I Have a 1993 2.0 vsx. The trouble that I am having is that when the car is running I get a sucking noise lasting about 1-2 seconds at intervals of about 20 seconds. Also when the car pulls up sometimes after a short while the front suspension bounces up. It has had these faults ever since I have had it for 6 years the so called "citroen specialists" say it is fine but these are the people who fitted new abs sensors when I later discovered it was the ecu and another specialist fitting wrong graded spark plugs. I replaced all of the spheres 5000 miles ago. Any ideas?
Thx H
Xantia hydraulics problems
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RichardW
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Well,
The 'sucking noise' is probably normal - this is the period when the pressure regulator opens and allows the pump the pressurise the hydraulics. On Xantias it often sounds more of a soft hissing sound rather than a distinct click as it used to on earlier cars. Ideally at idle doing nothing is should occur only about once every 1 minute or more. Higher frequency points to an accumulator sphere (on the front of the engine) that is down on pressure, or internal leaks in the hydraulics. Your car is 10 years old, but you don't say what mileage - more leakage is to be expected on older cars, so 20s may not be too bad. Did you replace the accumulator sphere?
The front 'bouncing up' is a bit more tricky. Is it really the case, or is the rear dropping? Does it occur under specific cirumstances, eg when you take your foot off the brake? As yous is VSX it is presumably hydractive, which adds another whole dimension to the suspension equation[}:)]
On balance I would think that if the ride height is OK, it settles down again after the 'bounce', and the ride feels OK, you are safe to ignore these 'problems' and put them down the idiosyncracies of owning a hydraulic Citroen. "They all do that Sir"!![8D]
The 'sucking noise' is probably normal - this is the period when the pressure regulator opens and allows the pump the pressurise the hydraulics. On Xantias it often sounds more of a soft hissing sound rather than a distinct click as it used to on earlier cars. Ideally at idle doing nothing is should occur only about once every 1 minute or more. Higher frequency points to an accumulator sphere (on the front of the engine) that is down on pressure, or internal leaks in the hydraulics. Your car is 10 years old, but you don't say what mileage - more leakage is to be expected on older cars, so 20s may not be too bad. Did you replace the accumulator sphere?
The front 'bouncing up' is a bit more tricky. Is it really the case, or is the rear dropping? Does it occur under specific cirumstances, eg when you take your foot off the brake? As yous is VSX it is presumably hydractive, which adds another whole dimension to the suspension equation[}:)]
On balance I would think that if the ride height is OK, it settles down again after the 'bounce', and the ride feels OK, you are safe to ignore these 'problems' and put them down the idiosyncracies of owning a hydraulic Citroen. "They all do that Sir"!![8D]
Thx for your reply. All spheres were replaced, removing the rear ones were great fun 1 strap wrench 3 chain wrenches lump hammer and chisel plus lots of expletives later they shifted.The ride on the vsx with hydractive is much smoother than the later sx and the bounce when stopped is amusing if nothing else. So I suppose if it aint broke...
H
H