Xantia spheres - what am I doing wrong?

shill94210 · Post by **shill94210** » 07 Mar 2005, 22:18

It should be so easy right? The first sphere I changed was the accumulator on my TD LX.
Having spent two hours undoing it (I only had a Halfords chain wrench), I screwed in the new one (with a new seal) but only hand tight (as suggested by the Haynes manual). Started the engine and guess what? Yep, a steady stream of LHM flooding out.
Took it off again, checked the seal, cleaned it all again, then back on - this time a bit tighter.
Once again, a stream of LHM - back on with the chain wrench, and eventually - the stream became a drip - but only after severe tightening.
The MoT tester failed the car because of the leak - but a local garage put another new seal on, and everything was bone dry.
Now to my next Xantia
This time, I bought a sphere removal tool from GSF - and what a difference it made - both rear spheres on my D LX cam off in minutes.
But alas, when I put the new spheres on, it was back to the old LHM stream again. I tried tightening the spheres, but they wouldn't seal.
By this time, it was getting dark, so I only had time to take one back off - a smear of "instant gasket" to keep the seal in place and Bob's your Uncle - the leak was stopped (for a few days anyway).
Now there is a bad leak from both rear spheres - so before I try again, can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?

tonespeed1999 · Post by **tonespeed1999** » 07 Mar 2005, 22:25

i take it that the spheres are recon? make sure that the new seals are square in profile. when you buy recon spheres they tend to supply a round profile seal in the box.citroen changed the design of the seal in the early 90s to stop the high pressure from blowing the seals out/leaking.

shill94210 · Post by **shill94210** » 07 Mar 2005, 22:32

The acc sphere was a recon - it came with a round profile seal.
The two rears on the D LX, were new ones from a Citroen dealer - they had square section seals, but they don't look very "meaty" - maybe only a couple of mil thick, and quite loose over the threads of the sphere.
Having made a mess of three sphere changes, I am about to give up and entrust the job of changing the next lot to a garage (particularly as its a VSX with Hydractive)! The joys of owning three Xantias I guess

Dave Burns · Post by **Dave Burns** » 07 Mar 2005, 22:37

You have to fit the seals into the hydraulic cylinders before screwing the spheres on, if you put the seal on the sphere and screw it on all you end up doing is chopping the seal to bits.
Dave

shill94210 · Post by **shill94210** » 07 Mar 2005, 23:25

Ahhh ... so that's why the Haynes manual says to use a little grease to hold the seal in position!
Should I still just hand-tighten the spheres or "nip them up" a bit more?

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 08 Mar 2005, 00:51

Fit seal as pr Dave Burns - and all is good [:p]
And STILL : only handtighten the sphere [:0]
If you "nip" up the sphere more that that - you risc the seal will be frayed - even pressed out.

dan.2cv · Post by **dan.2cv** » 08 Mar 2005, 05:09

Let me tell you a story about my first sphere renewal.
When I took off the old sphere (an accumulator) I figured the old seal dropped off in the 'quick get the new one screwed on before my car loses all of it's LHM' frenzy, and after fitting the new one I too had a nice steady stream. The problem was that the old seal was still on the acc and I couldn't obviously get a good seal with 2 in place. I realised eventually and feel silly owning up to the tale, but a learned lesson shared is a problem halved. Maybe. Or perhaps It's just me that is this daft.
I now also realise the car won't lose all of it's LHM during a sphere change.

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 08 Mar 2005, 06:42

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by dan.2cv

The problem was that the old seal was still on the acc and I couldn't obviously get a good seal with 2 in place. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
That should read the regulator - right Dan ? [8D]