Rear suspension on a Xantia

weety · Unread post by **weety** » 24 Sep 2006, 16:46

Just spent a couple of hours looking at my girlfriend's best friends Xantia that her boyfriend (allegedly) got a couple of mates to help him fix....

curiously enough they are nowhere to be seen right now

realising from 'the boyfriends' garbled explanations it was a big job i carried multiple jacks etc but still the scale of damage impressed even me.....

the car initially had one problem....it wouldnt go up and down....aha you cry height corrector......

so that was my first stop and yep the metal rod (rather than the plastic clip) has broken away.....anyone know if it is it possible to just fix this part (blu tack?).......or can you buy the bit of metal it should be attached to on its own?

or is an entire height corrector needed?

unfortunately he (and his mates) didnt spot the simple solution and decided to change the rear spheres (though change is perhaps to tame a word....butcher would be my favourite

)

so the car has two new rear spheres (im impressed) except both mountings are utterly mullared....the bit furthest back where the clip goes through looks like someone has levered it then hammered it then levered it again.....

so neither suspension unit is exactly tight in there....they have also managed to pull the gaitor of the nearside unit (i assume it would be a top idea to refit it

))

but the offside one has a LHM leak from the metal pipe that goes into it (should it have a rubber sealing washer there?) and it looks like there is a bigger leak (though its possibly just the one leak leaking a lot) at the other end of it........

so just laughing and walking away isnt really an option for me (my girlfriend didnt take it well when i laughed about it earlier and the cat was looking nervous about not getting to sleep on its sofa tonight

so i have come to you good people for advice.......

oh in case it matters its a P Reg 1800 16v petrol (or about £80 of scrap

)

Oh and i forgot to mention its vomiting lhm through a large pipe (that goes no where) on the front bulkhead of the engine bay...i assume this is some sort of overflow?

andmcit · Unread post by **andmcit** » 24 Sep 2006, 19:38

Oh joy!

First off the front vomiting LHM is the rubber return pipe that runs off the
front strut and this needs fastening onto a metal upwards facing pipe
attached to the edge of the wheelarch opening into the engine bay.

For the rest of the damage, sounds like the high pressure feed pipe(s)
and rear struts are mullared. The rear height corrector sounds OK, and the
anti roll bar bracket sounds the likely focus for replacement. These will be
OK second hand so it'd be worth getting one off a scrappy, plus you can
practice on the removal on a car that you don't give a stuff about BEFORE
breaking one you do...

Andrew

slim123 · Unread post by **slim123** » 24 Sep 2006, 19:42

The best couse of action is to tackle one job at a time.

If the metal link rod has snapped, this will need replacing as without it the height corrector cannot work.

The cause of the snapped rod will be a siezed rear height corrector (all the bracket arrangement will be rusted) so this will need replacing too.

The leak may only be down to the fact that the other "mechanic" has either, not fitted the sphere neck "O" ring, or fitted it wrong, or even fitted 2 x "O" rings, you will need to check this.

The leak may well be down to overfilling the reservoir with LHM, this is quite common and can be solved by putting the car into high and syphoning the reservoir down to the correct level.

Good luck.
Slim

weety · Unread post by **weety** » 24 Sep 2006, 21:28

andmcit wrote:Oh joy!

First off the front vomiting LHM is the rubber return pipe that runs off the
front strut and this needs fastening onto a metal upwards facing pipe
attached to the edge of the wheelarch opening into the engine bay.

For the rest of the damage, sounds like the high pressure feed pipe(s)
and rear struts are mullared. The rear height corrector sounds OK, and the
anti roll bar bracket sounds the likely focus for replacement. These will be
OK second hand so it'd be worth getting one off a scrappy, plus you can
practice on the removal on a car that you don't give a stuff about BEFORE
breaking one you do...

