Xantia HDI rear spheres?

[HDI]

Actually, I might be driving near to CitroJim this very week! Does anyone know if he is anywhere near Hartley Wintney? If he is, I might drop by if he is willing, to get a helping hand with this height corrector link!

[CitroJim]

Does anyone know if he is anywhere near Hartley Wintney?

Unless they've built a place by that name in the last hour or so nearby or moved Newport Pagnell to Hampshire then I don't believe I am!

Regrettably it's academic as I don't, as a strict rule, work on any cars bar my own and my children's so unless you're my long-lost son I never knew I had...

[HDI]

No worries Jim, I had a blonde moment with geography! I'll get it sorted.

[CitroJim]

No worries Jim, I had a blonde moment with geography! I'll get it sorted.

Setting the height is a bit of fun and for goodness sake be very careful doing it and make sure however you do it that the car cannot squash you if it drops to full low suddenly during the procedure...

It can be done with difficulty on a pair of ramps but far better if you can cadge a borrow of a full ramp at your local garage or tyre place for ten minutes. You can get the job done in a few minutes then...

Just go from high to low a few times after each adjustment and ensure the height settles at the right height.

All best with this and I'm delighted would’ve found the cause...

Now for goodness sake just be very careful when setting the height. Hydraulic Citroens can and have killed...

[HDI]

Thanks Jim. I'm quite fond of staying alive, so care will be duly taken! I'll try and shoot over to my mates place so I can use his lift, I can do an oil and filter change at the same time.

[HDI]

So I've removed that lever from the the rear AR bar, not easy on your back with limited space! Not quite what I expected and it poses a question. The clamp part is pivoted where the lever that operates the height corrector is fitted. Should the lever move in the pivot, so move relative to the clamp itself? I ask because the clamp is VERY stiff at the pivot, and the lever doesn't want to move at all. Thinking about how it operates the height corrector I can't decide whether it should move or not.,

[CitroJim]

It should move relative to the anti-roll bar to be able to set the ride height. Once set it is then clamped tightly into position on the bar.

Note that just a tiny angular movement of the assembly relative to the bar results in a big change in ride height.

[HDI]

Well it's finally fixed! Went over to a mates place this morning and fitted the new rear height corrector linkage. So I now have correctly working rear suspension, oh the relief! We carefully marked the AR bar so that the new clamp could be fitted in as close a position to the broken one as possible, the ride height seems as near to correct as damn it, good enough I think. It drives perfectly anyway. My friend had never seen a Citroen with hydraulic suspension system before and was suitably bemused! Did an oil and filter change too and a good check over, all looks good now. So, for now anyway, I can just drive it without stressing!

[CitroJim]

Excellent news

[Old-Guy]

Something that has been suggested (and which I did on my silver Xantia) is to use one of the old large O rings on the anti sink sphere, where it screws onto the bracket. That way it should not rust in place, and be difficult to remove (as the bracket is not very strong).

VERY good idea. The bracket is fairly easily twisted if you get at all brutal - I've destroyed one when trying to quickly salvage a centre sphere. Be careful to follow the correct procedure (in summary undo the pipe BEFORE attempting to move the sphere!). Every time time you're underneath the back end, give the sphere mounting and the pipe connection a good dose of PlusGas or similar freeing fluid (not WD40) and the rear height correction mechanism a generous greasing (something like white grease or spray chain grease).

[HDI]

I lathered everything in the vicinity with spray grease during this mornings session!
Just got back from a pretty unpleasant 130 mile round trip in continuous heavy rain, and I can report that the Xantia ran like clockwork and the suspension is still working perfectly! Such a relief to have it back to normal. Actually, I have to say it has the best rear end feel (ooerr misses!) of any Xantia I've owned! Really compliant and plush with none of the jolting that has afflicted the others. And I still continue to be surprised at how nippy it is for just a 90!

[chinkostu]

No worries Jim, I had a blonde moment with geography! I'll get it sorted.

Setting the height is a bit of fun and for goodness sake be very careful doing it and make sure however you do it that the car cannot squash you if it drops to full low suddenly during the procedure...


Now for goodness sake just be very careful when setting the height. Hydraulic Citroens can and have killed...

It must be added even touching the linkage can really move the car. I was changing the plastic dogbone on mine and i needed to move the mech about half an inch to pop it on, however it then proceeded to move the rear end down on top of me! Luckily had it on ramps so it didn't touch me but i did have brown trousers

[CitroJim]

It must be added even touching the linkage can really move the car. I was changing the plastic dogbone on mine and i needed to move the mech about half an inch to pop it on, however it then proceeded to move the rear end down on top of me! Luckily had it on ramps so it didn't touch me but i did have brown trousers

Reminds me when I did a levelling job on an Activa... It started to fall on me and it was reported that I've never been seen to move so fast out of the way then and since!!!

Considering I was lying under the car at the time the move was somewhat acrobatic