Hi Kenny, I mean the outer bushes at the hub. The arm end bolts either side of it and it twists. It's actually fitted in the hub carrier and not the arm end. On the Xantia it was only a lower balljoint but the inner bush on a Xantia was similar to this and prone to the same failure. The confusion is that I discovered my outer lower bush was failing again during the job to replace the inner rubber bushes of the arm - one of these is much like the Xantia P bush . Annoyingly these seemed in good condition so it was a lot of work to carry out to still have a floppy bush at the outer end... You can feel it a bit as it drives at times.KennyW wrote: 13 Feb 2023, 17:01 Graeme,
Sorry for been stupid but you confirm which bushes you referring to, is it the front lower axle bushes on the pivot support the wishbone attaches to.
If so I may have to replace my front offside again due to knocking sound, will find out tomorrow car is going for the MOT.
The 'P' mounts on the wishbone have been my Achilles heel.
This was caused by the height at the front being all wrong and the camber angle was out of spec.
It's now the rear height playing up which I have never touched but where the ant roll bar lever is attached to the ARB is rusted so intend to clean rust off and spray black.
Kenny
As for your suspension heights, I found that the LH P bush actually also serves as the mounting for the steel bracket that holds the front height sensor. It made it very difficult to remove the LH arm because I couldn't remove the sensor bracket first due to the M6 screw that holds it being completely seized solid. I got the lot out eventually but it was difficult. When I came to replace the P bush of the LH arm on the workbench removing the bracket to refit it on to the new P bush revealed several millimeters of corrosion product had built up between the alloy casting of the P bush and the metal bracket. Over years it had pushed the bracket out and distorted it's shape and it had moved the height sensor's position with it. When I reassembled it with all new P bush and front bush and the repaired and cleaned up height sensor bracket, the car would not raise at the front. I checked thoroughly that the dogbone link was attached correctly and it was. It would raise 'a bit' if you selected the higher positions but not enough to even suggest getting it off the axle stands. I then realised the cause was that metal mounting bracket being bent back had effectively changed the normal position for the front height. I got it off the stands with a trolley jack but on ramps at the front the normal ride height was now pretty much as low as it goes. I had to readjust the front height by carefully moving the anti roll bar collar that connects to the dog bone link. I assume the car had been creeping up higher over the years due to the corrosion build up and a garage had adjusted the front height down to compensate. My repair of the shape of the bracket had effectively moved it back the other way - too low. I think I took a photo of it.
- A is the height sensor bracket, b. is the seized screw. Had to snap it in the end - it was corroded not where it screws into the metal bracket but inside the alloy casting where it travels through a clearance hole. This hole was full of the corrosion product again.
- You can see how much corrosion 'product' built up and pushed the bracket out of shape.
Here's a pic I have of the assembly from Citroen so you can see what/ where I'm talking about:
- Here you can see how straight the bracket is meant to be. Mine had been compensated by being adjusted at item 9. the anti roll bar clamp.
I've only glanced at the rear height sensor bracket but I imagine it could easily get damaged due to it's underslung location. Mine works well but the bracket looks quite rusty.
