Suspension quirks and more...

jwalshe · Unread post by **jwalshe** » 12 Aug 2011, 20:57

Right... so I've had a few months to get to know my Series 2 Activa and I'm loving it!

It rides perfectly, corners beautifully and the engine is smooth. Now the ram bush is fitted (thanks again to Jim for supplying it - was fitted with no drama!) the car cruises silently with no creaks or rattles (amazing in my experience for a Citroen)!

Couple of questions for you though:

1) It takes around a minute to rise fully after being left overnight. I'm sure my old CX rose to attention within 30 seconds?

2) As it rises, the front end 'jiggles' on the way up.

3) When you switch off (let's say at a petrol station) and start the car, it dips down momentarily on one side, before rising again.

4) When you change gear, there's a farting sound from up front. Presumably from the engine. Sounds a bit like the sound an old Morris Minor makes when you change gear. If you're cruising at sixty in fifth gear and ease off the throttle a bit, the sound is continuous.

So... any thoughts on any of that?

Thanks in advance!

James

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 12 Aug 2011, 21:26

1) Yup, you've got 10 spheres to pump up to pressure, and unlike the CX, only 2 of the 8 pistons in the pump do that (the other 6 are for power steering). There's a French (I think) Police Activa, we believe they never stop the engine while on duty!

2) The control arms on the wishbones and their plastic bushes could be worn, they're not that expensive to replace but you'll need ramps or a pit really to get the car level afterwards. Or you could just replace the plastic bushes as you don't need to touch the roll corrector linkages to do that.

3) See 2, also could be some of the spheres are down on pressure.

4) Someone hasn't fitted a dump valve have they? Pop the bonnet. On the induction pipe running across the top of the engine there's a largish spigot, it should have a factory fitted cap on it, likewise with one on the induction pipe to the right of the engine. Interestingly, the 406 version of the engine was fitted with a recirculating valve which gives the benefits without the chavtastic farting sound. Actually that'd be whenever you revved hard and then eased off.

jwalshe · Unread post by **jwalshe** » 12 Aug 2011, 21:37

Thanks for that - all useful info. Regarding the farting sound, there's definately no dump valve there. It seems to happen mostly when the clutch comes back up after changing gear... if that helps? It's a fart sound with accompanying vibration. Not too intrusive but loud enough to give passengers a quizzicle look on their faces!

Definately not a squeaky clutch pedal - it's bigger and comes from the whole front of the car, if that makes sense.

ACTIVE8 · Unread post by **ACTIVE8** » 13 Aug 2011, 16:10

Xac wrote:1) Yup, you've got 10 spheres to pump up to pressure, and unlike the CX, only 2 of the 8 pistons in the pump do that (the other 6 are for power steering). There's a French (I think) Police Activa, we believe they never stop the engine while on duty!

So they must be using a drive through donut (der... refer below) place while on duty!

Sorry correction................doughnut place

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 13 Aug 2011, 16:16

ACTIVE8 wrote:
Xac wrote:There's a French (I think) Police Activa, we believe they never stop the engine while on duty!
So they must be using a drive through donut place while on duty!

Please note that doughnuts are only consumed by Plod when a colleague is late for earlies and gets fined a round of them as a penalty

ACTIVE8 · Unread post by **ACTIVE8** » 13 Aug 2011, 16:58

DickieG wrote:
ACTIVE8 wrote:
Xac wrote:There's a French (I think) Police Activa, we believe they never stop the engine while on duty!
So they must be using a drive through donut place while on duty!
Please note that doughnuts are only consumed by Plod when a colleague is late for earlies and gets fined a round of them as a penalty

So while on the way to the Plod station, and knowing he/she is late anyway they could stop on the way, to/and counter the fact that they are late with their food fine collection, and colleagues with a mouth full of doughnuts will be happy and might be less likely to moan.

Also it would certainly be "fine" as some of the fillings are very good, although with what happened last week plod will be going short of doughnuts in the Enfield area as a Krispy Kreme site was visited by a mob during the period of disorder.

Here is how it used to look at the side of the A10.

http://www.robinsonsomerston.co.uk/uplo ... me_600.jpg

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 13 Aug 2011, 18:16

McDonalds and Krispy Kreme? Oh my, it looked like heaven

Dr Madvibe · Unread post by **Dr Madvibe** » 16 Aug 2011, 13:39

jwalshe wrote:Thanks for that - all useful info. Regarding the farting sound, there's definately no dump valve there. It seems to happen mostly when the clutch comes back up after changing gear... if that helps? It's a fart sound with accompanying vibration. Not too intrusive but loud enough to give passengers a quizzicle look on their faces!

Definately not a squeaky clutch pedal - it's bigger and comes from the whole front of the car, if that makes sense.

Mine makes a strange farty type sound when decelerating. My local friendly mechanic couldn't find the problem but thought it may have been worn engine mountings.

davoxx · Unread post by **davoxx** » 16 Aug 2011, 14:37

Dr Madvibe wrote:
jwalshe wrote:Thanks for that - all useful info. Regarding the farting sound, there's definately no dump valve there. It seems to happen mostly when the clutch comes back up after changing gear... if that helps? It's a fart sound with accompanying vibration. Not too intrusive but loud enough to give passengers a quizzicle look on their faces!

Definately not a squeaky clutch pedal - it's bigger and comes from the whole front of the car, if that makes sense.
Mine makes a strange farty type sound when decelerating. My local friendly mechanic couldn't find the problem but thought it may have been worn engine mountings.

can it be reproduced just from pressing and letting go of the accelerator?

i had a similar issue with an engine mounting vibrating at a certain rev.

jwalshe · Unread post by **jwalshe** » 16 Aug 2011, 21:14

Mine does it often when you ease back on the throttle - which would explain perhaps why it does it on changing gear sometimes...

ashy90 · Unread post by **ashy90** » 24 Aug 2011, 16:23

sure its the not exhaust/manifold blowing?

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 24 Aug 2011, 17:05

An Activa with a blowing manifold is enough to strike fear into anyone

Check the clearance between the downpipe just before the cat and the subframe. It's tight and can easily set up a noise and a vibe if it just touches...

Also, the height corrector lever linkage rod runs very close to the middle exhaust box and can just touch the seam of the box under acceleration/deceleration and set up a similar thing. I had it and sleeved it with a piece of split rubber pipe...

Citroening · Unread post by **Citroening** » 24 Aug 2011, 17:59

I seem to remember that James' Activa had a blowing manifold in the original eBay description...

jwalshe · Unread post by **jwalshe** » 24 Aug 2011, 20:13

The manifold was done straight after I purchased it so that's hopefully all good. :/

The noise happens only when you hit 2000rpm (either at standstill or on the move). Definately coming from underneath at the front somewhere!

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 25 Aug 2011, 08:25

Generally speaking if an exhaust manifold gasket is leaking it will produce the chuffing sound under acceleration, if the exhaust downpipe is hitting the subframe as Jim describes it does that also when accelerating. One other thing to consider with an Activa is the top engine mounting where it attaches to the inner wing, it could be misaligned or the rubber bush split which is quite common, a new mount is roughly around £25 IIRC.