Andrew

its not running from the front strut now its about two inches long and sticking out the bulkhead......hmmm take it that means there is another (longer) pipe from the front strut flapping in the breeze......

i did look on my own xantia and a longer pipe did run towards the nearside of the car but on mine it didnt seem to be connected to anything (or it was until i started fiddling with it....bugger)

weety · Unread post by **weety** » 24 Sep 2006, 21:30

slim123 wrote:The best couse of action is to tackle one job at a time.

If the metal link rod has snapped, this will need replacing as without it the height corrector cannot work.

The cause of the snapped rod will be a siezed rear height corrector (all the bracket arrangement will be rusted) so this will need replacing too.

The leak may only be down to the fact that the other "mechanic" has either, not fitted the sphere neck "O" ring, or fitted it wrong, or even fitted 2 x "O" rings, you will need to check this.

The leak may well be down to overfilling the reservoir with LHM, this is quite common and can be solved by putting the car into high and syphoning the reservoir down to the correct level.

Good luck.
Slim

er cheers....so the metal pipe isnt part of the rear height corrector? do i have to buy that part as well as the corrector? (i am gonna be living in the shed at this rate

)

STORMAN-NORMAN · Unread post by **STORMAN-NORMAN** » 24 Sep 2006, 21:36

weety wrote:
slim123 wrote:The best couse of action is to tackle one job at a time.

If the metal link rod has snapped, this will need replacing as without it the height corrector cannot work.

The cause of the snapped rod will be a siezed rear height corrector (all the bracket arrangement will be rusted) so this will need replacing too.

The leak may only be down to the fact that the other "mechanic" has either, not fitted the sphere neck "O" ring, or fitted it wrong, or even fitted 2 x "O" rings, you will need to check this.

The leak may well be down to overfilling the reservoir with LHM, this is quite common and can be solved by putting the car into high and syphoning the reservoir down to the correct level.

Good luck.
Slim
er cheers....so the metal pipe isnt part of the rear height corrector? do i have to buy that part as well as the corrector? (i am gonna be living in the shed at this rate )

push come to the shofe mate ya could always sleep in the boot of the car man

weety · Unread post by **weety** » 24 Sep 2006, 21:39

STORMAN-NORMAN wrote:
weety wrote:
slim123 wrote:The best couse of action is to tackle one job at a time.

If the metal link rod has snapped, this will need replacing as without it the height corrector cannot work.

The cause of the snapped rod will be a siezed rear height corrector (all the bracket arrangement will be rusted) so this will need replacing too.

The leak may only be down to the fact that the other "mechanic" has either, not fitted the sphere neck "O" ring, or fitted it wrong, or even fitted 2 x "O" rings, you will need to check this.

The leak may well be down to overfilling the reservoir with LHM, this is quite common and can be solved by putting the car into high and syphoning the reservoir down to the correct level.

Good luck.
Slim
er cheers....so the metal pipe isnt part of the rear height corrector? do i have to buy that part as well as the corrector? (i am gonna be living in the shed at this rate )
push come to the shofe mate ya could always sleep in the boot of the car man

well it is conviniently close to the ground now...........

citronut · Unread post by **citronut** » 24 Sep 2006, 22:51

the metal rod that has broken is attatched to a clamp wich in turn is clamped to the anti roll bar with a 7mm bolt which has an 11mm head,the partis avalable from citroen aroun 12 squide,easy to fit just remove the bolt and prize the clamp appart and it will drop off,the only problem is once you have fitted the new one you will have to setup the rear ride hight by adjusting the clamp around the anti roll bar,to do this you must have the car on its wheels up on ramps so you do not get squashed as the car can and will drop rapidly whilst you are moving the clamp, if a leg vent pipe is spuing LHM that means the seals in the strut are shot,as this is only a vent,the pipe you have leaking is probably a main suction or return pipe which has weither split or come off of one of the tank conections,also when you have no system presure in the rear suspention units you should be able to move the unit about freely
regards malcolm
ps.
as slim said the reason the nylon link or the metal rod fail is down to the hight corector linkage siezed,i find lubricating it thouraly and working it to free it off usualy sorts that out

