Xantia suspension

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FatController
Posts: 11
Joined: 27 Mar 2005, 02:24

Xantia suspension

Unread post by FatController »

A friends Xant has dseveloped the habit of riding down the road with the back end stuck up in the air. When the suspension lever is put to "low", it sinks OK, when put to "high", it rises OK.
When the car is switched off - the front end behaves itself, but the back end stays right up. I've been told this is probably the centre sphere, is this right?
The cars a 95 LSX hatchback.
Thanks
Lee.
Peter.N.
Moderating Team
Posts: 11761
Joined: 02 Apr 2005, 16:11
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Unread post by Peter.N. »

Its more likely to be due to the height corrector valve sticking. Several applications of WD40 over a couple of days should do the trick.
j_roc
Posts: 230
Joined: 01 May 2005, 01:04

Unread post by j_roc »

Or if your competent enough, and have the tools why not strip it off (the HC unit) and give the operating arm a dam good clean, as it gets filthy under the rear of the car - worked a treat on mine. Its not a very difficult job. A few hours at the most. <font color="blue">P.S - When working under the car it is critical that it's supported on axle stands, as pulling or pushing the wrong lever can bring the car down on top of you in seconds</font id="blue">. Hope this helps - Alex.
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Mandrake
Posts: 8695
Joined: 10 Apr 2005, 17:23
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Unread post by Mandrake »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by j_roc</i>

Or if your competent enough, and have the tools why not strip it off (the HC unit) and give the operating arm a dam good clean, as it gets filthy under the rear of the car - worked a treat on mine. Its not a very difficult job. A few hours at the most. <font color="blue">P.S - When working under the car it is critical that it's supported on axle stands, as pulling or pushing the wrong lever can bring the car down on top of you in seconds</font id="blue">. Hope this helps - Alex.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I'd agree.
Although the original poster should check first that the dreaded plastic link hasn't popped off, if the height corrector seems to be seized up, they are eminantely fixable.
All that goes wrong with them is they get sludge build up in two places - under the discs/diaphrams at each end of the control shaft - and inside the damping ports - which has a series of small washers with pinholes in them and spacers. (Which suggests that keeping the LHM clean would avoid this kind of problem)
Basically strip it down, clean, reassemble, good as new. There is nothing in them that breaks or wears. I havn't seen a cutaway diagram of one online anywhere, when I get time one day I might be able to scan the technical drawing from my GS workshop manual and put it up somewhere...
Regards,
Simon