Activa front is creaking badly!

amurleopard · Post by **amurleopard** » 07 Jun 2008, 21:30

Hi,

my '00 Activa badly creaks from the front, and it's got hard to bear.

The noise mostly occurs when I drive slowly and accelerate or break. It can also be heard "well" when the car is stationary with the engine on, the handbrake applied, first gear in, and I play with the clutch to cause small and sudden movements forward and backward. It's a rather low metallic noise, not particularly loud, more a crackle than a clonk, and always several crackles at a time. And it's definitely different from the single clonks over bumps when the rear Activa ram was done.

I bought the car in autumn, and over the winter this noise appeared occasionally and only after 1-2 hours of driving. Now it's there almost everytime and begins to frighten me! I suspected the Activa linkage and greased the bush B1 in the first picture at quinophex.org. To no avail. (Didn't use a molybdenum grease, but lots of "long lasting white lithium grease" spray.

)

Does anyone have an idea where this noise might come from and what I can try to stop it?

As usual, my Citroen garage can't handle my description of the fault. They don't seem to know much about Activas and don't know where to look for the causes of the problem. Any recommendations of competent Citroen specialists in the Greater Manchester area are welcome!

Cheers

Thomas

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 07 Jun 2008, 22:07

Hi Thomas -

Should not be that hard to locate the little circket.
With car parked then try rock the car and locate the noise.

You may also try open the bonnet and rock the engine.
Chances are a very simple problem like a dry moving joint in the exhaust or similar.

amurleopard · Post by **amurleopard** » 07 Jun 2008, 22:25

Hi Anders,

thanks for the hint, but that's the problem: the noise doesn't occur when I rock the car. I've tried as hard as I could (without denting the wing), with the engine running and without. The creaks can only be reproduced when more force is exerted.

More details: It sounds like moving a rusty spring. It only occurs in the normal and low position, not in the two higher ones.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Thomas

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 07 Jun 2008, 23:11

From your description of the noise, it sounds like the same thing I've
encountered; I had this exact same resonance normally manifest during
both acceleration and deceleration on my Activa when I first bought it.

Although it may very well be something different on yours, check for
movement on the engine's mountings by giving the head a bit of a shove!
Mine rocked noticeably forward/back due to the top engine mounting on
the drivers side above the timing belt cover being totally knackered. The
rubber simply gave up on the central metal collar.

Replacement was the fix that worked for me!! It costs around £27 all in
new from Citroen. Easy enough to change too - took about 20mins!

Andrew

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 07 Jun 2008, 23:22

Found a picture of the old and new mounts - old one on the left!!
OK, you may just be able to make out the splits on the inner rubber
surrounding the central metal boss.

Andrew

amurleopard · Post by **amurleopard** » 07 Jun 2008, 23:41

Sounds good---I'll have a look at it at daylight!

Thanks

Thomas

DickieG · Post by **DickieG** » 07 Jun 2008, 23:42

That mount is used with a number of other Xantia engines including 2.1 TD and HDi's, you can almost guarantee that by 100k miles it will have split which in a way says it must be doing something useful.

amurleopard · Post by **amurleopard** » 07 Jun 2008, 23:48

DickieG wrote:..., you can almost guarantee that by 100k miles it will have split which in a way says it must be doing something useful.

Mine is only 73k miles old, but "by 100k" doesn't rule out "at 73k" ...

I have to admit that I have been suspecting the suspension because that's complex enough in Activas. Still, an indicator for that hypothesis is the fact that the noise isn't there when I do the above "clutch test" in the high and very-high settings.

Thomas

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 07 Jun 2008, 23:54

To help give a fuller picture:

The mounting isn't the big obvious one with a massive donut that's sitting
horizontally on the top of everything but the tiny weaker one hidden bolted
sideways into the inner wing of the wheelarch; that's about par for the
course with Citroens really.

Andrew

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 08 Jun 2008, 00:01

Not sure about the intermediate and max height settings being quiet.
I guess the suspension height altering the attitude of the driveshafts
could affect the intermediate bearing as it'd be under differing strains etc.

I'd still stick with the engine mounting, seen it on a few Activas now!!
It'll only take a moment to rule it out anyhow...

Andrew

vince · Post by **vince** » 08 Jun 2008, 00:23

Thomas.....Citroen Specialist in the Gt Mcr area.....

Paul at Paris Autos in Stockport.

118 118 the number as i dont have it to hand. Tell him Vince at GSF put you onto him.....he is a good guy

amurleopard · Post by **amurleopard** » 08 Jun 2008, 00:23

andmcit wrote:I'd still stick with the engine mounting, seen it on a few Activas now!!
It'll only take a moment to rule it out anyhow...

I'll check this first. And thanks for the "fuller picture"!

Thomas

amurleopard · Post by **amurleopard** » 08 Jun 2008, 00:29

vince wrote:Thomas.....Citroen Specialist in the Gt Mcr area.....

Paul at Paris Autos in Stockport.

118 118 the number as i dont have it to hand. Tell him Vince at GSF put you onto him.....he is a good guy

Sounds good, thanks! Paris Autos, are they specialised in French cars, or even Citroens? Is Paul familiar with Activas? If yes, I'll give him a ring on Monday.

Thomas

amurleopard · Post by **amurleopard** » 08 Jun 2008, 14:51

OK, I've had a look at the engine mountings. They're tight, shoving all the parts next to them didn't move anything a single millimetre. *phew*

Now for the creaks again. I could reproduce them by pushing the front bumper at regular intervals, even without the engine running. So it's only the horizontal movement that causes the noise, not the vertical! But it only occurred with the handbrake applied, not without---and only in the normal suspension setting. When I turned the steering wheel, I heard similar creaks, but they were less frequent.

When I had the car in high mode, I greased the bush B1 in the first picture at quinophex.org and a second bush, which is covered by the wheel in that picture, again---and the noise was gone when I put the car back in normal mode!

Now I'm at a loss as to what the solution was: the second greasing or the Citaerobics?!?

If the noise doesn't recur, there's no point in calling Paul from Vince's post, I'm afraid. If it does, I'll definitely give him a ring. The same in case of any other problem in the future. I suspect this won't be long ... *sigh*

Thanks everyone!

Thomas