Advantage on Hydropneumatic on UK rough roads.

wheeler · Post by **wheeler** » 19 Jan 2003, 03:51

a sphere on the BHI ?? are we both talking about the unit behind the o/s headlamp ? as far as i can see there are 4 spheres on a hydractive 3 vehicle and 6 on a hydractive 3+ the extra 2 being for the front & rear stiffness regulators fitted to 3+.i havent noticed if the other 2 are rechargable.

alexx · Post by **alexx** » 19 Jan 2003, 16:42

Suspension HA3+, found on better equipped C5, is real hydractive suspension, with soft and hard mode, like HA2 in Xantia/XM. HA3 is, in fact, non-hydractive suspension. HA3- would be better abbreviation, but who would buy such a car?
Accumulator 'sphere' is incorporated into BHI body, inline with electric motor and pump. It's internal shape is sphere, but external shape is cylinder. You can see top of the 'sphere' and the screw on the opposite side of the electric motor. It's here to even the pressure pulsation of the pump. If it goes flat, there won't be regular ticking, as in previous models, but the unit will become more noisy, I think.
Volume of the accumulator 'sphere' is small, maybe 5 or 10 ccm. Other 4 (HA3) or 6 (HA3+) slimline spheres are 385 ccm.
Edited by - alexx on 19 Jan 2003 11:44:01

bencowell · Post by **bencowell** » 19 Jan 2003, 17:06

Is the Hydractive 3(-) as found on the 2.0 HDi and 1.8 petrol a waste of time then?

alexx · Post by **alexx** » 19 Jan 2003, 18:08

Not at all. Hydractive suspension is theoretically better, but in praxis, ride in non-hydractive Xantia seems better to me than in HA one (I'm not a kind of dynamic driver). I think the situation is the same in C5 (didn't drive it yet).

wheeler · Post by **wheeler** » 22 Jan 2003, 04:20

i had another look at a BHI.its not really a replaceable sphere is it ?.i would think you probably shouldnt recharge it and that it will be a replacement BHI should there be a problem with it as it's internal in the BHI.the point i was trying to make was that there was none of those things because everything was controlled by the BHI internally(i.e height correction,pressure regulation,antisink etc).yes there are potentiometers on the anti roll bars in place of height correctors (makes it a lot easier to adjust height settings) but like you say these are just sensors,its the BHI that adjusts the heights.i will try to find out more about the possible re-gassing of the BHI.

alexx · Post by **alexx** » 22 Jan 2003, 12:39

From the picture in a document found on C5-L Yahoo forum, it seems that upper half of accumulator 'sphere' has threads on the body and that it's screwed into the BHI unit. I hope it will be possible to replace it, if it's membrane breaks, instead of buying a new BHI.