Xantia rear suspension bobbing up and down!

fewtrees · Post by **fewtrees** » 24 Aug 2006, 10:18

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and have a Xantia 1.8 just to tide me over for a while. This site is full of great information and I only wish I'd seen it earlier..

When I got the car the suspension was overly firm and bounced with it. All 4 spheres have since been replaced and the car is now generally smooth to drive - no complaints, in fact it's a really nice ride.

My current problem is that when I'm sat at a standstill, the rear sinks down slowly, waits a few seconds and then returns back to normal. Also, when I accelerate from a standing start, the rear tends to sink more than a normal car but appears fine once in transit.

Also, I've noticed that if I keep the clutch depressed it somehow loses its "travel"..

So my question is, what could be wrong with the car, that causes the rear to bob up and down whilst stationary?

Post by **Peter.N.** » 24 Aug 2006, 10:57

If after stopping you keep your foot on the brake, because of the 'radial' movement of the rear suspension, the wheels being locked prevent the suspension returning to its normal height, until, you take your foot off the brake, it will then sometimes over correct itself and have to settle down again. Try stopping with the parking brake and see if it still does it. Also try lubricating the rear height correction linkage, it may be sticking.

mezuk04 · Post by **mezuk04** » 24 Aug 2006, 11:12

Welcome to the forum:

the rear tends to sink more than a normal car but appears fine once in transit

One thing I must say is that these arent normal cars, and thats exactly why we like them so much

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 24 Aug 2006, 11:27

fewtrees wrote:My current problem is that when I'm sat at a standstill, the rear sinks down slowly, waits a few seconds and then returns back to normal.

Fairly normal unfortunately, depending on how you drive.

When you're stationary with the footbrake applied, the rear suspension is locked in place by the rear brakes preventing it moving. If the height at the time you come to rest is a bit too low or too high, the height corrector will try to make a correction.

Is it a manual or auto ? I find the problem is more noticable on an auto as you have to press the brakes hard enough to hold back the natural drift of the auto.

You probably just need to adjust your driving technique a bit - when you brake and come to a stop, especially if you have just been braking hard, ease right off the brakes just before you roll to a stop to let the height equalize and then just hold the brakes on lightly, and you'll find it probably doesn't happen.

If it's still annoying you apply the hand brake at the lights after you have stopped, and release the foot brake as the hand brake works on the front wheels and doesn't prevent the rear height equalizing properly....

Just one of those Citroen quirks I'm afraid

Also, when I accelerate from a standing start, the rear tends to sink more than a normal car but appears fine once in transit.

Yep, thats because the suspension is MUCH softer than normal cars, and the rear suspension has something like 7 inches of travel...you'll probably notice that you can push the rear suspension right down several inches with one hand... now imagine what the torque of the engine being applied to the front wheels is doing.... nothing to be concerned about...

Regards,
Simon

fewtrees · Post by **fewtrees** » 24 Aug 2006, 11:47

Thanks for the replies already, to clarify a couple of questions..

The car is a manual.

Usually when I've come to a stop I don't have the footpedal brake applied and yet the car is still "bobbing"..

I'll try to lube up the rear height correction linkage and see if that helps.

Glad to hear the rear suspension is supposed to be that soft, I must admit to being concerned about that.

mezuk04 · Post by **mezuk04** » 24 Aug 2006, 12:04

May be worth doing some Citaerobics, although you may have read this up already on here.

With the engine running, put the car to FULL height and allow a few minutes to settle, then put the car on LOWEST height and again allow to settle....repeat 5 or more times.

slim123 · Post by **slim123** » 24 Aug 2006, 12:40

Before I can put in my pennys worth, just try this.

Start the car up in the driveway, leave the engine running and the height lever in normal driving position, get out and watch the car.

Does the back go up and down on it's own now??

Let us know.

Regards
Slim

fewtrees · Post by **fewtrees** » 24 Aug 2006, 15:55

slim123 wrote:Start the car up in the driveway, leave the engine running and the height lever in normal driving position, get out and watch the car.

Does the back go up and down on it's own now??

Just tried this and the car remains level and the back doesn't move up or down..

Have you had a similar experience?

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 24 Aug 2006, 17:30

[quote="fewtrees"]
Also, I've noticed that if I keep the clutch depressed it somehow loses its "travel"..

Hmmm mine too... just as if it is a hydraulic clutch that needs bleeding, I would also be interested in an explanation/cure.!!!

slim123 · Post by **slim123** » 24 Aug 2006, 17:41

If the car remains level on the drveway, then it must be something that you are doing whilst driving!!

In the Xantia the rear brakes take the pressure from the rear suspension, this is a very simple form of proportional braking, ie the more weight in the back then the more braking power you will get at the rear wheels.

As said before, if you sit at the lights (especialy facing uphill) then you will get this sometimes.

Why not test the theory yourself and make a concious effort to put the hand brake on when waiting and not touching the brake pedal, difficult I know, as we sit with our foot on the brake without even thinking about it.

Try it and see how it goes.

Regards
Slim.

DerekH · Post by **DerekH** » 24 Aug 2006, 21:00

Fewrtrees you don't state the model of the car. I had a VSX whose rear end oscillated up and down while at traffic lights but my current SX doesn't. I've always felt it was a VSX feature due to it being a more advanced (read complicated) version of the suspension!

DerekH

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 24 Aug 2006, 22:19

DerekH wrote:Fewrtrees you don't state the model of the car. I had a VSX whose rear end oscillated up and down while at traffic lights but my current SX doesn't. I've always felt it was a VSX feature due to it being a more advanced (read complicated) version of the suspension!

DerekH

It's not a feature its a bug

The VSX is more prone to doing it simply because the rear suspension is a lot softer than an SX. (In the soft mode anyway)

Regards,
Simon

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 25 Aug 2006, 18:19

It's not a feature its a bug

The VSX is more prone to doing it simply because the rear suspension is a lot softer than an SX. (In the soft mode anyway)

Regards,
Simon

No!! It's a 'characteristic'

And my Exclusive does it but my 1.9td doesn't.....

fewtrees · Post by **fewtrees** » 30 Dec 2006, 15:16

I've now found out what was wrong....

The car suspension spheres were fitted the wrong way around. The rears were on the front and vice versa.. This made the car have a few odd characteristics..

It would bob up and down when stationary.
The rear suspension was far too soft and as the suspension pressure is related to rear braking pressure, the rear brakes also didn't operate effectively.
The car rear end would slide out at any given moment in the wet. This wasn't due to vigorous driving but was because the spheres affect the handling drastically.

Now the spheres are the right way around, the car feels like new.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 30 Dec 2006, 18:02

Not the sort of fault to be found with fault finding charts!

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Xantia rear suspension bobbing up and down!

Xantia rear suspension bobbing up and down!

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