Current Situation

dantheman_74 · Post by **dantheman_74** » 05 Jun 2005, 15:24

Right, where I'm at now is that the front rises and falls spot on, whereas the rear falls ok but will only rise once I start to jack it up on the tow bar so I'm guessing something is getting stuck at the rear? Anyone got any ideas at all?[?]

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » 05 Jun 2005, 19:04

Jackup the rear of the car securely and look at the levers around the height corrector. Could be that the ball joint has come apart.

dantheman_74 · Post by **dantheman_74** » 05 Jun 2005, 19:33

Took all linkage attatched to height corrector off, freed it all and copper greased it all, ball jointed white plastic clip all intact and attatched....thx.
UPDATE ******
The car now goes fully up and fully down really well...but only front will come back up to normal driving height....any ideas?

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 06 Jun 2005, 00:21

As JohnD said above about looking at the levers around the height corrector, except this time at the front. The front one is more difficult to access than the rear, it's on the front anti roll bar behind the front subframe.
If you've worked out how the rear one all works, the front is similar just in a more awkward spot.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 06 Jun 2005, 00:32

if the front is working i would not touch front hight corector,as there cant be any problem there,check fluid level once you have got susp right up regards malcolm

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 06 Jun 2005, 01:19

There are two parts to a height corrector, one is the "height correction" part which appears to be working, the other is the "height over-ride" part which is only working partially.
The lever from inside the cockpit presses against a spring on an arm. This arm can be sticky (which has been the problem I've had with the older Xantia) so that it will go to some positions but not others. When it's sticky, because the lever operates it via a spring, the lever can't apply enough force to actually move it. What I've done in the past is to attach a set of molegrips to it so I can get hold of it to work it backwards and forwards whilst spraying it with oil. You do have to be careful because it doesn't have a lot of travel on it, but you should be able to get it freed off.

Niek · Post by **Niek** » 06 Jun 2005, 01:40

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">The car now goes fully up and fully down really well...but only front will come back up to normal driving height....any ideas? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Front height corrector works fine, don't touch it.
Your rear height corrector is probably dirty inside. There is a little damper inside the unit which prevents the suspension from going 'nuts' when going over bumps (ie: constantly trying to correct the altering height of the car due to bumps in the road, these sudden and temporary changes in height have to be filtered out. Hence the damper, only sustained changes in height will cause the car's height control to react). To me it sounds like this damper is stuck because of dirt getting in.
The easy way out is replacing the HC. The hard way (also cheaper) is to take it out, take it apart and clean it. Have done so succesfuly on three Bx HCs. I'm guessing you have a Xantia (most common on this forum or so it seems) so I'm not sure you can take the little damper apart.
Have fun [:D]

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 06 Jun 2005, 02:05

I think I may have misinterpreted your discription of the problem, so you'd best disregard what I've said above.
If the front end is working correctly it should be left alone i.e. as the other two have suggested.
Since the car goes up to full height and down to the bottom fully, that would indicate that the height corrector valve at the rear is working, at least the "override" is able to operate the valve. To get the car to go to its "normal" height, the plastic linkage has to work correctly and be able to open the height corrector, it also has to be calibrated correctly too.
What actually happens when you set the car to "normal" height? Does it stay where it is (from high or low) or does it go either fully high / fully low? If it stays put, that would indicate that the linkages are seized (or the plastic link has popped off / clamp on anti-roll bar slipping). If it goes fully high / fully low that would indicate that the linkages are seized or that the calibration is wrong i.e. the clamp on the anti roll bar has slipped.

dantheman_74 · Post by **dantheman_74** » 06 Jun 2005, 02:20

rear and front go fully up and fully down, really smooth...no problem. When i set the car to normal ride height the front goes to it but the rear stays where ever it was last set.....does this clear anything up? How on earth do i know if the new clamp is in right position, markings i made now erased by so much lube spray!!!!!