it on anyway, thinking for £24, it will be ok, 2 days after, the problem came back, i went to a proper outlet to buy a brand new one, NOT a reconditioned one, and it lasted till i sold the car.

even brand new ones can't be 100% functional, sometimes you get a lemon, rather than a green melon!
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Post by DickieG »

superloopy1 wrote:So what's this 'sphere tester' then and just how does it work? I'm interesetd because all of my Activa's spheres have the valprex valve fitted and i've wondered just how/when/where to test them. I'm assuming that the test is 'off the car'???k
The tester I have is a home made one consisting of a single outlet pump, a pressure regulator, a 100 Bar pressure gauge and a LHM bottle as the reservoir.

To test a sphere remove it from the car, screw it onto the pressure regulator, tighten the 12mm regulator bolt then turn the pump by hand and watch the gauge rise quickly until it settles at a particular pressure (that is the pressure inside the sphere).

I use mine regularly to check on the condition of each sphere which allows me to ensure I only change sphere's that are down on pressure so even if you have to pay out for the components to make the tester it will soon pay for itself. Yesterday it also allowed me to make use of a down on pressure front Hydractive front sphere and use it at the back :D .
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