C5 2.2HDI FRONT CENTRE SPHERE

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woodywoodpecker
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C5 2.2HDI FRONT CENTRE SPHERE

Post by woodywoodpecker »

Hi as anyone changed the front centre sphere, looks difficult as its up in the front subframe with no room to remove it. I bought the front three spheres and have changed the two on top of the legs under the bonnet. Any advice welcome the car is still up on ramps i will leave there just incase i get any advice how to remove it.
Thanks.
jmd
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Post by jmd »

I presume you have depressurized the system, since you have already removed two spheres. So workspace is your problem. I think you have to remove the heat shield & cross-member behind the front sub-frame to give yourself more room. It is then a case of using a good strap-wrench & lots of force. Use coarse sandpaper between the strap-wrench and sphere, so the strap-wrench doesn't slip.
woodywoodpecker
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Post by woodywoodpecker »

jmd wrote:I presume you have depressurized the system, since you have already removed two spheres. So workspace is your problem. I think you have to remove the heat shield & cross-member behind the front sub-frame to give yourself more room. It is then a case of using a good strap-wrench & lots of force. Use coarse sandpaper between the strap-wrench and sphere, so the strap-wrench doesn't slip.
jmd
Thanks for your reply its the room in front of the sphere thats the problem, even if i can undo the sphere there does not look enough clearance to unscrew the sphere befor it hits the subframe, surely you don't have to undo the pipes and remove the valve block and sphere from the car to remove the sphere because i can't see how else this can be done.
jmd
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Post by jmd »

Never done the job myself on a C5. And no C5 here to view.What I previously wrote was from something I had read in one of the manuals-which was scarce on the sphere that is giving you problems.
cachaciero
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Post by cachaciero »

I have'nt done the job but have looked at it :-)

As far as I could see as soon as you start unscrewing the sphere it will bind on the front of the "slot". Now bearing in mind that it has to unscrew in the region of 30mills thats a lot of binding :-)

I came to the conclusion that the only way to do it would be to slacken the sphere then remove the three bolts holding the regulator down and then unscrew the sphere allowing the regulator to push back and /or up on the pipe work. Having done that you then have to drop the old sphere out...somewhere, somehow and then introduce the new one all with scrupulous cleanliness........ :-(.

Cleanliness is very important there are a lot of small bores and restrictors in the regulator and a bit of grit in the wrong place will play havoc with it. Suggest that you thourghly clean / degrease the area around the sphere prior to undoing the last couple of threads.

Removing the regulator complete with sphere didn't look very practical either.

Now the real question is why do you want to change the sphere? because it feels hard in softmode? particularly over humps and drain covers and the like?. Based upon the investigations I have done on this it is unlikely to be the sphere they really do seem to be bullet proof on these cars, the regulator itself is much more likely to be the culprit specifically the spring on the internal spool valve which I suspect gets weak with time.

I have this problem on mine and having looked at it I have come to the conclusion due to the sheer hastle of doing the job when I do do it I will change the whole assembly.

Would be really interested in how you get on with this.

cachaciero
2006 Toyota Prius T Spirit
2001 2.2 C5 Exclusive SE
1996 XM 2.1 TD Auto VSX
1995 XM 2.1 TD Auto SX died @ 140K
1987 CX 2.5 Gti Turbo II dead
1984 Ford Scorpio
1981 CX 2.4 Pallas Auto
Renault 21
1220 GS Club
Rover P6 2000TC
woodywoodpecker
Posts: 48
Joined: 29 May 2010, 17:54
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Post by woodywoodpecker »

cachaciero wrote:I have'nt done the job but have looked at it :-)

As far as I could see as soon as you start unscrewing the sphere it will bind on the front of the "slot". Now bearing in mind that it has to unscrew in the region of 30mills thats a lot of binding :-)

I came to the conclusion that the only way to do it would be to slacken the sphere then remove the three bolts holding the regulator down and then unscrew the sphere allowing the regulator to push back and /or up on the pipe work. Having done that you then have to drop the old sphere out...somewhere, somehow and then introduce the new one all with scrupulous cleanliness........ :-(.

Cleanliness is very important there are a lot of small bores and restrictors in the regulator and a bit of grit in the wrong place will play havoc with it. Suggest that you thourghly clean / degrease the area around the sphere prior to undoing the last couple of threads.

Removing the regulator complete with sphere didn't look very practical either.

Now the real question is why do you want to change the sphere? because it feels hard in softmode? particularly over humps and drain covers and the like?. Based upon the investigations I have done on this it is unlikely to be the sphere they really do seem to be bullet proof on these cars, the regulator itself is much more likely to be the culprit specifically the spring on the internal spool valve which I suspect gets weak with time.

I have this problem on mine and having looked at it I have come to the conclusion due to the sheer hastle of doing the job when I do do it I will change the whole assembly.

