Xantia rear playing up?

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Rostami
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Xantia rear playing up?

Post by Rostami »

Hi to all,
My Xantia has developped one more strange habit. Right after turning the ignition off, the rear drops around 1 inch. Should I assume that the anti-sink valve has packed up? The anti-sink sphere is new.

One more thing: If I really hit the brakes hard to stop the car and then turn the ignition off, the rear falls about 3 inches!!!

Any ideas?
Xantia Activa 2.0 HDi (1999)
Renault Clio 1.9D (1994)
BX 16TRS (1984) - RIP
Fiat Uno 45s (1987) - RIP
martyhopkirk

Re: Xantia rear playing up?

Post by martyhopkirk »

Rostami wrote:Hi to all,
My Xantia has developped one more strange habit. Right after turning the ignition off, the rear drops around 1 inch. Should I assume that the anti-sink valve has packed up? The anti-sink sphere is new.

One more thing: If I really hit the brakes hard to stop the car and then turn the ignition off, the rear falls about 3 inches!!!

Any ideas?
Usually this is indicative of a flat anti sink sphere - it was an accumilator sphere fitted rather than a corner sphere wasnt it? Try doing the citaerobics just to see if the system needs bleeding. If it was the antisink valve the car would settle down completely. Just sounds to me like there is insufficient pressure in the sphere to stop the valve from closing up completely.

With my car, when I brake hard when turning right the front suspension does a little dance (up down back to normal)
Rostami
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Post by Rostami »

it was an accumulator sphere fitted rather than a corner sphere wasnt it?
Errr...to be honest I don´t really know what you are talking about!
An independant Citroen garage fitted a few new spheres to the car, and the anti-sink was one of them.

Do you mean that I should check if the sphere is the correct one?

Thanks!
Xantia Activa 2.0 HDi (1999)
Renault Clio 1.9D (1994)
BX 16TRS (1984) - RIP
Fiat Uno 45s (1987) - RIP
martyhopkirk

Post by martyhopkirk »

Rostami wrote:Errr...to be honest I don´t really know what you are talking about!
An independant Citroen garage fitted a few new spheres to the car, and the anti-sink was one of them.
Then it Should be the correct sphere - but it isnt unknown for a corner (dampening) sphere to be fitted instead of an accumilator sphere - this would give the symptoms you describe as well.
However if they have only just been done (by a dealer) go back and describe your problems to them and tell them it wasnt doing it before the sphere change.
Rostami
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Post by Rostami »

Well, the guys who did the job of replacing the spheres did not even bother to change the VERY filthy LHM...so I am really starting to think that some spheres could be the wrong ones....
Xantia Activa 2.0 HDi (1999)
Renault Clio 1.9D (1994)
BX 16TRS (1984) - RIP
Fiat Uno 45s (1987) - RIP
bernie
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Post by bernie »

The anyi sink sphere is unique with it's pipe fitting.
Whilst an A/S sphere COULD be fitted to other place, any other sphere could NOT be fitted in it's place
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Mandrake
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Post by Mandrake »

bernie wrote:The anyi sink sphere is unique with it's pipe fitting.
Whilst an A/S sphere COULD be fitted to other place, any other sphere could NOT be fitted in it's place
Except possibly for the second accumulator sphere mounted on the gearbox housing on an Activa, as this also seems to have the same pipe fitting...(but 62 bars instead of 50)

Regards,
Simon
Simon

1997 Xantia S1 3.0 V6 Auto Exclusive in Silex Grey
2016 Nissan Leaf Tekna 30kWh in White

2011 Peugeot Ion Full Electric in Silver
1977 G Special 1129cc LHD
1978 CX 2400
1997 Xantia S1 2.0i Auto VSX
1998 Xantia S2 3.0 V6 Auto Exclusive
bernie
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Post by bernie »

Mandrake wrote:
bernie wrote:The anyi sink sphere is unique with it's pipe fitting.
Whilst an A/S sphere COULD be fitted to other place, any other sphere could NOT be fitted in it's place
Except possibly for the second accumulator sphere mounted on the gearbox housing on an Activa, as this also seems to have the same pipe fitting...(but 62 bars instead of 50)

Regards,
Simon
I bow to your better knowledge Simon :oops:
3 Fiat 124 Sport 1969x2, 1968
2 Fiat 124 Spider 1976, 1971
1 Fiat 20VT Coupe Plus
BUT maybe moving to France
Rostami
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Post by Rostami »

I´m completely baffled!!!

Why is there a second accumulator sphere on Activas? isn´t one enough???

Regarding the A/S, how is it possible that the A/S can fit on other locations, but the spheres from those locations don´t fit in´the A/S position? Isn´t the "screw" the same?
Xantia Activa 2.0 HDi (1999)
Renault Clio 1.9D (1994)
BX 16TRS (1984) - RIP
Fiat Uno 45s (1987) - RIP
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Mandrake
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Post by Mandrake »

Rostami wrote:I´m completely baffled!!!

Why is there a second accumulator sphere on Activas? isn´t one enough???
Seemingly not :lol: It's definately there in the technical data that I have... I guess the reason for it is to provide an independant source of stored pressure that supplies only the anti-roll rams so that they can always respond fast enough, while the normal accumulator supplies everything else as per normal.

(The anti roll system wouldn't be much good if it couldn't respond fast enough...)
Regarding the A/S, how is it possible that the A/S can fit on other locations, but the spheres from those locations don´t fit in´the A/S position? Isn´t the "screw" the same?
An anti-sink sphere has a standard outer thread and will screw onto other places ok, however instead of just having a large hole like a normal accumulator or a damper valve like a suspension sphere it has a threaded hole that accepts a medium size hydraulic pipe.

Therefore it's impossible to connect the pipe that expects to go into the end of the anti-sink sphere to any other kind of sphere. The activa's second accumulator has this same type of pipe fitting although I don't know if its the same size or not...

To be honest I have NO idea why they decided to do this on the anti-sink sphere, and I've given it a bit of thought. They could have just made a small housing with a pipe in the side of it to screw onto like they did with the brake accumulator in the CX....

Anyone know a good reason for the pipe fitting directly into the end of the sphere ?

(Cost cutting on the support bracket doesn't seem like a good excuse as it means yet another type of sphere they have to manufacture and stock. If it was the same as a normal accumulator they would just need to charge it to a different pressure, and for that matter I dont see why 62 wouldn't have been ok...)

Regards
Simon
Simon

1997 Xantia S1 3.0 V6 Auto Exclusive in Silex Grey
2016 Nissan Leaf Tekna 30kWh in White

2011 Peugeot Ion Full Electric in Silver
1977 G Special 1129cc LHD
1978 CX 2400
1997 Xantia S1 2.0i Auto VSX
1998 Xantia S2 3.0 V6 Auto Exclusive
Rostami
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Post by Rostami »

Hi to All,

Simon, Thanks for your enlightening post.
What is your opinion about the symptoms that I described earlier...The rear of the car falling and so on.

One citro guy gave me tha hint that it if the rear hight correctors are shot, it would be enough to have such problems.

Also, sometimes when rising after a night of rest, the rear side that has the ACTIVA ram kives a kick!!! :(
Xantia Activa 2.0 HDi (1999)
Renault Clio 1.9D (1994)
BX 16TRS (1984) - RIP
Fiat Uno 45s (1987) - RIP
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