Non Hydractive Xantia suspension

lolingram · Post by **lolingram** » 03 Jul 2008, 18:26

What does the rear centre shpere do on my HDi Xantia estate (non Hydractive)? Isn't this the anti-sink thingy? Just had mine changed, and the rear one was labelled 'Accumulator' on the bill. I thought that this was the centre front one - they didn't change the centre front one...

Ride is now superb (of course!). I was charged 382 Euros for 5 spheres, 5L of LHM and a through wash out of the hydraulics. In the days before Northern Rock, this is about £250.GBP... does this seem about right (2 yr guaranty on the spheres).

Pleiades · Post by **Pleiades** » 03 Jul 2008, 21:03

The rear sphere in the center would have to be the anti sink sphere, since that your car does not have the hydractive system.
To a sense, all spheres are accumulators, we just have different names as this describes better what they do.
The anti sink sphere also doubles up as a rear brake accumulator whilst the car is in use, this could be simply refered to in France as an accumulator.
I would say that the price is on the good side (to you)

Martin.

lolingram · Post by **lolingram** » 03 Jul 2008, 21:14

Pleiades wrote:

The rear sphere in the center would have to be the anti sink sphere, since that your car does not have the hydractive system.
To a sense, all spheres are accumulators, we just have different names as this describes better what they do.
The anti sink sphere also doubles up as a rear brake accumulator whilst the car is in use, this could be simply refered to in France as an accumulator.
I would say that the price is on the good side (to you)

Thanks. I guess that the front Accumulator sphere does precisely the same job up front?

If so, do the anti sink spheres have any other function?

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 03 Jul 2008, 22:13

lolingram wrote:do the anti sink spheres have any other function?

The front accumulator acts as a damper for the fluid pumped in via the HP pump and as a constant supply of high pressure fluid without needing to wait for the pump to build up pressure should the system suddenly need more - imagine a suspension sphere suddenly requires more fluid, the pump would have to slowly fill it, building up pressure relatively slowly, whereas the reserve pressure in the accumulator can supply it instantly. It also acts as a pressure reservoir for the brakes should the engine cut out, etc., when moving so you still have some presses of the brake pedal left before you get dead man's pedal. The rear sphere simply stops the back end of the car from sinking when the engine's off by the pressure supplied by the sphere.

Stempy · Post by **Stempy** » 03 Jul 2008, 22:57

The rear sphere also act as a reserve of pressure for the rear brakes, so it has a dual function.