C5 estate riding high. Suspension

[courierrelay]

Put my car in for some new front tyres and brake pads last year. Got a call from them saying that my suspension was shot and had leaked all over the place. Car was running perfectly up until then. Long and short of it was I had to fork out a fortune for new suspension. Total bill was around £1500. Got it back ok and everything seemed fine. Took it in for MOT a couple of months later, local guy who I always use and trust. Passed no problem but he pointed out that the car seemed very high front end, I don't drive the car much so can't say I really noticed until he pointed it out. Just wondering if it's an easy fix that could be done by any mechanic or is it a main dealer job?

Cheers

[GiveMeABreak]

Are these people you are using aware of how to lift up the C5? Do they know the suspension should be on high setting and the LDS cap removed before lifting it up if the wheels will be left hanging freely?

Failure to do so will cause significant pressure to be forced back through the pipes and into the tank that can weaken it. This has been the cause of some tank ruptures and explosions.

If your front suspension is looking a little high, then I would check that the front height corrector is lubricated and not rusted up. Often these need to be replaced as the internals can get water inside leading to failure over time.

[courierrelay]

Don't use them any more. They were total cowboys and that garage has now changed hands. I would never have went there for suspension problems, it was only a tyre and brake centre. I've only recently discovered myself from someone knowledgeable about the high setting before lifting, I don't think those guys in the garage had a clue either, which I'm now positive resulted in my suspension going and landing me a hefty bill.

Regarding the height corrector being rusted up, the car lowers and rises through all the settings no problem. It's just when set to the normal position there's seems to be an larger than intended gap between the tyre and front arch.

Cheers

[wheeler]

If its going up & down normally then hopefully just a case of adjusting the height. It's easy enough done if you have access to a 4 post ramp or pit.
Get it on the ramp with the engine running. If you look on the front anti roll bar near the centre there is a clamp (number 3) with a linkage rod that connects onto the body height sensor, if you slacken the bolt (number 4) a few turns the clamp can be rotated on the anti roll bar, when you rotate the clamp in either direction the body height will either go up or down. you only need to rotate it a tiny bit at a time (less than 1mm) to get movement. once the car is at the height you want tighten the bolt back up & make sure the height has settled. With the engine running put some weight on the front end to get the suspension to self level then release & make sure the height settles back ok. You may need to repeat to get it to the height you want. the back end adjusts in the same way using the rear height sensor.
The picture below is from a mk 3 so it wont be identical but it will give you the right idea.

[courierrelay]

Thanks for that Wheeler. I'll print that out and pass it on to my mechanic.

[teuski]

One think to watch out for if you take off either end of the rod linking the sensor and anti-roll bar is that the sensor will be the right way around when the rod is put back.

As you can see from the picture if the arm of the sensor would be 180 degrees the wrong way the sensor will work backwards and weird things will happen

I once had a mk1 that, when parked, was moving the rear suspension up and down until economy mode kicked in

[wheeler]

Although you should only be moving the clamp & height sensor a fraction at a time it probably would be a good idea to take a pic of how everything is sitting & mark the position of the clamp so you can put it back the way it was if you need to.

[Paul-R]

In such circumstances I like to use a felt tip marker to mark the original position, And then, if possible, scratch an even more precise mark using a scriber or something else that's sharp.