Citroen c5 2005, rear suspension stuck after wheel change

[fredoj]

I jacked up the rear of my citroen (c5, diesel, 2005 model, must be on hydractive III ) to change the wheels, upon completion, the rear suspension would not come down, I am not sure but when it was jacked up, I might have pressed the down button. Do you think this confused the computer system? or something is dislocated?
The height switch button in the car is working and is able to raise and lower the front suspension
There are no error messages on the control panel
I took it to a local garage that claims they are the only citroen dealers in the country, but they could not touch it claiming they are used to other suspension but this one is electronic

i am on a mission to find a solution myself, I know I cannot get underneath the car for safety reason so will have to take it to a ramp
What should I look for? I am assuming probably a mechanical arm is dislocated and therefore the height control valve on the rear is not receiving instructions, or it could be the spheres that need replacement (it was making some noise prior to that)

could someone post photos of what the underneath of a Citroen c5 2005, hydractive ||| looks like for comparison purposes?

[citronut]

im not 100% sure on a C5 but maybe you jacked on somthing you should not have, i do know there is nout under the centre at the rear to jack the car up by,

were exactly did you place the jack,

it will be perfectly safe to get under there as long as you place some blocks of wood or somthing under the subframe, to stop the car dropping/squashing you,

regards malcolm

[Citroenmad]

The spheres wont cause any difference in the cars height or ability to change heights. So thats one thing you can rule out, they also wont produce a noise when they are nearing the end of their life. A nocking or banging from the back of the car will often be a radius arm bearing.

Have you driven the car since you jacked it up? It might well just sort itself out. If not then possibly its the rear heights corrector. Though it is electronic on the C5s it still has similar arms to the Xantias etc. If not then id be looking on a Lexia to see if I can get the suspension moving via that.

[jgra1]

hi Fred and welcome.

hope you can sort this ok.. I can't really help as have never been under a c5

John

[Gibbo2286]

Is it possible that you jacked the car up with the jack under the torsion bar? If so you may have moved the height adjuster clamp around on the bar or broken/disconnected the height adjuster link.

[myglaren]

It is recommended that the C5 is at maximum suspension height before lifting it with a jack.
Try doing a set of Citroebics, may correct itself.

[dnsey]

Just like the earlier cars, the height sensor is connected to the ARB via a 'dog bone', which can detach itself. Is yours still in place at both ends?

[cachaciero]

I have had this myself when trying to set ride heights, in that setting the height in normal position if that position is a little high and you then go to high it won't come back, I surmised that the input sensor range over which the computer would accept as valid data was very limited and once outside this it latched the current height BUT that is speculation. Once I got the sensor set so that normal was a tad low it worked fine, correct ride height was then established by setting the height in the ECU using the Lexia.
There does seem to be two ways of setting ride height i.e mechanical adjustment and altering values in the ECU and I am sure there must be some relationship but none of the documentation I have clarifies this.
I am sure that if the O/P had access to a Lexia and could depressurize the system it would all come good, failing this moving the sensor connection on the roll bar until the system is back in control is the only way to go.

Jacking the car and then selecting high may well confuse the system in that with the way weight is distributed the system in attempting to go high may go beyond the sensor limits set in the system, bearing in mind that unlike earlier hydraulic Cits that max high as max low is not the max movement possible in the cylinders / mechanical linkage.

CAVEAT much of what i have said here is speculation my guess and not to be taken as the gospel truth.

cachaciero

[Richard_C]

If it is a computer problem, there is a slim chance you could cure it like this:

Check you have your radio code (if indeed one is needed)
Disconnect the battery + terminal
Now the hard part: Make a pot of tea, drink tea, eat biscuit, relax, read the paper, whatever.
After 20 or 30 minutes, reconnect the battery.
Logic would suggest that the suspension lever should be set on high at this point, but logic and cars often don't mix.

With great good luck the ECU will have forgotten everything it has ever known and teach itself all over again from scratch. Has worked for me with an auto box rough changing problem. Might apply to the suspension brain as well. Depends what is stored in ROM and RAM, at this point my mind goes blurry so don't seek explanation. It's free to try, apart from the cost of the tea and biscuits.

[Chris570]

just to add to that, you're meant to have all the doors closed and wait sometime before disconnecting the battery. a good idea to leave the drivers window open as well

[fredoj]

If anyone has a problem like this, look at mechanical element first, I should have checked for the mechanical arm movement first, because it was mechanically stuck , so try and make sure nothing is preventing free movement of the arm