Rear sphere hell ??!??

This is the Forum for all your Citroen Technical Questions, Problems or Advice.

Moderator: RichardW

Post Reply
Jshodgson
Posts: 140
Joined: 18 Oct 2004, 22:59
Location: Torquay
My Cars:

Rear sphere hell ??!??

Post by Jshodgson »

When I pressurised the system at the end I noticed that the back of the car does not rise as much as the front and when at full height it is quite bouncy. When I push down on the 2 corners there isn't much resistance from the drivers side. Any ideas? I have been suffering from "bouncy castle" ride quality hence the attempt at changing the front spheres...... I haven't yet thought about the rears. From reading certain threads I want to avoid changing the rears if at all possible
adamskibx
Posts: 250
Joined: 29 Nov 2004, 01:46
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by adamskibx »

At "full height", it will be extremely bouncy (in fact bumpy would be a better word-full height is position 4 on the lever (think its the same as a BX?- actually no I dont think it has the depressurization mode where it sinks all the way down) and pumps up the pressure in the spheres so that the nitrogen gas is as compressed as it can be. When you say that there isnt much resistance- do you mean it is easy to push down? On full height it shouldnt push down at all. If you are talking about normal height ie position one on the lever, then the cars sill should look totally level. The official heights are in the haynes manual and can be set relatively easily. A car riding low at the back and/or high at the fron wont ride as it should. When you describe the car as having a bouncy castle ride I imagine it is very floaty and moves up and down very freely but with poor damping. Replace spheres all round if they have little gas left but you might want to check that youve got the correct spheres for the exact model of car- garages make mistakes as do suppliers. If replacing all spheres- fit them, bleed the system for ages before screwing up the high pressure release valve by idleing the engine, then bleed the brakes to make sure all air is out, then repeatedly lower and raise the car fully for a few minutes- then recheck heights-adjust to perfection if necesary, and then check all heights work as they should both on the way up and the way down. Check tyre pressures first too. If the LHM hasnt been changed recently, do that while doing the spheres. I dont know if the rears are as easy as they are to change on a BX- if they are, its not too bad and only requires a little more forward planning and care than the front ones.
From what you say about feeling little resistance on the drivers side rear corner, I would expect it to be the sphere on the pasenger side that worse, but if they feel different to each other, replace the pair- ive seen Xantias bouncing about in frighteningly odd ways on motorways and I always think it the rear spheres that have gone, or posibly the rear arm bearings-have they been changed-id expect 138,000 wouldnt be posible on the original rear bearings but I dont know how durable the Xantia ones are. Check on the top two heights to see if you can see the rear wheels leaning inwards slightly on either of the two heighest settings-if they do, rear arm bearings will need doing-however these usually cause drifty handling rather than a poor ride.
Post Reply