Would be really interested in how you get on with this.

cachaciero
cachaciero
Thanks for your input on this my car felt hard at the front but changing the 2 front spheres as made it nice and soft again, I purchased all 3 spheres for the front and wanted to fit the centre one aswell because it is here just sitting in the box. It looks like it will be staying in the box now looking how hard it looks to change it.
cachaciero
Posts: 1407
Joined: 13 Apr 2009, 07:24
Location: West Sussex U.K
My Cars:
x 9

Post by cachaciero »

woodywoodpecker wrote:
cachaciero wrote:I have'nt done the job but have looked at it :-)


cachaciero
Thanks for your input on this my car felt hard at the front but changing the 2 front spheres as made it nice and soft again, I purchased all 3 spheres for the front and wanted to fit the centre one aswell because it is here just sitting in the box. It looks like it will be staying in the box now looking how hard it looks to change it.
Yes I did the same but in my case changing the two strut ones made no difference so I reasoned that there was not much wrong with the original spheres and that changing the centre was not likely to make much difference either...of course I could be wrong but like I said given the hastle I will change the whole thing as I have reason to believe that the regulator itself is the problem.

In your case if changing the spheres on the struts has made a difference why bother BUT then if your strut spheres were bad then there must be a very good chance that the center one is not so good either. Are you absolutely sure that the ones you have fitted to the struts are for a 2.2 with H3+ and not for a 2.2 with H3.
The reason for asking is that if you had a hard riding H3+ due to the center regulator / sphere being shot fitiing the spheres for a H3 system would restore the ride, with some what unpredictable characteristics of extra softness on the occasions that the centre regulator switched in which actually isn't that often on normal driving.

cachaciero
2006 Toyota Prius T Spirit
2001 2.2 C5 Exclusive SE
1996 XM 2.1 TD Auto VSX
1995 XM 2.1 TD Auto SX died @ 140K
1987 CX 2.5 Gti Turbo II dead
1984 Ford Scorpio
1981 CX 2.4 Pallas Auto
Renault 21
1220 GS Club
Rover P6 2000TC
woodywoodpecker
Posts: 48
Joined: 29 May 2010, 17:54
Location:
My Cars:

Post by woodywoodpecker »

cachaciero wrote:
woodywoodpecker wrote:
cachaciero wrote:I have'nt done the job but have looked at it :-)


cachaciero
Thanks for your input on this my car felt hard at the front but changing the 2 front spheres as made it nice and soft again, I purchased all 3 spheres for the front and wanted to fit the centre one aswell because it is here just sitting in the box. It looks like it will be staying in the box now looking how hard it looks to change it.
Yes I did the same but in my case changing the two strut ones made no difference so I reasoned that there was not much wrong with the original spheres and that changing the centre was not likely to make much difference either...of course I could be wrong but like I said given the hastle I will change the whole thing as I have reason to believe that the regulator itself is the problem.

In your case if changing the spheres on the struts has made a difference why bother BUT then if your strut spheres were bad then there must be a very good chance that the center one is not so good either. Are you absolutely sure that the ones you have fitted to the struts are for a 2.2 with H3+ and not for a 2.2 with H3.
The reason for asking is that if you had a hard riding H3+ due to the center regulator / sphere being shot fitiing the spheres for a H3 system would restore the ride, with some what unpredictable characteristics of extra softness on the occasions that the centre regulator switched in which actually isn't that often on normal driving.

cachaciero
cachaciero this is where i got the spheres from http://www.aepdirect.com/index.php?opti ... ct_id=3121

they are for the car with sport switch it says.
cachaciero
Posts: 1407
Joined: 13 Apr 2009, 07:24
Location: West Sussex U.K
My Cars:
x 9

Post by cachaciero »

cachaciero wrote:I have'nt done the job but have looked at it :-)




cachaciero this is where i got the spheres from http://www.aepdirect.com/index.php?opti ... ct_id=3121

they are for the car with sport switch it says.
Yes ! that's where I got mine from although they appear to have a wider range now. The ones that you chose would appear to be the standard fit which is what I got but in my case fitting the new ones to the front strut made no appreciable difference. The only reservation I would have about AEP is that they imply that these spheres are common with a variety of models I believe that they are only common to the V6.

However in your case you appear to have got a nice riding car if I was in your position I wouldn't worry anymore about it :-)

cachaciero
2006 Toyota Prius T Spirit
2001 2.2 C5 Exclusive SE
1996 XM 2.1 TD Auto VSX
1995 XM 2.1 TD Auto SX died @ 140K
1987 CX 2.5 Gti Turbo II dead
1984 Ford Scorpio
1981 CX 2.4 Pallas Auto
Renault 21
1220 GS Club
Rover P6 2000TC
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