Xantia suspension and general advice

[liam]

Hi,
I've been offered a friend's 1.8 16V Xantia for next to nothing, but since it's been parked up (9 months) the front suspension has become rock hard. The hydraulics are working well, car goes up and down smoothly and with minimal noise, so am I right in thinking the front spheres have lost their gas and need replacing? Also, can anyone tell me how many spheres there are on the car (it's a '96, non-Activa) and if any of the other ones might need replacing to rectify the hard front suspension? Next, the heater recirculate function is broken- anyone know how easy they are to fix? And finally, are there any specific problems I should look out for on the Xantia before buying?!
Thankyou very much!

[xantia_v6]

There are probably 6 spheres on this car, one at each corner, an accumulator on the engine and an anti-sink sphere at the rear.

The heater recirculation control will have failed because the control operates by pulling and pushing a Bowden cable, and these cables do not work terribly well in the push mode, and it will now have a kink in it.

If you are careful, you can take the cover off of the control unit on the facia, and straighten the cable with a pair of pliers, but don't expect it to last long if the mechanism is stiff.

[Peter.N.]

Bring the suspension to normal height and try to bounce each corner, any that dont bounce need the spheres replacing. Dont know much about the petrol ones, head gaskets go on the diesels. Check that the coolant is not being blown out of the header tank vent pipe. Otherwise, if it drives allright it is probably OK.

[Homer]

it's been parked up (9 months)

Since it has been stood it might not be the spheres.

Sticking struts can cause the ride to be hard as well.

In normal use they are lubricated with LHM. Try a long session of citaerobics first.

[liam]

Thanks very much for all your advice! Looks like a couple of new spheres up front then, and some Citaerobics too, not to mention a bit of cable manipulation!