A great big thankyou to y'all.

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Chrispy
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A great big thankyou to y'all.

Post by Chrispy »

...to everyone who helped me with my ticking regulator issue. AlanS, Anders, Mandrake, RichardW, Jeremy and anyone else I forgot.
I've just fitted a brand new accumulator sphere myself and the ticking has gone up to 2 minutes 20 second intervals! Hows that for an improvement! (it was every 5 seconds before).
I had to use a hammer and chisel to get the old one off as even the strap wrench couldn't budge it. As soon as I started the car it ticked rapidly for a few seconds which then got quieter and then stopped. It then didn't tick for another 2 minutes. If I stand next to the car, I get bored waiting for it to tick again, it's that long! It ticks once when the car is started and once when it reaches full height during citerobics and thats it. As for the old sphere, it had a label over the date, and when I peeled that off, it had another label on which said 04-10-04.....not sure what the original date was under that as it had rubbed off. So, it was a fecking re-gassed one. Typical. Me and my 'mechanic' shall be having words me thinks. It was that knackered, the rubber was sticking out of the hole in the end like a mini nipple. [xx(]
Anyway, once again, thankyou all for your patience and advice. Without your help it'd have cost me a fortune at a dealer or a specialist garage. I've now popped my hydra cherry and feel more confident about tackling other bigger jobs as the hardest part is jacking the thing up! Getting a jack under it once it's fully lowered is nigh on impossible!
Cheers,
Chris.
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Post by mpr1956 »

Is'nt it great to have a fairly cheap and easy fix!! But don't be too hard on your mechanic, it appears from other peoples' experience on here that even supposedly "new" spheres can be substandard... My 93 tdsx ticks every minute on my new acc, so you are indeed blessed ! ( ps I had to chuckle when I heard your strap wrench wouldn't budge the sphere.. there must be a veritable mountain of broken strap wrenches lying around, mine among them!)
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Post by jeremy »

Great - glad its worked out - and hope you'll now enjoy the car!
Jeremy
Chrispy
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Post by Chrispy »

Lol, yeah the strap wrench didn't stand a chance! It creaked a lot and then just slipped off. It would have crushed the sphere before loosening it!
My mechanic actually promised me a new one, to for him to fit a regassed one is just an outright con. B4st4rd....
I only put this one one hand tight (as tight as 2 hads could get it) so it should be ok to remove next time.
Next job on the agenda is the ant-sink sphere and then it goes in for it's tune up to 115bhp in July! Now that I am looking forward to....
I must also figure out how to bleed the cooling system as its getting quite hot at the mo sometimes, requiring steady driving to bring the temp back down to normal. It's also pressurising the coolant a lot (but not losing any) so I get the feeling there's air in there. My MR2 was the worst for bleeding as the radiator was at the front, heater matrix in the middle and engine at the back. It had 3 bleed points and still took me a month to get right.
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Post by dnsey »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Getting a jack under it once it's fully lowered is nigh on impossible!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Look out a Rover 800 scissor jack from the breaker's or somewhere. They are an interesting 'rocking' design, which goes nearly down to ground level, and are ideal for the job.
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Post by RichardW »

What you doin' trying to jack it up when it's on low??? Put it on high, jack it up, shove the stands under, put it on low. Piece of cake. If you don't need the height, put it on high, shove the stands under, put it on low. Job done! Only thing to watch out for is that when you take it off the stands, do it with the engine running, and drop it gently till it takes some weight on the wheels, then stop dropping it and wait for it to lift itself off the jack [:p]
"It's also pressurising the coolant a lot "
I won't mention the words "head" and "gasket" in the same sentence. Yet.[V] I did a post just the other day on how to bleed the TD cooling system - not too bad really.
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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 Chrispy</i>

