** XANTIA MIDDLE SUSPENSION SETTING TO HIGH***??

[awaring]

Hi,

I had a new plastic clip fitted to my car yesterday as my front suspension stopped working.
Since this clip has been fitted by a mobile mechanic the suspension works which is great, but it is to high on the front when the lever is set to normal.
I can see when I get out the car that the rear is perfect and the front is too high.

Can any you guys give me any help

Thanks in advance.

Regards

Adrian

[Village]

I not trying to be funny (I'm not funny, you should hear some of my jokes!!), but have you called back the mobile mechanic? surely he offered some type of guarantee?

Pete

[awaring]

Hi,

He said that the suspension needs to be setup by citroen is this the case?

[mezuk04]

Well for the cost of Citroen doing it its probably a complete NO

Me and my mate (both 20 year olds, but only 1 of us is attractive, can ye' guess which one?) quite happily learned how to do it using the knowledge from here and when we got under the car, like before, if you are going to get underneath the car then PUT IT ON RAMPS OR JACKS - IT CAN KILL.....so im sure if we can do it your probably capable too, but you know yourself best, any problems just let us know, we can all give you some help

[Peter.N.]

He probably said that because he doesn't know how to do it! I didn't realise that this clip was used on the front as I have only heard about it on the rear, and the XM doesn't use one.

If the clip has been fitted properly, it shouldn't have altered the height, it could be that the height control linkage has partially siezed and that's why the clip broke, so you could try spraying several applications of WD40 on it, over a few days.

Adjusting the height is not difficult, but as mezuk says (again?) you must have it on ramps or a lift, or it can come down on top of you. I have a ramp which is built into the side of the hill and brings the car up to just the right height for working on the brakes Etc. I can sit safely under the car to adjust the height, which is done as follows :

Look along the anti roll bar and you will find a clamp around it to which is attached one end of the height control linkage, with the engine running, slacken the clamp bolt and rotate the clamp around the bar, but only a very small ammount at a time or you are likely to get hit on the head. You will find that as you rotate it, the suspension will rise or fall, depending on which way, when you have it at the correct height, tighten the bolt. Simple really.

The Haynes manual will probably tell you how to check the height, but I recon, that if the suspension arms are level i.e. parralell with the ground, the height is about right.

[awaring]

Thanks I will try tomorrow I have some ramps so I will get under and adjust.
The haynes manual say how to check the vehicle is at the right height but does not say how to adjust it says go to citroen.

Thanks will let you know

[Mandrake]

He probably said that because he doesn't know how to do it! I didn't realise that this clip was used on the front as I have only heard about it on the rear, and the XM doesn't use one.

If the clip has been fitted properly, it shouldn't have altered the height, it could be that the height control linkage has partially siezed and that's why the clip broke, so you could try spraying several applications of WD40 on it, over a few days.

Clearly it hasn't been fitted properly if the mobile mechanic doesn't know how to adjust it

If the suspension is not exactly at the normal height when trying to fit the new clip then it isn't possible to fit it - so he probably took the easy way out and just undid the rollbar clamp to turn it so the clip would fit, thus mucking up the height setting...

Also I don't see any mention by the OP of the clip being broken ? Presumably it just jumped off due to wear in the cups ? Seems unlikely that it would actually "break".

Regards,
Simon

[awaring]

Hi,

Yes the clip did not break the cups were worn so it would not go go back on thanks for your advice.

[Mandrake]

Hi,

Yes the clip did not break the cups were worn so it would not go go back on thanks for your advice.

Ok, so it sounds like the original problem is the link popped off due to wear in the cup part of the balljoints (not uncommon with age) and in an attempt to fit the new one the mechanic loosened and moved the rollbar clamp to allow the link to be fitted but didn't reset the ride height properly.

In that case following the procedure for setting the ride height is probably all thats needed. You should be able to find many posts about how to do this on the forum.

Regards,
Simon