weety · Unread post by **weety** » 26 Sep 2006, 22:17

citronut wrote:the metal rod that has broken is attatched to a clamp wich in turn is clamped to the anti roll bar with a 7mm bolt which has an 11mm head,the partis avalable from citroen aroun 12 squide,easy to fit just remove the bolt and prize the clamp appart and it will drop off,the only problem is once you have fitted the new one you will have to setup the rear ride hight by adjusting the clamp around the anti roll bar,to do this you must have the car on its wheels up on ramps so you do not get squashed as the car can and will drop rapidly whilst you are moving the clamp, if a leg vent pipe is spuing LHM that means the seals in the strut are shot,as this is only a vent,the pipe you have leaking is probably a main suction or return pipe which has weither split or come off of one of the tank conections,also when you have no system presure in the rear suspention units you should be able to move the unit about freely
regards malcolm
ps.
as slim said the reason the nylon link or the metal rod fail is down to the hight corector linkage siezed,i find lubricating it thouraly and working it to free it off usualy sorts that out

Cheers i will be attacking the car again at the weekend i will let you know progress (if any) that i make......

weety · Unread post by **weety** » 03 Oct 2006, 15:46

ok i have spent a couple of days on the car and have changed the rod/clip arrangement for the height corrector...copiousamounts of grease have been applied to the height corrector and it has now started working again

i might end up changing it anyway as it seems to react very slowly but i want to make sure i can fix the rest of the car first)

i took of the high pressure feed to the rear strut (?) and reattached it (with a new rubber washer) and its stopped leaking but there is still a leak from the 'top' part of the strut (about two inches down from the sphere) unfortunately i cant easily get to that bit.........

i have checked around the sphere and it doesnt seem to be leaking from the seal there

where does the fluid return pipe come of the strut? and is it likely these donkeys have managed to break a strut trying to remove the sphere?

hmmm cant think of a better way to spend a weekend than under a xantia

jeremy · Unread post by **jeremy** » 03 Oct 2006, 16:31

There is meant to be a delay before the height controller reacts - as it would go up and down like a yo-yo if it reacted to every bump and rut.

weety · Unread post by **weety** » 03 Oct 2006, 17:38

jeremy wrote:There is meant to be a delay before the height controller reacts - as it would go up and down like a yo-yo if it reacted to every bump and rut.

goodpoint

citronut · Unread post by **citronut** » 03 Oct 2006, 18:59

the main fluid returns back the way it came,the two plastic tubes from the rubber boot one is just a vent the other end of which terminates into a hole in the rear subframe,the other is a tricle return for any seepage that gets passed the susp/cylinder seals,and eventualy finds its way back to the tanck,

i have repaired a couple of BXs where the ram body had corroded through and have not as yet seen this on XANTIAS
regards malcolm

weety · Unread post by **weety** » 03 Oct 2006, 22:48

citronut wrote:the main fluid returns back the way it came,the two plastic tubes from the rubber boot one is just a vent the other end of which terminates into a hole in the rear subframe,the other is a tricle return for any seepage that gets passed the susp/cylinder seals,and eventualy finds its way back to the tanck,

i have repaired a couple of BXs where the ram body had corroded through and have not as yet seen this on XANTIAS
regards malcolm

i havent got seepage i have more of a steady drip.....whereabouts is the trickle return pipe cos i havent seen it yet?

Cheers

Peter

citronut · Unread post by **citronut** » 04 Oct 2006, 08:44

they are just a push fit into two rubber spouts on the under side of the suspension cylinder rubber gaitor,one is a vent the other a seepage return,there is very seldom any fluid at these pipes,if you have a steady drip from either of these pipes your suspension cylinder seal are shot,first thing i would double check is the sphere seal,as this is where i would expect to fin a steady drip if the seal is damaged
regards malcolm