...to everyone who helped me with my ticking regulator issue. AlanS, Anders, Mandrake, RichardW, Jeremy and anyone else I forgot.
I've just fitted a brand new accumulator sphere myself and the ticking has gone up to 2 minutes 20 second intervals! Hows that for an improvement! (it was every 5 seconds before).
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Excellent [:D]
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
I had to use a hammer and chisel to get the old one off as even the strap wrench couldn't budge it.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
If it's been overtightend before, a strap wrench by itself won't be able to undo it, as you need to "shock" it to break the bond, which is why the hammer and chisel works.
However a hammer and chisel is only usable if you intend to throw the sphere away, as it can damage it. If you want to remove a sphere that is still ok (for example for testing it, or regassing it, then putting it back) then you can use the strap wrench together with a block hammer to provide the shock necessary to break the bond. (This is a two person job though...)
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
As soon as I started the car it ticked rapidly for a few seconds which then got quieter and then stopped. It then didn't tick for another 2 minutes. If I stand next to the car, I get bored waiting for it to tick again, it's that long! It ticks once when the car is started and once when it reaches full height during citerobics and thats it.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Thats what it should do. The "tick" noise is when the operating pressure is reached and the regulator goes into cut-out mode, where the pump just circulates oil to the regulator and straight back to the resoviour again. (Like a recirculating fuel system when the float valve in the carburettor is closed)
You don't normally hear a noise when the regulator switches back into cut-in mode. (When the pressure drops to the point where the pump has to top it up again)
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
As for the old sphere, it had a label over the date, and when I peeled that off, it had another label on which said 04-10-04.....not sure what the original date was under that as it had rubbed off. So, it was a fecking re-gassed one. Typical. Me and my 'mechanic' shall be having words me thinks. It was that knackered, the rubber was sticking out of the hole in the end like a mini nipple. [xx(]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Aha!
Thats exactly what happened to us with a sphere we regassed, no more than a couple of minutes after the sphere was fitted to the regulator and pressurized there was a loud "plop", a small squirt of oil around the filler bung, and the sight of an o-ring partially sticking out around the side of the top filler cap. (Despite the filler plug being done up tight)
I'm not 100% sure what causes a failure like this, but its either a failure of the o-ring seal itself, or the (old and fatigued) diaphram inside rupturing causing such a sudden inrush of oil under high pressure to the top of the sphere that it literally blows the o-ring out.
Either way you end up with a dead sphere with no gas left in it. Even if it was just the o-ring that was faulty the sudden decompression of the gas section is likely to do physical damage to the diaphram, so it's almost certainly a boat anchor after that and can't be regassed a second time.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
Anyway, once again, thankyou all for your patience and advice. Without your help it'd have cost me a fortune at a dealer or a specialist garage. I've now popped my hydra cherry and feel more confident about tackling other bigger jobs as the hardest part is jacking the thing up! Getting a jack under it once it's fully lowered is nigh on impossible!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Good to hear you got it sorted out, but you didn't tell us how your brakes are now, are they any better (smoother) with the accumulator sphere functioning properly ?
Regards,
Simon
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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 Chrispy</i>
Next job on the agenda is the ant-sink sphere and then it goes in for it's tune up to 115bhp in July! Now that I am looking forward to....
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Make sure you look up the right info on here for the anti-sink sphere, as it has a special fitting that is unlike other spheres to remove - the hydraulic pipe screws straight into the end of the sphere, and that has to be removed BEFORE unscrewing the sphere from the threaded plate it's mounted on.
Also you need to make sure you follow the right procedure to depressurize the anti-sink sphere... (a search of the forum should turn it up)
Also, what makes you suspect the anti-sink sphere ?
Regards,
Simon
Chrispy
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Post by Chrispy »

My brakes are a bit more predictable now. To be honest, the biggest change was in removing the stuuuupid spring from under the pedal and replacing it with some 15mm copper tubing. Much better after that! Now the accumulator sphere's been done, the brakes provide the same level of bite every time I press them, whereas before sometimes they would grip like hell and others they'd be a bit weaker.
Now, the anti-sink sphere. Reason why I suspect that one is that as soon as I start the car, the back end sinks and then rises again. It stay up fine overnight but sinks pretty quick as soon as the engine starts and then re-rises. A bit annoying having to sit there and wait for it to rise before I can set off!
Other issues I have are rattling front drop links and the fact that when doing citerobics, the height will not go from max to normal at the rear...it just sits there at full height. The only way to get the car to return to normal, is to raise it all the way, then lower it all the way, then back up to normal. Wierd....
I've blasted the height corrector spring things in WD40 and coated them in grease and it made hardly an difference. My struts are also a bit jerky at the front when rising so I'm wondering if they are on their way out. I have already lubed the rods at the top with L2 grease several time and raised and lowered it etc, but they persist in being a bit sticky. I was hoping you could lube them with LHM but is that just for the BX?
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Post by alan s »

LHM is a hydraulic fluid with minor lubricating properties so not all that effective as a permanent or semi permanent cure as the owners of BXs found much to their annoyance. As an added hazard, it has been reported that signs of LHM in the vicinity of the struts has also been questioned by MOT testers and can lead to failures so it is a risky proposition.
The lube instructions for the BX unfortunately don't apply to the Xantia as they are a different set up, but to lube the upper parts of the struts, a proper lube is necessary; in my case I used silicone grease. I also found that spraying and wiping with WD40 prior to treating with the silicone grease gave a better result. This applied to the BX as well as the Xantia.
Alan S
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